Charlie Cochrane [Cambr

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left the vicinity. Some had been lingering in the street, chatting, even after the Stewarts had left. He turned
his attention to an exotic glass bottle, one which suggested oriental markets, hints of eastern promise. I
wonder where she got this?
I have no idea. The tears were under control now, clearly to Orlando s relief. Must try to keep the
old stiff upper lip Grandmother hated to see me upset. He touched the bottle. She used to let me play
with this as a child, so long as I was extra careful.
Did you pretend to be Aladdin? Jonty made a theatrical rubbing motion over the bottle s gilded
surface. If this was one of those magic bottles, we could summon up a genie and you could have the
obligatory three wishes. What would you choose?
40 www.samhainpublishing.com
Lessons in Trust
He d been trying to bring some cheer to the situation, as usual resorting to stupidity to bring his lover
out of his dark moods, but this time he d strayed further into the blackness. The length of time it took
Orlando to muster a reply made that plain enough.
He eventually answered. I wish above all things to know why my father killed himself. I wish I d
had the courage to ask my grandmother when she was still alive, but I didn t. I couldn t. He took the bottle
from his lover s hands, caressing the glass as if he might see the answer there. If only these artefacts could
talk. Tell me all the secrets they ve heard whispered in this house down the years.
Perhaps your grandmother wouldn t have told you, even if she knew. I would imagine he had a
happy childhood with such a mother you ve always told me that she was kind to you when you visited.
Jonty bit his lip. He was playing for time, he knew it, and he d have to make the truth known before they
left the house.
I believe my father s childhood was a very ordinary one, or so my grandmother told me. The usual
stuff school and holidays and bathing down in the sea. He never really spoke about it. At least I m not
aware that anything terrible happened to him while he was younger. Of course he always alleged I was
spoiled rotten when I came here. Orlando glowed at the remembrance of the happiest days of his boyhood,
the ones spent being taken for treats at Margate or Ramsgate and wandering along the beaches.
That s a fairly universal complaint. Even my brother moans that his Thomas is being led astray every
time he visits Sussex or London, and that child has a doddle of a time at home as well, indulged madly by
his parents. Jonty paused, wondering how to turn the conversation where he wanted it to go. Or rather
where it had to go he d no great enthusiasm for the task he d been set. Your father, he didn t have the
opportunity to get to know his father, did he?
No, my paternal grandfather died when my grandmother was expecting their first child. Perhaps that
made a difference. Orlando turned his gaze from the bottle to Jonty. I don t remember telling you that.
Your grandmother told me, when we came here to sort out that business with the fund she wanted to
set up. Jonty s answer came out smoothly; he d had it long prepared. It might well have made a
difference to him, if he d had a man s steadying hand. I wonder what your grandfather was like.
I have no idea. There are no portraits of him here not like being at one of your homes where you
can t turn a corner without some Stewart or Forster or Dewberry leering at you from a wall, all of them
looking horribly familiar.
I wonder why that was? Jonty tried to sound insouciant. Why your grandmother didn t keep a
likeness of some sort?
I always assumed it was because she preferred landscapes or still lives. The house has plenty of
those. Or maybe we couldn t afford to commission an artist. Orlando stopped. He d known Jonty long
enough to read him as clearly as a paper on imaginary numbers. You know something about this as well,
don t you? Would you be so kind as to share it with me?
www.samhainpublishing.com 41
Charlie Cochrane
I will, Orlando, with what s going to be a mixture of pleasure and regret. I haven t been allowed to
up until now, having promised your grandmother it wouldn t be mentioned while she was alive. Please sit
down. Jonty plonked himself on the sofa and drew his lover down beside him.
Is it that bad, that I have to be seated to hear it? Orlando s face, still pallid from the funeral, became
paler.
I don t think so, it s a common enough tale, although I m not too sure how you ll react. You still
have the capacity to surprise me. It ll certainly give you a bit of a shock and we don t want a repeat of the
great faint you had on Jersey. Jonty swallowed hard, sat up straight as he d been taught to do when dealing
with important matters, and began. Your grandmother wasn t a Coppersmith by marriage, just by birth
alone. I m sorry, but I have no delicate way of putting this. When she fell pregnant with your father, out of
wedlock, the family disowned her. She was well provided for, as was the child, but it was made plain there [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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