Stifling a groan, she said, ‘I’m sure she didn’t mean it. I’ll talk to her.’
‘I think it is too late for that. She blames him, tu comprends, for obeying my father’s instructions about the disposal of his estate. For not, as she says, making him see reason.’
The note of faint derision in his voice flicked Ginny on the raw. She said hotly, ‘Clearly you don’t understand how my mother feels. How bewildered—how hurt she is—to be treated like this—after eleven happy years.’
‘That is how you see it? Une vraie idylle?’ The mockery was overt now and it stung. ‘Which is how it began, n’est-ce pas? The deck of a ship beneath the stars—a man and a woman in each other’s arms, overcoming past tragedy, finding new hope together?’
‘And what’s wrong with that?’ Ginny demanded defensively. ‘Lots of people begin lasting relationships on holiday.’
He said softly, ‘And many more treat it as an enjoyable interlude, and never think of it again on their return to the lives they live each day. Perhaps that is the wisest course.’
She stared at him. ‘And that’s what you think my mother should have done?’
His tone hardened. ‘I cannot speak for her. But my father—certainement.’
She said, ‘I think you’re being insulting.’
He shrugged. ‘I would say—truthful.’
Ginny got to her feet, trembling. ‘What right have you to judge her—or any of us? My mother was left a widow with two young children, and very little money.’
His mouth twisted cynically. ‘Yet she was a partner in a beauty salon, n’est-ce pas, and could afford to pay for an expensive cruise in the Mediterranean, on which she did not choose to include you or your sister. Incroyable.’
Partner in a beauty salon? Ginny repeated silently, her heart missing a beat. Her mother had been a manicurist. An employee. What was he talking about?
She hastily switched tack. ‘You speak as if my mother abandoned us in the streets,’ she challenged. ‘We actually stayed with my godmother and her husband in Fulham, and had a wonderful time, whereas we’d have been bored stiff on a ship all day long.
‘And Mother was only able to go on the cruise because she won a prize in the National Lottery. Not one of the big ones, of course,’ she added quickly, seeing his brows lift. ‘But it paid for all sorts of things. Besides, she’d had a tough time and she needed a break.’
‘Sans doute.’ His voice was flat. ‘And, at the end of the cruise, quelle surprise, she has a new and wealthy husband.’
Her voice shook. ‘How dare you. What the hell are you implying?’
‘I imply nothing. I state facts. Can you deny that you have ever wondered how it came about—this so convenient marriage?’
‘Of course I deny it. They met and fell in love. That’s all there is to it.’ She gripped the back of her chair with both hands as pain, a strange mixture of hurt and bewilderment, twisted inside her, adding to her shock and confusion. ‘Is this the kind of poison you’ve been feeding to Andrew over the years? Turning him against his own wife? Well, I won’t—I don’t believe a word of it.’
‘A display of family loyalty?’ he countered harshly. ‘A little late for that, I think. And I said nothing to my father. Au contraire, the doubts were all his own. You are not a fool, Virginie, so ask yourself why.’
He drained his cup and rose, dropping a handful of pound coins on the table. ‘But your coffee is excellent,’ he added, and walked out.
She wanted to fling the money after him, but her awareness of the watchers in the kitchen prevented her.
She put the payment for the coffee in the till and dropped the rest into the jar for staff tips, then carried her laden tray into the kitchen, ignoring the curious glances which greeted her.
And she hadn’t been able to talk to him about Barney and her plan to rehome him, she realised ruefully. But what the hell? She’d go ahead anyway.
* * *
When she got home, she found Rosina bristling with defiance and clearly in no mood to answer the kind of questions that Ginny knew needed to be asked.
‘I’ll find a law firm in London who’ll act for me,’ she declared. ‘That Hargreaves man couldn’t fight his way out of a paper bag as I told him.’
Ginny bit her lip. ‘Court battles are very expensive.’ Not to mention the kinds of unexpected truths that sometimes emerge as a result...
‘But my costs will be paid by the other side,’ Rosina insisted. ‘And while it’s all sub judice, I shall insist on remaining here. I’ve no intention of moving into that ghastly little house.’