Finally she had their attention.
‘This weekend has been awful – for all of us. All the wrangling and arguing and suspicion.’ None of them reacted. Megan no longer cared; she was way past the point of needing a response from them to determine what she was going to do. If only she’d realised that sooner. ‘I won’t have any more of it. Not here. If you want to keep squabbling over Jonathan’s legacy, you need to do it somewhere else. This house is still my home, for the time being, and I will not have it taken over by your nastiness.’ They said nothing. ‘You seem to be forgetting that it’s your family home as well. It shouldn’t be reduced to being merely the backdrop to your disagreements. It’s bad for the boys, it’s bad for you, and I can’t stand another second of it.’
Liv blushed and Noah finally had the good grace to look down.
‘Your father would have been so upset – no, he would have been appalled – by how it’s been this weekend. All Jonathan ever wanted was for the three of you to get along.’ There was no use pretending that Jonathan had hoped she and Eloise would ever be friends, or that the kids would accept her – they had both known that was never going to happen. ‘He used to be so pleased if any of you mentioned spending time with each other, even that you’d spoken to one another. All he ever wanted was for you to be happy, for you to feel loved by him and each other. He never lost his sense of guilt at the damage our being together caused to his relationship with you all.’ Megan strengthened her voice. ‘But for God’s sake, you’re adults, not children. Life’s complicated. You all know that. You need to get over whatever resentments or bitterness you still hold about our being together. It’s gone on long enough. Your father and I loved each other. Nothing you can say, or do, will ever change that. And I, for one, am done apologising to the three of you.’ She took a breath. ‘But maybe I do owe you an explanation.’
Liv looked up. The other two kept their heads down. Megan was undeterred. It was her turn to have her say.
‘Your father and I didn’t have long together before he got ill. And that was hard. It wasn’t the caring for him, though that was difficult. No, what was worst was watching him shrink away from me while he was still there right next to me. And, I confess, I got it wrong sometimes. A lot of the time. I wasn’t there for Jonathan in the way he wanted me to be. And perhaps I didn’t reach out to each of you as much as I probably should have. The painful truth is I didn’t want to deal with the reality of the situation, and now it’s too late to change that. All I can do is deal with the future, in a way he would have approved of.’
At this point Noah looked up, interested in her views at last. Megan took a shallow breath and went on, ‘I know my relationship with your father – in life and in death – was, and still is, a problem for you all. The not knowing where I fit in. Let’s be honest, that’s always been an issue, hasn’t it? Never his wife. Not his widow. I know I’m just “the other woman” to you.’ She didn’t look at Eloise, but that didn’t mean Megan didn’t feel her presence at the head of the table. Sod her! Megan raised her chin. ‘But I’ve realised something over the past few days. I have the power to put an end to this purgatory.’ She had their attention now. ‘Do what you want with this house, his money, his possessions. I don’t care. I don’t want, or need, anything from his estate.’ She could have sworn that, even at this late stage, after all her efforts to keep and make the peace, Noah’s lips twitched into a fleeting self-satisfied smile. How little he knew. ‘Jonathan planned what he wanted to happen very carefully. His death, his will, your role as his executors. But it might surprise you to know that he didn’t leave me out of his plans completely. In fact he was thinking about me from the very beginning.’ She glanced around the room. They all looked puzzled – except Liv, who met Megan’s gaze and gave a small but very definite shake of her head. Permission to keep a secret. Megan banked it.
She went on, feeling more composed and relaxed than she had done in weeks. ‘I already have my inheritance from your father. So there’s no need to give me anything else. It’s yours. All of it: the house, the savings. You can do whatever you want with it. If that helps you to finally reach a decision, then I’m relieved. I want us to be able to lay him to rest without this atmosphere of mistrust. And we can only do that when this’ – she waved her hand at the large file of documents in front of Liv – ‘is sorted out. Then we can get on with the funeral, you can put the house up for sale and, I promise, as soon as I’m able, I’ll move out. After that, we can go our separate ways.’ She drew breath. ‘Which, I’m sure, is what we all want.’
She stood up, mustering as much dignity as she could, and headed for the door. On her way out she paused by Noah’s side, looked down at him and said, ‘And the next time you want to know something, can I suggest it might be better, and much less disrespectful, just to ask. Though there’s still no guarantee you’ll get the answer you’re looking for.’ And with that, she
