The Shocking Secret of a Guest at the Wedding (Millworth Manor) (3 page)

“Good.” Mother breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s that then. Perhaps now we can go to dinner.”

“I don’t think we’re quite done yet, Elizabeth.” His father chose his words with care. “There’s a great deal yet to discuss and a great many more questions that still remain.”

“I really can’t imagine what those might be.” Mother set her glass on the desk and moved toward the door. “And we do have guests waiting. So perhaps—”

“Perhaps we need to discuss the future and what happens now.” His father absently tapped his finger against his glass and studied her for a moment. “You were right about one thing though.”

Mother’s brow arched upward. “Oh?”

He smiled slowly. “I do intend to take your son.”

Mother sucked in a sharp breath and her eyes narrowed. “Over my dead body!”

“That seems appropriate,” the colonel said in a hard tone. “As you’ve essentially had him all these years over my dead body.”

“One wonders how they managed to stay married for a full week,” Lucy said under her breath to Jack.

“Might I point out to both of you, I am not a child to be squabbled over.” Jack glared at his parents. “Nor am I a possession to be divided between the two of you.”

“Of course not, dear.” A conciliatory note sounded in his mother’s voice. “You’re an intelligent adult with a position of responsibility and authority. You make important decisions every day and you are more than capable of making decisions about your own life. For your father to make such a threat in the first place is utterly absurd.”

“It’s not a threat,” his father said coolly. “Although perhaps I misstated my intention.”

Mother huffed. “I should think so.”

“My apologies, Elizabeth.”

Mother snorted in disdain.

“As I said, it was not a threat. It was simply a statement of fact.” He turned to Jack. “Forgive me if I am not saying this as well as I might but you must understand, until last week, I had no idea of your existence. Most men have months to come to terms with the possibility of having a son. I’ve had only a week and most of that was spent onboard a ship although admittedly it did give me plenty of time to consider the ramifications of your existence. Not that I’m not pleased,” he added quickly. “I had quite frankly resigned myself years ago to the idea that I would never have children of my own.”

Jack smiled. “Well, I never expected to have a father either.”

“How lovely,” Lucy said. “You have something else in common.”

“Delightful,” Mother said through clenched teeth.

“There is however more at stake here, Jackson.” He considered his offspring for a moment. “Did your mother tell you anything about me? Anything at all?”

“No.” Jack shot an annoyed look at his mother. “From as far back as I can remember, the very mention of your name upset her. I learned as a young boy that you were a part of her life she did not want to be reminded of. I always thought it was lingering grief.”

“A love so tragic she could not bear to have it brought to mind. The kind you read about in novels.” Lucy sighed. “So very romantic.”

Mother stared at her. “We must look at your reading material, dear.”

“I grew up believing my father had died fighting Indians in a Western territory, Nebraska or somewhere.”

“I never told you that,” his mother said quickly.

“No, that was Grandfather’s doing.” Jack thought for a moment. “Although you never saw fit to correct the impression he gave me either. Admittedly, it was all rather vague. More implication than anything else. Grandfather never wanted to speak of my father either.”

“Imagine that,” Lucy murmured.

“Then we are starting from scratch as it were?” Father asked.

“I’m afraid so.” Jack drew a deep breath. “But I do feel some sort of apology is in order. I should have made further inquiries about you. At least as I grew older. Even though you did seem a topic to be avoided, that’s no excuse. I should have made an effort to learn more about you. I was curious but . . . Perhaps if I had asked—”

“Rubbish, my boy.” His father scoffed. “No apology is necessary. At least not from you. Indeed, you were being a thoughtful and considerate son not to bring up a topic that distressed your mother. You are not to blame for any of this.” He cast a pointed look at his wife.

“Oh, for goodness’ sake.” Mother threw up her arms in surrender. “Very well then. I’ll accept the blame. I did what I thought was best, what I thought was right—”

“For whom?” both men said in unison.

“That doesn’t scare me, you know,” Mother said sharply. “The way the two of you have been spouting the same words at the same time. Why, it’s probably to be expected. Runs in the blood and all. I’m not frightened of either of you.”

“Perhaps you should be,” Lucy said helpfully. “After all, you did keep father and son apart for thirty years. One might even say that you stole something from them. Part of their lives, really. It seems to me that some kind of, oh, I don’t know, retribution or punishment is in order. Yes, that’s it—punishment. You should pay for your crime. It seems only fair.”

“And we do want to be fair.” Mother fairly spit the words.

One wouldn’t have thought the evening could get any stranger and yet there was Mother glaring at the young woman she’d always thought of as a daughter. And there was Lucy challenging her at every turn. This was not the ordinary kind of evening Jack had expected when he’d heard Uncle Daniel, Lucy, and her parents were to join him, Grandfather, and Mother for dinner to mark his thirtieth birthday a few days ago. And he had expected it to be extremely ordinary, as such a gathering, even to observe a birthday, usually was. Now, he preferred not to speculate as to what might happen next.

“It’s pointless to look behind us. We must move forward,” Father said firmly.

“And what exactly does moving forward mean?” Caution edged Mother’s voice.

“Perhaps you should sit down,” Father said.

“I don’t want—fine,” Mother snapped and sat on the sofa, as far away from Lucy as possible.

“First, you should know about your family, Jackson,” Father began.

“He does know about his family,” Mother said under her breath.

Father ignored her and continued. “There are Channings all over England, mostly distant relations and you needn’t be overly concerned with them.”

“Although it is nice to know they exist,” Lucy said.

“Exactly.” Father nodded. “And I daresay you’ll meet them all eventually.”

“I really don’t see—” Mother began.

“Quiet, Mother.” Jack nodded at his father. “Go on.”

“For the most part, they’re not especially important although admittedly some of them are most amusing. Eccentric is probably the kindest description.” The colonel lowered his voice in a confidential manner. “There is Cousin Wilfred on my father’s side. He was quite convinced he could fly. He couldn’t, of course. Pity, as it turned out.” Father shook his head in a regretful manner. “But as I was saying, you needn’t bother concerning yourself with anyone aside from the immediate family. At least for now.”

“The immediate family?” Jack said.

“You, my boy, have an uncle, my twin brother, Nigel, and an aunt, his wife, Bernadette. They have three daughters, charming girls, all of them. They’ve grown up quite nicely, all things considered. Oddly enough, I am not the only brother whose wife preferred to let his offspring believe he was dead.”

Lucy stared.

“Although in Nigel’s case, he did rather deserve it. But that’s neither here nor there at the moment.” Father’s brow furrowed thoughtfully. “Let me think. The eldest girls are older than you and are twins. One is married, the other a widow and about to be married again. The youngest, Delilah, is also a widow. So you can see how the revelation that I have a son changes, well, everything. Especially the future. The family’s and yours.”

“Basil.” A warning sounded in Mother’s voice. “This is not how I wanted—”

“It no longer matters what you want, Elizabeth. You’ve had what you wanted for far too long.” Father cast her a hard look.

“I’m not certain I understand,” Jack said slowly. “I know I am as shocked by your existence as you are by mine. And this does change a lot, for any number of reasons. But while it certainly is significant, in a personal sense, I fail to see what effect my having a living father, and you having a son has on your future or mine. Not that I don’t like the idea, mind you,” he added quickly. “It would be different if we were having this, oh,
reunion
I suppose is the only word for it, when I was ten years old or even twenty. But I am an adult. I have a position of responsibility at the bank and a sound, solid career ahead of me there. My future is well planned out.”

“Exactly,” Mother said under her breath.

“It might well have been planned out yesterday or this morning or even a few hours ago but now . . .” His father’s gaze met his. “Now, your future is entirely different.”

Jack drew his brows together. “I still don’t see—”

“My brother is the Earl of Briston.” Father paused to allow the others to grasp the significance of his pronouncement.

“Jackson, your uncle is an earl,” Lucy said with delight. “How very interesting.”

“It’s more than merely interesting, my dear girl,” Father said. “I know it’s not the same in your country—”

“We don’t have earls for one thing.” Mother sniffed.

“But in my country”—he met Jack’s gaze—“your country as well, titles and property are often tied together in what is called an entailment. Are you familiar with it?”

“Vaguely.” Jack nodded. “We deal on occasion with English financial institutions and I’ve seen reference to it in correspondence. It has to do with inheritance, doesn’t it?”

“Exactly.” His father studied him closely. “A title is tied to a family’s property, they are passed on together. In our case, Millworth Manor, the estate that has been in our family for generations, as well as some other properties, are tied to the title. The title can only be inherited by the closest male relative. If my brother died, I would be next in line to be the Earl of Briston. If I died . . .”

Lucy gasped.

Mother sighed.

Jack stared. “Are you saying that I would be the next earl?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” Father nodded. “And thank God, too. We were all afraid Millworth and the title would eventually go to Wilfred’s son.” He shuddered. “And believe me no one wanted that.”

For the second time tonight, Jack was at a loss for words. The idea of being an English earl was interesting but not something that had ever before crossed his mind. Why would it? He was, after all, an American. He wasn’t sure he’d like being an earl, not that he had any idea what that might involve. Regardless that his surname was Channing, what he knew was how to be a Graham and follow in his grandfather Graham’s footsteps and the footsteps of the Grahams before him. It was part and parcel of his responsibility to his family. It was who he was. Banking was in his blood.

Although it did now appear banking was not all that was in his blood.

“Jackson,” his mother began. “You don’t—”

“Did you know about this?” He met his mother’s gaze directly. “Is this something else that slipped your mind?”

“I really haven’t given it much thought. I’m sure it will come as a surprise to both you and your father but I have not spent the last thirty years plotting as to how to keep the two of you apart. The entire question rarely crossed my mind.” She heaved a long-suffering sigh. “But yes, I will admit that I was aware that your father’s brother had a title and that he had no male heirs.”

“Ah-ha!” Triumph rang in Father’s voice. “Then you did know that I was alive and where to find me.”

Mother sighed in surrender. “Of course I knew you were alive. I hadn’t heard that you were dead and it did seem, well, prudent, to make inquiries on occasion to see if you had remarried. I would have felt compelled to contact you if that had happened.”

“Ha!” Father’s eyes narrowed. “To have me jailed for bigamy no doubt.”

“I hadn’t thought of that.” Mother smiled in a decidedly wicked manner. “But it’s a pleasant idea.”

“You’re admitting that you knew how to contact me.”

“I’m admitting no such thing.” Mother’s gaze locked with her husband’s. “Yes, I knew you continued to draw breath. No, I did not know where you were at any given time. You are—as Lucinda so enthusiastically put it—an adventurer. You have never stayed long in one place, Basil. You simply roam from country to country, from one
adventure
to the next. One would think you were running away from something. Or trying to hide.”

“I had nothing to hide from nor did I have anything or anyone to run from.” Father narrowed his eyes. “However both running away and hiding can certainly be done without taking so much as a single step.”

“There are any number of things that I am guilty of but hiding from you is not one of them.” She glared at her husband. “You knew exactly where I was these past thirty years.”

The colonel stared at his wife. “So to punish me for not seeking you out, you kept my son from me?”

“Don’t be absurd. That never occurred to me.” She paused. “But you certainly could have made some sort of overture through the years, aside from a handful of letters in the beginning, that is.”

“Of course I could have but you, and your parents, made it clear that such a gesture on my part would be both foolish and futile.” Father drew a calming breath. “Regardless, this is not the time to debate who should have done what, who was more at fault—”

“Not a doubt in my mind,” Lucy murmured.

“As I said, that’s in the past. Jackson.” He turned to his son. “Unfortunately, this is to be the briefest of trips. I took the first ship here as soon as I learned about you, thanks to a chance conversation with a new acquaintance in London. It seemed to me we had lost enough time and I didn’t want to lose any more.”

Jack nodded.

“I only arrived today but I have to return to England at once. My niece, your cousin, is to be wed next week. She would never forgive me if I failed to appear.” Father paused. “A wedding is an excellent way to meet a large number of members of a family. I have booked passage on a ship leaving tomorrow.” His gaze met his son’s. “Actually, I have booked two passages.”

“You’re asking me to go with you?” Jack said slowly.

“Don’t be absurd.” Mother scoffed. “He can’t simply leave without a moment’s notice. He is a vice-president of the bank. It’s an extremely responsible position. Vice-presidents simply don’t go off to foreign countries without so much as a by your leave.”