Page 35 of The Book of Irish Secrets (Magnolia Manor #5)

TWENTY-SEVEN

Rose blinked and stared at her. ‘How is that possible?’ She shook her head. ‘No, I don’t believe it. You’re lying.’

‘I’m not,’ Claire protested. ‘Louis Fleury, Cornelius’s twin brother, was my great-grandfather.’

‘Cornelius had a twin brother?’ Rose stared at Claire with big eyes. ‘How come we’ve never heard of him?’

‘They fell out,’ Claire said, not surprised that Rose didn’t know.

She had been worried that they’d immediately reject her when they found out about Louis and that she was his great-granddaughter.

Now Rose confirmed that she hadn’t been told about Cornelius’s twin brother – or the feud.

Sylvia, on the other hand, seemed to have known something about a brother, but how much did she know about the feud?

‘Fell out?’ Rose asked. ‘About what?’

‘I’m not sure yet,’ Claire said. ‘That’s what I’ve been trying to find out. All I know is that there was a big row about something and Louis left Magnolia Manor when the twins were in their twenties, never to return.’

Rose listened for a moment, still looking at Claire incredulously. ‘You’re making this up,’ she said and felt for her phone in her pocket. ‘I’m going to call Noel and ask him what I should do. You’re obviously some kind of impostor.’

‘No, I’m not, I swear,’ Claire exclaimed.

‘Please, Rose, listen to me for a moment,’ she pleaded.

‘I have lived with this sad story all my life, you know. We knew there had been some kind of rift long ago and that it had caused a huge upset. We were not to talk about it, though. A forbidden subject never to be mentioned. My father and grandfather refused to tell us anything. But my great-aunt Rachel, Louis’ daughter, put together that family tree and collected all the photos that she found when her father died and put it in a book that was sent to me after she died. ’

‘That’s the weirdest story I ever heard,’ Rose said, still looking doubtful. ‘So how can you prove it?’

Claire stood up and pointed at the page with the family tree in Auntie Rachel’s book that Rose had left open. ‘You must have seen this.’

Rose looked at the page. ‘I only just opened it.’ She looked at the page. ‘These are all the family names from way back.’

Claire nodded. ‘That’s right. All the Fleurys who lived at Magnolia Manor since it was built. And then, as you can see, there is your branch of the family, and ours. It was drawn up by my great-aunt Rachel.’

Rose studied the family tree for a few minutes without speaking. Then she looked up and met Claire’s gaze. ‘This is unbelievable.’

‘I suppose it’s hard to take in,’ Claire said. ‘But have a look at the photos, especially the one with Cornelius and Louis.’ She flicked the pages back to where the photos were attached.

Rose looked at them all. ‘This is so eerie,’ she said as if to herself. ‘Like going back to a past we never knew. I have never seen these. But why did you lie? Why didn’t you just tell us this when you arrived here?’

‘I’m sorry,’ Claire replied. ‘I was worried that the family feud had tarnished my name. That you would refuse to have anything to do with me if you found out who I was. I wanted to find out what happened before I said anything, to make sure I could right the wrongs of the past before getting to know you all.’

Rose shook her head. ‘But we didn’t know anything about a brother or the feud.’

‘I thought you might,’ Claire said. ‘But now I know I’ve gone about this the wrong way. It all just got out of control. Once I started lying, I couldn’t stop. But oh, I felt so awful about it all along.’

Rose suddenly smiled. ‘You’re a very bad con woman.’

Claire smirked. ‘The worst.’

Then Claire and Rose stood in silence for a moment.

‘We must show your research to Granny,’ Rose said. ‘She’d be so shocked to find all this out. I mean, Cornelius’s twin brother – wow.’

‘So you do believe me?’ Claire asked.

Rose looked from the photos to Claire. ‘Not quite. How do we know you are a real Fleury? I mean, you might have come across all this somewhere and then come here to… to…’

‘To do what?’ Claire asked.

‘To claim your inheritance or something,’ Rose said. ‘Not that I understand what you’d get out of it. We don’t have much money and the estate is run on a shoestring. You must know we are working hard to get every cent together to pay our bills.’

‘Of course I do,’ Claire said. ‘And I’m not here to claim anything.

I came to find out what happened, first of all.

My great-aunt left me this book and I have a feeling she wanted me to go to Kerry to get closure or forgiveness or something.

For Louis, her father. Maybe just to join the two branches of the family so we have peace at last. I’m not sure which. ’

Rose picked up the birth certificate and looked at it. ‘If this means what I think, you should be living here instead of us. If you are who you say. If you’re telling me the truth.’

‘I swear I am,’ Claire said.

Rose studied Claire for a long moment. ‘Granny always says you remind her of someone. And now that I look at you closely, I see a resemblance to both Cornelius and Maria Fleury. I never noticed it before and I thought Granny was fooling herself. But now I see it. That square jaw, your curly hair and the freckles. Could be a coincidence, but all this makes it believable.’ Rose sighed and got up.

‘This is such a huge discovery. I have to talk to my sisters and Granny, too, of course.’

‘Yes,’ Claire agreed. ‘I think you must.’ She felt nervous about Sylvia’s response. Rose might not have known about the feud, but she had a feeling Sylvia knew more.

‘Please don’t tell anyone about this for now,’ Rose begged. ‘I can’t imagine what people will say when it comes out. They will gossip about it in town forever.’

‘I won’t tell anyone,’ Claire promised. ‘The only people who know are my sister, Marian, my best friend, Finola, and Pierce. But they won’t talk about it, I’m sure of that.’ She omitted the fact that Hugh also knew, but he was gone and once she gave him what he was after, he’d leave her alone.

‘That’s a lot of people, though,’ Rose said, looking worried.

‘I trust every one of them,’ Claire said.

Rose didn’t look too convinced, but then she nodded. ‘Look, I have to tell Granny about this and ask her what we should do.’

Claire got up. ‘I’ll come with you.’ She picked up Auntie Rachel’s book. ‘We’ll show her the photos and the family tree and all the little stories that Auntie Rachel wrote about the family.’

Rose looked suddenly worried. ‘I think you should leave it for now and let me tell her. She’s very old and it might upset her to find out just like that.’

‘Oh, I think she can take it,’ Claire insisted. ‘She’s very strong and nothing seems to shake her. Besides, I need to apologise to her. I need to say sorry face to face. If she wants to throw me out and I have to leave like Louis did, I need to find out for myself.’

Rose’s features softened. ‘I understand. Of course you must tell her.’

‘Let’s go, then,’ Claire ordered.

Rose suddenly laughed. ‘Now I feel sure you’re a Fleury girl. You’re just as bossy as any of us.’

Claire smiled. ‘That’s so wonderful to hear.’ She led the way out through the door, Rose’s words giving her a huge boost. But deep down she was more worried than Rose. How would Sylvia react when she was presented with all the facts in Auntie Rachel’s book of secrets?