Page 39 of Christmas Spirits at Honeywell House (Ghosts of Rowan Vale #3)

AUbrEY

Aubrey had mixed feelings as he walked slowly back to Harling Hall. He had thoroughly enjoyed meeting his ‘granddaughter’ Clara and had been overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity she’d shown him, especially after she’d been given to believe he wanted nothing to do with her.

Hearing that his wife and son had been happy, and that Aubrey himself was thought of as ‘someone to be proud of’, filled him with joy, as he’d been convinced he would be remembered with scorn, if at all.

But he had a niggling feeling that all wasn’t well with Clara.

Oh, she’d been lovely to him – far nicer than he’d dared to imagine – but beneath the smiles he was certain there was a deep unhappiness there.

She’d put on a good show for him. He recognised it because he’d put on quite a show for her.

Frankly, neither of their declarations of happiness had been convincing.

He mentally shook his head, wondering what to do about the situation with Agnes.

He couldn’t deny that he missed her terribly, even though it had only been a couple of days since their discussion in the garden.

He’d done his utmost to avoid her in the Hall, and when he’d been unfortunate enough to meet her in the hallway or on the landing, he’d merely averted his gaze and passed by.

He simply couldn’t believe she’d deliberately kept him away from Clara and the boys all these years.

That she’d lied to him, blamed Silas, kept them prisoner at Harling Hall, spoiled events for Florence like the 1940s weekend and the Christmas lights switch-on by making sure she never had her parents with her, and had conspired with Lawrie behind his back, judging her own opinion to be far more important than his own.

She’d had no right! She’d pointed out that James had been a rogue.

Well, he’d never denied it and yes, it did fill him with shame.

But the man had come good in the end, hadn’t he?

Besides, just because James had been somewhat ungentlemanly at times, that didn’t mean Clara was cut from the same cloth.

Agnes had condemned Clara for coming to Rowan Vale, even though she’d been aware of the rules. But was what Clara had done anywhere near as bad as what Agnes – with Lawrie’s aid – had done? Aubrey didn’t think so, and it hurt him deeply to think the woman he loved had been so duplicitous.

‘It’s like she didn’t care about my feelings at all,’ he murmured despondently to himself as he strode through the gates and up the drive to the Hall. ‘As if they never mattered to her or weren’t as important as her own.’

He wasn’t sure what he was going to do with himself this evening. He didn’t want to go up to their suite because he didn’t want to be with Agnes. On the other hand, he didn’t want to abandon Florence. Maybe he’d see if their daughter would like to take a stroll around the grounds.

He straightened, jutting his chin out in defiance.

Or maybe, he thought suddenly, he would ask her if she would like to accompany him to the market. He would love to see it in the evening light, with all the illuminations glowing against the dark sky.

He’d seen it as he’d left Clara’s, glancing longingly across the river at the green, where crowds of people were seemingly having a wonderful time, and snatches of ‘The First Nowell’ drifted over to him on the sharp December wind.

He imagined walking between those sweet little huts, smelling the delicious food that Florence had told him about, her little hand in his.

Of course, it would upset Agnes dreadfully, but should he even consider that, given what she’d done?

His posture slumped as he realised that, whether it should be a consideration or not, he knew it would be. He simply couldn’t bring himself to hurt her like that. Wretched woman had a grip on his heart that he couldn’t shrug off so easily.

Well, he’d have to work on that.

His eyes widened as Callie hurried towards him the moment he walked through the front door. She looked quite anxious.

‘How did it go with Clara?’ she whispered.

He nodded. ‘Very well, I thought. She’s a lovely young woman, Callie. I feel terribly proud of her.’

She smiled. ‘I knew you two would get on,’ she whispered.

‘Are we hiding from someone?’ he whispered back, for what reason he couldn’t imagine.

‘Jack’s just arrived,’ she told him, pulling a face that told him this wasn’t good news. ‘He’s come to tear a strip off Lawrie for what he did to Clara all those years ago.’

‘Has he, by Jove?’ Aubrey said grimly. ‘Well, I’d like to be in on this conversation. Excuse me, Callie.’

‘But, Aubrey?—’

For once, though, Aubrey paid her no heed. He marched through the closed door of Lawrie’s sitting room and glared at his former friend.

Lawrie was sitting in his favourite armchair by the fire, listening quietly as Jack – who was perched on the sofa – told him exactly what he thought of him for playing such a dirty trick on his wife.

‘You had no right to do it! And to keep it from me all this time! How could you do that?’

‘Exactly,’ Aubrey said, nodding his head furiously as he sat beside an oblivious Jack. ‘Terrible way to behave. Appalling.’

‘Oh, don’t you start,’ Lawrie said wearily.

‘Pardon?’ Jack snapped.

‘We have a visitor, Jack,’ Lawrie explained. ‘Aubrey’s here now.’

‘Aubrey?’ Jack glanced around him. ‘He is? Well, I should like to know what he thinks of this business.’

‘Very much the same as you, I should think,’ Lawrie admitted. ‘Look, I don’t know what else I can say. I’ve already apologised to you?—’

‘You haven’t apologised to me !’ Aubrey said indignantly.

‘No, Aubrey, I haven’t, but I do so now unreservedly. I am sorry, Aubrey. I’m sorry, Jack. I did what I thought was right at the time and I got it wrong. Hopefully now it’s all out in the open we can put it behind us.’

‘Put it behind us?’ Jack asked incredulously. ‘Have you any idea how much damage has been caused?’

‘Quite so,’ Aubrey agreed. ‘Your actions have caused utter devastation.’

‘Because of you and that interfering old woman?—’

‘Pardon?’ Aubrey said, shocked. He gave an unseeing Jack a fierce glare. ‘Are you referring to Agnes?’

‘—my marriage is hanging by a thread!’

‘What?’ Both Lawrie and Aubrey chorused the word, then looked at each other.

‘You can’t mean that,’ Lawrie said.

‘Of course I mean it. How do you think I feel, eh? Turns out the woman I loved and trusted more than anyone in the world has lied to me ever since the day we met. What sort of future does that give us? Right now, I can’t see a way forward for us.’

‘What a disgraceful thing to say!’ Aubrey gasped.

‘A trifle overdramatic, perhaps?’ Lawrie asked mildly. ‘You two have been married for how long now? Fourteen years, isn’t it? I’m quite sure you have a perfectly wonderful future ahead of you. After all, nothing’s actually changed. You just know a few more facts than you did before.’

Jack glared at him. ‘A few more facts? You mean like the fact that she’s a Wyndham, that she came here when she should never have risked it, and that she didn’t breathe a word about it until she was forced to because Callie found out and decided Aubrey had a right to know.

Or do you mean the fact that she can’t be trusted? Because that’s pretty clear.’

‘Poppycock!’ snapped Aubrey.

‘What a ridiculous thing to say,’ Lawrie said. ‘You’re married. You have three sons together. You’ve built a life at Honeywell House. She’s loved you and supported you in your career. Are you saying all that means nothing because she kept one tiny detail from you?’

Aubrey nodded. ‘Quite so.’

‘And you’re no better,’ Lawrie told him. ‘The way you’ve treated poor Agnes is shocking. I thought better of you than that, Aubrey.’

Aubrey gaped at him. ‘I beg your pardon?’

‘It’s not my pardon you should be begging. It’s Agnes’s. Talking to her the way you did, just because she made a mistake.’

‘A mistake?’ Aubrey gasped. ‘She lied to me and deceived me for fifteen years! She?—’

‘Yes, yes.’ Lawrie waved his hand impatiently, dismissing Aubrey’s protests. ‘We know what she did. We all know what she did. Terrible Clara. Terrible Agnes. Poor, wounded Jack. Poor, wounded Aubrey. Pah!’

Both men stared at him with shocked expressions.

‘Don’t look like that!’ Lawrie chuckled. ‘You look like twins. You have identical expressions on your faces.’

Aubrey cast a sneaky look at Jack, but Jack was now looking suspiciously around him, as if wondering exactly where this ghost was lurking.

‘The only thing that’s been hurt is your pride,’ Lawrie continued. ‘You’ve both been deceived and you feel foolish. Neither of you seem to have given any consideration to how terrible your wives must feel.’

Aubrey opened his mouth to speak but found he had no words. Jack’s mouth tightened but he said nothing.

‘Clara didn’t tell you about our conversation because I warned her that if she didn’t keep her connection to the Wyndhams a secret, I would be forced to ask her to leave. I thought it was for the best. After all, we all know the rule in this village, don’t we?’

‘Yes,’ Jack said, having recovered his voice. ‘We do. And the point is, so did she! And yet she still came to Rowan Vale, knowing what she might be risking. Knowing that it could bring catastrophe to the estate.’

‘But it didn’t, did it?’ Lawrie said with a shrug.

‘All those dire warnings came to nothing. And how can I blame Clara for ignoring that rule to suit herself when I did the same thing? I should have left here when I sold the estate to Callie, but I couldn’t bring myself to go.

I stayed. I allowed my grandson to stay.

How is what I did acceptable to you, yet what your own wife did is not? ’

‘He’s got a point there,’ Aubrey grumbled. ‘And you should think about your children. You can’t possibly be considering ending your marriage when you have three boys and another child due in January.’

‘Clara’s expecting?’ Lawrie asked, delighted. ‘How lovely. A new baby in Rowan Vale.’