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Nanny Kline nodded. “She left because Duke Hervey was incapable of helping her see that he cared for her. I know he did. I was with the family almost all of Lady Cassandra’s life.” She wrung her hands nervously in her lap. “Right before she left, the Duke asked me to come and see him. I no longer worked for them, but he valued my counsel. He knew how much I loved – will always love – Cassie. He was worried about the path Cassandra was treading. Her mother’s death upset her greatly, and she’d started to rebel in ways that were very unlike her.”
What had Cass said to him? She regretted many of her actions.
“Before Miranda died, Cass was a free-spirited happy girl. Always running and skipping and jumping. She was obsessed with becoming a journalist. She would carry around a little digital camcorder she’d saved up to buy and film everything, then go to her room and earnestly transcribe her notes. She was so focussed on it. Then, Miranda died, and a part of Cassie died with her. She bottled up all the things she’d loved to do, and refused to look at them again.”
Benedict felt his skin prickle. That wasn’t exactly true. Cassandra had picked up those passions again, only four years later, on the other side of the world. Kate Harris sounded a lot like Lady Cassandra Hervey as a child.
“You were let go shortly after Miran
da died?”
“Yes.” Her eyes showed her hurt. “The new duchess felt a fresh start would be better. Most of the household staff were let go and replaced by domestics of her choosing. Lady Cassandra no longer required a nanny. Peter had kept me on years longer than was necessary, because of Aria.”
“Aria?” He frowned, thrown by the new addition of a name in the mix.
She sighed. “My daughter.”
He looked around, and nodded towards the scribbled drawings that were given pride of place on the stainless steel refrigerator.
Katherine beamed. “Yes. She’s quite the artist in the making.”
“Indeed.” He agreed, then turned his attention back to Cassandra’s nanny. This was all very well and good, but he wasn’t sure it was leading anywhere helpful. “I had already surmised that Cassandra ran away because she didn’t feel as loved as she should have. She’s more or less said as much to me. I won’t take up more of your time.” He stood but her hand grabbing at his suit jacked made him pause.
“No, no, wait. Let me finish.” She rubbed a hand through her hair. “You have to understand, I am a good person, Mr Savarin, and I love Cassie like my own. I love her so much.”
He could see it in her face. “I do believe you, Katherine.” He sat back down. “But Cassandra hurt a lot of people, you included. Life deals everyone tough blows. She should have stayed here and fought her way through it.”
“Easy for you to say,” she snapped, and he saw her suddenly as a mother bear, protecting her cub. It endeared her to him, that she was so clearly devoted to her ex-charge.
“I believe adversity is the great test of a person’s character.” He had dealt with more than his fair share, and never run away. Until now, a small voice inside his head shouted at him.
“Cassandra had adversity piled on her from too young an age to believe. If it weren’t for me, she would have been cuddled once a month at the most.” Benedict felt his heart contract for the beautiful and affectionate woman Cassandra had grown into. Obviously that was in no small part thanks to the woman sitting across from him now.
“Aria is six.”
He moved his hands beneath the table to remove the temptation to tap them against the table top in his edgy state. “Your daughter?”
She nodded. “When she was two,” she looked up at him meaningfully, “Right before Cassandra left, that’s when the Duke contact me, to ask me for help.” A blush stole across her face and Benedict leaned forward imperceptibly. Here, they were getting to something important.
“Go on,” he urged quietly.
She nodded, but her fingers toyed nervously with her tea cup. “Aria was born with a hole in her heart. It’s an operable condition, but there was a lengthy waiting list. Her health was declining, and I was desperate. Her specialist had done everything he could to expedite the procedure, but there were too many babies ahead of her, still. I was desperate.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “There’s a specialist centre in America that performs the operation. Only... it’s very expensive.”
Dread trickled down his spine like someone had poured ice cold water there instead. He kept his face impassive, but his eyes flashed with understanding. “Let me guess. Around a million pounds?” He drawled.
“Up to, yes.” She nodded. “You have to understand. I was desperate. I was hardly sleeping because I had to be up almost all night monitoring Aria, and money was very tight, so I was working days, while my husband stayed home with her and then he worked nights. It was a terrible time in our lives. I think it drove me almost crazy.”
So much of this sounded familiar. He had vague memories of his own mother at the time when he was so severely ill. He knew too that a mother’s love could not be shaped by the law. Actions that might have previously seemed reprehensible suddenly became justifiable, where your child was concerned.
Another shard of conversation with Cassandra flooded back to him. How staunchly she’d defended sick children, and their rights to treatment.
“Cassandra knew about Aria?”
Katherine’s eyes were bright with unshed tears. “Yes. She knew. She begged her father to let her access her trust fund. She wanted to give me the money.” She shook her head. “He said no.”
“Did he know what it was for?”
“No. And Lady Cassandra was not in the best circle of friends. I believe Peter thought she’d start going down darker and darker roads if she could access large sums of money whenever she wished.”
