Page 56 of The Book of Irish Secrets
‘Probably,’ Vi agreed. ‘I learned a lot while waitressing, I have to say. It helped me a lot with my acting later on, just studying people and listening to different accents and so on.’
Noel suddenly sat up. ‘Sorry, but my lawyer brain has just kicked in. What about Louis’ inheritance? The twins must have shared ownership or something as they were born at the same time.’
‘Not the same time, exactly,’ Dominic argued. ‘One of them must have been born first. Could be a matter of minutes, don’t you think? But the firstborn would be the sole heir, would he not?’
Noel nodded. ‘That’s right, he would be. In those days, anyway. It’s different now, of course.’
‘My guess is that it was Cornelius,’ Vi said. ‘I mean, wouldn’t Louis have stayed and claimed his rights if he were the heir? And then he might have made Cornelius and Caroline leave, which would have been his revenge.’
‘I don’t think it was in his nature to look for revenge,’ Sylvia said after exchanging a glance with Claire. ‘He was in love with Caroline and I’m guessing he still felt a certain fondness for her the rest of his life.’
‘Until he met Helen, my great-grandmother,’ Claire cut in. ‘They were very happy together. But I think you’re right, Sylvia. According to my great-aunt, Louis had a very forgiving nature and would not have wanted to hurt Caroline and Cornelius, despite what they did to him.’
‘So he gave up his inheritance?’ Noel asked.
‘Nobody knows who was the true heir,’ Sylvia said. ‘But that’s all in the past, and we don’t want any more family rows, do we?’
‘Of course not,’ Rose declared. ‘Isn’t it great to have peace and the family united at last?’ She raised her glass of wine. ‘I say cheers to Claire and to the Fleury reunion.’
‘Me too,’ Lily said, getting up to clink glasses with Claire. ‘Welcome to the family, Claire.’
They all clinked glasses and then had another drink. Then everyone wanted to talk to Claire and look through the photos inAuntie Rachel’s book, the family tree and what she had written about the Dublin family. Claire was amazed that no one seemed upset about her hidden identity and that she had lied to them all. She watched as they studied Louis and Helen’s wedding photos and those of the children they had had with great interest.
Sylvia pulled Claire and Rose aside while the others were looking through the book. ‘I think that went well, don’t you? Except for Noel bringing up the subject of who was the heir. But that was him being the lawyer and wanting all the legal ducks in a row at all times.’
‘I’ll tell him not to worry about it,’ Rose suggested. ‘It’s not a case he’d want to pursue, anyway.’
‘I should hope not,’ Sylvia remarked drily. ‘Or he’ll have me to deal with.’
‘That should scare him off big time,’ Rose remarked with a wry smile.
‘I think he was just being cautious,’ Claire said. ‘I’d say the legal issue would pop up in his mind whatever the subject.’
‘That’s true. But I want this to stay between us,’ Rose whispered. ‘We have to make sure it will go no further. Nobody knows, except us and Claire’s sister, isn’t that right?’
‘Yes,’ Claire said. ‘Marian is on the same page, absolutely. And our brother doesn’t know anything at all yet. Marian will speak to him, but will leave out the detail of the time Louis was born. What does it matter now anyway?’
‘It would if he was the kind of person to look out for himself at all times,’ Sylvia said. ‘But I’m guessing he’s not.’
‘Not as far as I know,’ Claire said as another person popped into her mind at Sylvia’s words.Hugh, she thought with fear crawling up her spine like tiny ice-cold fingers.He would grab this and tell Patrick just out of spite. But how could he possibly have any idea?
‘I just want to say one more thing,’ Claire said in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear her. ‘I’m really sorry about lying to you all this time. But I didn’t want to tell you who I was until I had proof that Louis existed – more proof than those photos. And I found it in that old diary.’
‘Oh, I wouldn’t call it lying,’ Vi said. ‘Just not telling us the whole truth.’
‘I understand why you kept quiet all this time,’ Lily cut in. ‘But it must have been hard to pretend to be someone else all this time.’
‘It was hard because it made me feel horribly guilty,’ Claire said. ‘You were all so kind to me and made me feel so welcome. And I just accepted your friendship under false pretences.’
‘I’m sure you didn’t mean to hurt anyone,’ Rose said.
‘Of course not,’ Claire agreed, relieved they were all so forgiving.
At that moment, Claire’s phone pinged. She took it out of her pocket, expecting a message from Marian. But it was from Pierce.
Can we meet?
Of course, Claire replied, feeling suddenly hot all over. She had been agonising about him, wondering how she could get in touch with him. She had worried about him still feeling negative about what she had done, but everyone’s reactions today changed everything. Maybe this meant that she could stay here in Kerry?
