***
At Breakfast,the next morning, Gwen couldn’t help but wonder at Crispin’scurious good mood. He had woken her up, made love to her ratherthoroughly, given her a playful smack on the butt before showering,getting dressed, and telling her to hurry up. They had muchsightseeing to do before the end of their trip.
He hadn’t saida word about what he had learned yesterday and she was hesitant tobring it up. “You’re awfully happy today,” she said as she followedhim back to their room to gather their things for the day. “Notvery Goth of you.”
“Why wouldn’t I be happy? One more day of sightseeing before weget the hell out of here and back to normal life. What more could Iwant?”
“Crispin? You know, we don’t have to go to Stonehenge orSalisbury today.”
“Why not? It’s listed on your itinerary, highlighted in pink noless. Obviously, it is of great importance to you. And that is whatwe are here to do. To see all those things on yourlist.”
“Well, I mean, given the circumstances, I would fullyunderstand if you’d rather spend the day with your uncle Piers atHarlow Manor.”
“Why the fuck would I want to do that?”
“Well, because we fly back tomorrow.”
“Thank God for that,” he scoffed as he walked out the door. Andthere it was, the old familiar prickly Goth had returned. With ashake of her head, Gwen grabbed her camera and followed.
As he satentering the directions into the GPS, Gwen felt compelled to tryagain. “Crispin, we should spend the day with Piers.” When he satup, closed his eyes and breathed deeply, she steeled herself andforged on. “You’ll only regret it if you don’t. We can always comeback another time and sightsee. Here, he gave me his card. Call himdirect. He’s waiting to hear from you.”
“God, Gwen, can we not just let this go? I’ve already heardeverything and none of it makes me feel better. In fact, it hurtsall the more.”
Watching hisresolve and false bravado melt away, Gwen almost gave in, but deepdown she knew he should face whatever bothered him. If he leftthings the way they were, he would only be cheating himself. “Justgive him the morning to tell you whatever it is he needs to say.Obviously, he’s suffered here too. He lost his sister. He’s allalone as are you. I’m sure he just wants to make amends to yourmother through you. Let’s just give him a chance to put all thisbehind him.”
“Fine, he can have an hour or two of our time,” Crispin saidwith determination. “But nothing more, and he better not expectanything from me. I’m not much into family reunions.”
***
When theyarrived at Harlow Manor, instead of using the main driveway, Piershad advised them on the phone to use the private entrance, locatedoff the main road further south. To anyone who passed, it appearedmore like a maintenance entry.
This drivewayled up to the private apartments away from the main house that wasopen for tourism. While it wasn’t as grand, Gwen found the gardenleading up to the house to be quite stunning. Jones greeted themand led them around to the patio where Piers waited. He greetedthem with a brilliant smile and nodded in appreciation to Gwen. Hewas sure if not for her, Crispin would not have come. The scowl onhis handsome nephew’s face was evidence enough.
“I’m so glad you came back, dear boy.” He gestured for Crispinand Gwen to sit at a table. “Jones, I believe tea is inorder.”
“I’d rather coffee,” Crispin said as he held out Gwen’s chair.“She’ll have the tea, earl grey.”
“Crispin, it’s not important. Whatever you have isfine.”
“Are you kidding me?” Crispin snarked. “Look at this place.What don’t they have?”
“Yes, of course, Master Crispin,” said Jones with a slight bowof his head. “Anything you wish.”
“Master Crispin, indeed,” Piers said with a quirk of hisbrow.
Gwen couldn’thelp but notice how handsome and distinguished both her malecompanions were. Crispin in his Victorian splendour of head to toeblack, Piers in a grey morning coat fitted to perfection andmatching slacks. Clearly, the man came from money, a bone ofcontention for Crispin, obviously, from the few comments he hadalready made. Gwen braced herself for whatever he might say.
“Well, whatever is you feel the need to talk about, make itquick,” Crispin said. “We have plans.”
“Plans?” Piers asked.
“Oh, you know, touristy stuff,” Gwen explained lightly.“Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral.”
“Ah, yes, of course,” said Piers. “Right then, I’ll getstraight to the point.”
“Good,” Crispin agreed.
“It’s about the house, Crispin,” said Piers.
“What about it?”
“Well, it is yours as well as the rest of your inheritance. I’mglad you’re here so you can finally lay claim to yourshare.”
“I don’t want anything to do with this place!” Crispin saidwith a scowl. “Or the money. Did you think you could throw money atme and make everything all right? Not bloody likely.”
“Seriously, you’re aiming your anger at the wrong relative. Iam not your enemy. I have not wronged you. I simply want to makeyou aware of what’s yours. In fact, it’s all taken care of. Yousee, I’ve already arranged it with the lawyers, but just to besure, I wanted to tell you in person of your options. So even ifyou don’t want your part today, it’ll eventually be yours when Ikick off.”
“The fuck does that mean?”
“Oh, don’t worry, I don’t plan on dying anytime soon. But yousee, I have no interest in marrying or having children of my owneither. I quite enjoy living the life of the eccentric bachelor.Now that I’ve finally met you, my dear nephew, I am assured to havean heir, someone to leave all this. I’m sure Jones is relieved aswell. With you here, he won’t have to worry about his employment.You see, I had almost given up on finding you, and quite frankly,I’m tired of having to come here to look after the old place. Toomany
