‘But this would mean we’re related,’ said Gulliver.
‘Very, very distantly,’ said Tabitha.
‘Auntie Edie is going to be delighted,’ he said. ‘She’s claimed all along you’re connected to the house and, now we know your Mott ancestor is our Mott ancestor too. She’ll have found her family “witch”. I told her about your “feather flame” legend and the dreaming girls, she was even more determined you’d been brought here for a reason.’
‘It could be a coincidence,’ said Tabitha.
‘No, I don’t think so,’ replied Gulliver, looking thoughtful. ‘The house chooses its family very carefully.’
He took one final glance at the app, then returned Tabitha’s phone.
‘You haven’t added your husband’s death,’ he said in a low voice.
‘No, not yet,’ replied Tabitha, irritation rising that not only had he discussed her family with Edith and neither of them had mentioned it to her, but he had pried into such a personal topic. She felt unnerved and overwhelmed, as though events were slipping out of her control.
‘You don’t talk about him much.’
‘It’s not really a conversation opener, is it?’ said Tabitha.
‘No, I suppose not,’ agreed Gulliver. ‘Rather like divorce.’
‘Are you truly going ahead with it?’
‘Yes,’ he replied.
‘A divorce is a huge step—’ she began, but Gulliver talked over her, his eyes focused on the family tree.
‘Lucia laughed when she told me she’d been unfaithful,’ he said. Tabitha had never warmed to Lucia, but this was the height of cruelty. ‘It was then I realised that what had been between us wasn’t love. It was passion and sexual attraction, but not love. I was shocked, overwhelmed and was desperate to fly home. I wanted to be somewhere safe.’
Gulliver looked up and the intensity of the expression in his eyes made Tabitha take an involuntary step away from him.
‘But when I arrived, the only person I wanted to see was you. To tell you about her subterfuge, to listen to your advice and, if I’m honest, to hold you, to feel your arms around me. When you found me outside Tadpole Cottage, I was desperately confused. During those wild months of being with Lucia, she had been the centre of my world, I could barely stand to be away from her, but when she told me the truth – that the marriage had been to make her long-term lover jealous – I realised what a fool I’d been.’
‘But why is she here? If she has another man, why isn’t she with him?’
‘Last night, when I told her I wanted a divorce, she was furious,’ he said. ‘She refused, saying she had unfinished business with the Swanne family and she would decide when the marriage was over. I was stunned, I thought she’d want to be free so she could be with him, but she screamed at me about owning the house. She seemed to think the abbey was hers because of our marriage.’
‘Is it?’
‘Of course not. Despite our whirlwind romance, which I admit was exciting, my brain remained enough in control to insist on her signing a pre-nuptial agreement. She’d only receive money from me if we have children and, as we don’t, once the paperwork is complete, she’ll have no claim on anything, she’ll have to leave. I have no idea why she thinks she has a claim on the house…’
Tabitha stared at him in shock. ‘You’re serious.’
‘Yes, I’ve instructed my solicitor,’ he said.
Tabitha’s mind whirled, a divorce was the last thing she had expected Gulliver to announce, a reconciliation perhaps, but not a permanent split.
There was a long silence, the wind outside whispered through the trees until in a voice so low she could easily have missed it, Gulliver said, ‘Tabs, I’m sorry.’
‘For what?’
‘This mess,’ he replied, his voice quavering.
At first, she thought he was on the brink of tears, but when she glanced at him, she saw anger brimming in his eyes.
‘It’s none of my business…’ she began.
‘Please, stop this,’ he said and reached out, grasping her hand.
