Five hours, one ferry ride, too much traffic, and a stop for lunch later, we pull up to a hotel.After an efficient check-in and time to freshen up, we get back in the car, my body protesting the confinement after its recent freedom.
It’s gotten later, even though the sun is in no danger of going down any time soon (thanks, summer in England).We pass cars leaving the estate as we drive through the welcoming gates, me for the second time, and past an almost empty parking lot.
Then we’re at the house, and I almost create even more questions in Luis’s mind by crying, but I hold back the tears.Because I don’t know how to explain crying in reaction to a museum that I said I had no connection to.
But I can’t stop my heart from aching as the numerous windows wink at me in the bright sun, welcoming me back.And then it aches at the thought that the building is still there, but the lord of this manor, the man I love, is long gone.The only comfort I can get is walking the same hallways and rooms that I walked with Leo, and seeing the same furniture.If it hasn’t been sold or replaced by now.
I didn’t realize how much I would be affected by seeing the house again, or I would have prepared for it better.
Luis breaks into my thoughts.“It’s a nice pile.”
“Yeah.It really is.”
The driver pulls up to the main entrance.“Mr.Maynard will meet you inside the house.”
“Thank you.”
I get out of the car, walking up to the impressive façade and trying not to remember the last time I did this, while Luis follows behind.The front door is cracked open and I push it the rest of the way in.
“Dr.Chopra!I’m so glad you took us up on our offer.”An older British man, outfitted in too many items made of tweed, just in case we had the nerve to mistake him for a city dweller, welcomes us into the building.He’s got a large smile on his face, projecting affable grandpa.
“Well, I’m very curious to find out what this is all about.My family was so excited when I told them where I was going,” I say, so he knows that people know I’m here.They don’t, because I didn’t think of that till now, but that would have been the smart thing to do.
“Let’s not waste another moment.We’ll borrow an administrative office to have our meeting.”
He leads us up the stairs, and to the right.Even though this house is giant and I have a terrible sense of direction, I do know that a left at the top of the steps would have taken me to the Rose Room.I swallow and force myself to turn away and follow David in the opposite direction.
“Please, have a seat.”David sits behind a Victorian desk and indicates the Louis XVI armchairs in front of it.We do what he says, but I sit a little closer to the edge than normal, wanting him to get on with it already.“Would you like some refreshments?”
“No,” I say as Luis says, “Yes.”
“We’ll eat after,” I say to Luis.But right now, I want to hear and see whatever David has for me.
“Are you sure you don’t want to be alone for this?”David looks at Luis.
“No, it’s fine.”I don’t even want to wait the time it would take for Luis to leave the room.
“Then let’s get to it.”David shuffles his papers around on the desk.
Ahh, more stalling.Stop torturing me!
CHAPTER39
David clears his throat.“In 1897, the Alston Trust was formed, and Alston Hall was transferred into it.According to the trust documents, the home and all the furniture and décor are to be kept intact and open to the public, for a small fee.This property wasn’t entailed, so the marquess at the time was free to do it.”
Two years after I left.Leo would have been marquess then.Did he do this?
“The trust is administered by my family’s law firm.My great-grandfather was actually the nephew of the marquess at the time, and the first administrator.”
I perk up even more, searching the face that I mostly ignored before.This is Leo’s family.Well, Lydia’s direct family line.But in his face I can see Leo’s nose and jaw, softened a little in age but still there.An age I never got to see on Leo.
I’m staring with a little too much intensity, if David’s throat-clearing is any indication.
“And in the trust documents, there were instructions to open a letter in January 2025.This year.When we did, we found a legal document inside, as well as two sealed letters.”David chooses this moment to pause for dramatic effect, looking up at us to make sure he has a rapt audience.He does.A thousand percent, he does.
“And?”I ask when he doesn’t follow up.
“The document leaves the primary management of the trust, as well as the head curator position, to you.Meera Chopra.An American historian who is supposed to be visiting England in summer of 2025 for a conference on the Isle of Wight.Although she may or may not disappear for some time, or be difficult to track down.But when we find her, on or after the last day of the convention and not before, we are to tell her about the position.”
