Page 40 of The Book of Irish Secrets (Magnolia Manor #5)

THIRTY-ONE

Everyone seemed to hold their breath as they stared at Sylvia, waiting for her to continue.

‘A wild guess, but is it a case of cherchez la femme ?’ Arnaud, who had until now kept quiet, asked the question on everyone’s lips.

‘Yes.’ Sylvia looked at Arnaud. ‘Of course. Caroline. They were both in love with her. And she played them both, just for fun. She was a great beauty, known to be flirtatious but demure at the same time, which drove all the young men mad. She came to one of the Magnolia balls when she was nineteen and then Louis fell madly in love with her and she with him – and Cornelius. Of course, it would have been difficult to choose between them as they were so alike.’

‘Impossible,’ Vi murmured. ‘Two drop-dead gorgeous men mad about you. How exciting that would be for any young woman. Identical twins and everything.’

‘They were identical physically, yes,’ Sylvia said. ‘But quite different in personality. Louis was kind and considerate and lacked the dashing quality that Cornelius had. Louis also had a great musical talent and played the piano like a professional musician.’

‘Really?’ Rose asked, looking excited. ‘That must be where Sophie and Naomi got their musical talent. How amazing to find that out now. We were always wondering where it came from.’

‘And Claire plays the piano beautifully,’ Sylvia said with a glance at Claire. ‘I’ve heard you playing the nocturnes by Chopin late at night.’

‘Oh,’ Claire said, blushing. ‘I didn’t think anyone heard me.’

‘I did and it was lovely to listen to,’ Sylvia said.

‘But go on, Granny,’ Vi urged. ‘Tell us about the twins.’

‘Well,’ Sylvia started, ‘as I said, the brothers were so different. Cornelius was good at sports. Riding, tennis, rugby, swimming, there was no sport he didn’t excel at. Louis was shy and a real introvert. He was fond of nature and adored his dogs. Loved books and poetry. And music, of course.’

‘I’m in love with him now,’ Lily said in a dreamy voice. ‘Cornelius without the mischief. Louis would never have gambled the house away.’

‘I think Caroline began to see what she had missed,’ Sylvia said.

‘Especially when Cornelius revealed what he had done. Even if it was all sorted out in the end.’ She turned to Arnaud.

‘And what he did brought you here and us together. So we shouldn’t wish that events in the past never took place.

Everything happens for a reason which can change people’s lives even a long time afterwards, if you see what I mean. ’

Arnaud smiled tenderly at Sylvia. ‘ Oui, mon amour . You are so right.’

‘But what I want to know is how it all happened,’ Rose said. ‘I mean, how could Cornelius come between Louis and Caroline?’

‘I think I know,’ Claire said, still trying to recover from the shock of Sylvia’s revelation.

She had filled in every piece of the puzzle.

Claire suddenly remembered something from her research.

‘Louis went to Australia to visit the firm that managed their imports from the Far East. And he stayed away long enough for Cornelius to get closer to Caroline.’

‘Six months,’ Sylvia said. ‘At least that’s what Cornelius told me.

But when I think about how Caroline was as a young woman – flirtatious and fun-loving – I realise that she and Cornelius were perfectly matched.

I can see that Louis’ serious, pensive side might have seemed boring to her then.

It wasn’t until she was older that she came to feel that Louis was the kinder of the two brothers.

But by then it was too late. Louis was gone, married with children of his own, and Caroline had given birth to Liam.

And Louis would never come back to Magnolia Manor, even for a visit. ’

‘No, he never did,’ Claire said. ‘And the bitterness lingered and stayed through the generations. It was never revealed what the feud was about. But we were told we’d never go to Kerry.

We went to Wicklow and Wexford on our summer holidays, which was lovely, too, of course.

I can’t say our childhood was sad in any way, there was just this mystery about all of you that we never managed to solve.

So we made up stories about you,’ she added with a giggle.

‘What kind of stories?’ Rose asked.

‘That you were fairy-tale princesses living in a castle,’ Claire said.

‘Oh, yeah, princesses that had to do household chores,’ Lily cut in, looking amused.

‘And I had to wear Lily’s cast-offs,’ Rose said.

‘We had to work during the holidays when we went to college,’ Vi said. ‘To help pay for the fees.’

‘Very character forming,’ Sylvia said. ‘And educational.’

‘Probably,’ Vi agreed. ‘I learned a lot while waitressing, I have to say. It helped me a lot with my acting later on, just studying people and listening to different accents and so on.’

Noel suddenly sat up. ‘Sorry, but my lawyer brain has just kicked in. What about Louis’ inheritance? The twins must have shared ownership or something as they were born at the same time.’

‘Not the same time, exactly,’ Dominic argued. ‘One of them must have been born first. Could be a matter of minutes, don’t you think? But the firstborn would be the sole heir, would he not?’

Noel nodded. ‘That’s right, he would be. In those days, anyway. It’s different now, of course.’

‘My guess is that it was Cornelius,’ Vi said. ‘I mean, wouldn’t Louis have stayed and claimed his rights if he were the heir? And then he might have made Cornelius and Caroline leave, which would have been his revenge.’

‘I don’t think it was in his nature to look for revenge,’ Sylvia said after exchanging a glance with Claire. ‘He was in love with Caroline and I’m guessing he still felt a certain fondness for her the rest of his life.’

‘Until he met Helen, my great-grandmother,’ Claire cut in. ‘They were very happy together. But I think you’re right, Sylvia. According to my great-aunt, Louis had a very forgiving nature and would not have wanted to hurt Caroline and Cornelius, despite what they did to him.’

‘So he gave up his inheritance?’ Noel asked.

‘Nobody knows who was the true heir,’ Sylvia said. ‘But that’s all in the past, and we don’t want any more family rows, do we?’

‘Of course not,’ Rose declared. ‘Isn’t it great to have peace and the family united at last?’ She raised her glass of wine. ‘I say cheers to Claire and to the Fleury reunion.’

‘Me too,’ Lily said, getting up to clink glasses with Claire. ‘Welcome to the family, Claire.’

They all clinked glasses and then had another drink.

Then everyone wanted to talk to Claire and look through the photos in Auntie Rachel’s book, the family tree and what she had written about the Dublin family.

Claire was amazed that no one seemed upset about her hidden identity and that she had lied to them all.

She watched as they studied Louis and Helen’s wedding photos and those of the children they had had with great interest.

Sylvia pulled Claire and Rose aside while the others were looking through the book. ‘I think that went well, don’t you? Except for Noel bringing up the subject of who was the heir. But that was him being the lawyer and wanting all the legal ducks in a row at all times.’

‘I’ll tell him not to worry about it,’ Rose suggested. ‘It’s not a case he’d want to pursue, anyway.’

‘I should hope not,’ Sylvia remarked drily. ‘Or he’ll have me to deal with.’

‘That should scare him off big time,’ Rose remarked with a wry smile.

‘I think he was just being cautious,’ Claire said. ‘I’d say the legal issue would pop up in his mind whatever the subject.’

‘That’s true. But I want this to stay between us,’ Rose whispered. ‘We have to make sure it will go no further. Nobody knows, except us and Claire’s sister, isn’t that right?’

‘Yes,’ Claire said. ‘Marian is on the same page, absolutely. And our brother doesn’t know anything at all yet. Marian will speak to him, but will leave out the detail of the time Louis was born. What does it matter now anyway?’

‘It would if he was the kind of person to look out for himself at all times,’ Sylvia said. ‘But I’m guessing he’s not.’

‘Not as far as I know,’ Claire said as another person popped into her mind at Sylvia’s words. Hugh , she thought with fear crawling up her spine like tiny ice-cold fingers. He would grab this and tell Patrick just out of spite. But how could he possibly have any idea?

‘I just want to say one more thing,’ Claire said in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear her. ‘I’m really sorry about lying to you all this time. But I didn’t want to tell you who I was until I had proof that Louis existed – more proof than those photos. And I found it in that old diary.’

‘Oh, I wouldn’t call it lying,’ Vi said. ‘Just not telling us the whole truth.’

‘I understand why you kept quiet all this time,’ Lily cut in. ‘But it must have been hard to pretend to be someone else all this time.’

‘It was hard because it made me feel horribly guilty,’ Claire said. ‘You were all so kind to me and made me feel so welcome. And I just accepted your friendship under false pretences.’

‘I’m sure you didn’t mean to hurt anyone,’ Rose said.

‘Of course not,’ Claire agreed, relieved they were all so forgiving.

At that moment, Claire’s phone pinged. She took it out of her pocket, expecting a message from Marian. But it was from Pierce.

Can we meet?

Of course , Claire replied, feeling suddenly hot all over.

She had been agonising about him, wondering how she could get in touch with him.

She had worried about him still feeling negative about what she had done, but everyone’s reactions today changed everything.

Maybe this meant that she could stay here in Kerry?

Tonight? He asked . It’s only nine o’clock. I’ll pick you up and then we’ll go to a pub and talk. It’s important.

Okay , she texted back. I’ll be outside the main entrance in about ten minutes.

Then Claire looked around the library and noticed that Sylvia and Rose had gone to join the others gathered around Auntie Rachel’s book. She wandered over to them. ‘I’ll leave the book here with you, so you can have a good look,’ she said. ‘I have to go and meet – someone.’

Sylvia nodded. ‘That’s a good idea. I’ll look after everything and put the book in a safe place when everyone’s gone.’

‘Great. Thank you, Sylvia. I think I’ll just slip away now. Say goodbye to everyone from me, please.’

‘I will,’ Sylvia said. ‘Bye, Claire. It was a happy occasion, don’t you think?’

‘Oh yes,’ Claire said warmly, leaning over to kiss Sylvia on the cheek. ‘Thank you so much for organising it. See you soon.’ She waved at everyone. ‘Sorry. Have to run. See you all very soon. Bye.’

Then she left, running down the corridor and up the stairs to brush her hair and put on a bit of makeup.

Should she change? No, the white shirt and navy cardigan she had put on for the meeting were fine.

She just needed to freshen up a little. After all, it wasn’t a date – or was it?

She had no idea. But the thought of seeing Pierce, whatever the circumstances, made her heart sing.

She realised how much she had missed him these past weeks.

And how much he had come to mean to her.