Page 75 of Last Letter Home
He leaned forward and, setting his goblet on the table, stared across at her. ‘I would like to know what’s in them. It’s my father I’m thinking about. He’s elderly, you see, and he worries about these things.’
‘What would he be worried about?’
‘That there’s something detrimental in them about his father – my grandfather that is – Ivor. I’m not sure what it is exactly, he won’t say. It all started when I told him about you that time you came to stay at Westbury Lodge. It seemed to upset him.’
‘I didn’t mean to upset anyone.’ Briony’s nerves were on edge. She thought of the farmer, David Andrews, and his wife Alison, how her visit had disturbed them, too.
‘I’m not saying that you did. Tell me about the letters, though, Briony. Do they mention my grandfather?’
‘They do, yes. I’m not sure how much background you know?’
‘Only that Paul was a German who worked on the estate as a gardener and there was some animosity between the two of them.’
‘Yes, that’s more or less it. They both fancied the same woman – that was Sarah – but it was more than that. Your grandfather disliked him because he thought he couldn’t trust him, saw him as the enemy. Then they ended up in the army together in Egypt.’
‘Perhaps I should flick through them, then, just to reassure my dad.’ Greg’s voice was very mild and reasonable and Briony didn’t know why a feeling of reluctance came over her. She had to force herself to stand up and fetch her bag. She brought out the cigar box, thinking how light and inconsequential it was. When she opened it, she saw that in her rush last night she’d not put everything back tidily. ‘Apologies,’ she said, ‘it’s a bit of a jumble.’
‘No worries. I’ll sort them out.’ They were standing very close together now, so close she could smell his expensive cologne. She glanced up into the friendly, wide-spaced eyes, then down at the box in her hand.
‘Let’s have a look,’ he said and he came and sat down close beside her on her sofa and took the first letter from the pile. She watched him open it and frown at the difficult handwriting. Greg listened carefully as she read it out to him, tapping the table with the side of his finger. ‘I see,’ he said, somewhat mysteriously. ‘And what about this one?’
The next he picked out was so plainly a love letter that Briony felt self-conscious reading it aloud to this man who sat so close. She did so quickly and folded it away. ‘There are several in that vein,’ she told him.
‘He has a way with words, this Paul,’ Greg said in a caressing voice that made her feel uncomfortable and she felt herself shrink away from him on the sofa, wishing now that she hadn’t come.
Greg smiled, his eyes glinting. ‘Nothing about my grandfather so far.’
‘There’s mention of him later in some of the ones sent from Egypt, but I still have one or two to read. I had to stop last night because I had work to do.’ Why did she feel so on edge?
‘What do they say?’ His voice had a harsher tone this time. Suddenly she wanted very much to go home. She closed the box and started to stand up. ‘Briony, please. I tell you what, perhaps I can keep them, ask my PA to photocopy them in the morning and courier them back to you?’
‘No, I don’t feel I can do that,’ she whispered.
He stood up too. ‘Why not? You can trust me with them, can’t you?’ He looked so pleading and she couldn’t say what it was that troubled her.
‘I’ll finish reading them and type them up. That’s what I did with Sarah’s letters.’
‘Ah yes, Luke sent me the transcript.’
‘He did?’ That was annoying of Luke, but then he wasn’t to know.
‘Yes. In respect of the garden, of course. The letters were extremely interesting. There’s not much about old Ivor, but there is a bit where Sarah tells Paul she thinks my grandfather really has a bit of a thing for her. So you’re right.’
‘She talks about it several times.’
‘It’s what my dad thought, too.’
‘Perhaps I ought to meet your father sometime and swap information.’
‘I don’t think in his current frame of mind that he’d want that.’ Again, that whisper of danger.
Briony took up the cigar box and fitted the elastic band round it. ‘In that case, we’ll have to talk once I’ve made the transcript. I’m sure I’ll be able to reassure him. It’s no crime, after all, for two men to have disliked or distrusted one another.’
‘No, you’re quite right. I can’t think why he’s so worked up about the matter.’
She drew her bag towards her and fitted the box inside, then stood and turned to face him. ‘Please don’t worry, Greg. I’m not trying to make anyone unhappy, just to find out some things about my own family.’
‘What if you dig up something you’d rather lay forgotten, Briony? Have you thought of that?’ Although he smiled, she sensed seriousness behind his words.
