Alone in the room, Milly and Lena looked at each other. Milly picked up the note with her mother’s name and placed it on the table, but not before noticing what was written there.
Silence is golden. I remembered my promise.
The two girls looked at each other with a frown. ‘What on earth does that mean?’
Lena shrugged. ‘Haven’t a clue. I never expected him to do that,’ she whispered as Milly sat back down.
‘Me neither.’
Both girls fingered their sealed envelopes, but neither of them opened them. A few minutes later, Lena rose to her feet.
‘Are you all right?’ she said. ‘You look . . . very pale.’
‘My mother has thrown me out,’ said Milly. ‘My suitcase is in the hall but I have nowhere to go.’
Lena squeezed her hands.
‘Do you think Nan would let me sleep on her sofa?’ Milly asked, adding quickly, ‘It’s just for one night.’
‘Of course she will.’ Lena shook her head sadly. ‘It seems very unfair,’ she said, looking around the room, ‘when all this will be yours one day.’
‘It might not happen,’ said Milly. ‘You heard her. Believe me, she is going to fight tooth and nail to get that will annulled. My mother is a very determined woman.’
They were both silent.
‘You could use the cottage,’ Lena suddenly said.
Milly frowned.
‘There was no age clause on my inheritance.’
‘Could I?’ said Milly, her eyes filling with tears.
Lena gave her a sympathetic smile. Milly blew her nose.
‘In fact, we could both go there.’
‘What, now?’
‘Yes, why not?’
Milly gave her half-sister a wobbly smile. ‘Thank you. Oh, thank you.’
The pair of them struggled outside with Milly’s suitcase and painting things until they came to Seebold’s lorry parked in the drive. What a good job Lena had arranged for him to come and collect her. He dashed out of the cab and took the case. ‘What happened?’ he said, horrified.
‘We’ll tell you in a minute,’ said Lena. ‘Can you take us both to the cottage?’
Once the fire in the hearth was lit, it didn’t take long to transform the cold, empty cottage into a warm and friendly bolthole. Lena made up the beds and Seebold brought in more logs. Milly unpacked some of her things and looked in the kitchen. There was no food apart from the basics like tea leaves, a little sugar and a few biscuits. The shops would be closed now.
‘I’ll go and get some fish and chips for now,’ Seebold said.
‘And I’m sure Nan would let you have a couple of slices of bread and stuff,’ said Lena.
Milly struggled not to give way to her ever-persistent tears. After her mother’s nastiness, their kindness was almost too hard to bear and, being in the cottage with Lena, her feelings about her betrayal so long ago were only exacerbated. With Seebold gone, she knew she ought to pluck up the courage to tell her sister about the curse, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Lena threw herself onto the sofa and put her feet up. ‘I can’t believe Pa gave me all this.’
‘You may have to wait a long time before you can safely call it your own, Lena,’ said Milly. ‘Like I said, my mother is going to fight us all the way.’
Lena shrugged nonchalantly.
‘I’ll go and see Mr May first thing on Monday morning and see what he says,’ said Milly. She frowned. ‘I just don’t understand why she hates me so. What have I ever done to her?’
‘Nothing,’ said Lena. ‘Look, I know she’s your mother, Milly, but she’s an absolute bitch. Whatever happened in the past between my mother and Pa, you didn’t deserve to be treated like that. It’s not your fault, so please don’t let her pull your down.’
‘I’ll try not to.’ She sat in the easy chair. ‘By the way, what was it you wanted to tell me?’
‘I’ve bought some land,’ said Lena and, while her sister sat with an open mouth and raised eyebrows, she told her all about the old nurseries.
‘I couldn’t have done it without Pa’s help,’ Lena went on. ‘There’s still some more drainage to fix, but the agent told me this morning that he has a client who is very interested in renting.’
‘That’s incredible,’ Milly gasped. She felt immensely proud of her half-sister. Imagine being a landowner at her age. It was amazing!
They heard Seebold’s lorry pulling up outside. ‘Not a word to Seebold,’ Lena cautioned. ‘I don’t want him to get any more romantic ideas.’
‘Especially now that you are a woman of means,’ Milly added with a grin.
The fish and chips were wonderful. When they’d finished, the three of them relaxed in front of the fire with a cup of tea and talked a lot about Charles. After a while, the conversation drifted towards their personal hopes and dreams for the future; it seemed that all three had reached a crossroads in their lives. For Milly it was clear that her mother wasn’t going to bother with her coming out, which was a great relief. ‘I had thought that I would be able to continue with my studies at Worthing School of Art and Science,’ she said, ‘but it transpired that Father died before he’d paid the fees for next term.’
‘Heavens above,’ cried Lena. ‘So what will you do?’