Page 109 of All We Want for Christmas
Lara nodded.
‘Mainly I’m disappointed because you could have saved yourselves a lot of worry if you had come to us immediately. Because I would have told you a secret that must not go further than these walls.’
Lara stared at Fiona. Henry was smirking.
‘The chalice we used for the party is a twentieth-century replica. You don’t think we’d risk a family heirloom at a drunken ball, do you?’
Flynn made a strangled sound that might have been a swear word that he’d managed to hold back.
‘So it’s not therealchalice?’ Lara said.
Fiona was smiling. ‘No, my dear.’
So, so …thought Lara, she’d confessed for no reason. She hadn’t needed to blurt out the truth – not yet.
‘And I know what you’re thinking,’ Henry cut in. ‘That you could have waited a while longer to tell us the truth?’
Lara shook her head in shame. ‘Yes, I could, but … I shouldn’t have waited, so it’s probably for the best.’
‘Do you feel any better?’ Fiona asked.
Lara realised she’d dug her fingers in the velvet sofa cushion. ‘Not much, though Iamterribly sorry.’
‘Lara, this isn’t just on you,’ Flynn said, placing his hand over hers.
Lara didn’t take her hand away. She needed the warmth and comfort for moral support.
‘Well, this is very touching and chivalrous of you, Flynn, but we haven’t finished telling you everything,’ Henry said. ‘My grandfather had the replica made in the 1920s.’
Lara was still struggling to process the series of revelations: hers and the Penhaligons.
‘Oh. Oh, I see … I’d no idea, but I’ve still damaged the replica.’
‘That one can easily be repaired,’ Fiona said. ‘The original is safely in a vault in London, and has been since Grandpapa had the replica made. We could never risk having such a precious object on display or even here at the castle.’
Flynn squeezed Lara’s hand. ‘So, Lara – we – haven’t destroyed the Luck of Ravendale?’
‘No one can do that,’ Henry said, smiling. ‘As any rational person must realise. I know you two youngsters don’t believe in it.’
‘I don’t,’ Lara said.
Lara thought of Belle, examining the chalice and giving it an odd look and refusing to repair it. Had she known it wasn’t what it was purported to be, yet wouldn’t admit her misgivings? She decided not to mention Belle’s visit for now. It would only complicate things.
Flynn let out a sigh. ‘Thank God for that. Does anyone else know about the replica?’
‘No. No one outside the family and our current solicitors. And the truth must never ever get out,’ Fiona said solemnly. ‘People come to Ravendale to see the Lucky Chalice, sceptics and believers alike. Call it our version of a holy relic. It only has meaning if people believe – or if the rest of us keep its mystique intact. And that,’ this Fiona directed at Lara, ‘you haven’t damaged in any way.’
‘It only has meaning if people believe …’ Flynn mused. ‘Like Santa Claus.’
Henry chortled. ‘Yes, I suppose so.’
‘And, actually, I have a particular reason for keeping that magical secret,’ Flynn said.
Lara glanced at him in surprise.
Fiona leaned forward with intrigue in her eyes. ‘What’s that?’
Flynn related, briefly, the story of Molly and Esme, much to the delight of the Penhaligons. ‘I wanted you to be the first to know apart from Lara,’ he said.
