Sweeny jumped in. “I’ll be glad to see it through and will report toyou ASAP.”
“Wonderful.” George stood up. “Gentlemen, it has been a pleasure as always. Have agood day.”
He watched the two men gather their files and leave.If these small-time swindlers think they can exploit a disabled old man, then they should think again.
George blew out a long breath; he was bone tired, and his legs moved like lead.Sleep, I need a pillow and clean sheets.
“Your room’s ready,” his father said. “We’ll talk when you’ve had some rest.” George’s eyes snapped to his father. Could the old man read minds?
His father could no doubt read the look in George’s eyes because he suddenly laughed. “You think I don’t know what happens on my own island, my boy? We’ve been expecting you since you got off the ferry yesterday.”
“I went—” George stopped himself; he didn’t want to discuss last night with his father.
“I know where you went, and by the look of you, I know she sent you away. We won’t talk of it now. Go and sleep.” And his father made himself busy shuffling the papers on the table in front of him.
George had no intention of talking of it now or later. He left the room and climbed the stairs to his old bedroom.
Easter Monday. The Garden, afternoon
It was one of those days George loved about spring in the English Channel. It was sunny but gentle, cool like a caress. The formal gardens were in full bloom, especially around the terrace where he sat with his father for afternoon tea. He took another bite of the hot cross bun and chewed, watching his father readthe paper.
“So, ‘trouble at t’mill’ yesterday.” George used the nineteenth-century cliché, a half joke to open what must be a difficult topic for his father.
“There’s always ‘trouble at t’mill’ here,” his father answered from behind thenewspaper.
I bet there is. Now they think you’re alone.George could see his father the way others must see him. Du Montfort looked older and visibly tired. The seigneurship should’ve been a merely ceremonial position by now. Yet he’d been forced to take an active role in running the affairs of the island at an age when most people enjoyed retirement. Worse, the old man was out of his depth with modern legislation, and George’s absence left him vulnerable. How long before another Morris or another Sweeny succeeded in catching him out ina mistake?
“Father.” He waited for his father to look at him over the top of the newspaper. “I can arrange my work commitments so I can come here once a month and deal with administration. If you’d like me to.”
“If you can find the time.” His father’s words were relaxed, carefully indifferent, but in his eyes, just for an instant, a different expression blazed and was quickly hidden. An expression that tugged at George’s heart.
“I’ll speak with Rob Matthews and the agent, and I’ll set up an office at the town hall again from next month.”
He braced himself for a return to the old spiky question of inheriting the seigneurship. If his father said anything about that, George was ready to withdraw his offer and returnto London.
His father nodded. George waited for the usual tirade. But nothing came.
Stop pretending you have nothing to say, Dad. I know you.“Another cup of tea?” George asked.
“Yes, please,” his father said from behindthe paper.
George filled his father’s cup.
Still nothing. As if they had nothing else to discuss, is if this were just a lazy spring afternoon in a normal family.
“Why did you give her Mum’s cottage?” The question had been biting the edges of his artificial calm.
His father went very still for several moments before he finally lowered the paper, folded it and put it away. Then he looked up and met his son’s eyes.
“It wasn’t your mother’s cottage. She never wanted it. It was your grandfather’s.”
“He left it to her in his will,” George said.
“Who else was he going to leave it to? The plumber? She was the only family hehad left.”
George scrubbed his fingers into his scalp, trying to rally his thoughts. There was an important argument here. “Did you give it to Millie to prove something to me?” The old mistrust simmered behindhis words.
“I gave Blue Sage Bay to Millie because it was the only piece of property I had. Everything else was tied up in trust. You should know that. You did the tying up yourself.” His father glared at him.
