The little girl then held out a well-chewed doll.
‘Molly.’
This child had black hair and blue eyes, the stamp of the Morelands so easily upon her it made Phillip take in a breath. Life went on binding those who had been with those who were next to come. A bridge to the future. There was something so right about it that it made him relax as he reached out for the small, flaxen-haired doll.
‘Well, hello, Molly. Your hair is very long.’
The child laughed.
‘Juliette must trust you if she’s offering up her favourite doll.’ Oliver said this with humour.
‘Would it be rude to give it back now?’ The wetness of the chewed clothes was faintly worrying.
‘Not at all. Our daughter would most likely begin to cry if you did not. She seldom lets Molly out of her hands.’
Just as his brother had said, the child cuddled the doll fiercely on its return and in that moment Phillip had an aching want to know what it must feel like to be a father, to have little ones with all their unique ways depending on you and loving you.
He saw Esther looking at him strangely, as if perhaps she had guessed his thoughts.
‘Children never allow one much time for introspection,’ she stated then and he nodded, thinking that would be one of the main reasons he would most like to have them.
Half an hour later he was relieved to have gained some time with Oliver though, left alone with his brother, he was acutely aware of the awkward silence between them.
‘How are you, Phillip?’ Oliver’s question came as he sat down.
‘I have been busy with the estate and readying myself for a trip to London.’
‘Are you going for business?’
‘Not completely.’ When he said no more, Oliver smiled.
‘You were always far more secretive than I was. Sometimes I wondered after our childhood if you ever told anyone anything.’
‘I was married.’
‘Your wife always gave me the impression of a woman who was hard to fathom. She was certainly…mercurial.’
Oliver stood and crossed over to the drinks cabinet. Pouring two generous whiskies, he came back and sat down, offering one to Phillip.
‘You are referring to Gretel’s desperation to have a child?’
‘I am. We never talked about anything after you shot me.’
‘That was because I didn’t believe your side of the story at the time.’
‘But now you do?’
‘Imminent death brings on a will to undo tangled mistakes. Gretel told me what had happened between you both in the weeks before she passed away. She said she had gone unbidden to your townhouse and left when you refused outright her offer of sex so that she might conceive an heir for Elmsworth.’
‘A complete reversal of her lie at the time that held me at fault of attacking her physically?’
‘Exactly.’
‘Well, I am at least grateful that she told you the truth and I am sorry that it has taken so long for us to speak about it.’
Raising his left hand, Phillip allowed Oliver to see the shake in it. ‘If it’s any consolation at all, when I confronted you I did mean to miss.’
‘I know. After our childhood there is a certain glue that can never be unstuck.’
