A Proper Family Christmas (33 page)

She passed on her question, causing Leo to tut disappointedly, and stole a glance at the man who had caused a respectable middle-aged widow to act so shamelessly. He met her eye, and she immediately dropped her gaze, blushing like a schoolgirl. Heavens, she mustn't behave like this, - everyone would wonder what was going on! …They probably already did. She'd been alarmed to see Daniel take Oliver aside just after they'd finished the charades. What was it he wanted to say to the man who had just kissed his mother?

“Now, William, here's an easy one for you. Who wrote ‘Decline and Fall?'” Leo's quiz had a distinctly literary bias.

Hilary could see from the gleam in his eye that William didn't appreciate being patronised. “…Gibbon, wasn't it?”

“No, that was the ‘Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire
'!”

“Isn't that what you meant? You should have been more specific.”

“It's
perfectly
specific.”

“Evelyn Waugh, then. …Come on, Leo, get on with it.”

“No, it was
William's
turn,” He glared at Margery for answering for her brother. “Now I'll have to find him another question!”

The door opened rather suddenly. Frances stood there, looking deathly pale.

Daniel shot to his feet at once. “What are you doing here? You shouldn't be up!”

“I - took the back stairs,” she gasped, as if this was explanation. She was searching the room for someone. “William…” She tried to get to him, but everyone was sitting in the way. “Julia and Tony are coming!”

“But why…? What…?”

Frances shook her head, brushing aside their puzzled enquiries. “
Don't
sign anything!” she called across the room. “Whatever you do, don't let them…”

The door opened again, sure enough to reveal Julia and Tony.

…Don't let them
what
?” Daniel was saying, but Frances was no longer conscious.

“You mean she rushed all the way down those stairs, on her bad ankle? No wonder she passed out!” Hilary exclaimed. Only this morning had Daniel really got the full story from Frances, and they'd learned why she had been so desperate to reach the sitting-room, when she should have been resting in bed.

“I think that was the shock, more than anything,” said Daniel grimly. “After overhearing what those two were plotting, she realised she simply had to get to William before they did.”

“Poor Frances! It must have been a real eye-opener for her, seeing Julia and Tony in their true colours,” Hilary reflected. “Aren't they just beyond belief? - The number of times I've heard Julia say she's not interested in money and she doesn't care who William leaves his estate to!”

“Yes, and making snide remarks about Stephen and Lesley, as if
they
were the mercenary ones,” Daniel agreed bitterly. “…Do you think Uncle William signed that thing of theirs?”

“I don't know.” Hilary gave a miserable shrug. They'd been too busy getting Frances back upstairs to find out whether or not her mission had been successful. “I hope not, but it's too late now, if he has. Anyway, it was extremely brave of Frances to try and warn him.”

“Yes, she's a heroine,” said Daniel, playing thoughtfully with the brush on the dressing-table. “I could be very serious about a girl like that.”

“Are you there, Hilary?” Margery burst in with barely a knock. “Now listen! I want to know who's responsible for telling you this ridiculous tale about poor Oliver.”

“Oh!” said Hilary, too startled to prevaricate. “Julia and Tony said he was gay…”

“Right. I shall have a word.” Margery was gone as quickly as she had come.

“Good heavens! I wonder who on earth…”

But to her surprise, her son was grinning guiltily. “I'm afraid it's my fault for telling Oliver the rumours about him. I wasn't going to say anything. - Well, you can hardly let on to a mate that everyone thinks he's gay, when he isn't! - But he kept wondering why people kept making weird comments, or treating him strangely…” Had she imagined that he'd given her rather a close look? “So in the end I told him the truth. He was a bit taken aback at first, poor sod, but then I got him to see the funny side. I don't think it's the first time, actually, - being a bachelor, and some of the people he goes round with. Anyway, he must have said something to Gran, and now she's gunning for whoever started the story,” he chuckled.

Hilary tried to smile too, as one appreciative of an amusing misunderstanding.

“…He
isn't
gay, of course.”

“Of course not!” said Hilary, as if she'd never thought he was. “In fact,” she went on with all the airiness she could muster, “I thought he might have something going with Kath Arncott.”

“Oh no, not at all!” her wonderful son assured her. “I teased him about that, but he isn't the slightest bit interested.” - Daniel sounded almost relieved. “In fact, from some hints she dropped about liking older men, Oliver thinks that Kath might have her sights set on Uncle William!”

“
What
?”

“I know! - Bit of a turn up for the books if he ended up marrying his house-keeper,” Daniel speculated delightedly. “How do you think they'd all feel if Grime and Brine inherited Haseley House?”

William and Scratch looked up balefully when Margery charged into their room. Neither was pleased at being disturbed this early in the morning.

“Never mind that!” she interrupted, as William started to point this out. “What do you mean by going round telling everyone that Oliver Leafield is a homosexual?”

“Did I? I don't remember.”

“Well I've already spoken to Tony, and he says it came from you.”

“In that case, I suppose I just assumed he was,” said William, thinking back. “…You said you'd met him at Nigel Rofford's, didn't you? He's queer as a coot.”

“Yes,” said Margery crossly, “
Nigel
is. Oliver isn't!”

“Oh, fair enough.” said William. “…Does it matter?”

“Of course it does!” exclaimed Margery. “Poor Hilary's head-over-heels in love with him. How do you think she felt?”

“I don't know,” said William, with a twinge of conscience. It wasn't as if he hadn't noticed how Hilary reacted to Oliver's presence, - but then the man was so obviously smitten with her, he'd completely forgotten that he wasn't supposed to like women. “…Perhaps I should say something.”

“No, best not to interfere,” said Margery, causing a wry smile from her brother. She picked up the cat and sat down on his bedroom chair, her eyes piercing with another enquiry. “Tell me what happened last night, after that poor girl collapsed. - I saw those two taking you off to the study with them.”

“Oh yes,” William recalled. “They wanted to revive a conversation we'd been having in the pub earlier, about the importance of leaving a will. …In fact, they'd been kind enough to make one out already, - to save me the trouble, they said. All I had to do was sign it.”

“…And did you?” Margery was anxious to discover, as he paused.

“Well,” said William, “I
might
have done, but then I pointed out that we'd need to have a witness to my signature, - and not one of them, either, since they appeared to be the beneficiaries.”

“And what did they answer to that?” urged Margery, agonised by his slowness.

“They said I was being unnecessarily particular, and that Kath or someone could easily add her name to it later. …Most irregular!” William shook his head. He caught Margery's eye, and daren't spin the tale out any longer. “So then I suggested that we asked Frances to do it. I said that I thought she was a girl who appeared to have my interests at heart, and I'd really like to take her advice before I put my name to anything.”

“Ha!” said Margery. “So you're not completely stupid.”

“No,” said William. “I don't know why everybody thinks I am.”

“They've got a point, though,” Margery surprised him by adding. “You really should make a will out to
somebody
. Otherwise it makes things so awkward for everybody when you die.”

“Doesn't bother me!” said William.

Daniel had been wonderful this morning, - full of praise for Frances's courage and concern for the ill effects she might be suffering. She loved him so much, it was almost unbearable!

In fact, from a physical point of view, Frances had got off fairly lightly. Although her ankle had swollen up again, she found that she could put some weight on it, with care. But emotionally, - that was a different matter. …Frances hadn't been able to disclose to Daniel the full extent of the mental torment she was undergoing as a result of last night's revelations. It wasn't only the shock of discovering that, beneath that veneer of charm, lay two utterly unscrupulous people who would stop at nothing to get their hands on William's estate, - although that was bad enough. It wasn't even the way Julia and Tony had betrayed her, and the realisation that their sympathetic friendship had been nothing but a ruse to worm information out of her about the other candidates for William's fortune. …No, what was really gnawing at Frances's heart, and what she couldn't reveal to Daniel, were the cruel things they had to say about her relationship with him, and its likely effect on his future. She had been devastated to hear Julia repeat Shelley's malicious suggestion that her interest in Daniel was purely for mercenary reasons. Would the rest of the family come to the same conclusion? …And even if they didn't, and accepted that she genuinely loved him, was it true that his involvement with her would mean Daniel being cut off from his rightful inheritance?

That's what Lesley had been talking about, - she realised now. She'd been warning her that their romance was likely to cause him harm. And of course the last thing in the world Frances wanted was to hurt Daniel. …So there was only one thing to do, - wasn't there?

Hilary was half expecting to find that the Britwells had slunk off home during the night. How were they possibly going to be able to face everyone this morning, after what they'd done? But when she and Daniel came down into the kitchen, there they were happily making breakfast, and greeting them with cheerful unconcern. It was Hilary who found it difficult to look them in the eye.

Daniel had no such qualms. “No thanks, and I hope it bloody chokes you!” he responded, with his grandmother's bluntness, to Tony's offer of scrambled egg,. “What the hell do you think you were playing at last night, trying to pull that stunt on Uncle William?”

“I know, poor Daddy, - aren't we horrid beasts?” agreed Julia, without a trace of gêne. “But it was the only thing we could think of to rake in some money. We're desperately hard up at the moment, - isn't it a bore? You wouldn't believe how expensive that child is!”

“…Bit of bad luck with an investment,” Tony explained, as if that excused everything. “Hilary, you'll have some of this, won't you?”

“…And it's not as if we got anywhere,” argued Julia, as Hilary struggled with the moral dilemma of whether to accept food at Tony's hand. “Daddy never did sign that will, you know.”

“Yes, old Frances must have succeeded in warning him off,” said Tony, in the tone of a sportsman admiring good play on the part of the other team.

“Oh yes, - who would have thought of her taking the back stairs? I do hope she didn't hurt her leg too much!”

Daniel drew a sharp breath, only to let it out again in a frustrated snort as they heard the back door open, - Kath arriving for work.

“Hello!” she said in surprise. “What are you lot doing up so early?”

“We're off back to London today,” Julia divulged. “I don't think there's much reason for us to hang around now, is there? Poor Shelley's busy packing all Posy's presents.”

“Oh, that's a shame,” said Kath, her face falling. “Pity to break up the party, when everyone was having such a lovely time! …What did you all get up to yesterday, after I'd gone? Hope I didn't miss anything exciting!”

Hilary thought back over the events of the afternoon, - Posy's attempt to murder Tobias, her and Oliver's X-rated performance in the charades, Julia and Tony's plot to double-cross William… She could see from Daniel's amused expression that he was doing the same.

Both of them shook their heads. “No, Kath, nothing at all!”

“So how are you this morning, Frances?”

“Ah, standing on the leg, I see!”

Both Shirburns, - and calling her by her name! What had she done to deserve this honour?

“Stephen and I feel that it's time we took Tobias home. - Rather enough excitement for one small boy this Christmas! We were wondering whether you think you'd be well enough to travel back to Oxford today.”

Good heavens! They appeared to be consulting her feelings.

“Yes, I'm sure I will.” …She'd have to be, because there was certainly no way she'd be wanting to stay at Haseley now.

“I do hope your - er - little sortie last night hasn't caused any lasting damage,” Stephen continued, almost as if he cared. “We - um…” He looked at his wife. “I believe we owe you a debt of gratitude.”

She stared at him.“I understand that your timely warning prevented my father from making what would have been a terrible mistake.”

“Oh, I see.” …Thank God! He hadn't signed it, then.

“So - um - we're grateful.” Poor Stephen! She could tell how much this hurt him. He made an awkward little gesture that might have been an attempt to shake her hand. A hug would have been too much to expect, of course.

“Clearly you felt you had a duty to the family, now that you're involved with one of its members in a
romantic
way,” Lesley explained to herself. - It would be nice if they could have believed she would have done it in any case, that her relationship with Daniel had nothing to do with her struggling down the stairs to keep William out of danger.