She shook her head. “Very little.”
I passed her the box. “When I started work renovating the priory I found Kathleen’s diary and a baby book. I think your gran had been born in a secret room at the priory. There’s a baby book where details of her were recorded.”
She opened the box and started to look at the baby book first, her face breaking out into a smile. “They were lucky,” she said. “Having a child out of marriage, let alone when you were meant to be married to the church was scandalous back then.”
“The nun helped them. And it was her aunt they stayed with,” I said.
Nancy nodded, her eyes glistening. “Most of the village believed that James was her nephew. I think there were a few who were suspicious but because he was such a good person from all accounts, people didn’t challenge it. He was heavily involved with the church and an orphanage nearby. In fact, he and Kathleen took in two children who were deaf and looked after them, rather than them having to go to the mills to work.”
“He sounded like a good man in Kathleen’s diaries. I don’t think either of them were expecting to fall in love – they were committed to the path they’d chosen,” I said.
Nancy’s expression was soft, her smile tender as she looked through the belongings that had been left in the priory after James and Kathleen had left for Enniskerry. “Why do you think the room was sealed off? Was the priory closed?”
“I don’t know. The room was locked and the stairs that led to it were boarded up. The fact that clothes were left makes me think they left in a rush, maybe someone was visiting and they wouldn’t have had a favourable opinion of the baby – that’s just a theory.” I cast a quick glance at the waitress who dropped off the coffees we’d ordered.
“I know that Kathleen had a sister who moved to London around the time Mary Ada was born,” Claire said.
She was our family’s historian. At one point, we’d all been subjected to having our mouths swabbed and sent off for DNA testing to see if she could expand the family tree.
“She died a few years later and is buried in the graveyard associated with the priory. I can carry on researching her movements in London, if you’d like.” Claire’s tone was soothing, less abrasive than usual.
Nancy nodded. “I would but I may be able to help. Agnes – Kathleen’s sister – came to see Kathleen I think, and didn’t find her. She was much older than Kathleen and her husband had died of consumption a good ten years before. I remember Ada talking about Agnes once, saying that her mam had a sister but she wasn’t very nice. I wonder if they left London to avoid her.”
“Maybe we’ll never know. But at least Kathleen and James and Ada had a happy ending,” Eli said, his hand still on my knee.
“They did,” Nancy said. “And thank you for getting this to me and taking care of it. A lot of people would’ve just put it on the skip.”
“Things like that are too important,” I said. “I took a copy of it, I hope that’s okay? The family buying the house are related to us, and they said they’d like to tell their children the history of it one day.”
“Good,” Nancy said. “That’s a lovely thing to want to do. I’d like to come by and see it at some point if that would be okay? Have a look at the room where Grannie Ada was born.”
I nodded. “Whenever you have time. Just send me a message and I can meet you there.”
The conversation stayed on Ada and what Nancy had heard of her great-grandparents until we had to leave, Nancy to meet with a professor at the university and us to head back to the house for mum’s Sunday lunch, after which we’d all start to return to the city for another week of work. Apart from Claire, who was milking every moment of her maternity leave. I was half convinced that she wouldn’t go back. She didn’t seem to be missing the office or having a caseload, which for a woman who’d been work-obsessed for fifteen years was weird. Having Killian and Eliza had changed her.
Leaving the box of mementoes was strange, as if I was giving up a part of my present and leaving it behind in the past. The priory had been given its history and its happiness and would soon have a future in housing a new family. I felt happy, excited, but part of me was lost because the future that I’d never really thought about for me, other than building my empire and portfolio didn’t seem as bright.
I walked quicker, knowing that Jon was likely to rant on about my delay regardless whether it had been my fault or not. There had been an issue with a couple of the bathroom suites at the hotel and he wanted some input on how to change the design now the plumbing was fixed. If it had been the smaller, standard rooms there wouldn’t have been much to discuss, but it was the two superior suites and they were designed around a free-standing bathtub which would now need to be moved, and therefore there would be implications on the rest of the design.
Because it was Jon, I had to be there that evening, not the following morning, and give up my own time which I was trying to be more protective of. I should’ve been meeting Elijah and my brothers at Whisky Ginger, with Payton and Owen making an appearance at some point, allegedly. They’d become pretty much inseparable at the moment and if they weren’t out together, they were planning to meet at some point.
Not that I could complain. I was living with a man.
As I hurried down the pavements towards the hotel I thought about how my living with Eli had been received by my family. Not one of them had asked a question. There had been no inquisition, apart from Payton’s initial disappointment that I hadn’t confided in her. No one had asked me what the fuck I was doing or tried to tell me it was a bad idea but neither had they ignored it, dropping us off after nights out and turning up uninvited.
I didn’t get my family.
They’d gone from trying to micromanage my life so I learned from all of their mistakes combined to just letting me get on with it.
Jon looked at me then at his oversized, overly gaudy watch as he saw me approach. I was pretty sure it was visible from space, the face was that large. “I thought we said six?” he said.
“We did.” It was the same time I had been meant to be meeting Eli. “There was an incident on the Jubilee line.”
He pulled a face, clearly not having a rebuke on the tip of his tongue. “Then I’m sure you need a drink. It is Friday after all.”
We were standing outside a bar, one I hadn’t been in before but had heard good things about from Emily, one of my electricians and one of the few females I worked with on a regular basis who wasn’t another designer. I tried not to sigh audibly. I didn’t want to go for a drink with him as I suspected it would lead him on, but I couldn’t keep saying no – I felt rude and impolite.
“Sure,” I said. “I can manage one then a quick look at the rooms – take some photos and I’ll get a plan over to you tomorrow.” Eli would be growly that I was working on a Saturday – not like he never did – but it would give Jon fewer reasons to contact me.
