Page 13 of An Unholy Affair
‘He had a heart attack.’
‘But… You’re here?’
‘I was in London last night when I got the call.’
Estelle touched his arm. ‘Oh Jack, I’m so, so sorry. Does Henry know? Finn? Connor?’
He shook his head. The emotion squeezing his chest was not for the loss of his father, but for the chasm created between himself and his closest friends by his absence.
‘Do you want me to tell everyone?’ Estelle asked.
He nodded.
‘Oh love. I’m so fucking sorry. Who’s with your mum now?’
‘Em and Steph.’
‘Is there anything I can do?’
He shook his head again. ‘Mum’s in a bit of a state. She, she, er…’ He glanced at Eveline.
‘We can discuss the funeral another time.’ Eveline took a card from her pocket and held it out. ‘The number for the rectory is there. If I’m not in, you can leave a message.’
‘Do you want some company?’ Estelle asked him. ‘I was just coming to see Eveline, but I can—’
‘No.’ He held up his hands and took a step back. ‘It’s okay. You carry on. I need to get back, anyway.’ He forced a smile. ‘It’s good to see you, Stelle.’ He couldn’t meet Eveline’s eyes, so nodded in her direction, then turned and strode away as quickly as he could.
3
Eveline watched Jack’s tall figure as he retreated. Any faster and he would be running.
God? I’m a little delirious right now. What’s happening?
Beside her, Estelle sighed loudly. ‘Poor bastard. It can’t be easy losing your dad, no matter what an arsehole he was.’
‘Estelle!’
Estelle linked her arm through Eveline’s, pulling her towards the rectory.
‘Ah, come on, Eveline. You know what he’s like. He was even more opposed to your supposedly radical plans than Gram-Gram, and that’s saying something.’
Gram-Gram, the Dowager Duchess of Somerset, was an eighty-year-old dragon, and Estelle’s grandmother. She didn’t approve of female priests, nor Eveline’s attempts to make Saint Saviour’s more accessible to the community.
‘So, that was the Jack you’ve mentioned before?’
‘Yep. Me, Henry, Connor, Jack and Finn were best friends growing up.’
‘But… He doesn’t look much like the photos in Nigel and Patricia’s home.’
Estelle gave her the side eye. ‘Aren’t you the one always telling me not to judge a book by its cover?’
Her cheeks burned. ‘No, I’m not, it just seems that Ja—him and his sister appear very different from when they were children.’
‘That’s one way of putting it. Have you got time for a cup of tea? I could do with a fifteen-minute bitch and whine with my bestie.’
Eveline glanced at her watch. ‘Yes, I’ve got a meeting with one of the parish council sub-committees at eleven, so as long as you leave me enough time to get my other chores done before that, we’re good.’
The rectory was a beautiful old stone building that lay to the right of the church and bordered the parkland. It provided rent-free accommodation for Foxbrooke’s vicar and their family, but, as Eveline had yet to marry, she lived in the huge house on her own.
