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“Prove?” I ask.
“You would need to give an affidavit of your own observations, a diary showing as many examples as possible when he was forgetful or confused. Any additional statements from friends would help, too.”
When she says nothing, George adds, “I will of course see Morris and Sweeny, and will do my best to negotiate on your behalf, but I cannot promise it’ll succeed. They are no longer in my employ or under my authority.” He gets to his feet. “You will have to think carefully about this. Believe me I understand it’s a difficult thing to do to a beloved family member.”
He comes from behind the desk. We stand up too.
“But they’re coming tomorrow, with bulldozer.” Elodie’s eyes are glassy with unshed tears as she looks at me. The bulldozers will destroy what I’ve spent the last six weeks creating.
“I will arrange for a temporary Stay of Proceedings.” George says. “It will pause the sale for the next two weeks and stop them coming into the property.”
As he walks with us to the front door, Elodie finally turns to him and asks, “Can you please not tell anyone about this? Not yet.”
Chapter Fifty
Elodie
We walk out through the Du Montfort estate and over the wooden bridge into the fields. It’s already dark and our feet crunch over gravel and loose earth, our steps in sync. Hal says nothing for ages, I love him so much for giving me time to think.
I try to think, but all my mind does is play back memories. Grandad’s face when he held my hand and told me,You’re a good girl, Elodie. It’s good havin’ you here.
That horrible day in Manchester when he was the only one to call and wish me happy birthday. His kindness to Doris the day she burned the chicken bought with the last of the money.
He is not senile. I can’t forget his bright intelligent eyes when he talked about the war, about mead and the song of Taliesin, his extraordinary memory that knows everything about every single one of his beehives.
And he is proud, refusing to let me use my money when the kitchen cupboards had nothing in them.
He’s been so generous to me, giving me free reign with the honey shop.Hishoney shop. Giving me everything. The only thing he has left is his good name.
You hold on to your pride, Elodie. People can take your money, your job, even that useless ex-boyfriend a’ yours. But never let them take away your good name and your self-respect. Be proud!”
Am I really going to take that away from him and tell the world that he’s senile?
“I didn’t know George had to do that with his own father.” Hal finally breaks the silence. “When Pierre introduced us to him last month, Lord M seemed as sane and sharp as any of us. Yet, as George says, he was making bad decisions that could have jeopardised the entire island.”
His words feel like a serrated knife dragging along my nerves.
“It’s not the same.” My sharp tone stops him, and our footsteps are no longer in sync.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, it’s different.” I explain. “The island is George’s birth-right, his inheritance. He had a duty to protect it. I don’t have a right to Labri Catch, it’s not mine.”
If I’d still been in Manchester, Grandad wouldn’t have thought of giving me the shop, or the house. “I don’t have the right to take him to court and force him to give up control over his own life and his own property.”
“Elodie…” He starts, his voice reasonable, but I hold up a hand and he stops.
Whatever he wants to say, I can’t listen. It’s…it’s…a horrible thing. Even George Du Montfort said it wasn’t an easy thing to do to a beloved family member. And he talked as if the problems with his own father had been going on for ages. He said ‘In the end I had to appeal the court‘.Which means it took time to make sure he really had no other choice. Have I really considered every other avenue?
We walk in the dark. The silence is heavy and thick with unspoken arguments, even the air between us vibrates with his thoughts. I know what he wants me to do, but I’m not ready. I try to think about it, imagine standing up in a court and saying my grandfather has lost his mental faculties. It feels wrong. Actually, it feels like a lie, an expedient lie to overturn the sale contract. Because deep in my soul, I don’t believe it.
“You don’t know anything about him, his life. He lived alone until his mid-forties, then he married my grandmother and five years later she was dead. My parents left him here alone, all alone. The only thing he has is his reputation, his place in this community. The respect people have for him. You know he leads the ceremonies in some of the traditional festivals. He’s an authority. If anyone asks, people say, ‘you should talk to Hedge, he knows’ Grandad has a good name here.”
“Yes, I know.” He agrees with me.
But he doesn’t understand. How could he? He wasn’t there when Terrence Malon wanted to come into the kitchen and sit with him because Grandad had brought him and his wife together.
“Hal, if I do this thing, I turn him from a respected community elder, to an old man gone gaga?” I talk and talk, counting all the people who love and respect him, all the things they told me about him.
