Dirty Aristocrat

‘I believe he has a wife, but she is not sick.’

‘Well. Never mind.’

He leaned forward and gently patted my shoulder. ‘You’ll be all right, Lady Greystoke.’

‘Please call me Tawny.’

‘Then you must call me Harry,’ he said with a smile.

‘I will. I always wanted to be close to you because Robert loved you so much, but you were always so cold and horrible to me.’

‘I’m sorry. It was necessary.’ He put his hand into his jacket and held out an envelope.

‘For me?’ I whispered.

He nodded.

‘What is it?’ I asked looking at it.

‘It’s from Robert.’

‘Robert?’ I repeated with a frown.

‘Yes. He knew this day would come. He planned very carefully, Tawny. He loved you so much. You changed him. He said until you came into his life, he was a cold, unfeeling creature. He

always thought of you as the golden child that changed Silas Marner’s life.’

I took the envelope in my hand. It had my name across the front in Robert’s scrawly handwriting. I looked up at Harry, confused and disturbed. ‘But he never left you anything in the

will?’

‘No, if he had then Rosalind would not have trusted me.’

‘But you lost out,’ I said.

He smiled. ‘Everything I wanted I already received while Robert was alive.’

‘No,’ I decided firmly. ‘I’m going to give you the inheritance you deserve. I’m going to see that you’re all right, Harry. I’m going to make you rich.’

He smiled sadly.

‘Why does that make you sad?’ I asked, surprised by his reaction.

‘I was just thinking of Robert. How well he knew us all.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘He told me that the day I gave you this envelope you would give me more than anything he would have. He used the exact words you used. “She’ll make you rich,” he said.’ He sighed.

‘Anyway, I should be going.’

‘Goodbye Harry and thank you so much for everything you have done. You’ll be hearing from my solicitor very soon.’

He smiled. ‘Thank you.’

As he walked away Ivan turned to me. ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘I’ll take you somewhere you can sit and read that letter.’

There were still some policemen loitering about but almost everybody was gone. Carefully, Ivan lifted me up and carried me as if I was a baby to Robert’s study. He took me to Robert’s

favorite chair and lowered me on to the dustsheet. ‘Read your letter and we’ll talk when I come back. There is so much I want to tell you,’ he said.

I grabbed his hand. ‘No, we’ll read it together. No more secrets.’

He smiled. ‘No more secrets,’ he echoed. Hauling me out of the chair, he sat down and pulled me onto his lap.

I stroked the letter and suddenly felt like crying all over again.’

‘It’s OK, my darling,’ Ivan said. Circling my wrist, he brought my hand to his lips and kissed my fingertips.

With great care I opened the envelope and was shocked by the faint fragrance of Robert’s aftershave. I brought it to my nose and inhaled it before it was gone forever.

‘I wanted to call him Daddy,’ I told Ivan.

‘I know. I know you loved him.’

I nodded. ‘Yes, I did.’

My throat closed over and my eyes were blurred with tears. I pulled the letter out. It was only a short letter. Just like Robert. Writing me a letter from the grave and keeping it short.

I cleared my throat and read it aloud. ‘My darling daughter, if you are reading this letter then everything has worked exactly as I planned. You have tipped your hat to the right angle

and allowed the right man to seduce you. He’s wonderful, my stepson, is he not? Have the wonderful life you so richly deserve, my sweet darling. I’ll see you before you see me. Kiss the

baby turtles for me. Love, Daddy. xx’

Tears were pouring down my face.

How much I had underestimated Robert. After his death I allowed myself to become convinced that his illness had made him careless. I believed he had miscalculated and misjudged, but he

had not. He had laid his plans very carefully. He saw things far into the future that neither Ivan, or I had. I folded the letter and put it back into the envelope. Then I lifted my head

and looked into Ivan’s eyes.

‘I can sell this house and you can have the money from the sale.’

To my shock his eyes filled with tears. ‘Oh my darling,’ he breathed. ‘I don’t need your money.’

‘I know about the bank. I went into your drawer. I saw the letters,’ I confessed.

He smiled. ‘Oh, Tawny. I left them there for you to find. I knew you’d have to go looking. Those letters are not real.’

I frowned and shook my head. ‘But they had letterheads and everything on them.’

‘Yeah, you can have those made for nothing these days. I think Theresa still has about ten floating about somewhere.’