Page 44 of Summer at the Château
‘What would you say if I told you I’d guessed the truth,’ Pixie demanded. ‘I can’t say I’m not hurt about him having an affair and having a child with you, but…’ She stopped in shock as Justine let a burst of hysterical laughter escape.
‘You think I had an affair with Frank? You want the truth? Okay, here’s the truth. Yes, I did love Frank but there was no affair. I loved him like a daughter,’ Justine paused. ‘Because that’s who I am. Frank’s daughter. Which makes Ferdie his grandson. And that’s why he let us live in the cottage.’
Justine turned and ran away with tears streaming down her face.
A stunned Pixie sat, unable to move, as the realisation hit her that Frank had a child. A child he’d deliberately kept secret from her. She had been wrong in her initial assumption about Justine, but the truth she’d just learnt raised even more questions than answers. The knowledge that Frank had got what she had been unable to give him, a daughter and a grandchild, hurt so much as to be unbearable.
Pixie sat there, the tears flowing unchecked down her cheeks until her blouse was soaked and she was forced to go indoors and change.
Part III
‘Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.’
All’s well that ends well. Shakespeare
29
Knowing that Ferdie was with Charlie, who would look after him and bring him home if she didn’t go looking for him, Justine shut herself in the cottage. How could she have been so stupid as to blurt out the truth like that to Pixie of all people? Frank had been so determined she wasn’t to be hurt by the revelation that he had a daughter that he’d made her promise to leave it to him to tell Pixie. Only he hadn’t and now the father she’d barely got to know was dead, leaving her and her mother to deal with the fallout.
Justine gave a deep sigh. Her mother. Brigitte, was going to be absolutely furious with her. Four years ago, she had been angry enough with Justine for daring to go against her wishes and look up her biological father. Arguing that it wasn’t just about Justine and her wants – other people were in danger of being hurt if she went ahead with her plan to contact him. ‘Frank, he not know of your existence when you were born, why does he need to know now? In fact, I doubt that he will want to know.’
‘Because I want to learn about my roots,’ a stubborn Justine had answered. ‘You’ve never hidden the fact that you were a single mother and Dad adopted me when you two married. Why shouldn’t I want to know more?’
When she’d insisted on going ahead with contacting Frank, Brigitte had tried another tack. ‘William has been a wonderful father to you – how d’you think he’s going to feel?’
‘I’ve asked him. He knows he will always be my dad and he understands why I have to meet Frank. Why don’t you understand?’
Brigitte hadn’t answered.
To Justine’s question, ’Why didn’t you tell Frank about me?’ Brigitte had merely shaken her head and shrugged, ‘I had my reasons.’
But when Frank, who, after the initial shock, had most definitely wanted to know about her, had asked the same question when they all met up for the first time at his request, Brigitte had looked at him and said quietly, ‘You and Pixie were so much in love, I didn’t want a baby with another woman who you no love, to be responsible for breaking up your marriage.’
Both Brigitte and Frank had made Justine promise that she would keep her mother’s identity a secret from Pixie if she should meet her before Frank had told her everything. Justine had promised readily, not expecting to have to keep the secret for so long. At the time, Frank had already been promising for nearly three years to tell Pixie about her and she’d assumed that now he owned the château he’d tell Pixie about her and the château at the same time. Justine could feel herself tearing up again, if only that elusive ‘right moment’ for Frank to admit the truth had arrived. And yet he’d let her move into the cottage, so he must have been preparing the ground during that time for telling Pixie, only to go and die so cruelly and unexpectedly.
Now that Pixie knew who she was, Justine had no doubt that she would demand to know her mother’s identity. And the answer to that, Frank had told her, would upset Pixie almost as much as learning that he had a secret daughter. Apparently Brigitte and Pixie had been good friends at one time.
With Frank dead and Pixie knowing her true identity, would Brigitte step up and do what Frank should have done and confess to her erstwhile friend that she’d had an affair with her husband years ago? Somehow Justine couldn’t see her mother braving the wrath of a wronged wife.
Justine poured herself a glass of water and took a couple of sips.
The cottage door opened and Ferdie called out. ‘Mummy, are you here?’
‘Yes, I’m here,’ Justine said as Ferdie ran in, followed by Charlie. A Charlie who stood in the doorway looking at her, taking in her red eyes and tear-blotched face before moving across and taking her in his arms and looking at her seriously.
‘Are you okay?’
Justine nodded. ‘I think Pixie might be in need of some company right now though.’
‘Have you two had words?’
Justine shook her head. ‘Not words exactly. I unintentionally blurted out something I don’t think she really wanted to hear. She certainly wasn’t expecting it.’
‘Ah.’ A worried look of understanding crossed Charlie’s face. ‘I’d better go then, if you’re sure you’re okay. I’ll see you later.’
Justine nodded again, unable to speak, as Charlie turned away and she held out her arms to Ferdie. ‘Mummy would love a hug right now.’
Ferdie ran straight into her arms, and she pressed him to her.
