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The only change is her salutation. Both are signed off Gran. I only truly noticed when I had them side by side. Her way of including me in the fold even at the very end.
A solitary tear trickles down my cheek and I wipe it away.
What am I doing?
The question has been on repeat since I ran away from Edward, almost giving myself hypothermia in the process. If James hadn’t found me when he did I dread to think what state I would have been in.
Not that I feel much better now.
The freezing wind whips my hair into my face, and I move before I make the same mistake again.
The warmth of the building envelops me, but the chill inside is impossible to shift. I find McAllister already waiting for me in Reception, and he takes me straight through to his office.
‘Coffee, tea...something hot? You look frozen through?’
‘I’m fine, Mr McAllister. Thank you.’
Though it’s obvious I’m not.
‘Call me Charles, please.’
I give a weak smile, a nod. ‘Charles.’
He waves away his receptionist and ushers me into a seat. The same seat I occupied on my previous visit...only Edward isn’t here now. I look to the empty chair, feel the emptiness inside me swell. I conjure up his face, his eyes, his smile...
‘So, what can I do for you, Miss Evans?’
I drag my gaze to his, his friendly face a balm to my tormented soul. ‘I need your help.’
His eyes drop to the letters clutched in my lap and I know he recognises them. ‘That’s what I’m here for.’
‘I need you to tell me if there’s any way I can sign away my rights to Glenrobin so that Edward can have it all.’
It’s not what he’s expecting, and his frown says it all.
‘As I’ve already explained...’ he interleaves his fingers, rests them upon his desk ‘...Katherine’s wish was that you both live there for one year and then—’
‘I know what Katherine wished...’ my grip around the letters tightens ‘...but I can’t live there.’
‘I see.’ He clears his throat, eyes me over his spectacles. ‘Though I have to say, you and Mr Fitzroy seemed quite...happy with the situation at the ball last weekend. Do you mind me asking what’s changed?’
Everything. Nothing.
‘We were. Happy, I mean. But that was before...’ I shake my head, empty it of Edward’s declaration before it breaks me. ‘It doesn’t matter. I just can’t live there any more, Charles, and I want Edward to be able to keep it.’
The silence extends between us and my heart throbs in my chest. What is the man thinking? Why isn’t he speaking? Am I going to have to plead with him to help me?
‘Katherine was a remarkable woman, Miss Evans. One of the most remarkable women I’ve ever met. And it seems she was also something of a soothsayer.’
I frown. ‘A soothsayer? I don’t understand.’
‘This should explain it.’
He reaches into a desk drawer and pulls something out. He slides it across to me. It’s like déjà vu. The same envelope as the two crushed inside my hand.
‘Another letter?’
He nods. ‘I’ll leave you to read it in peace.’
