Page 47 of The Book of Irish Secrets
‘Me too.’ Marian paused. ‘So… You found Louis’ birth certificate? And a note from the doctor stapled to it. What afantastic find. So Louis was the rightful heir – is that what you took from this?’
‘Exactly.’
‘That might cause a few problems if we act on it. I mean,’ Marian explained, ‘if Louis was the true heir, his great-grandson would now be the owner of Magnolia Manor. Patrick, I mean. Our brother.’
‘Yes,’ Claire said. ‘That’s what I was worried about. And when I finally reveal everything to the Fleurys they might think that it’s why I’m here.’
‘Exactly,’ Marian said. ‘So we’ll keep it between ourselves and not tell Patrick, don’t you think?’
‘Yes,’ Claire agreed. She could never imagine her brother claiming his right to the estate, but nevertheless it was safest to keep it a secret. ‘I can’t even begin to imagine what would happen.’
‘It would start a legal process that would take years and cost a fortune.’
‘I came here to make peace between the two branches of our family, not to start some kind of war.’
‘Of course you did,’ Marian said. ‘So let’s leave well enough alone.’
‘But I still need to find out what happened,’ Claire insisted. ‘And to get closure for Louis, even though he’s long dead. I can’t do that until I know the truth.’
‘I suppose that’s still possible,’ Marian said. ‘You have a lot of the facts, so you should try to put it all together, like a jigsaw puzzle. You have to find the missing pieces and put them in the right place.’
‘You’re right,’ Claire agreed. ‘And then I’ll leave,’ Claire declared.
‘Leave?’ Her sister sounded shocked. ‘I understand how awkward you must feel,’ she said. ‘Everyone has been so nice toyou, especially the Fleurys, which makes you feel guilty. But you don’t have to leave, do you? What about Pierce?’
Claire didn’t know what to say, so she swiftly said goodbye and hung up, feeling upset. Then her phone rang and she saw that it was Pierce, which made her forget everything.
‘Hi,’ he said. ‘I hope it’s not too late to call?’
‘No, I just got off the phone with my sister,’ Claire replied.
‘Good.’ He paused. ‘I just called to say… well, that things are getting a little complicated. We were getting to know each other really well and I began to feel we had something good.’
‘I know. Me too.’ Claire felt suddenly cold. She knew by his tone that he was trying to halt things between them, maybe even breaking it off. ‘But maybe we were going too fast?’ she said in order to put his mind at rest. ‘I love being with you and our dates have been such fun.’
‘Yes, I know,’ he said quietly. ‘It was lovely. But as you said, maybe we should take a break and give each other some space?’
‘It’s Jo, isn’t it?’ Claire said without thinking. ‘She doesn’t like you being with someone other than her mother. Just a wild guess, but that’s the feeling I get.’
‘Yeah, well. Partly,’ Pierce said. ‘Other things too.’ He paused for a moment. ‘I have to confess that your actions since you came here have… surprised me. You’ve been telling lies to people who have been nothing but kind to you and I don’t want to be involved in that. I think it would be best for us not to be?—’
‘Oh, okay,’ Claire interrupted, suddenly tired of the discussion. ‘I know lying to Sylvia, Lily, Rose and Vi was not quite nice, but I will tell them everything once I have all the facts. They might hate me forever after this, but at least they will know the truth. But if you can’t grasp what I’m going through, you’re not as understanding as you pretend.’
‘I’m trying my best,’ Pierce protested. ‘But you might see that it’s not easy to…’
‘Goodbye, Pierce,’ Claire said and hung up. Then she threw the phone on the coffee table and burst into tears.
TWENTY-SIX
Claire woke up early the next morning after a restless night. She had stopped crying but had still gone to bed with a feeling of hopelessness. Pierce had backed away and she had hung up on him before they had a chance to talk about what was troubling him. But she had got the message anyway. He didn’t want them to go on the way they were. Partly because of Jo but there had been other reasons, he had said, and then explained exactly how he felt about her actions since she arrived here. Maybe his feelings for her were not what she had thought. Claire decided to wait and see and not try to contact him until after she had told the Fleurys everything. Then she could tell him they knew the whole story and try to make things right between them before she left.
Apart from that, the conversation with Marian had gone round and round in her mind. She had finally fallen asleep, only to wake up a few hours later, staring into the dark, thinking about everything that had happened and how she would continue her research. Claire got out of bed and gathered everything that she had hidden under her bed and put it all on the little table in front of the sofa: Auntie Rachel’s book, Maria Fleury’s strange little copybook diary, her own files and finally,Louis’ birth certificate with that all-important note. Then she made herself some tea and toast and looked over it all, flicking through Auntie Rachel’s book while she absentmindedly chewed on her toast and sipped her tea.
The family tree didn’t tell her much that she didn’t know already, nor did any of the photos, although Claire found details in them that she hadn’t noticed before. The photo of the twin brothers was still fascinating, but now Claire noticed a stiffness between them and body language that told her they might not have been as close as she had thought previously. The look in Cornelius’s eyes seemed resentful somehow, and Louis appeared to be clenching his jaw in an odd way.Hmm, Claire thought,there was something going on there even at an early age… But what?
There was no answer to that, but it was time to get dressed and go to work. Claire decided to leave everything on the table in order to look at it all when she came home that evening. There were things still to discover and it was best to leave it all alone for a while. She needed to keep up appearances until she could reveal who she was and what she had been trying to find out. She took a final look at all the material before she left. Spread out like this, she would have a bird’s eye view of everything. Maybe a eureka moment might happen if she gave herself time to reflect and put all the pieces together. She had been very tempted to leave and go back to Dublin, but now she felt sure she had to stay and reveal everything to the Fleurys and find out what their reaction would be. Leaving like a thief in the night seemed suddenly cowardly and wrong.
As the day progressed, Claire managed nearly all her tasks and was about to go to the kitchen to report to Karina when her phone pinged. It was a text from Rose.
