Her father beamed at her, no doubt thinking Lizzie had returned to the fold, but Chico knew that Lizzie just wanted to have a life free from their deceit.
‘Very well, I lied,’ Serena exclaimed angrily, as if everyone else in the room were to blame except for her. ‘Someone had to answer for all the gossip in the village, and it wasn’t going to be me.’
‘So I was your scapegoat?’ Chico suggested mildly.
‘Why not you?’ Serena demanded.
‘So, to recap,’ he said, gazing at Lizzie as he spoke to Serena. ‘I never touched you—I never forced myself on you—I never joined in your games?’
‘As if I’d have let you,’ Serena sneered. ‘A boy from the slums? Are you mad?’
‘Mad? No,’ he assured Lizzie’s mother. ‘Though you didn’t seem to be quite so fussy at the time.’
‘You were young and ripe,’ she said carelessly.
Even Reginald had the good grace to look shocked.
‘I can see now that I had nothing else to offer you but my youth,’ he agreed.
‘Then, or now,’ Serena stated haughtily. ‘So, if you don’t mind, now that you’ve got all that out of your system, I’d like you to leave.’
‘You’d like me to leave?’ He glanced at Lizzie, who had gone pale, but who was standing her ground. Learning about the fate of his letters must have been a shock for her, though he guessed that this further proof of her parents’ abominable behaviour hadn’t helped, and he was keen to redress the balance for her.
‘What would you like me to do, Lizzie?’
‘I would like my father and Serena to leave,’ she said in a surprisingly firm voice. ‘If only because I can’t leave you unattended,’ she explained to Serena and Reginald. ‘I can’t trust you,’ she spelled out when her father uttered a wounded sigh. ‘And I need to get everything ready for tomorrow, for the celebration of my grandmother’s life.’
Even Reginald couldn’t argue with that.
‘We’ll be back for the reading of the will,’ Serena announced on her way out of the door.
He bet they would. He turned with concern to face Lizzie.
‘I’ll leave you two alone,’ the housekeeper said tactfully.
‘Sorry—Annie...’ Lizzie leapt into life, as if a switch had turned on inside her now her parents had gone. ‘I’d like you to meet Chico. You may remember him from years ago when the Brazilian team came to visit. Chico—this is Annie, my grandmother’s loyal friend.’
‘And yours,’ the older woman reminded Lizzie with a tender smile. ‘And I do know your face,’ the elderly housekeeper confirmed, turning to shake his hand.
‘Please don’t let us drive you away,’ he said, conscious that Annie had remained diplomatically out of the way while the drama had played out.
‘I planned to go home now anyway,’ she assured him.
‘I’m staying at the pub in the village,’ he explained as he helped Annie put on her coat. ‘I brought my assistant Maria with me from Brazil, and she could probably use some company—if it’s not too much trouble for you?’