Page 12 of The House of Hopes and Dreams
Everything else in the room was so familiar and yet so subtly changed, as if I’d time-slipped into an alternative version of my life.
‘I don’t need to sit down,’ I said finally, the whirling in my head ceasing, so that I stood firmly again, shell-shocked but myself. ‘I’ll … just take my things upstairs and wash my hands.’
Suddenly I was desperate to be alone for a few minutes, to gather myself together.
‘Good idea – andI’llput the kettle on,’ Molly said pointedly as I turned for the door.
Willow’s voice arrested me as I was reaching for the handle. ‘We’ve put you in the back bedroom.’
I spun round and stared at her, wondering if I’d heard aright. ‘What?’
‘Well, it was stupid the two ofussqueezing into that boxroom when you didn’t need the big one, so we’ve changed over,’ Nat said, with something in his eyes that told me he was relishing the situation.
I felt as sick as if I’d turned over a stone and found something repulsive under it. I hadn’t realizedquitehow much he hated me.
Molly gave them both a look of searing disgust. ‘This is Angel’s home, so who gave you the right to take over as if you owned the place?’
‘Because I do – or I soon will,’ he stated. ‘Julian was married to my mother and since I’m their only child, I inherit everything. Angel might as well get used to that from the start.’
‘You’re jumping the gun, Nat,’ Molly said. ‘They’d lived together so long that Angel was Julian’s common-law wife.’
‘Oh, but that has no status under the law of inheritance,’ Willow said brightly.
‘Well, status or not, Julian told Angel he’d had his solicitor draw up a will that divided things fairly between you,’ Molly said.
I staggered to a nearby chair and sat down before my knees gave way. I’d hoped Mr Barley, Julian’s solicitor, might already have told Nat how things had been left, but perhaps he’d been waiting for me to return first.
Nat’s next words disabused me of this notion. ‘So Mr Barley said when I asked if there was a will. Unfortunately for dear Angel, it appears that Dad died the day before it was due to be signed.’
‘Oh – of course,’ I said. ‘He spoke about signing it the day before he …’ My throat closed up.
Molly was frowning. ‘But if Julian had had it drawn up, then it’s a statement of his wishes and must be taken into account.’
‘I’d hoped he would have changed a few things before he signed it,’ I said. ‘I wanted him to leave the lion’s share to you, Nat.’
‘Yeah, right,’ he sneered.
‘You can believe it or not as you like, but anyway,’ I added wearily, ‘we can discuss it with the solicitor on Monday, can’t we?’
‘Youcan, if you want to, but it’s all cut and dried, so there’s no point in us going, too,’ Nat said shortly.
‘That’s right, because if there’s no signed will and you weren’t married to Julian, then Nat inheritseverythingunder the laws of intestacy and you’re not entitled to a thing,’ Willow agreed. ‘I mean, you were living in his house without contributing to any of the expenses and you were just a paid employee in the workshop, weren’t you? Just like Grant and that awful old man.’
‘Ivan’s retired, he just likes coming in and helping – and he’s not awful,’ I said automatically.
Molly was looking gobsmacked. ‘What you’ve said about Angel not being entitled to anything at all can’t be right. They’ve been more like partners in the business since Angel began making a name for her designs – and what’s more, she ran it alone for months after Julian had the first stroke, besides looking after him.’
‘But there was no official partnership, and though it was clever of Angel to talk Dad into writing the will, I’d have challenged it on the grounds of undue influence while he was mentally incapable, even if he had signed it,’ Nat said, and I looked at him astounded.
‘There was never anything wrong with Julian’s mind and I didn’t talk him into anything. In fact, I tried to talk him out of leaving me so much, because I didn’t think it was fair.’
I was wasting my breath. Nat was bloated with gloating, while Willow had assumed a spurious expression of sympathy that I would have liked to have smacked off her face.
‘Don’t worry about the cottage, because we won’t want you to move out of it straight away,’ she assured me. ‘So long as you’re gone by the time the workshop reopens on the fifth of January it’ll be fine. Nat’s handed his notice in and he’s got unused holidays to take into account, so we’ll move up the weekend before. I work freelance, so there’s nothing to hold us.’
‘Move out …?’ I repeated blankly.
Willow looked scathingly round the room. ‘I’ve got some lovely things in the flat, so a lot of this tat can go to make room for it. I hate clutter – like all that junk on the dresser. I expect there are odds and ends of yours scattered round the house that you’ll want to take, though?’
