Page 54 of The Granddaughter's Irish Secret
‘No, this Philip Lincoln said they live in a bungalow near what was their family home.’ Rose paused, trying to figure out Noel’s connection with the family. ‘So he must be – what? Your second cousin or something?’
‘Yes, something like that,’ Noel replied with a worried glance at Rose. ‘But we never met. My father didn’t have much to do with his mother’s family. No idea why. Maybe because they were in Cork and the Quinns are so very rooted in Kerry. And we were so close to my mother’s German relatives. You know how that can be with families.’
‘Yes,’ Rose said, thinking of her mother’s family and how they had never been very close or even met much through the years. ‘Some families seem to overpower everyone, or something. The Fleurys are certainly such a family. Probably because of all the strong women.’
‘Matriarchal,’ Noel said. ‘The Quinns certainly were. Not my mother so much as she was from Germany, but my grandmothertook on this Quinn persona very early on and became the ruling force. Her Cork roots seem to have disappeared when she married.’
‘Yes, they probably did.’
They drove on for a while without speaking, both lost in thought, the tension between them easing a little. Then Noel turned to Rose. ‘I don’t want you to think I was deliberately keeping my Lincoln connections from you. It was just so confusing and I didn’t believe it until I saw it in black and white in a document at our house.’
Rose nodded, still feeling hurt and angry, trying to keep her voice calm. She remembered Noel’s initial reaction to the necklace all those months ago. Did he have a hidden agenda? She felt as if she was second guessing everything he did now: his kindness, his interest, their connection. ‘I understand that it was very confusing, but you should have told me. Lincoln is a common name, so it might not have meant anything at all.’
‘No, that’s true. It didn’t resonate with me at all at first.’
‘What was it that made you realise your grandmother was one ofthoseLincolns?’ Rose asked.
‘The name of the house,’ Noel replied. ‘I had a vague memory of that name being mentioned sometime just before my granny died. I was going to tell you over lunch, before we met Penny Lincoln. But then I just couldn’t hold it in any more.’ He looked at Rose. ‘There is something else I need to tell you. But that has to wait until the right moment.’ He drove in silence for a moment and then pressed the accelerator, speeding up once they had reached the main road to Kenmare. ‘We’d better hurry or we won’t have time for lunch,’ he said.
‘Yes. It’s getting a little late,’ Rose agreed, wondering about that other thing he wanted to tell her.Probably that he’s in love with that old girlfriend Sally, Rose thought bitterly.And that he has finally found his true love and they are getting married…She had a fleeting image of watching Noel walk down the aisle with some pretty woman, looking blissfully happy while Rose stood by and watched, fighting back tears. That image told her that she was still in love with him despite everything. Yes, he had kept his connection secret and that had disappointed her. She was still angry with him about that, and it would take a while before she could forgive him. But him being in love with another woman was another matter, and much harder to cope with.
Noel drove carefully down the steep, narrow road into Kenmare while Rose tried to shake off her feeling of impending doom. They had become close during the past weeks while they searched for clues, and now she began to understand his interest in the mystery. How strange that he was related to the Lincolns, and that Iseult had held his grandmother in her arms, probably doting on the baby as she had had none of her own.
Noel parked the car just off the main square and they walked to the restaurant he had picked. It had tables outside in a tiny front garden behind a low hedge. The cuisine was French and the menu had a mouthwatering array of dishes that made Rose hungry just reading the descriptions. She finally picked a salade niçoise, which was served with a freshly baked baguette and vinaigrette dressing. Noel ordered an omelette with chips and a green salad, all of which was served in record time, which suited them as they were in a hurry.
‘So—’ Rose put down her knife and fork, having eaten half her salad ‘—we should talk.’
‘I thought we already did,’ Noel said, taking a gulp of water. ‘I told you about my grandmother and the Lincolns. I know you’re upset with me for not telling you. And I’m truly sorry about that.’
‘I know. I don’t want to talk about that right now. But you have to fill in the gaps,’ Rose explained. ‘Whatever else you know.’
‘There isn’t much more,’ Noel said, looking apprehensive. ‘I know I should have told you when the name of the house came up. I knew then that I was somehow related to the family who owned it. But I didn’t know how. I didn’t want to stir up trouble or make you suspicious of me. I had to work out exactly what connection my grandmother had with this family. In any case, I never thought they might have anything to do with the necklace.’
‘But now I think maybe they did,’ Rose said. ‘And that’s what we have to find out.’
‘We will of course,’ Noel agreed. ‘All will be clear once we meet Penny Lincoln. She’s the one who would have all the clues, I’d say.’
‘And the real necklace,’ Rose said. ‘I just want to see and touch it, even if I can’t have it. I want to be able to tell Granny what happened to it, and where it is.’
‘Of course you do,’ Noel said, looking at her with sympathy. ‘But don’t be upset if you can’t have it. There’s no way you could prove you have more right to it than Penny Lincoln. It could be that Iseult herself gave it to her stepdaughter or stepson, then had the copy made, which was handed over to your family instead of the real one. And then it was handed down to their daughters and granddaughters. After all, the rule that it had to be given back to the Fleury family was never any kind of contract or law that was written down anywhere. It was just a family understanding, as far as I could gather.’
‘I never saw anything like that in writing,’ Rose said. ‘So you must be right, even if it’s disappointing.’
He smiled and touched her cheek. ‘Don’t be sad. It’s just a piece of jewellery. You have so many other things to be proud of.’
‘I’m not sad about that,’ Rose said, the light touch of his hand on her cheek affecting her heartbeat, even though she was still hurt.
But when they were back in the car, he raised the subject again. ‘Look, Rose, I know you’re upset about me not telling you, but you’re blowing it out of all proportion. Of course I should have told you everything but you know the reason why.’
‘Yes,’ she said, staring ahead. ‘It’s just that I hate secrets. I hate people not telling me things and keeping it to themselves. Granny did that to us the year before last, and we had to go through a lot of arguing and cajoling before she told us we might lose Magnolia Manor. Gavin, my ex, had a lot of secrets too, which I didn’t find out about until recently.’ She turned to face Noel. ‘And now you. I feel kind of cheated and lied to when this happens. And then I wonder what else you haven’t told me.’
Noel looked taken aback. ‘Oh I see. Old traumas coming back to haunt you.’
‘Something like that,’ Rose admitted.
‘I see. That’s what I suspected. Secrets are a pain anyway. Hard to keep and difficult to tell.’ Noel paused and looked into her eyes. ‘Rose, please believe that I have told you everything that I know about Iseult and the Lincolns and my connection to them. There is nothing else, I swear.’
Rose nodded, touched by his sincere tone and the honesty in his eyes. ‘All right. I believe you. I guess this trip is more emotional for you now. The Lincolns are your family.’
