Page 127 of The Christmas Retreat
I added Caradoc to my name to please her, since she thought Jones too commonplace.
Mrs Fry left us to live with other relatives and we settled at Triskelion. Given the circumstances, Bea seemed happy enough, finding her chief pleasure in purchasing new clothes and persuading me to buy her jewels.
I was so occupied with the aftermath of my friend’s death, as well as the new business, that at first I managed to convince myself that I could make Bea happy.
Slowly, it was borne upon me that I bored her. Not only that, but I began to fancy I sometimes caught a look of actual dislike upon her face.
In compelling her to marry me, I can see I deserved this and certainly it made me no better than her father, and his attempts to make Arwen marry him. Nor do I now think true happiness will ever come of our union.
Also, despite my best efforts, I could never quite banish the recollection of that expression on her face when she pushed her father off the terrace. In my heart, I knew I had not imagined it.
Bea may have grown to hate me – especially since she suspects she may be with child – but as I said at the start of this document, I hope I have wronged my wife in even suspecting her of wishing to cause my death. I want to believe I have, but I cannot quite bring myself to do so.
If my suspicions are true, then telling her of this deposition should keep me safe. What our future lives together will become, I do not know. But I must be prepared to reap what I have sown.
Signed this day, 18 November 1919
Hugh Caradoc-Jones
When Rhys put down the papers, you could have heard a pin drop in the room.
Predictably, it was my mother who broke the silence.
‘Great Bouncing Borgias!’ she said with enormous relish.
41
Relatively Speaking
‘So, as you see, Ginny, the Caradoc family is also tainted with murderandattempted murder,’ Nerys said bitterly, ‘if Hugh’s suspicions about Bea were right. It’s not exactly one you’d feel proud to be related to – or marry into.’
‘That’s the understatement of the year!’ said Rhys.
‘Don’t be silly,’ said Evie crisply. ‘Apart from the fact that Rhys is only related to the Caradocs through his uncle’s marriage to you, Nerys, as I said before, if you delve into almost any family’s history, you’ll find unsavoury things. As to Bea, Caradoc brought what happened on his own head. He was cruel to her and it’s no wonder she flew into a rage and gave him a shove.’
‘Maybe, but then she seems to have tried to finish Hugh off in a very cold-blooded manner,’ Nerys pointed out.
‘But headmitshe brought that on himself by coercing Bea into marrying him,’ Timon said. ‘And he deeply regretted it.’
‘True. Hugh seems to have been a decent man, apart from giving into temptation and making Bea marry him,’ said Evie. ‘And he did say he would have given her her freedom, had sheasked for it. So that just makes Cosmo Caradoc the one really bad apple, and in my opinion, one bad apple doesn’t make the whole barrel rotten.’
‘I think you’re right, Ma,’ I told her. ‘I feel sorry for Bea. I think her father’s treatment of her made her what she was. He didn’t love her, and nor, really, did Hugh. It was just an infatuation.’
‘Rose always said Hugh deeply regretted coercing Bea, but his true nature was a good one,’ said Nerys. ‘He had been under the sway of Caradoc, much the stronger character, since they were at school.’
Everything I now knew had been slowly sinking in and, turning to Rhys, I said, ‘I think the question is, now that you know my heritage, doyoustill want to marryme?’
‘Of course I do!’ he exclaimed, looking dumbfounded. ‘Your mother and Rose were both right: one bad apple needn’t spoil the whole barrel, and I don’t believe that the sins of the fathers – or even great-grandfathers – are visited on the children.’
‘Certainly not,’ said Noel, emphatically.
‘And I don’t believe there’s such a thing as bad blood either,’ agreed Timon. He smiled at his wife. ‘Nerys is evidence of that!’
‘Right, then,’ said Rhys. ‘Now all the dirty laundry has been aired, all we need to do is to discuss how much of all this Evie needs to disclose – if any.’
‘Only what’s really necessary to Arwen’s biography,’ Evie said, ‘in order to do full justice to her life and work. Of course, Caradoc’s appropriation of her paintings is the primary issue.’
Nerys looked anxious.
