Page 110 of One More Christmas at the Castle
‘Sabine once told me that Faye had made her way to America after she’d run away and went back there after she claimed her inheritance, so she must have met someone out there and had the child – your father, Dido.’
‘Dad vaguely remembers being in what he thinks was a hippy commune in California, but he was only about four when Granny Celia adopted him. I’m sure he doesn’t knowany more about Faye than I did. Granny never would talk about her.’
‘Adoptive parents can be like that sometimes,’ Nancy observed, sagely. ‘And given Faye’s past behaviour, it’s hardly surprising that your granny wanted to forget about Faye, and about any connection to the family here at the Castle.’
‘I suppose so,’ I agreed. ‘And I must say that nothing I’ve been hearing about Faye has made me happy to be related to her!’
‘Oh, I don’t think she wasbad, just silly and very self-centred,’ Nancy assured me. ‘One of those people who think only of themselves and whattheywant.’
But those were hardly endearing qualities, either!
I realized Xan had been right to tell Nancy and get the benefit of her common sense advice about the situation we found ourselves in.
I’d started to feel less shaky and managed to smile at Nancy.
‘It’s been a shock and it’ll take me some time before it all sinks in, but what’s important right now is that we make sure Mrs Powys doesn’t find out, so Henry and I can carry on doing the job we were hired to do – and make sure her Christmas is everything she longed for.’
‘But my dear child,’ began Nancy, ‘you can’t deny the relationship. Your grandmother was brought up in this very house!’
‘I know, and perhaps that explains the odd feeling of connection with it that I’ve had from the moment I got here,’ I admitted. ‘But as to the relationship, I’m only the daughter of an illegitimate child of Mrs Powys’s hated half-sister,’ I pointed out. ‘What’s the point of dragging that out into the open? Can’t we just quietly pretend we never discovered it at all?’
I saw her exchange a glance with Xan that puzzled me and then she said rather drily, ‘I don’t think there will be any need to tell Sabine, do you, Xan? And hereisSabine,’ she added asthe door opened once more. ‘Have you come to find out where I’ve got to, Sabine?’
‘Yes, you’ve been ages, Nancy!’
Her cool blue eyes took us all in and she raised one pencilled dark eyebrow.
‘Why are you all standing around like a group of conspirators?’
‘Because we’ve just worked out exactly who Dido is – Faye’s granddaughter. But of course you already knew that,’ Nancy said calmly. ‘I was sure you were holding out on me aboutsomething, Sabine, but I have to say, this has all come as quite a surprise!’
‘That’s the understatement of the century,’ I muttered involuntarily, and Xan made a small snorting noise as if he was trying not to laugh, though laughing was the last thingIfelt like doing at that moment.
Mrs Powys looked perfectly composed as her glacial eyes briefly rested on me.
‘Yes, I’ve known about Dido’s father since that Sedley Jones woman adopted him, but I only found out about Dido fairly recently. I was sure she didn’t know, andIhad no intention of telling her or anyone else – even you, Nancy.’
‘But –howdid you know?’ I asked blankly.
‘The solicitor informed me when Faye came back to claim her inheritance – and that she’d had an illegitimate child, which her mother’s cousin was to adopt. I had a private detective take a picture of the boy, out of curiosity, but he was totally nondescript and uninteresting … and I didn’t give him another thought until recently, when I suddenly wondered how he’d turned out.’
‘I see,’ said Nancy. ‘Dido says her father is the curator of an extensive private art collection in California, so he’s done very well. I suppose he takes after your father in that way, Sabine?He had an interest in an antique shop in London and used to buy stock at country house sales for it, didn’t he?’
‘Yes, and when I had a more recent photo sent to me, I realized he looked a little like my father, too.’
‘I thought there was something familiar aboutDidoas soon as I saw her,’ Nancy reminded her.
‘I can’t imagine what, since she’s only related through my father, and she doesn’t look anything like the Mordue side of the family.’
‘So, when your private detective checked up on what Dido’s father was doing now, he discovered there was another generation – Dido?’ said Xan.
Sabine nodded. ‘And when he told me that she and Henry were running this house party service, just when Maria had become unable to cope on her own and I needed help over Christmas – well, it seemed somehow meant to be.’
‘But surely, knowing who I was, you couldn’t want me in the same house?’ I said, puzzled.
‘I was curious, and since neither you nor your father had ever contacted me, I was sure you couldn’t know about the relationship.’ She shrugged her thin, elegant shoulders. ‘Heavenly Houseparties sounded just what I needed and I could assuage my curiosity at the same time, without you ever discovering the truth.’
Nancy was eyeing her narrowly. ‘I don’t think that was entirely fair to Dido, Sabine.’
