“Mark, are you able to handle this little one as well as your own?”
“Stanley is almost asleep, if you would just lay him on the couch then I can do that. Why?”
“Elias and I have some matters we need to discuss and we don’t want the noise to rouse the children.”
“Very well then,” Mark narrowed his eyes. These two were now bosom buddies and he would ask George if he knew what they were always whispering about when together.
Victor led Elias out of the house and to the beautifully manicured lawns. “So, did you find out anything?”
“Plenty, I’m afraid but it has nothing to do with us. It’s all to do with Mrs. Doris Graham.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The kidnapping attempt wasn’t directed at this family in particular. My sources tell me that Mrs. Graham has some, shall I say strange connections with the kidnappers,” he immediately sought to correct his words when he saw his father-in-law’s face. “It’s not like that sir. Apparently, Mrs. Graham has an enemy, someone in her past who is bent on revenge.”
“Why?”
“Because Mrs. Graham married Paul Graham after his wife’s death.”
“What does that have to do with anything? If Graham was a widower and Doris a single girl, I don’t see why someone should have had any objections to their getting married.”
“Not if the person is Ruth Graham’s younger sister.”
“Who?”
“The woman who took Stanley is Ruth Graham’s estranged sister. I doubt that even Doris Graham knows about her existence because Naomi left home many years before she got married to Paul. From what my sources say, Naomi was a troubled child and they suspected that all wasn’t right with her. As she grew up, she became more difficult to handle and eloped with a wealthy old man. He was found dead under suspicious circumstances two months after their marriage but because she had the money, all was hushed up. It is said that she was in love with her brother-in-law, Paul, and when her sister got married to him, it sent her off the bend.”
“Strange indeed.”
“Her trying to interfere in their lives is what made the family shun her and she disappeared for many years. No one knew where she was or what she was doing, until Ruth died. She returned briefly, probably hoping that her love interest would finally propose and marry her. He didn’t because at the time he was married to Doris. An old servant said Naomi would appear at the house during those times when Doris was away but Paul never told his wife any of that, and neither did the servants. Doris was a naïve girl who was in love with her husband and never once suspected anything untoward.”
“The woman might have just been coming to see her brother-in-law.”
“Not according to my sources. The two of them had a brief affair but Paul broke it off. Unfortunately, Naomi conceived and threatened to tell Doris about the affair. I don’t know what Paul did, but she disappeared for the next almost twenty years. She suddenly resurfaced again after Paul’s death but found that Doris had sold the estate or what remained of it and had moved to London to set up a studio.”
“What happened to the child that she conceived?”
“Rumour has it that the child died in infancy and that must have been the final blow. Naomi has been dogging Doris’s every step, determined that she shouldn’t be happy. That day in the park she must have thought Stanley was Doris’s child and that was why she snatched him.”
“But she’s safely locked up, so why did I get a note just this morning telling me to keep away from Doris that she can never belong to me?”
“That’s new information. Could I see it please?”
“I left it in my study. Since I don’t want my sons to find out whatever is going on, I’ll send it to you.”
“If there’s someone sending notes then it means someone is watching Doris and could intend to harm her. She lives alone and owning a studio means there are people going and coming at all hours of the day. Anyone who has intentions of harming her can so easily do that.”
“That’s what I was just thinking. Maybe I should pay her a visit and find out if she knows of anyone else who might be out to cause trouble.”
“The sooner the better, so we can be assured that the threat is against her and no one else.”
“You again,” Doris blurted as soon as the studio door opened and Victor walked in.
“Aren’t you pleased to see me?” He moved further into the room and started looking around. “Do you always have these window open even as you’re working?”
“What’s with all the questions?” Doris didn’t want the person who had sent the note to see Victor in her premises. She was sure that she was being watched and it gave her a very uneasy feeling. Whoever it was must have seen the posh carriage pulling up and watched as Victor walked down the small path and into the studio. “This is a studio where I work and display my work so there has to be a lot of natural lighting.”
“Your studio is on a very busy street, shouldn’t you keep the door locked unless you know your clients well? This is London just after the Napoleonic Wars and there are a lot of unemployed soldiers and other vagabonds who can so easily take advantage of a woman alone.”
“I’ve been here for the past two years and never had any trouble with anyone. If I start locking my clients out then I would soon starve.”
“I didn’t say that you should lock them out, just that you ought to be careful about who comes in here while you’re alone.”
Doris frowned, wondering why Victor was acting all protective all of a sudden. “Why the sudden interest in the way I live and conduct my business?”
Victor realised that Doris wasn’t one of those women who could be kept from the truth, and besides, it was her life in danger so she had to know. “Just this morning, I received a note,” he took it out of his pocket and held it out.
Doris read the note and froze for a moment, turning as white as a sheet and Victor got concerned.
“What’s happened, Doris?”
She turned around and went to her work table and returned with the small box and note. “This was left on my doorstep this morning. I was just thinking about what to do with it when you came in.”
Victor was horrified. It was worse than he expected. Someone who could send such a gruesome gift wasn’t mentally stable. The handwriting was the same on both notes.
“That does it,” he said. “You’re coming home with me.”
“Why?”
“Someone is out to get you, Doris. You need to come and stay on the estate where it’s safe until we get to the bottom of this. Otherwise you could be badly harmed.”
Doris felt a sense of relief even though she didn’t want to let Victor know that she had been thinking about where to run to and hide. “What happens to my studio and the paintings that I’ve done for clients?”
“There’s plenty of room at home and one of my men could deliver the paintings to the owners as they are done.”
“That means I’ll miss out on new commissions.”
“Your being alive is much more important than commissions. Dead artists can’t paint. Besides, once we find out who is behind all these threats then you can return.”
“I have to pack a few things.”
“Good, I’ll wait for you as you do so.”
7
SHATTERED DREAMS
Doris was really scared and she packed quickly, picking up all the things that were of importance and valuable, which wasn’t really much since she had sold a lot of their stuff when Paul was sick and no money was forthcoming.
The jewelery box which he had given her as a wedding present and which she hadn’t opened since his death lay at the bottom of one of her trunks and she put it into her valise along with a few clothes.
Her paintings were another issue altogether. She had nearly twenty completed pieces which were already in their frames and another few which she had been planning to frame. Her easel and pallets easily fit into the wooden crate. “
What am I going to do about these paintings?” She pointed at her finished work.
“Let me ask my footman to come and help carry them into the carriage. Even if it takes us ten trips, we’ll get all your important stuff out of this place for the time being.”
It took almost two hours to get everything she valued out of the studio and finally she was ready to go. She felt the hairs on her neck rising and knew that her every move was being watched.
“Let’s go,” she told Victor, hurrying into the carriage. He saw the fear in her eyes and was glad that he was taking her away from this danger.
Amanda and Hannah were happy to have her in the manor and helped her settle down in one of the guest rooms. “This is such a beautiful jewelery box, very rare indeed,” Amanda was helping to put her stuff away. “Whoever gave it to you must have really loved you.”
“He did,” Doris smiled as she thought about her wedding day and how happy she had been. Paul was the only man she had ever loved and it was such a joyous occasion for her. “My late husband gave it to me on our wedding day.”
“I love looking at jewelery,” Amanda confessed. “May I please see these pieces?”
“Sure, go ahead. I haven’t opened it for two years. When my husband died, it was such a stark reminder of our wedding day that I even thought about going to throw it into the Thames.”
“I’m glad you didn’t,” Amanda wrestled with the clasp which was a bit rusty but she finally had it open. “These are so beautiful,” she held up a necklace made of white pearls, a matching bracelet and earrings. “And these too,” a gold set. She dug around and then called out. “What’s this, Mrs. Graham?”
Doris looked at her quickly. She stopped putting clothes into the wardrobe. “What is it?”
“Looks like a letter addressed to you.”
“A letter?” She took it from Amanda and felt herself becoming weak. It was in her husband’s handwriting. He must have placed it there just before he died and had she opened the jewelery box sooner, would have seen it. “This was written by my husband.”
“Open it,” Amanda was excited. “He must have left it for you before he died, his final love letter to you.”
“Oh Paul,” Doris sat down on the bed and tore the envelope open. She decided to read it out loud because she was so excited.
“Dear Darling Doris,
If you’re reading this letter it means that I’m dead. Whatever happens, just know that I did it all because it was the right thing to do at the time, and also because I loved you.” She paused and looked at Amanda.
“Before I met Ruth my late wife, I had met her sister Naomi and we thought we were in love. She was a widow then and estranged from her family so I didn’t know that they were even sisters. But then I met Ruth and fell in love with her and though Naomi said she understood, I knew that I had hurt her.
When Ruth died and I married you, Naomi returned briefly and I’m ashamed to say that I had an affair with her.” Doris gasped, putting a hand to her mouth. “Naomi got pregnant and wanted me to marry her but I couldn’t since I was already married to you. She threatened to tell you everything and I told her that if she did that, then she should never expect any kind of help from me at all.
We finally came to an agreement that I was to never sire any other children, so her child would be my sole heir. That was the reason I never wanted us to have children. If you had had any children, Naomi would have harmed them. I was a weak man and I was afraid of the truth coming out, but now that I’m on my death bed, it’s time to come clean.
I took care of Naomi and her son but she didn’t want anyone to know she had had a child out of wedlock so she said he had died in infancy. Arthur my son is now about twenty years old and when I’m gone, please find it in your heart to forgive me and see that my son gets his inheritance. You’re the only one who can do that quietly and in secret so that there’ll be no scandal attached to my name or the family’s. I didn’t acknowledge my son openly while he was alive and I owe it to him to ensure that he gets his inheritance.
Naomi will get in touch with you at some point so you can do the right thing. Remember me well, and I’m very sorry that you got to find out all this at this point.
Your loving husband,
Paul.”
The letter fell from Doris’s fingers and she crumbled to the floor. “Mrs. Graham,” Amanda was alarmed and her screaming brought Hannah and Victor running to the room.
“What happened?” Victor asked as he lifted the unconscious woman and placed her gently on the bed.
“This letter,” Amanda passed it to her father-in-law. “It was in Mrs. Graham’s jewelery box which she hadn’t opened for two years.”
Victor read it and then look pityingly at the woman who was slowly coming out of her faint.
Doris placed a hand to her forehead. “Where am I? What happened?”
“You fainted,” Hannah told her, helping her to sit up. “I’m sorry you got such a shock,” she pointed at the letter that Victor had folded and placed on the dressing table. “Amanda was the one who called us here.”
Doris put her face in her palms and began sobbing. Her whole twenty years of marriage had been based on a lie. Paul said he loved her but he never wanted her to have children because he already had a son with his wife’s sister and thought that the boy should be the one to inherit from him. What was there to inherit in any case, because he’d been very ill and they spent all they had on his treatment?
She had sold the small estate to set up her studio and at the time she thought she was the sole heir. Now it turns out that she had sold what wasn’t meant for her.
“How could you do this to me,” she moaned, lying on her side and facing the wall. Her sobs were heart wrenching and Victor motioned for his daughter-in-laws to leave the room. The woman was too distraught and he needed to comfort her. “Twenty years of my life down the drain just like that, yet you said you loved me. How wicked could you be, Paul?”
Victor sat at the edge of the bed and touched her shoulder. She shrugged his hand away. “Please leave me alone,” she said in between her sobs. “I want to be alone.”
Victor didn’t say a word but he didn’t leave the room either. He stood up and walked to the wooden stool at the dressing table and sat down. When she was done grieving for her shattered dreams, he would be there to offer her whatever comfort she needed.
Doris couldn’t believe that she had been living a fantasy all this years. No wonder that they never seemed to have much money, even though Paul was a good solicitor. He always said his clients weren’t wealthy enough to pay him much, yet all this time he was supporting Naomi and his baseborn son. A son who had been conceived when they were married. How was she supposed to forgive that and also believe that the affair had ended at all? What if all that time Paul and Naomi had been seeing each other and indulging in adultery while she thought she was his beloved wife?
“I’m so sorry you had to find out this way,” Victor said a long while later when she had calmed down and she turned around quickly. “You asked me to leave but you were too distraught and I couldn’t bear that you should be alone.” He returned to the bed. “I would give anything in the world for you not to have found out about the past, but perhaps it’s for the best.”
Doris sat up, raising her tear streaked face to him. “That’s a cruel thing to say.”
“I don’t mean it like that. You see, we found out that the attempted kidnapping of my grandson was because Naomi believed you had a child for Paul.”
“How could she think that and Paul had been dead for two years? Lord Stanley is only six months old.”
“Naomi is a deranged woman, according to my sources. She was never mentally stable and all that happened to her really messed her mind up. She thought you had a child for your husband and who would now inherit what her own son was supposed to.”
Doris started laughing and Victor recognized it as hysteria. He held her shoulder and shook her gently. “Stop that at o
nce, Doris.”
“Inheritance, what inheritance? At the time of Paul’s death we had nothing, having spent all we had on doctors to no avail. He always told me that he didn’t have well-paying clients and I believed him, only to find out that he was supporting another woman and her son all along. Twenty years of my life wasted.”
“It wasn’t wasted, my dear. You devoted yourself to your husband like all good wives do. He chose to keep secrets from you and it was no fault of yours.”
“This boy who is supposed to inherit, there’s nothing left for him. I sold the house and small land we had because I thought it was mine to do so. Now it turns out that Paul never intended to leave me anything at all. Who does that to a woman he’s lived with for twenty years?”
“My dear, hush,” Victor pulled her into his arms and though she resisted at first, she finally gave in. It felt good to be comforted, though she felt like her heart was shattered and she would never trust another man again.
“I’m alright now,” she said after a while. Then something struck her. “If the woman who tried to grab Stanley is in prison then it must mean that whoever sent those notes and that dead frog,” she shuddered, “Could be her son. They’re angry at me because I stood in their way.”
“I’ll have my men investigate. At least we now know why someone would target you, and the thing we have to do is find this Arthur Graham gentleman and deal with him.”
Doris shook her head. “He’s an innocent child in all this. He never asked to be born and then to a woman who is mentally unstable. Who knows what lies she has fed him from when he was a little boy? Her sister took the man she loved, her family shunned her, the man made her pregnant and then rejected her and wouldn’t openly acknowledge her son. Being already mentally unstable she must have just gone over the bend. Such a woman for a mother is disaster and the poor boy probably grew up with the pain of rejection and bitterness in his heart.”
“Still, I’m glad you found all that out while you’re here among those who care, and being safe. Who knows what that young man was planning for you?”
A Lord Loves Again (Married to the Murrays Book 4) Page 3
