Secrets Behind Locked Doors. Laura Martin

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СКАЧАТЬ and sometimes she saw them still in those quiet moments just before she dropped off to sleep.

      ‘I sneaked into their bedroom in the middle of the night. I couldn’t understand why they’d kept me away.’ To this day Louisa could still remember the hideously sweet smell of the sickroom. ‘My father was quiet, I think he was very close to the end, but my mother was writhing and moaning.’

      Louisa had screamed, thinking someone was torturing her mother, not understanding she was in the grip of a fever making her delirious.

      ‘I was bundled out, but I screamed and screamed until they let me back in the room. By that time my mother had settled and was sleeping fitfully.’

      ‘That was the last time you saw them?’ Robert asked softly.

      Louisa nodded. ‘I kissed them both on the cheek and told them I would see them at breakfast. They were dead by the next morning.’

      ‘It must have been the end of your world.’

      Louisa nodded. Robert seemed to understand her distress. She didn’t know what it was about him that made him so easy to talk to. She hadn’t told anyone about the last time she’d seen her parents before. Partly because no one had been interested, but also because she didn’t want anyone to see her so vulnerable. Even though she’d only known Robert for a short while Louisa had known he wouldn’t belittle her memory of her parents or the last time she’d seen them. He’d understand why it had been quite so harrowing.

      ‘When you lose someone you’re close to it leaves a gulf,’ he said slowly, ‘that never heals. In time we learn to bury that gulf, but it’s always there, under the surface.’

      He said it with such compassion Louisa knew he was talking from personal experience.

      She hoped he might elaborate. She desperately wanted to know more about this man who had saved her from a lifetime of misery, but at the moment she didn’t feel as though she could just come out and ask him. She knew he had been in the army, and that he’d lost a friend in the war, that much he’d let slip earlier on in the carriage, but other than that Louisa was pretty much in the dark as to Robert’s past.

      ‘So how did Thomas Craven become your guardian?’ he asked.

      Louisa grimaced as she thought back to the first time her old guardian had shown up in her life.

      ‘I didn’t have any other relatives,’ Louisa said, trying not to think about how different her life would have been if she’d had a kindly aunt or grandparent left alive. ‘Mr Craven was my father’s business partner.’

      Robert nodded, encouraging her to go on.

      ‘I hardly knew him. He came into our lives about six months before my parents died and convinced my father to invest in some scheme or another.’

      ‘But why did your parents make this man they hardly knew your guardian?’

      Louisa shrugged. In truth she didn’t really know. She’d been so young at the time.

      ‘In the few months before my parents died he was around the house a lot. He stayed with us on numerous occasions. And he always made a show of fussing over me.’

      ‘Your parents trusted him?’

      She nodded. ‘From what Mr Craven let slip over the years when he was inebriated, he’d worked hard to gain their trust. He thought they would leave him money in their will. He never even considered they would put me into his care.’

      ‘But your parents were so young, much younger than Craven. He shouldn’t even have thought about inheriting from them.’

      Tears sprung to Louisa’s eyes. It was something she’d not been able to ignore over the years, but a question she knew she would never know the answer to.

      ‘Sometimes, when I’ve been particularly low, I’ve wondered how much of a role Mr Craven played in my parents’ deaths,’ she said slowly, wondering if Robert would think her crazy.

      He didn’t laugh or roll his eyes. Instead he seemed to consider the idea carefully.

      ‘It does seem suspicious,’ he agreed. ‘It sounds as though Thomas Craven ingratiated himself with your parents, but with his death we’ll probably never know whether that was purely to get money out of them whilst they were alive or whether he had a more sinister motive.’

      Louisa found herself nodding in agreement. It felt reassuring to have Robert beside her, supporting her and agreeing with her. For years she’d wondered what exactly had transpired between her parents and Mr Craven. She’d known she had no other relatives, but Mr Craven must have been a good actor to convince her parents he was a suitable guardian for their only child.

      ‘I just wish I had had an hour with him,’ Louisa said quietly, ‘to confront him and to force him to answer my questions.’

      Robert squeezed her arm gently and Louisa felt his strength flowing into her. She had to accept she would never have answers. She would never know why her parents chose Mr Craven as her guardian and she would never know whether he had been involved in their deaths. In the past the uncertainty had upset her immeasurably, but today, with Robert beside her, Louisa felt herself letting go a little. Now was the time to look forward, not back. She might never have the answers to her questions, but she had her freedom and she had her entire life stretching out in front of her.

      They walked in silence for a few minutes. Louisa glanced sideways at Robert every few seconds. She wanted to know more about him. Just as she was plucking up the courage to ask Robert a little about himself, he paused and pointed to a gateway.

      ‘Hyde Park, Miss Turnhill. The first of many London parks I promise to take you to.’

      The park was quiet at this time, only a few young children with their nannies running around on the grass and one or two groups of young ladies strolling under parasols.

      ‘We shouldn’t meet anyone at this time,’ Robert said as he guided her into the park.

      Louisa realised that was why he’d checked his pocket watch earlier; he hadn’t wanted them to bump into anyone. She wondered if he were ashamed of her, but quickly dismissed the thought. It would have been easy to send her off to some far-flung corner of England, far away from the prying eyes and wagging tongues of society, but instead he’d kept her here in London. No, Robert Fleetwood wasn’t ashamed of her, she thought it more likely he wanted to protect her from having to answer any awkward questions.

      It felt strange to Louisa to have someone looking out for her. For years she’d only been able to depend upon herself. She didn’t think she would ever get used to someone else worrying about her welfare.

      ‘You have a very tough decision to make now, Miss Turnhill.’ Robert turned to her with a grave expression on his face.

      Louisa’s heart dropped. She’d been enjoying not thinking about her circumstances for a few minutes.

      ‘You need to choose whether you’d like to go and take a stroll around the Serpentine or sample the delicious new delicacy all society are talking about: flavoured ices.’

      Louisa pretended to consider her decision very carefully. ‘Are you sure I have to decide?’ she asked.

      ‘This СКАЧАТЬ