Page 70 of One Cornish Summer With You
‘In a way, it doesn’t matter that you’re living here,’ she said. ‘What matters is that you knew it used to be my home and you didn’t say anything. If you’d told me that you’d bought it, I’d have been surprised but I’d have understood. People buy houses all the time.’
‘I didn’t want to upset you,’ Ruan said. ‘And no, I’d no idea it was called Rosewarne until I was clearing the ivy off the plaque on Sunday morning. I’d always assumed it was one big house called Seaspray. You were doing your dad’s tribute that evening and I didn’t want to spoil things.’
Tammy still wasn’t convinced. ‘But didn’t you realise that it had been two cottages once? You’re a lawyer. You must have done your own research before buying it.’
‘No …’ He hesitated. ‘I didn’t buy it. I inherited it.’
‘Inherited it?’ Tammy said. ‘Someone actually left you this place?’
‘Yes. I’m afraid so.’
‘Why are you afraid?’ she said coolly. ‘If someone left it to you, then you must have been close.’
‘As a matter of fact, we weren’t. I’d only met them once. Tammy, please, come inside the caravan and let me explain.’
Now. Now he offers to tell me everything. Only now,she thought. She nodded, still in a daze.
Inside the caravan, Ruan spoke gently. ‘Can I get you anything? Coffee?’
‘No,’ she said sharply, glancing around the van with its laptop and neatly stacked papers. Everything was tidy and in its place. Then she realised how dry her throat was. ‘I mean, yes. Thanks. I could do with a glass of water.’
‘OK.’
He filled the glass at the sink and put it on the edge of the table he was using as a desk. ‘Please, sit down,’ he said, taking the padded bench himself.
Giving herself a few moments to think before she spoke again, Tammy sat and sipped the water. She put it back on the table, careful not to spill any on the documents and betray how shaken she was to have her fears confirmed.
‘Actually, I suppose I’ve no right to ask you where yougot the house,’ she said carefully. ‘It’s none of my business, is it? It stopped being ours a long time ago. In fact, I oughtn’t to have come here at all. I’m probably trespassing.’ It was impossible not to make the last statement sound sarcastic.
‘You could never trespass here. You’re always welcome …’ Ruan said before his words petered out because, clearly, she hadn’t been welcome or he’d have invited her at the start of their relationship.
‘But?’ Tammy said, voicing what he didn’t dare to.
‘ButI really wish I’d told you about the place before. When we first met and I heard about you losing your dad and the problems you’d had with finding a permanent home, I felt it would be … insensitive to announce that I’d been given a beautiful place in Cornwall for no reason at all. It felt like boasting – or gloating.’
‘Thanks for thinking of my feelings,’ Tammy said, not sure if she sounded bitter and not sure if she cared. ‘You could have told me. I would have accepted it.’
‘I know that now, but there never seemed a good time. I genuinely did not have a clue that half the property had been Rosewarne and when I did find out …’ He shrugged. ‘I realised there was something else that complicated things.’
‘What?’
‘The person who left me the place was a relation of mine.’
‘You said you’d only met them once.’
‘I did, when I was a little boy, and for some reason he decided that I was to be his sole beneficiary. He was my great-uncle and his name was Walter Cavendish.’
Tammy’s chest tightened. ‘Walter Cavendish.’ She’d echoed Ruan’s words because she wasn’t sure she’d heard him right and the name felt like poison.
‘Yes. I’m sorry. My grandad married his sister though neither of my grandparents had anything to do with him.’
‘I – How can that be? You know Walter was the man who helped ruin my family. From the moment Dad met him in the pub, he encouraged my dad to drink and gamble. I could hear them laughing and drinking late at night. He’d drive Dad to the pub and the bookies and as time passed, of course, Dad didn’t even have to leave the house because he could bet online. Even when Dad was trying to kick the habit, Walter would invite him to all-night poker sessions. In Walter’s twisted way, I think he deliberately wanted my dad to go bankrupt so he could get his hands on the house. Did you realise all this?’
Ruan could hardly bear to meet her eye. ‘I knew he was a vindictive and unpleasant character, but I swear I’d no idea that he was such a calculating bastard in relation to your family until recently. Since I inherited the house, I’ve found out he hurt a lot of my relations too. He said some vicious stuff to my aunt and uncle. Called them idlers, work-shy and weak … My mum told me he also sent poison letters to a cousin when she had a baby “out of wedlock”, as he called it. He never spoke to her again.’
‘I’m not surprised,’ Tammy said. ‘I wish my family had never crossed his evil path!’
‘I wish I’d never known him either. He only visited my mum and dad a couple of times. Once when I was little andthen, later, he turned my dad down for a loan when Dad was at rock bottom.’
