Chapter 9 - Lady Margaret’s SonLady Margaret arrived before sunrise.
She took one look at the photograph and sat down.
“Jonathan.”
Her hand trembled as she touched the edge.
Emily stood across from her.
“Was he my grandfather?”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“I believe so.”
Richard stared.
“You knew?”
“No.”
“But you suspected.”
She nodded.
“Jonathan loved Eleanor.”
Richard looked stunned.
“They barely spoke in front of anyone.”
“They had to hide it.”
“From Charles?”
“From both families.”
Emily frowned.
“Why would your family object?”
Margaret looked at her.
“Because Jonathan was already engaged.”
Emily said nothing.
“To someone politically useful.”
Richard’s expression hardened.
“And Charles wanted Eleanor married to whom?”
“An American banker’s son.”
Richard sat back.
“So they planned to run.”
Margaret nodded.
“Jonathan told me he wanted to leave England with her.”
“When?”
“August 1979.”
Emily’s pulse jumped.
“The month she disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Margaret looked toward the dark window.
“He came home one night covered in blood.”
Emily froze.
Richard leaned forward.
“Whose?”
“He said he had tried to stop Charles’s men from taking Eleanor.”
Richard went pale.
“You never told me.”
“You were sixteen.”
“That is not an answer.”
“I was afraid.”
Richard stood.
“So everyone was afraid while Eleanor vanished.”
Margaret looked at him.
“Yes.”
The simplicity of the answer silenced him.
Emily asked, “What did Jonathan do?”
“He searched for her.”
“Did he find her?”
“I don’t know.”
Margaret’s eyes filled.
“He changed after that.”
“How?”
“He became obsessed with exposing Charles.”
Richard whispered, “And six months later he was dead.”
Margaret nodded.
“Your father attended his funeral.”
Richard’s face twisted.
“He always did enjoy victories.”
Emily felt cold.
“Did Jonathan know about Anna?”
Margaret reached inside her handbag.
She removed an old envelope.
“I found this after he died.”
Emily stopped breathing.
Margaret handed it to her.
Inside was a letter.
Eleanor’s handwriting.
Jonathan,
Anna is safe.
Do not look for us.
Charles believes the baby died.
If he learns she survived, he will never stop.
Emily’s knees weakened.
Her mother had been hidden from Charles.
Margaret continued.
“There was more.”
“What?”
“The last line.”
Emily read.
Tell Richard I’m sorry.
He will understand one day.
Richard stared.
“I don’t understand.”
Emily turned to him.
“Why did she mention you?”
“I don’t know.”
Margaret looked uneasy.
Richard noticed.
“You know something.”
“No.”
“Margaret.”
She looked at him for a long time.
Then whispered, “Eleanor planned to make you heir.”
Richard frowned.
“To what?”
“Not the castle.”
Margaret looked at Emily.
“To the evidence.”
Emily’s pulse quickened.
“What evidence?”
“Charles’s financial records.”
Richard stared.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“But Eleanor did.”
Margaret nodded.
“And apparently Anna did too.”
Emily thought of her mother returning six months earlier.
“The archive.”
Richard nodded.
“She was looking for it.”
Emily pulled out the key.
“No.”
She stared at it.
“The room was too obvious.”
Richard watched her.
“What are you thinking?”
“My mother didn’t just leave me a key to Eleanor’s bedroom.”
She looked at the small brass object.
“She left me a trail.”
Margaret leaned forward.
“To what?”
Emily remembered the phrase in Anna’s letter.
The past was dangerous.
She unfolded the rest of the letter.
There were two lines she had not yet read.
If you enter Eleanor’s room, don’t trust what you find first.
Look where the lotus never touches water.
Emily stared.
Richard frowned.
“The lotus?”
Then all three understood.
The fountain.
Emily’s chest tightened.
“The fountain in the courtyard.”
Margaret whispered, “The center lotus.”
Richard stood.
But before they could move, Thomas burst into the room.
“Sir.”
Richard turned.
Thomas was breathless.
“What?”
“The fountain.”
Emily felt dread rise.
May you like
Thomas looked at her.
“Someone smashed it.”
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