Page 17 of A Sky Full of Stars
Charlotte was shocked at the vehemence in Lorelai’s tone as she spoke. ‘I’m sure he was grateful to her,’ she said as there was a pause between them. ‘Perhaps he just didn’t know how to show it.’
Lorelai smiled briefly. ‘Well, that’s as may be, but in the end, it didn’t matter. As the surviving sibling, and as a result of a covenant in their parents’ will that stipulated, should one sibling die without issue, their share of the land would revert to the surviving sibling, the sister inherited it all. Once she had the documents in her possession, she decided, not before time, to sell it.’
‘And now it’s going to be developed by the professionals,’ Charlotte replied, ‘which, I suppose, is where I come in.’
‘Exactly,’ Lorelai smiled. ‘It should have happened years ago. It should have happened after—’ She broke off again, and Charlotte could see that she was struggling to speak.
‘After what, Lorelai?’ she asked gently.
‘After the accident that killed Martin and Laura,’ Lorelai said quietly.
Then, it all clicked into place. Charlotte nearly dropped her cup of tea. ‘You’rethe landowner, aren’t you, Lorelai?’
Lorelai nodded. ‘I think now you can see why it’s taken so long to get the site redeveloped,’ she said quietly.
As their conversation drew to a close, Lorelai stood up from the bench, and Comet jumped straight down, too. ‘I hope this doesn’t cloud your judgement about the job you have to do,’ Lorelai said as she reached for their now empty mugs and put them on the tray with the biscuit plate, also now empty. ‘I want you to know that you have my blessing, in the work that you’re doing at the observatory. You must be free to preserve what you see as important, and unlike me, Tristan or the Lower Brambleton Astronomical Society, you don’t have the emotional baggage to cloud your judgement. That’s why, as part of the land sale, I stipulated that an outsider needed to come in to do the decommissioning. No one who was involved in the history would be objective enough to take those final decisions.’
‘I promise I’ll take good care of everything,’ Charlotte said quietly. ‘You can trust me, Lorelai.’
‘I know I can,’ Lorelai replied. ‘I had a feeling about you when we first met, and I’m sure you won’t disappoint me. And perhaps you can see now why Tristan can be a little abrupt at times. He’s very overprotective of me, his sister, and the children. He doesn’t talk about things: from the moment he found out his parents were gone, something in him just shut off. He’s of a type that won’t discuss his emotions, and no amount of counselling really helped. He’s thrown himself into work for years and managing the building project may well be the closest he gets to an act of catharsis.’
‘It must be hard for you all,’ Charlotte said. ‘The observatory is such a part of your family history. Won’t it be awful seeing it torn down?’
‘We all share one thing in common,’ Lorelai replied, ‘and that’s the sense that moving forward is the healthiest thing we can do. We, Tristan, Thea and I, were denied that for so long. Now we can finally do it, it’s an enormous relief.’
‘I can see that,’ Charlotte replied. She was someone who did try to cling to the past, afraid of forgetting, of letting go of things, but then, as Lorelai had correctly observed, she hadn’t suffered the kind of trauma and loss that this family had. In their shoes, would she really have been any different?
18
Mind spinning from what Lorelai had revealed to her, Charlotte decided that she needed to clear her head and get some air. And possibly something stronger. She was just debating what to do with herself when there was the sound of a van pulling up in the driveway. Realising it must be Nick Saint with her delivery, she hurried out to the front of the cottage to meet him.
‘Here you go,’ Nick said as he unloaded the three paper bags of groceries from the back of the blue van, which had ‘Saints Farm, Local Produce’ emblazoned in gold on the side. ‘I hope you enjoy your purchases.’ He paused before adding, ‘And if you want to order directly from the website, it might save you and the dog a trip next time.’
‘Thanks,’ Charlotte replied. ‘I’ll bear that in mind, although the shop’s so lovely, it was great to look around.’
She declined Nick’s offer to help her into the house with her bags, but as he was about to leave, he turned back to her. ‘Look, er, I wanted to apologise about the way Dad was when he spoke to you about Observatory Field. He’s still coming to terms with the fact that it’s all going to change up there, and there are quite a few people like him, whose feelings are still running high about the whole thing. He didn’t mean it personally, and I wouldn’t want you to think it was an attack on what you’re doing. He’ll come around in time.’
‘Thanks.’ Charlotte, who hadn’t been at all worried by the older man’s abruptness, was surprised at Nick’s attempt to apologise for this father. ‘I didn’t give it a second thought, but I appreciate the check-in. It’s not surprising he feels aggrieved about it, given, er, everything that’s happened up there…’ She trailed off, unsure if she should allude any further to the information that Lorelai had given her. Small villages like this were notorious for folklore and gossip, and a tragedy was bound to still be very much in everyone’s consciousness, even after all this time.
Nick nodded briefly, seeming to understand. ‘Well, I’ll be off then,’ he said, then grinned. ‘If I hurry, I might just catch the last few overs of the game at the cricket club. I asked them to put me in late to bat.’
‘Wouldn’t want you to miss your moment of glory!’ An amused voice came from further down the driveway, and as Charlotte turned to see who it was, she saw the familiar faces of Lorelai’s great-grandchildren, followed up by an attractive woman with brownish-blonde hair and a broad smile on her extremely pretty face.
‘Thea!’ Nick’s grin was broad as Thea approached them both. ‘Long time no see.’ Charlotte watched as he gave the other woman a slightly awkward hug. Thea seemed equally pleased to see him, and Charlotte was sure she saw her blushing slightly as Nick released her.
‘It’s been a while,’ Thea agreed. ‘Time flies when you’re wrangling two children.’
‘Hey, guys.’ Nick smiled down at Cora and Dylan. ‘Nice to see you, too.’
The kids said hello and then scampered off to see their great-grandmother.
‘Hi.’ The woman turned and smiled at Charlotte. ‘I’m Thea Ashcombe. Are you helping Nick out with his deliveries?’
Charlotte grinned. ‘Nope – I’m living here. Nick’s just dropped off my order.’
‘Oh, right – you’re the new lodger.’ Charlotte felt as though she was under scrutiny as Thea glanced her up and down. ‘My brother told me about you. And your dog.’ Then, Thea gave a smile, which seemed to undercut the bluntness of her statement. She thrust forward a hand. ‘It’s nice to meet you. The kids really loved playing with your spaniel.’
Charlotte relaxed again. It was only natural for Lorelai’s grandchildren to be a little cautious about anyone sharing her space, but it seemed that Comet had smoothed her path. ‘Nice to meet you too. You’re, er, Tristan’s sister?’
