Page 12 of The Book of Irish Secrets (Magnolia Manor #5)

A woman with dark hair and eyes stood behind the counter, looking at the screen of a laptop. She looked up as Karina and Claire approached. ‘Hi, Karina. And you must be Claire,’ she said and held out her hand. ‘I’m Lily. Welcome to Magnolia Manor.’

Claire shook hands with Lily, feeling again the same kinship she had felt when she met Rose. ‘Thank you, Lily,’ she said. ‘Nice to meet you.’ She was calmer this time as Lily’s brown eyes studied her for a moment.

‘Rose just texted me to say you were on your way,’ Lily said.

‘Granny will be here in a minute. She said to go ahead and have tea and she’ll be along when she has finished talking to Arnaud.

He’s on his way from France but his business meeting was delayed so he’s flying to Paris instead and then getting on a flight to Farranfore when he can get away.

I hope he’ll be here in time for the birthday party. ’

‘Me too,’ Karina said. ‘So is he staying around for a while after that?’

‘He’ll be here until the end of the summer,’ Lily replied. ‘He’s arriving early this year. So Granny will be pleased.’

‘Those two are amazing the way they can hack a long-distance relationship,’ Karina said. ‘My Brendan is only away for a few days and I’m miserable without him. He’ll be home tomorrow, though, thank goodness. He’s in London on business,’ she explained to Claire.

‘I’m looking forward to meeting him,’ Claire said.

‘Why don’t you show Claire around while I make tea?

’ Lily suggested. ‘Not much to see, except the little museum part over there,’ she said, pointing at an archway through which Claire glimpsed some framed portraits on a wall.

‘There’s a showcase with a few knickknacks and stuff too.

Just fun things like fans and gloves and other bits and pieces from the early days of Magnolia, if you’re interested in that kind of thing. ’

‘That sounds fascinating.’ Claire walked over to the archway. ‘I love history and Magnolia Manor is such an intriguing place. I’ll just take a peek at the portraits.’

‘Go ahead,’ Lily said. ‘I’ll give you a shout when the tea is ready.’

Claire didn’t hesitate but walked swiftly through the archway and into a space where the walls were hung with several portraits in gilt frames. Mesmerised, Claire walked along the wall looking at each portrait in turn. The first one was of a beautiful dark-haired woman with flashing green eyes.

‘That’s Maria Fleury,’ Karina said behind Claire. ‘Renowned for her beauty.’

‘She was lovely,’ Claire marvelled, staring at the woman.

She felt a thrill as she realised what Auntie Rachel had meant when she had called Claire a ‘throwback’.

Not that Claire was the spitting image of this woman who would have been her great-great-grandmother, but that square jaw and curly hair were the same as her own.

Nobody would see it as the hairstyles were so different, but this would have been what Sylvia had seen, recognising something about Claire without making the connection with the family.

‘That’s her husband, John Francis. Officially called John, but his friends called him Frank,’ Karina continued, pointing at a man with light brown curly hair wearing a morning coat.

‘Then next, we have their two children, Iseult, that fair-haired girl with blue eyes and then…’ She stopped in front of the portrait of a handsome young man with dark hair dressed in white tie and tails who looked at them with a mischievous glint in his eyes, the colour of which was hard to determine.

Claire had recognised him immediately from the old photo in her great-aunt Rachel’s book and she stared at that face, feeling a strange flutter in her heart.

This was also what Louis, her great-grandfather, would have looked like.

‘Fascinating,’ she mumbled to herself, spellbound by the attractive face.

‘A handsome devil,’ Karina said, smiling.

‘That’s Cornelius, the rascal of the family,’ Sylvia said behind them. ‘Charming, full of devilment and such fun. My father-in-law, to be precise, who we all love to hate.’

‘Why?’ Claire asked.

‘Well,’ Sylvia said, ‘he gambled away the whole estate in the nineteen twenties and we had awful trouble solving that problem a few years ago. But it was all sorted out after some rather upsetting months. Arnaud’s family in France were involved and that’s how we met.

So a happy ending after a lot of traumas. ’

‘Oh. That sounds quite dramatic.’

‘Yes, to put it mildly,’ Sylvia said.

Claire stood there, nearly hypnotised by the portrait.

She knew she was looking at her great-grandfather’s identical twin and it made her dizzy.

Here he is , she thought, the exact copy of Auntie Rachel’s father – my great-grandfather.

She stood rooted to the spot, feeling as if Cornelius was really looking at her, knowing why she was there and what she was trying to do.

‘He looks so alive,’ she whispered. ‘As if he could step out of the portrait and talk to us.’

‘I know,’ Sylvia said. ‘He has that effect on me too. The artist was very skilled. Of course, old Cornelius had that glint in his eye even when he was an old man. Little did we know what mischief he had been up to in his youth. But it all came out later on and we had to deal with the mess he left behind.’ She smiled and shook her head. ‘He was a charming old rascal.’

‘Sounds like an interesting story,’ Claire said. ‘But I’m sure he didn’t mean to hurt anyone.’

‘I’m not so sure about that,’ Sylvia said.

‘He was reckless and impulsive and not exactly considerate. Comes from being spoiled all his life by privilege. Not like his brother, who…’ Sylvia stopped.

‘Well, I won’t go into that. It’s not a very nice story, even today.

I don’t know why I even mentioned it. Please forget I said anything. ’

‘Of course,’ Claire said, tearing her gaze away from the portrait.

Her heart started to beat faster. So Sylvia knows about Louis , she thought.

But is that all? Does she also know what happened between them?

It didn’t seem possible as it had happened such a long time ago.

‘It’s forgotten,’ she said to calm Sylvia.

‘Good,’ Sylvia added. ‘The past is the past and we can’t go back and change anything that happened, even if we would like to.’ She moved away. ‘Now, let’s have a nice cup of tea with Lily and she’ll tell you about the orangery and what events can be held here.’

Claire had a quick look at the rest of the portraits, including a lovely one of Caroline Fleury, Cornelius’s wife, whose gentle gaze through beautiful if slightly sad eyes made Claire wonder what her marriage had been like.

Then after looking at the lovely painting of Liam and Fred, so tragically killed in a boating accident, she followed Sylvia back through the archway and into the main café, her mind whirling with questions.

What had Sylvia meant when she mentioned Cornelius’s brother?

It meant that she knew about her great-grandfather Louis.

She also seemed to know something about him, something she didn’t want to talk about. What on earth could it be?

Claire felt a sudden urge to go back to her B&B to look through the old book again.

There had to be something there that would give her a hint about whatever had happened to her great-grandfather.

Perhaps the knowledge she’d gained at the manor would fit with some note or photo from Auntie Rachel.

She had always worried the Fleurys wouldn’t accept her if they thought Louis had done something wrong.

But Sylvia’s words had given her an inkling that he had been the better person of the twins.

There might be an old story somewhere that Louis had committed a crime or done something to hurt the family.

It could not be true. She had to clear his name if she was going to get the families to unite again. And reveal who she was.