She watched as the colour came and then went in Rachel’s cheeks as she stared at the man. ‘Tom…?’ she finally breathed uncertainly.
Leonie’s favourite uncle. Her great-uncle Tom. The brother-in-law of her grandfather.
But most importantly he was Luke’s father…!
Could that possibly be the reason Uncle Tom had always subconsciously been her favourite uncle…? Or could it be the other way round; she had fallen in love with Luke because she had sensed that connection between him and her favourite relative? Leonie really had no answer to that puzzle, she only knew that she loved Luke. And that, no matter what Rachel might say to the contrary, he probably hated her for the appearance of those articles in the newspapers this morning.
She also still had no idea how two such different people as Rachel and Tom had ever met, let alone become involved with each other, but she had realised on Saturday evening, as she’d looked across the room as Tom and Luke had talked together, that they had to be father and son.
They were both tall, dark-haired, had those same patrician features, their smiles so achingly similar.
Tom’s throat moved convulsively as he stared at the woman in the bed. ‘The same can’t be said of me, I’m afraid—but you haven’t changed a bit, Rachel!’ he said wonderingly.
‘It is you, Tom…!’ Tears glistened in dark green eyes as Rachel held her hand out to him invitingly.
‘I’ll—er—leave you two to talk,’ Leonie said awkwardly, having the answer to how Uncle Tom happened to be here as she spotted her grandfather hovering outside in the corridor; he must have driven up from Devon directly after talking to her earlier this morning.
Perhaps it was just as well, Leonie reasoned as she moved towards the door, completely unnoticed by Tom and Rachel, who seemed to have eyes for no one but each other. It was time—past time!—that this muddle was resolved. One way or another.
It was not the time, however, for Luke to come striding purposefully down the corridor, his gaze narrowing suspiciously as he saw Leonie and her grandfather standing outside his mother’s room.
Goodness knew what he was going to say when he discovered Tom—his father—was actually inside the room talking to Rachel!
CHAPTER 14
‘LUKE!’ Leonie’s grandfather greeted cheerfully even as he carefully closed the door to Rachel’s room, moving deliberately down the corridor to meet the younger man, obviously having seen the direction of Leonie’s horrified gaze—and decided to act upon it.
‘Leo,’ Luke returned slowly, shaking the other man’s proffered hand, his gaze moving past the older man to rest on Leonie as she stood down the hallway looking defensive. ‘Leonie,’ he added tersely.
He didn’t look as if he had been involved in a bar-room brawl, after all, she decided with some relief, not a blemish to be seen on his handsome features, even if his expression was rather grim.
‘Luke,’ she greeted brightly, moving to join the two men, linking her arm companionably with her grandfather’s as she looked up at Luke. ‘I was just suggesting to Grandfather that we go for a coffee; perhaps you would like to join us?’
Luke still frowned. ‘I need to see my mother—’
‘She’s resting,’ Leonie put in quickly, aware that Rachel and Tom needed privacy for their conversation—even from their son! ‘Too many visitors already this morning, I think,’ she added firmly as Luke looked about to argue the point.
His gaze was glacial on hers. ‘And whose fault is that, do you think?’ he rasped pointedly.
The colour warmed her cheeks. ‘I have apologised and explained the situation to Rachel,’ she said resentfully.
Luke’s mouth twisted humourlessly. ‘And I have “explained” to Burnley that if he ever does anything like that again he will have more than just me to answer to!’
Leonie couldn’t meet his gaze now. ‘He won’t,’ she assured huskily.
‘How about that coffee?’ Her grandfather cut cheerfully through the awkward silence that followed this statement.
‘Perhaps I should just go in and tell Rachel—’
‘No!’
‘No!’
‘She’s sleeping,’ Leonie said more calmly, as both she and her grandfather had protested loudly at Luke’s suggestion.
Green eyes narrowed as Luke looked from Leonie to her grandfather, and then back again. ‘Who’s in there with her?’ he murmured shrewdly.
Leonie should have realised that Luke wouldn’t be fooled for a moment by their jumpy behaviour; he was far too astute for that.
‘Who do you think is in there, Luke?’ her grandfather was the one to prompt gently.
He stared at the older man for long, unfathomable minutes.
So long, it seemed to Leonie she would never breathe again! What was Luke going to do when he realised his father was in there talking to his mother? Would he burst in, demanding that Tom leave? Or would he simply join them, and listen to what they had to say to each other? At this particular moment, remembering the expressions on Rachel’s and Tom’s faces as they’d looked at each other, Leonie didn’t feel either of those courses of action was applicable.
Luke straightened, shrugging slightly. ‘Where were you thinking of going for coffee?’ he said mildly.
Leonie stared at him. She could have sworn—
‘Close your mouth, Leonie,’ he added derisively, smiling slightly. ‘I’m not completely insensitive, you know.’
She hadn’t realised her mouth was open until Luke had drawn attention to it, closing it with a decisive snap. ‘I never thought you were,’ she bit out irritably.
‘No?’ He raised mocking brows.
‘No!’ she snapped, glaring at him now.
‘I noticed a lounge as we came in where they seemed to be serving coffee and tea,’ her grandfather put in with amusement. ‘I have a feeling that it isn’t only Rachel and Tom that need to have a little talk,’ he added pointedly.
Leonie shot Luke a resentful glance as they all walked down the hallway to the lounge where they were serving coffee. Her grandfather was wrong, she had nothing whatsoever to say to Luke when he was in this derisive mood.
‘What exactly did you do to Jeremy?’ she asked as soon as they had all sat down in the otherwise deserted lounge together, a pot of coffee and three cups having been requested from the receptionist outside.
Luke’s eyes were glacial. ‘Frightened I might have marred those boyish good looks of his?’ he taunted.
Leonie drew in an angry breath. ‘No—’
‘Luke, this sort of conversation is entirely unproductive,’ her grandfather cut in mildly.
‘Maybe.’ The younger man bared his teeth in what was meant to pass as a smile. ‘But it makes me feel a whole lot better!’
Her grandfather raised silver brows. ‘For how long?’
Luke grimaced. ‘Good point,’ he murmured, turning to Leonie. ‘I apologise for that last remark.’ He gave an abrupt inclination of his head. ‘I understand from Burnley that the two of you are no longer—friends?’
She swallowed hard. ‘Why do you think he went to the newspapers with that story about your mother?’ She shrugged dismissively.
Luke shrugged. ‘Rachel has a theory about that—’
‘She told me,’ Leonie cut in ruefully.
‘Did she?’ He smiled. ‘Why do you think Burnley did what he did?’
‘Jealousy,’ she answered instantly—and just as instantly regretted it. There was only one person in her life that Jeremy could possibly feel jealous about!
‘Perhaps I should leave the two of you alone to talk…’ her grandfather put in softly.
‘No!’ Leonie protested alone this time, turning uncertainly to look at Luke as he said nothing. ‘No…?’ she repeated slowly.
‘I think, Leo—’ Luke might have been speaking to her grandfather, but the force of his gaze didn’t leave Leonie ‘—that there will be another time for Leonie and I to talk—at the moment she’s probably more in need of a
few explanations concerning what is going on back there.’ He nodded in the direction of his mother’s room.
She moistened dry lips, choosing her words carefully. ‘I already know that Tom is your father.’
Luke nodded. ‘But are you also aware that he doesn’t know that?’
‘He does now,’ Leonie’s grandfather put in softly, giving a rueful shrug as Leonie and Luke turned to look at him. ‘I thought, after Saturday evening, that it was only fair to tell him the truth, and so I rang him this morning after I had seen the report of Rachel’s illness in the newspaper. Tom and I had a long and frank discussion before I drove him here. I still believe I did the right thing,’ he added firmly as Leonie and Luke continued to look at him.
Leonie was still stunned by the fact that all these years Tom hadn’t even known he had a son. Although it did explain so many things that had been puzzling her. Such as why Tom, a man she had always loved and looked up to, had seemingly abandoned Rachel to the fate of single-motherhood all these years. Such as why, when Leonie had been able to realise his relationship to Luke on Saturday evening, Tom himself had given no indication that he’d recognised Luke as his son.
Incredible as it seemed, he simply hadn’t known he had a son!
‘But how—? Why—?’ She broke off, shaking her head, desperately trying to make sense of what her grandfather was saying. ‘I don’t understand,’ she finally admitted with a frown.
‘Tom was married when I was conceived, Leonie,’ Luke began.
‘To my sister Sally,’ her grandfather continued, sighing heavily. ‘Sally was driving herself up to London when she was involved in an accident. She was in hospital for months, had injured her spine, but it wasn’t until almost a year later, all the options exhausted, that the doctors finally told her she would never walk again. I—she was my sister, and I loved her dearly, but after that she changed, became—hard, detached, especially to Tom. Of all things, I was working as the historical advisor of the film Beloved Tsarina at the time—’
‘That wasn’t in the biography,’ Leonie said dazedly.
‘No,’ her grandfather acknowledged ruefully. ‘I thought, taking into account the timing of it all, that the less people who knew about that connection, the better. Tom came to see me there on the set one day, out of his head with despair at the deterioration of his relationship with Sally; his marriage was in tatters, and he simply didn’t know what to do. That was the day he and Rachel met each other,’ he concluded simply. ‘I believe it was love at first sight.’
Leonie understood that much. At least, as far as it went…
Her grandfather sighed. ‘They tried to fight the attraction, of course,’ he said firmly, ‘Neither of them is the type of person to ever deliberately hurt someone else. But—they tried for months, but—well, the attraction proved too much, for both of them.’ He shrugged. ‘I knew of the relationship, of course; I would have been blind not to have done. But I also knew how much Tom had tried to help Sally, how he had stuck by her despite the fact that most of the time she seemed to hate him.’ He shook his head. ‘I’m not sure what happened, whether Sally guessed or even heard of the affair, or if she really did come to terms with her disability, but, three months into Tom’s relationship with Rachel, Sally told him that she realised how awful she had been to him, that she—she wanted to make their marriage work. She asked him for a second chance.’
‘And Tom, being the honourable man I believe him to be, despite being in love with another woman, knew that he had to give his wife that chance,’ Luke put in huskily.
’Yes,’ Leo acknowledged gruffly. ‘There was no way, even loving Rachel as he did, that he could tell Sally, a woman who had already lost so much, that their marriage was over. So he agreed to a reconciliation. It was an agreement he made completely ignorant of Rachel’s pregnancy,’ he added softly.
Luke nodded. ‘She told me that she didn’t think it fair to Tom to put any more emotional pressure on him—’
‘But she was expecting his child!’ Leonie cried emotionally. ‘She was expecting you,’ she reminded Luke brokenly.
‘Yes,’ he acknowledged gently. ‘But do you think either of them would have had a moment’s happiness together knowing they had taken it at the cost of a woman who was already suffering enough? A woman who would never walk again, let alone be able to have the child Rachel knew she was going to have? And what good would it have done Tom to know that Rachel Richmond’s love-child was in fact his child too?’ Luke reasoned huskily as he seemed to anticipate Leonie’s next question. ‘It would have made his life with Sally a living hell.’ He shook his head.
Leonie thought back over the years, to the numerous family occasions when Tom and Sally had both been present. She had no idea how the two had fared in those early years of Sally’s disability, but in the latter years, even if they hadn’t appeared to be madly in love with each other, the two had certainly been the best of friends. Perhaps it wasn’t everyone’s idea of a perfect marriage, but Tom and Sally had seemed to come to some sort of caring understanding of the limitations of their marriage.
Leonie shook her head. ‘But when Rachel had her baby did it never even occur to Tom…?’
‘I don’t think Tom was in any shape at that time to even think about it.’ Once again it was her grandfather who answered her. ‘When he and Rachel decided to end their relationship, they agreed it had to be a complete break, with no contact whatsoever between them. Tom looked like hell for the next year or so,’ Leo recalled gruffly. ‘I’m not even sure he was aware Rachel had even had a baby.’
‘But you were,’ Leonie realised slowly.
He gave a shaky sigh. ‘Rachel made me promise not to tell him. It was a promise I kept until this morning.’
‘But now he knows.’ Once again Luke glanced down the corridor towards his mother’s room. ‘How did he take it?’
Was it only Leonie’s imagination, or was there a trace of anxiety in his voice…?
Her grandfather smiled warmly. ‘The way any man would take being told you were his son! Initially he was stunned. But once the idea had taken hold, I could see the pride just bursting out of him.’ He reached over to briefly clasp Luke’s arm. ‘He’s a good man, Luke. One of the best,’ he added emotionally.
‘I’ve always known that if my mother loved him then he had to be,’ Luke confirmed gruffly. ‘Do you think he and Rachel…?’ Once again he looked anxious.
Leo shrugged. ‘Who knows, Luke? It’s been almost forty years. They’re different people now. But stranger things have happened. Would you mind?’
Luke winced. ‘There’s more to this than how I would feel about it, I’m afraid.’ He grimaced.
Leonie looked at him searchingly, noting his pallor, the lines beside his eyes and mouth, the heavy frown between his eyes. ‘Luke…?’ She sat forward anxiously.
He turned to give her a strained smile. ‘She’s dying, Leonie,’ he told her emotionally. ‘I made Michael tell me the truth last night—Rachel is dying!’ He buried his face in his hands as his iron control finally broke.
Leonie didn’t hesitate, moving down onto the carpeted floor beside him, barely aware of her grandfather as he stood up to usher the woman who had finally arrived with the coffee tray out of the room before him, the door closing softly behind them.
‘I know, Luke! I know…!’ Leonie murmured brokenly, moving up to take him into her arms, cradling his head on her shoulder as she felt his pain as well as her own.
Luke’s arms moved about her as he held her fiercely against him. ‘I love you, Leonie,’ he muttered into the damp warmth of her throat. ‘I tried so hard not to, but—I love you!’
Leonie was overwhelmed by the admission, knew she owed him nothing less than the truth in return. ‘I love you, too, Luke,’ she told him with feeling.
He raised his head to look down at her, eyes still damp with tears. ‘Even though I gave you every reason not to?’ he murmured self-derisively.
She gave a shaky smile. �
��I must admit, you haven’t made it easy for me.’
His arms tightened about her. ‘I had guessed what Rachel was up to with the biography, knew it was another attempt on her part to gently introduce me to my rightful family. She had tried once already, you see, when she persuaded me to visit Leo concerning writing the screenplay of his war years.’ He shook his head. ‘Once I realised who he was, I backed off completely. Believe it or not, I was trying to be protective of your family these last few weeks by attempting to frighten you off writing the biography.’
Leonie did believe him. Now that she knew the truth, knew the circumstances of his birth, of Rachel’s terminal illness, she could see exactly what Rachel had been trying to do these last months. She could also see how Luke, ignorant of Rachel’s illness, would fight against such a move on his mother’s part, to the point where he would be totally obnoxious to anyone else involved. Namely her!
‘I even removed some rather damning photographs of Tom from my mother’s albums before handing them over to you,’ Luke admitted ruefully. ‘Not exactly playing fair, but I didn’t know what else to do.’ He grimaced.
Leonie gave a rueful smile. ‘But I fell in love with you anyway,’ she admitted self-derisively.
‘I have to admit, when a reporter friend of mine told me who the source had been for that article in the newspapers today, I began to have my hopes,’ Luke said huskily. ‘A visit to Burnley this morning at least confirmed for me that you had shown him the door after I left last night!’
Leonie frowned. ‘I was so angry with him. He guessed how I felt about you, and he said—he said—Well, never mind what he said,’ she dismissed impatiently; remembering Jeremy’s insulting words was still enough to make her angry. ‘Sufficient to say I was glad to be rid of him!’
Luke reached down and lifted her up to sit on his knees as he relaxed back in the chair with her held in his arms. ‘“Sticks and stones”, my love. I’ve been hearing things said about me and my illegitimacy most of my life,’ he murmured sadly. ‘Besides, I had a few cutting things to say to you myself when I believed you were in love with Burnley!’
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