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With one last longing look at the shop window, I wonder how my life here is any better than in London.
*
When I get in later that day, I hear shouting in the drawing room. I put my bag down, wondering who would have the gall to come into my grandmother’s home and treat her like that. Surely no one on the entire coast would dare to. I’m about to knock, when I recognise Jago’s voice.
‘You know damn well that boat was left to me – and the cottage! If you want to give your granddaughter something, why don’t you give it to her out of your immense assets and leave mine alone?’
‘You know that had absolutely nothing to do with me,’ she answers calmly. ‘If I’d had my way, she’d never have inherited a penny. We were perfectly happy without her and now she’s come to ruin my peace of mind. Every time I see her, I think of all I’ve suffered.’
‘And when you see me?’ he asks. ‘What do you see?’
‘What do I see? I see the face of my dead husband,’ she replies calmly.
I suppress a gasp as tiny shreds of logic begin to coalesce, like metal filings to a lodestone. Jago’s inheritance… Oh my God! Could Jago be my grandfather’s love child?
Oh, come on, I tell myself. This isn’t the Middle Ages. Why would that be a secret nowadays? Unless… it wasn’t. And perhaps… Mary knew. Was that why she hated him so much and why she resented him inheriting from Nano?
Jago snorts. ‘How disappointed you must be, Mary. Don’t say that we’re complete opposites. We have a lot more in common than you like to admit. And you know it.’
Silence, then: ‘Get out of my house, Jago.’
‘Your house? Not for long, old Mary. When you croak, half of this goes to me. And you know what I’m gonna do with it,Grandmother? I’m gonna donate it all to an orphanage. You know what those are, Mary? It’s where they take care ofunwantedchildren. Your comeuppance is nigh.’
He called her grandmother? What the hell is going on? Is he really her grandson? But if he is… what does that make Jago and me? Cousins? Oh my God! Why did she never tell me something so monumental? Now I understand why she was so adamant that we never became close. Not that that’s ever happening.
I hide in the wings until he stalks out of the house and then creep into the drawing room.
‘Grandmother, what was that all about? I thought he waspersona non grataat Heatherton Hall?’
She looks up and spears me with an accusatory look, one eyelid flinching, a telltale sign that she’s hiding something from me.
‘It’s not proper to spy on people, Emily.’
‘I wasn’t spying. I just happened to see him.’
‘And hear him.’
I shrug. ‘Hard not to. The two of you aren’t exactly friends.’
And that’s when Lady Mary Heatherton harrumphs. Like you and me, mere mortals.
‘Grandmother, what did he do to upset you so much?’
‘Pah! Forget him. He’s just a flea – a useless fly.’
‘But why was he here? What does he want, apart from my inheritance?’
She closes her book. ‘You said you weren’t spying.’
‘I wasn’t. I had a run-in with him the other day about assets. I think he might contest Grandfather Nano’s will.’
‘Impossible! He has no right to anything,’ she spits, her face reddening.
‘Grandma,’ I warn. ‘Please don’t get upset. I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m sorry. I’ll sort it.’
‘Pass me my little phone book, Emily, and let me deal with this. The nerve of that lowlife scumbag, thinking he can come in here and dictate…’
There are several options here. Either he’s blackmailing her about something or has a hold over her of a different kind. But what? What ace could he possibly have up his sleeve? Unless… I need to know.
