The Postcard Read Online Free Page A

she
could dip in and out of life at Dalradnor with no awkward questions asked of her.
    She did love Caroline. She couldn’t wait to see the little girl flinging herself into her arms, shouting, ‘Aunty Phee, Aunty Phee, you’ve really come!’ She would twirl
her around until they were both dizzy and collapsed on the lawn. But always at the back of her mind was the truth waiting to explode one day, and the regret that Arthur Seton-Ross never saw his
baby daughter. If she revealed the truth it would label Caroline the illegitimate girl of an unmarried mother. Women were put in lunatic asylums and the workhouse for less.
    Then there was the guilt that she had never shared her secret with her own father before he died suddenly of chest complications in the Spanish flu epidemic. She had always kept her humble
beginnings in Leeds to herself. She’d used her brother Joe’s untimely accident to give Caroline some parents. Her other brother, Ted, who was married, was kept in the dark and
she’d lost contact with him years ago. There were so many secrets to hide away and she felt ashamed, but it was better this way. No one needed Society’s condemnation.
    Now she had a trunk of goodies to distribute, a smart new outfit from Marthe, a tray of exotic fruits for the kitchen, and for Caroline’s birthday she planned a perfect present. As Tam
drove her slowly up the lime-tree avenue to the turning circle outside the front door, she looked up at the old Lodge, admiring its crow-stepped gables and the red sandstone dormer windows, the
French windows opening out onto the stone terrace with its steps down to the immaculate lawns and tennis court. Every time she arrived she thought of Arthur returning for his summer holidays, eager
to alight and find his horse, go fishing and picnicking by the loch. I’ve brought your baby to where you were happiest, she told him in her thoughts. I know she’ll have deep roots here.
I hope you’re proud of me in this, if nothing else. But would Arthur approve? That was something she’d never ever know. His final bequest was to give them this house, much to his
family’s horror.
    ‘We’ve kept the lassie up to see you,’ said Nan smiling. ‘And you had a visitor today, old Sir Lionel Seton-Ross himself. He kent it was the anniversary of his
son’s passing and came to cast his eye over the war memorial in the square. His son’s name is up there now at his request.’
    Phoebe felt a stab of alarm at this news. Had he come to see his granddaughter too?
    ‘Was her ladyship in the house?’ she enquired as calmly as she could.
    ‘Oh, aye, bounding in, nearly knocking our visitor over. He was quite taken with her and promised to send her a birthday present.’
    ‘That won’t be necessary. I hope she behaved in front of him.’ Phoebe did not want Sir Lionel coming to spoil the party, or his daughter, Verity, who looked at Phoebe down her
long nose as if she was a bad smell. The family had been shocked by their son’s revelation that he had a child who must be provided for. Verity had stormed out of the lawyer’s office in
disgust at this news. Sir Lionel had been the only one to be concerned for her welfare. Now he was coming to check on her.
    ‘So is everything arranged for tomorrow? You’ve invited the Laird twins, I suppose?’ she sighed. ‘I’d’ve preferred to have her to myself apart from Flora from
school.’
    ‘It’ll just be the boys; there’s been a falling-out with the girl. I’ve made sure Marthe’s got her dress ironed or that wee divil will wear her kilt again and
it’s covered in mud.’
    Phoebe climbed the stairs to the second floor, to the Nursery bedroom with its adjoining living room. Caroline was sitting by the fire.
    ‘You’re late. I waited and waited.’
    ‘I’m sorry. Come and give me a big hug and let’s see if you’ve grown.’
    Caroline jumped up and stood by the door. Marthe found a ruler and placed it over her head and made a mark.