Page 141 of All I Want for Christmas

‘With all the notoriety around Lilja and Casper’s deaths, it was agreed the Saalbachs would raise Emme at Solvtraeer, “out of the way”. But in truth, neither Lotte nor Frederik had much interest in their orphaned niece.’

‘So Emme ended up being raised by her own father and grandparents anyway?’

‘Yes. It worked to their advantage to simply continue as the faithful servants.’

Darcy gasped at their audacity and sheer good luck. ‘And the Madsens never suspected?’

‘They had no reason to. Arne hid all evidence of his relationship with Lilja. He only held onto the clays she had made of him, and no one guessed they were of him. And by the time he passed away, Emme was grown and had made a good marriage; she had already come into her inheritance at twenty-one. Arne’s own parents were long since dead by then, so they faced no repercussions.’

‘So he wrote the letter as an official act of claiming her as his?’

‘Yes. Every father desires that. It was important to him to have it on record, if not publicly then at least with the family that had destroyed the woman he loved. An act of revenge, perhaps.’

‘But it was still risky, surely? If Emme was revealed as not being a Madsen by blood, they could have revoked her inheritance.’

‘Not without having to explain why. The sensation around the Hornbaek deaths was still fresh enough for many in polite society, even as late as 1961.’

Darcy absorbed all this, remembering how Max had told her most of the family fortune had been diverted to his cousins but for the country house, and some shares and honorary positions within the company. Their branch of the family – the illegitimate line – had been as disinherited as far as was possible without attracting public notice.

In the wake of such tragedy, she would have thought it almost impossible that happiness could flourish for Arne and his secret daughter again; and yet, somehow, it had. Quietly, out of sight and out of mind. ‘It’s nice to think Emme got to grow up there, in the place where her mother was so happy.’

‘Yes. Emme lived her whole life at Solvtraeer. She was married there, had her son...’

‘I saw her wedding photograph when I was up there.’

‘And did you see how Arne honoured Lilja’s memory?...He planted all the flower beds full of lilies. He never loved anyone else after her.’

She gave a quizzical smile. ‘Viggo, how do you know all this about Emme?’

‘It’s in her diaries.’

Darcy blinked. She had never got that far along – and likely never would have, either. She had made the mistake of assuming that Lilja’s story had ended with Lilja’s death.

‘So then Arne’s revelations...’ she mused, coming back to their original point.

Viggo chuckled. ‘Came as quite a shock to the old boy, yes; Fred Madsen was in his late seventies by then, but he was still a shrewd operator. He immediately understood the damage that would be done to the family name if the truth were to come out about Emme’s parentage – it would lead straight back to Lilja’s death and Casper’s culpability. Business had to be seen to continue as usual.’

Seen? Darcy’s eyes narrowed at the semantic hedging. ‘What does that mean?’

‘In the letter, Arne revealed his affair with Lilja – but also how he had concealed it from them for all those years. The night Casper died was chaotic; the family were already en route, travelling up to Hornbaek, having been in Sweden when Lilja had drowned. Arne realized they had to get any and all evidence of the affair out of the house before the family arrived.’

‘They?’ She looked at him, understanding suddenly that Arne hadn’t acted alone. ‘And the portrait would have revealed the affair?’

‘Supposedly she had written an inscription on the back of it. Trier only remembered it was still drying in his studio after the police had arrived when Casper was found dead. He concealed it in the back ofHer Childrenand sealed it. He had promised the painting to Bertram, of course, but the next day, a German tourist visited the gardens and he sold it to him to get it off the estate, right under the police’s noses.’

This, Darcy knew, was the apparent betrayal that had ended Trier’s lucrative relationship with the Madsens.

‘And Arne’s letter told them all this?’

‘Not exactly. He was careful not to specify which painting it was hidden behind; that would have been an unwarranted kindness, telling them exactly where to look. He only said that it was hidden in the back of one of Trier’s paintings.’

Viggo arched an eyebrow at Arne’s sly game.

‘So that’s why the Foundation was set up right after his death – they’ve been assiduously buying the entire Trier portfolio, trying to find it.’ Darcy’s brain was working at triple speed. ‘But surely they must have suspected it was in the back ofHer Children– given it was what Trier was working on at the time?’

‘Of course. They just couldn’t be certain.’

It accounted for their aggression, though, trying to acquire it, she thought to herself.

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