Emma's Secret Read online

  Clearing her throat, Linnet said, ‘As an executive Tessa’s very good, well organized, practical, and she handles the daily problems with skill…’ Linnet’s voice suddenly trailed off as she thought of the rows her mother had with Tessa about the future and planning ahead. She stared at Bryan, then sighed. ‘Oh gosh, Gramps, Tessa’s my sister and I love her…’

  ‘There’s a big but, I suspect, when it comes to certain things to do with her work.’

  ‘I think so. She’s great on a day-to-day basis, as I said. But Tessa never considers the future or plans ahead.’

  ‘No real vision, perhaps,’ Bryan pronounced. ‘There’s got to be vision in any business, but especially in retailing, otherwise the stores will go nowhere. Except down the drain eventually. That’s always been one of your mother’s strong suits, Linnet. Paula has had tremendous vision over the years, still does, and Emma often commented on it to me. It made your great-grandmother very proud, and she felt secure about leaving Harte’s to her.’

  ‘Mummy’s a genius in so many ways. You know, she’s really been annoyed about Tessa’s attitude regarding my project. Tessa thinks my idea for a fashion retrospective is ridiculous, that it won’t succeed. But I know it will, and Mummy’s given me her blessing.’

  Bryan frowned and shook his head, his expression startled. After a moment’s thought he murmured, ‘But your fashion retrospective is a natural. It’s bound to bring in hundreds of women, and when they’re in the store they’ll spend money on the fashion floors.’

  ‘Exactly, Gramps! That’s the whole idea, but Tessa doesn’t get it.’

  Or doesn’t want to, Bryan thought, but said, ‘The main thing is that it’s going to be a big success. You mustn’t worry about what Tessa says or thinks…only your immediate boss, and that’s your mother.’

  She nodded. ‘Mummy’s thrilled I’m using such a lot of Grandy’s haute-couture clothes. Vintage clothes are very in these days, and the retrospective does cover eighty years. It’ll be fabulous and will pull in a lot of young women. India agrees.’

  ‘I do too, as I just said. And tell me, how is little India working out?’

  ‘Very well, grandfather, and she’s not so little either. She’s quite the dashing young woman.’

  ‘So I noticed on New Year’s Eve.’ He chuckled. ‘I always think of India as being little. You know, in the sense of petite, dainty, very delicate and feminine.’

  ‘That she is. But getting back to Tessa, Gideon says she doesn’t know how to handle people, that she has no empathy or compassion.’ Linnet sat back and made a small grimace. ‘Mummy’s always said it’s important to feel compassion for people if you’re an employer, and Gideon thinks Tessa lacks that quality.’

  ‘Do you?’

  When Linnet was silent, Bryan knew the answer. But she was a fine young woman and he knew how much she disliked criticizing others. Deciding not to press for an answer, he leaned back against the cushions once more, and studied her for a moment, and quite unexpectedly his throat tightened with emotion. For he saw not Linnet O’Neill, his twenty-five-year-old granddaughter but Emma Harte when she was twenty-seven and his surrogate mother. He had been born in December 1916, and his biological mother Laura O’Neill had died almost immediately after his birth. With his father Blackie away fighting in the First World War, there was only Emma Harte, his parents’ best friend, to look after him. And so she had taken him home from the hospital and brought him up as her own. And it was her face he had gazed up at from his crib, her face he had learned to love at such a tender age.

  And now, eighty-four years later, he was staring into that same face at this very moment. Of course it was not Emma he was looking at, it was Linnet, but to him she was Emma Harte reincarnated, and the resemblance between them was uncanny.

  ‘Gramps, are you all right? You’ve got such a funny look on your face,’ Linnet said, sounding concerned about him.

  Sitting up straighter, Bryan blinked several times, then smiled at her. He coughed behind his hand, and after a moment replied, ‘I have some photographs at home of your great-grandmother when she was about your age, maybe a couple of years older than you are now. And you are her, Linnet. Why, it’s as if Emma has been reborn in you. It’s not only that you’re the spitting image of her physically, as everyone tells you these days, but you have so many of her facial expressions and her gestures, and you think like her. Certainly you have her drive, energy and talent for retailing, and you’re a good businesswoman. You’ll get even better, too, with a bit of age on you.’ He smiled at her. ‘You’re the best, in my opinion.’

  ‘You’re prejudiced, Gramps.’

  ‘Perhaps. But nonetheless, you’re going to be fine…another Emma Harte.’

  ‘I’ll try to live up to all of the things she was, and stood for. I know she had great integrity, that she was a most honourable woman, one who knew right from wrong, and was just and fair in all her dealings.’

  ‘That she was indeed, and you’ll do her justice. I’ve no qualms about you, mavourneen.’ He reached out, took her hand in his. ‘My money’s on you, Linnet, and in my opinion it’s you who should take over from your mother when she retires. Harte’s should be yours.’

  ‘I’d like that very much, but it really is up to my mother.’

  She’s probably chosen you already, Bryan thought, but for once he did not confide in his granddaughter. Instead he said, ‘I want you to have those photographs of Emma. I’ll bring them with me the next time I come over.’

  ‘Oh, thanks, Gramps, I’d love to have them. I’ll treasure them.’

  A moment later Margaret came hurrying into the Stone Hall, and in her usual quiet and efficient way, she said, ‘Lunch is ready, Mr. O’Neill…Linnet. If you’d like to come into the morning room, I’ll serve it in there, it’s much cosier than the dining room, with the fire an’ all.’

  ‘Thanks, we’ll come right away, Margaret,’ Bryan said, pushing himself to his feet. ‘Linnet did tell me that you’d be rustling up something special for me. Well, that’s the way she put it. So what’s for lunch?’

  Margaret laughed and explained, ‘Oh, some of your real favourites, Mr. O’Neill. I had a crock of Morecambe Bay potted shrimps put away for lunch tomorrow, but I thought you’d like to have them today with some of that nice thin brown bread and butter of mine, and I’ve made your real favourite, a cottage pie with fresh ground beef and a crust of mashed potatoes, puréed parsnips and peas. And for pudding you can either have freshly baked apple crumble with warm custard, just the way you like it, or trifle.’

  ‘Goodness, Margaret, you’ve done me proud! Everything sounds delicious,’ Bryan answered, smiling at the housekeeper. Then, turning to Linnet, as they walked together across the hall, he added, ‘I’m seriously thinking of moving in here.’

  ‘I wish you would, Gramps!’ Linnet exclaimed, tucking her arm through his, meaning every word she said.

  ‘The idea is tempting, mavourneen, but I think it’s best I remain in Harrogate. After all, Blackie built that house, and I’ve lived in it forever it seems, and I’m keeping it warm for Desmond, so to speak. It’ll be his one day, when I’m gone.’

  ‘Let’s not talk about you going anywhere!’ Linnet cried, bustling him forward in the direction of the morning room. ‘You’ve got lots of years ahead of you.’

  ‘I hope so, Linny, but as Blackie used to say, when you get to be over eighty, a man’s living on borrowed time.’

  The two of them sat down for lunch at the round walnut table which stood in the bay window of the morning room. Until very recently this had been an office, rarely used, which Paula had considered wasted space. A few months before Christmas she had turned it into a spot for intimate casual meals, such as breakfast and light lunches, or tea in the afternoon. Now everyone used it.

  The morning room had a springlike feeling because of Paula’s decorative scheme based on pale apple-green and white: green walls, green-and-white-striped balloon shades at the windows, green-and-white-c
hecked fabric on the chairs around the table. Accentuating this look were a collection of thirty-six botanical prints hanging on one wall and jugs of yellow and white chrysanthemums which stood on a long, carved wooden sideboard and a Queen Anne chest placed in a corner of the room. Adding a welcoming, cosy touch on this snowy day was the blazing fire in the hearth; a small loveseat and armchairs covered in rose-coloured linen were arranged around a coffee table in front of the fire, and it was here that tea was often served.

  As always, Bryan admired Paula’s decorating. His daughter-in-law had a way of making a room look elegant, but it was never intimidating because she had the happy knack of creating a sense of comfort in the midst of the elegance.

  Linnet said, ‘A penny for your thoughts, Gramps.’

  He smiled at her. ‘Wasn’t thinking of anything much. But…’ He paused, leaned across the table and asked in a conspiratorial voice, ‘Any more information about Paula’s plans for Shane’s birthday?’

  Linnet nodded. ‘Mummy spoke to me about it the other day. Uncle Winston’s also going to be sixty in June, and she said she was considering making it a joint birthday party for the two of them. Actually, she told me she was going to speak to you about it, Grandfather.’ Linnet gave him a hard stare and her brows pinched together in a frown. ‘I guess she didn’t.’

  ‘No, she—’ Bryan broke off as Margaret came hurrying in with a tray; a moment later she was placing a plate of potted shrimps in front of him, then brought one over for Linnet. ‘The brown bread and butter is already on the table, Mr. O’Neill,’ she said, then glancing from one to the other, she asked, ‘Do you need anything else?’

  ‘We’re fine, Margaret, thank you,’ Linnet replied. ‘Thanks very much.’

  The housekeeper nodded, then flashed a smile and disappeared.

  Bryan picked up a fork and plunged it into the tiny pale-pink shrimps encased in the round of hardened butter. ‘Mmmm. They’re delicious,’ he said after a moment. ‘A joint party, eh? And where does your mother plan to have it?’

  ‘Here at Pennistone Royal…’ Her voice faltered as she noticed that his expression seemed to change. ‘Don’t you like the idea of a party for the two of them?’

  ‘Sure an’ I do, I think it makes great sense, Linny, darlin’. Your father and Winston have been best friends all of their lives, since they were boys, and then as young men they shared Beck House in West Tanfield. What rascals they were when they were little,’ he said, chuckling, ‘and when they were young spalpeens chasing after the girls. Handsome they were, too.’

  ‘They still are,’ she shot back, laughter echoing in her voice.

  ‘True, only too true. But they got their wings clipped all right, that and they did! And by Emma’s favourites…your mother and Emily.’ Bryan grinned at her. ‘Fell like ninepins, the two of them, when those beautiful Harte girls batted their eyelashes.’ He shook his head, still smiling, and continued to spear the blush-pink shrimps with his fork.

  Linnet confided, ‘Mummy wants to make it quite a fancy bash, Grandpops. You know, a marquee in the garden, dancing under the stars, and all that stuff. I suppose the only thing that’s really worrying her is the weather. June can be cool, and sometimes rainy.’

  ‘Yes, it can, but the house is big enough for a grand party, sure an’ it is, mavourneen,’ Bryan murmured. ‘Emma gave a dinner-dance here in the fifties and it was wonderful. She did the whole bit with a marquee outside, just like your mother is planning, but Emma used it for cocktails, and dancing later. It was the Stone Hall that was set up for dining, and, as I recall, there was another band indoors in case of rain. It all worked well…such a lovely night it was.’

  ‘Mummy said she’d heard Grandy talk about that party once. She thought you’d know all about it and that you’d be able to help her do something similar.’

  ‘I will that,’ Bryan replied, a look of pleasure settling on his face. ‘I do believe I have some photos from way back then. I must look them out.’ He stared off into the distance for a moment, recalling this event of long ago, and obviously he was filled with happy memories from the beatific smile on his face.

  Margaret cleared their plates, served the steaming hot cottage pie and vegetables, and then slipped out of the room quietly. Linnet and her grandfather went on to discuss her brother Desmond and his many talents, but eventually they fell silent as they finished lunch. These two had always been comfortable in each other’s company, were at ease with each other, and words weren’t always necessary.

  At one moment Bryan sat back and stared across the table at Linnet. In the cool northern light coming in through the bay window her colouring was so very vivid it startled momentarily. Yet there was a paleness, a translucent quality to her skin today, and she looked suddenly quite fragile.

  Yet Bryan knew how strong she was both mentally and physically. She had enormous willpower, as well as stamina and energy, even though she was a slender girl.

  She is going to need all the strength she has, he thought, just as she’ll need her wits about her. Tessa wants it all, has convinced herself she’s entitled to it all, and she’ll fight for what she believes are her rights. Intuitively, he knew that Paula would give everything to Linnet. This was her child by Shane, the great love of her life, the hero of her childhood, her true soul mate, and Linnet was their love child, very much desired, and conceived in great passion. Furthermore, she was cast in the image of the woman who had founded the Harte family dynasty and a great business empire. Yes, there was no question about it, Linnet was irresistible to Paula. Also, she was best suited to take Paula’s place one day. She was level-headed, steady as a rock, with a cool nerve, and an insight quite remarkable for her age.

  All this aside, Tessa did not have Linnet’s business acumen, her vision or her stamina…all necessary attributes required in the person running Harte stores. Paula, shrewd, calculating, and with a mind like a steel trap when it came to business, knew this. She might not discuss it with anyone, but Bryan knew she knew what Tessa’s shortcomings were.

  He had been resistant to Tessa’s charms when she was little, long before Shane and Paula were married. Even then he had been wary of Jim Fairley’s child, detecting in her vanity, duplicity and a tendency to lie. And later it had irritated him that she had been so envious of Linnet. Now that they were grown up Tessa was not only envious but she resented Linnet, most especially her looks. Those were simply an accident of birth, to do with genes, and there was nothing anybody could do about them.

  Tessa’s other resentments were bound up with the Fairleys, with Shane who had been a loving father to her, but was, nonetheless, still perceived as the stepfather, and with Emma Harte. The last was easy enough to fathom; at least he had fathomed it all out finally.

  There’ll be tears before bedtime one day very soon, he thought, taking a sip of his water. His instincts told him trouble was brewing and that Tessa had Linnet in her line of fire. It was going to be nasty. He wished it could be different, but he knew that was not possible.

  The die was cast. It had been cast long ago.

  CHAPTER THREE

  ‘It’s only the flu, Dad, I’m not dying,’ Evan said, balancing the phone between her ear and her shoulder, reaching for the box of tissues on the beside table. ‘I’ll be better in a couple of days,’ she added, then blew her nose several times.

  ‘It doesn’t sound like it to me,’ Owen Hughes responded swiftly, then exclaimed, ‘Oh, just a minute, honey! A couple of customers have walked in.’ Putting the phone down on his desk, he stepped out from his office into the main room of his antique shop in New Milford, Connecticut, to greet the two women who had entered. But when he saw that his assistant Darrell was already moving forward to look after them, he retreated and returned to his desk. He picked up the phone again and went on, ‘Sorry about that, Evan.’

  ‘It’s okay, Dad. How’s Mom?’

  ‘Not much change…’ His voice, suddenly deflated, trailed off.

  Instantly she wished she h
adn’t asked the question. Her mother had gone into one of her depressions about ten days ago, just before she had left for London, and when her father had come to New York to take her to Kennedy Airport he had been worried about his wife, and down in the dumps himself.

  Summoning a cheerful voice, Evan said, ‘As I told you when I called you on Wednesday night, George was so nice when I arrived, and he’s been very kind to me since. As soon as he knew I was ill, on Friday, he had a doctor here to see me within a few hours. So try not to worry about me, Dad.’

  ‘I can’t help it,’ Owen answered, and then had the good grace to laugh. ‘And I know, before you tell me, that you’ll soon be twenty-seven. But I can’t change the way I feel about you. I guess you’re still my little girl. And listen, honey, I’m glad George is there for you: he’s a great guy, and he thought you were the cutest kid on the block when you were little. He’ll help you any way he can, and so will Arlette. You only have to ask them.’ A small sigh escaped. ‘I just wish you’d waited until spring to go to London. January’s such a lousy month. It’s snowing, I’ve no doubt.’

  ‘It’s going to be a rainy Sunday tomorrow, Daddy. But I don’t care, I won’t be out in it. And I’m very cosy here in the hotel.’

  ‘At least I don’t have to worry about you missing meals, not eating. I know George keeps a good kitchen, and the hotel has room service.’

  ‘It does, but I’m not hungry. Arlette has poured a lot of soup and hot tea down me, though, these last few days.’

  ‘Just take care of yourself, Evan.’

  ‘I will, and thanks for calling, Dad. Have a great weekend, and I bet you’ll have a big crowd for your lecture tomorrow.’

  ‘I hope so, but not too big a crowd. As you know, the shop only holds about sixty,’ he answered with a laugh. ‘Don’t go out until you feel better, honey. That English dampness can be treacherous. Promise.’