Page 85 of The Christmas Invitation
I felt quite dazed for the rest of the day as everything I’d learned sank in. Since I found I couldn’t settle to do any work, I went out with Henry when he walked Lass.
On my return, I felt like making a statement, even if I wasn’t quite sure what of, so I went straight upstairs and dyed my hair with the old-rose hair colouring I’d bought in Great Mumming.
‘Gor blimey!’ said Den, sounding like an escapee from Mary Poppins, when he saw me coming downstairs. Then he threw open the drawing-room door and announced, ‘’Ere’s the bleeding Rose of Sharon, ain’t it?’
After the initial surprise, everyone seemed to like the change, and Teddy said he was going to do a new portrait of me.
Clara explained to him that we’d just discovered I was related to the Doome family and then swore him to secrecy until everyone else had been told tomorrow.
‘There isn’t anyone I could tell,’ Teddy pointed out.
‘Well, just in case we have a visitor, or a phone call, don’t mention it,’ said Tottie.
‘Does Mummy know?’
‘Not yet,’ said Clara. ‘We’ll give her a ring and tell her tomorrow, too.’
An idea suddenly struck Teddy. ‘If Meg is Uncle Henry’s niece …’
‘Great-niece,’ amended Clara.
‘Then … does that make her my auntie?’
‘More of a cousin,’ Henry said. ‘By marriage.’
‘Good!’ said Teddy.
I rang Fliss before supper and told her the momentous news. She was very excited, much more than I was, in fact, because I was still in a state of slightly disbelieving shock.
‘It’s like a romantic comedy film, isn’t it, with you as the heroine? The lost heiress!’
‘Except I wasn’t a lost heiress, just a lost illegitimate relative … and the only candidate for the romantic hero part other than Mark, who turns out to be my first cousin, is Lex, who hates me.’
‘It would all work out fine in a film, though, Meg.’
‘Yes, but I’m notina film and tomorrow is probably going to be more like a horror movie, because Clara has arranged for Lex to be here in the morning when she breaks the news to Sybil and Mark. I’m dreading it, because I don’t think any of them are going to be as delighted as she thinks they will – why should they be?’
‘Whyshouldn’tthey?’ Fliss countered. ‘I mean, Henry and Clara are, aren’t they?’
‘Well, yes, but it wasn’t a shock to them and itwillbe to the others. And I don’t think Lex will like it in the least because I’m sure he’s just counting down the days till he can see the back of me for ever.’
‘But now you know you’re part of the family, you’re finally going to have to tell him the truth about what happened, aren’t you?’ she pointed out.
‘I don’t see why I should,’ I replied stubbornly. ‘Let him and Al think whatever stupid things about me they like! He probably wouldn’t believe me anyway.’
‘You know I’m right and he’dhaveto believe you,’ she insisted. ‘Ring me tomorrow, and tell me the next thrilling instalment. I’ll be at a loose end, because Cal’s not back from his business trip till early on Christmas Eve.’
‘I don’t suppose everything will have sunk in, even by then. Maybe I’ll wake up tomorrow and find I dreamed it all.’
‘No, I’m your reality check,’ she said.
I googled Nessa Cassidy and spent a lot of time looking at old photographs online. There was no denying that, apart from the militant expression, she looked exactly like Mum.
25
Relatively Speaking
Needless to say, I didn’t sleep well that night, what with everything going over and over in my head, and the thought of the scene next morning when Clara and Henry told Mark, Sybil and Lex what they’d discovered.
