Barbara Taylor Bradford - Unexpected Blessings

‘That’s a good idea, and thank you for everything you’ve done for us. I’ll be forever grateful.’

‘Just know I’m always here for you,’ he said.

‘Can I speak to Tessa, Jack?’

‘Yes indeed, she’s standing right next to me. I’ll talk to you later, Paula.’

‘Hello, Mummy,’ Tessa began and stopped abruptly, choking up.

‘Tessa darling, I’m so sorry this happened, so very sorry. You must have gone through hell today.’

‘I did,’ Tessa answered, her voice tearful. ‘But I’m happy to say Adele is perfectly fine, and she doesn’t seem at all upset, other than she thought she’d lost her rag doll. She’s fast asleep now, and Elvira is sleeping in her room tonight. Mummy, Mark was beastly, so cruel and hateful. He did this because he wanted to get at me, wanted a weapon to use, to gain advantage over me. It was wrong that he used Adele in this way. Oh, and he wants joint custody.’

‘He’ll never get it, Tessa, please be assured of that. When Jack investigated Mark he came up with quite a lot of unsavoury information, and I feel certain he will be viewed as an unfit father by the courts. What did you promise him, darling, in order to get Adele back?’

‘Only those things we’d discussed earlier. The Hampstead house, the cars garaged there, and a financial settlement. Nothing more, and I was wary about the custody. I said the lawyers will have to talk it through.’

‘Good girl. And do let the legal team handle things from now on.’

‘Oh I will, Mummy, but I had to offer something to get him to bring Adele home.’

‘I know you did. I think you did very well indeed. And one thing we must do is make sure the price is right. You don’t want Mark around your neck for the rest of your life like an albatross.’

‘Can I stay up here? Jack says it’ll be perfectly safe, that Mark won’t come around troubling me again. And he has the front and back gates locked tonight. He can make it really secure here.’

‘Yes, I think you should stay, as you’d planned, and of course Jack is right about it being made secure, and also about Mark Longden, who’s probably already regretting that he did this terrible thing. How’re Emsie and Desmond? I suppose they were there when this happened?’

‘They were out riding. But they want to say hello. I’ll pass the phone, Mummy.’

After she had hung up Paula sat for a while at the desk, mulling over everything Jack and her children had told her; she had also spoken to India and Evan, heard their opinions as well. It seemed to be the general consensus that Jonathan Ainsley was involved, somehow, in the events that had transpired at Pennistone Royal earlier in the day.

Jonathan Ainsley . Her first cousin and bitter enemy. Enemy of her immediate family. Enemy of the entire Harte clan. And the O’Neills and the Kallinskis as well, since they were all so closely connected.

Lately he had been clever. He had pulled Mark Longden into his orbit by hiring him to design his new home in North Yorkshire. Mark had taken the bait, flattered; he had quickly been lured into Jonathan’s decadent social life, and, inevitably, he had become Jonathan’s pawn.

Her cousin hadn’t had to do anything himself to hurt her – simply whisper a few choice words in Mark Longden’s ear about Tessa. And the die was cast.

She did not know how to deal with Jonathan at this moment, though she would eventually find a way to outwit him. But she did know how to handle Mark, render him powerless against her daughter and grandchild. And she would put her plans in motion tomorrow.

She glanced at the carriage clock on the desk, saw that it was after five and wondered what had happened to Emily. She couldn’t still be at the board meeting at Harte Enterprises, could she? But of course she could. Emily was diligent and –

‘Sorry I’m so late getting back!’ Emily exclaimed, hurrying into the library looking warm, her face slightly flushed. ‘Oh good, it’s lovely and cool in here. It’s a furnace outside –’ Emily suddenly broke off, staring at her cousin and frowning. ‘What’s wrong, Paula? You look quite awful.’

‘Hello, Emily,’ Paula answered, rising, walking around the desk, kissing Emily on the cheek. ‘I just had a little bit of a shock actually, but everything’s all right. I’ll tell you about it in a moment. Shall we have a cup of tea? Or do you want iced tea?’

Sitting down on the sofa, without taking her eyes off Paula, Emily said, ‘I think I’d like iced tea for a change. Shall I go and tell Alice?’

‘No, no, I’ll do it. And will Winston be back from Toronto or not? I need to tell her how many we’ll be for dinner.’

‘It’s still just you and me, darling. Winston won’t make it out today. Maybe tomorrow, and I’m assuming Shane is coming on Friday as planned.’

‘That’s correct. He’s taking the morning plane from Nassau. So yes, we’re a couple of grass widows tonight.’ As she spoke Paula glided out of the room, went to the kitchen, spoke to Alice, the housekeeper, and returned within seconds.

She went over and sat down in a chair facing Emily, and explained, ‘There’s been a bit of a fuss at Pennistone Royal today.’ Speaking swiftly, and with her usual conciseness, Paula told Emily everything that had happened in Yorkshire.

‘What a ghastly day poor Tessa must’ve had, and thank God it all ended well. Almost anything could have gone wrong, you know. And listen, Paula –’ Emily leaned forward and continued in a much quieter, confiding voice, ‘I tend to agree with Linnet and Tessa, bloody Jonathan probably was involved. He has to be dealt with – somehow.’

‘I agree, but I’m not sure what to do about him at this moment, Em. However, I think I have a way to make Mark Longden toe the line and behave himself. I’ve come up with a plan in the last half hour and I think it will work. I certainly intend to set it in motion tomorrow.’

‘Oh please tell me about it,’ Emily said eagerly, her face lighting up.

And Paula did.

After Emily had gone to her room to relax before dinner, Paula sat for a while at the desk, going over her engagements for the next few days. But at one moment the striking of the clock in the hall made her sit up with a start, and her concentration fled.

Leaning back in her desk chair she sat thinking about Tessa and her granddaughter Adele, and the things that had happened at Pennistone Royal that day. Thank God they were safe. She wished Shane were here. Turning her head, she looked at the photograph on a nearby circular table, rose, and walked over to it.

Seating herself in the adjacent chair, she picked up a silver-framed picture of Shane, and a smile broke across her face. It had been taken many years ago, when he was about twenty-six, and she couldn’t help thinking how wonderful he looked, so handsome, debonair even then. What was it Emma had always said about him? That he had glamour. And that was the truth. She had never known anyone with that kind of glamour, man or woman. Dark-haired, dark-eyed, he was Black Irish through and through, and she had always teased him, said he had kissed the Blarney Stone. ‘Inherited the gift of the gab from my grandfather,’ he answered back, and she responded, ‘Emma says Blackie’s kissed three Blarney Stones!’

It’s funny how life works out, she suddenly thought, her eyes settling on a photograph of Tessa and Lorne with Shane. He had brought them up as his own since they’d been toddlers, and she knew how much Lorne loved Shane, but she sometimes wondered about Tessa’s feelings for him.

Of course she loves him, Paula told herself. Everyone has always loved Shane. Grandy. My mother. Winston Harte, his best friend and sparring partner since they were boys. And Emily. And Sally and Anthony Standish. Shane, if the truth be known, was the most popular person in the three clans, and anywhere else!