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But in the end he’d overcome all that—and it still hadn’t been enough.
He’d felt those old walls and old beliefs rising up again that night when Heather had left. But in the morning Daisy and Ryan had been there, a constant reminder of why he had to fight to be more than his own father had been. Why love mattered even when it hurt.
‘What do you and Ryan want to do?’ Cal asked, realising belatedly that he had never asked them. ‘Go to Derryford or stay here with me, even if Heather isn’t here? You’d have to go to the village school, but I always quite liked it there.’
‘Stay at Lengroth,’ Daisy said promptly. ‘Ryan would be miserable away from Lengroth. And besides, I think you need us.’
Cal smiled. ‘I think I do, too. Well, that’s decided, then.’
And with that one thing sorted, things began to fall into place.
Anna’s editor wasn’t exactly accommodating now there were no engagement photos to publish, but eventually they reached an agreement. He refused to let Anna back into the castle, but did submit to a lengthy, open and honest phone interview with one of her colleagues, and agreed that they could use the photos Anna had taken at Lengroth.
People were still going to talk. A lot. But Cal didn’t care. The truth was the truth, and lying about it wouldn’t change it.
He did have to sit down with Daisy and Ryan and tell them everything, however, in the most age-appropriate way he could manage. Apparently they were far better eavesdroppers than he’d given them credit for—as was Mrs Peterson. And the housekeeper had been far less discreet than he’d hoped.
Which was another uncomfortable conversation he’d have to have...
Cal cornered the housekeeper who’d run Lengroth like clockwork since he was a child as she was making apple pie.
‘When you called me the night Ross died you told me they were coming home from a party. But that was a lie, wasn’t it?’
She shook the flour from her hands. ‘It was.’
‘Why?’
‘Because that’s what we do at Lengroth. We hide the things we don’t want other people to see.’
‘Not any more,’ Cal said firmly. ‘Sit down and tell me the truth.’
And she did. She told him about all the women Ross had paraded through the castle, right in front of his wife and children. About the late-night poker games when the attendees had ended up taking home precious heirlooms instead of the money Ross owed them.
‘Why didn’t you call me? Tell me what was happening?’
Mrs Peterson shrugged. ‘He was the Earl.’
‘And the night they died?’
‘Janey lost her patience—finally. I don’t know what it was that did it, but it could have been any one of a hundred things Ross did. She told him she was leaving—packed a bag and everything.’
‘She didn’t take the kids?’
‘I think she knew that Ross wouldn’t let her. And as the Earl he had more power. I don’t know. I don’t think she was thinking straight. They’d both been drinking, I know that.’
‘So what happened?’
Mrs Peterson toyed with the apple peeler on the table. ‘She got in the car, ready to drive away, but he forced his way into the passenger seat. Told her she couldn’t go anywhere without him—people would talk. She drove off anyway. And that was the last time I ever saw them alive.’
Cal shuddered, thankful beyond belief that Janey hadn’t tried to take the children. He might have lost everyone in one awful night, and all because Ross hadn’t wanted the world to know that his wife was leaving him.
The magazine hit the stands the next day, with the article and photos already up on the website and gaining comments the night before. Cal woke that morning to a throng of reporters gathered around the gates, waiting for a comment.
‘What do I do with them?’ Mrs Peterson asked.
Cal shrugged. ‘Offer them a cup of tea?’
He’d told the truth, answered the questions, and now it was up to others to think what they wanted about it.
Inside Lengroth Castle with Daisy and Ryan, his family, he felt safe and happy. Or as happy as he could be with a hole in his home where Heather should be.
