Just Rewards

by Barbara Taylor Bradford

  “There you are,” Owen exclaimed from the doorway. “I’ve been looking all over for you, honey.”

  Elayne swung around and broke into smiles. “Dad, you look wonderful. So handsome in your blue suit with your white carnation. Come see my painting, so well displayed. Doesn’t it look great?”

  “It sure does, Ellie,” he responded, smiling back as he walked toward her, thinking she cut quite a swath in the gray gown with her dark hair and large blue eyes. People who didn’t know she was adopted often said how much she resembled him, and actually she did. Marietta once remarked that they’d grown to look alike, but he thought that was a stupid thing to say. How could you grow to look like someone?

  Coming to a standstill, he gazed at the painting for a long moment, then nodded. “It’s one of your best,” he said at last, beaming at her.

  “Dad! Dad, have you seen Mom?” Angharad cried, rushing into the dining room. “Your father’s looking for her.” She hurried toward Owen and Elayne, almost stumbling over herself, looking flushed, a little flustered.

  “Calm down, Angharad!” Owen was startled by her headlong swoop toward them and went on, “She can’t have gone very far. Maybe she’s still upstairs with Evan.”

  “Oh, by the way, why weren’t we allowed to help our sister dress?” Angharad demanded, her search for Marietta suddenly forgotten. “It’s traditional that the bride’s sisters help her get ready for her wedding.”

  “I know. But circumstances are not quite normal, are they?” Owen replied. “Evan is very heavily pregnant. She doesn’t feel too well, and she’s awfully big.”

  Angharad nodded, smiled, and said spitefully, “Like she’s going to drop four infant whales and not twin babies.”

  Owen ignored this comment, but Elayne couldn’t stop herself from exclaiming, “Why are you always so bitchy about Evan? You’re mean and ungrateful. She’s never been anything but nice to you all of your life, and all you want to do is make nasty comments.”

  “Tut-tut, Elayne, don’t lose your temper on her wedding day. She’d be so put out, would think you’re vulgar, now that she’s become such a snob.”

  “No, she hasn’t,” Elayne shot back. “She hasn’t changed at all, and you know it.”

  “Girls, no quarreling, please. Not today. And especially not here. And why does my father want to see your mother?” Owen asked Angharad, staring at her.

  “How the hell do I know?” she snapped. “He said something about wanting to be seated near you at the luncheon, wanted her to check.”

  “Oh. I see. I don’t believe he can be, actually. He’s seated next to Marietta. I noticed his place card when I walked through the Stone Hall. Please go and tell him that, honey, and we’ll be with you in a second. I just want to take a look at the other gifts. I hadn’t realized they were on display until Gideon told me.”

  “Okay, but hurry up. I don’t want to get stuck with Robin.”

  Owen watched her retreating figure, asking himself why it was he was beginning to distrust her. Elayne’s correct, she’s bitchy, he thought. And that’s not all. She’s devious, just as my mother used to say. Glynnis was right, as usual.

  The moment she walked into the library, Linnet knew that Jack had told Shane about the explosion at the church. She was close to her father and she knew his every expression. He was disturbed, she could tell that. He stood with Jack and Winston at the fireplace.

  Hurrying to join them, she lost no time in asking, “Jack told you about the church, didn’t he, Daddy?”

  Shane looked at her and inclined his head. “He did, Linnet, and I can only say thank God for your foresight. Because of your brain wave to change the time of the ceremony, no one was killed.”

  “It was all Jonathan’s doing. But we’ll never prove it,” Linnet answered. “More’s the pity.”

  “That’s absolutely true,” Shane agreed. “However, I don’t think we have to worry about Jonathan at the moment. He achieved what he set out to do … which was to upset us all, make us apprehensive.”

  Linnet stared at her father. “But he meant to kill us, didn’t he?”

  “That’s the general idea, I think. Nevertheless, he has the satisfaction of knowing he’s truly thrown us, and I’m certain that this gives him a degree of pleasure. Upsetting the Hartes has become his favorite hobby.”

  “He won’t be back for a while,” Jack volunteered, staring at Linnet.

  “You mean he’s not in Yorkshire?” Linnet asked, frowning, her green eyes suddenly filled with puzzlement.

  “He’s back in London. I think he’ll stay put, or at least he won’t come back up to Yorkshire. He might go to Paris, of course.” Jack shook his head and went on. “I have a bit of surprising news for you, Linnet. He had a visitor yesterday morning before he left.”

  “Who?” she asked, her eyes narrowing as she searched Jack’s face.

  He threw her a knowing look.

  “Not Angharad? Don’t tell me she had the nerve to go over to Thirsk to see him?”

  “She did indeed.”

  “When did you find that out?”

  “A short while ago. Yesterday, the operative tailing Jonathan saw a woman in a head scarf and dark glasses visit him at his home, and he made a note of the number plate on her car. He checked it out later in the day. Then, when he heard about the explosion at the church, he thought he’d better tell me about her. The car is registered to Winston.” As he spoke, he glanced at Winston, who nodded.

  “So she borrowed your car, is that it?” Linnet said.

  “One of the stable cars, actually, Linnet,” Winston answered. “Apparently she phoned Emily from Edwina’s, asked if she could come over, borrow a car to go sightseeing. Emily said of course she could. It was Edwina’s driver who dropped her off at Allington Hall.”

  “Well, well, well. She doesn’t waste any time, does she?” Linnet muttered. “The odds are she’ll see him in London … if he’s interested, that is. What do you think? The three of you know him.” Her eyes roamed over Jack, her father, and Winston, held their collective gaze.

  “He’ll see her, if only to pump her for information,” Jack arinounced, sounding positive.

  “Or he could be interested in her as a woman,” Winston suggested.

  “That’s true,” Shane muttered. “He harbors a weakness for women, always has, and the younger the better.”

  “You’d better have her watched, Jack,” Linnet exclaimed.

  “I’d already thought of that, Beauty. It’s done.”

  Shane took a step forward, put his arm around his daughter, and pulled her closer. “Don’t worry, darling, at least not this weekend. Jonathan Ainsley’s out of the way, and I’m positive nothing else is going to happen.”

  “Sometimes things happen when he’s not around. Usually most of the time, wouldn’t you say, Dad?”

  “True,” Shane murmured, hugging her tighter. “However, as I pointed out a moment ago, he’s thrown a spanner in the works, and that’s enough for him.”

  “Oh, Daddy, I hope so.”

  She sounded so forlorn, she who was always cheerful, upbeat, and stoical, that Shane looked down at her, put his hand under her chin. Staring into her upturned face, he said, “Come on, get it together, Linnet. You’re a Harte and an O’Neill, and you’re married to a Kallinski. You are the embodiment of the three clans. You’ve got to play that role today. Nothing less will do, my darling. You must be the very best of all of us.”

  She nodded, took a deep breath.

  Leaning down, Shane kissed her forehead. “That’s my girl … our girl.”

  “This is it, chaps,” Winston said, straightening to his full height. “Here come the troops, the bridesmaids, the ushers, and the bridegroom as well.”

  “I’d better go and help the girls with their sprays.” Linnet gave her father a huge smile and glided across the library.

  “Hello, Adele darling,” she said, when she spotted the three-year-old. “You look so pretty.”

  “T
hank you, Auntie Linnet,” the child responded. “Mumma says I’m going to carry a nosegay.”

  “That’s right, sweetheart, and here it is.” Linnet put the miniature bouquet in her niece’s hands and kissed the top of her silver-blond head.

  Angharad sidled over to Linnet, holding the spray of small green orchids, and asked, “Where exactly am I supposed to pin this?” Her voice was so shrill Adele drew closer to Linnet, looking a little afraid. Linnet took hold of her hand.

  “Just below your shoulder, on the left side.” Linnet indicated her own spray, which was already pinned to the lapel of her jacket. “A bit higher than mine, though.”

  Angharad nodded, glanced around, and exclaimed, “Oh, there’s a mirror on the wall there. Come on, Elayne.” They rushed across the room.

  Emsie came over to her sister and whispered in Linnet’s ear, “That adoptee is definitely gross.”

  “Shhh. Someone might hear you, and you’ll catch it.”

  “You started it,” Emsie shot back and then grinned at Linnet and asked, “How do I look?”

  Linnet couldn’t help laughing. “You’ve become awfully conscious of your appearance these days, Emsie, my lass. You who never cared at all, were always in the tack room grooming the horses. What’s going on?”

  “I made a decision,” Emsie announced and looked over her shoulder at Natalie, Gideon’s sister. “I’m going to work on one of our newspapers like Natty does.”

  “Are you now?” Linnet raised a brow and said teasingly, “I always understood you were going to be a jockey.”

  “I never said that!” the seventeen-year-old protested, flushing. “And you know it.”

  Linnet merely smiled and said to Natalie, “Pick your spray, dear one, and I’ll pin it on for you. Yours, too, Emsie, if you bring it.”

  Natalie hurried to Linnet and hugged her. These two were great friends; they had bonded as children, and they actually looked more like sisters than like cousins. Natalie Harte had inherited Emma’s red hair, just as Linnet had, along with her green eyes and pretty complexion.

  Stepping away from Linnet, Natalie said, “I suppose Mummy is with Evan and Marietta.”

  “Yes, they’re upstairs. They’ll come down about two forty-five. I thought we could get one or two photographs of the bride and groom, with the bridesmaids and groomsmen, before we all go into the reception. What do you think?”

  “The three photographers are all set up, Linnet, just the way you wanted. I have one in the Cream-and-Gold Drawing Room, and another in the Gray Sitting Room. I kept the Peach Drawing Room free for the reception, as you said. The third photographer has a setup ready in the Garden Room. This way, everyone can move from one room to the next, and with the setup more or less in place, the photographs will be done quickly.”

  “Thanks for organizing this for me, Natalie, I really appreciate it.”

  Natalie was staring hard at Linnet and didn’t say a word for a moment. Then in a low voice she hissed, “Are you wearing an earpiece and mike?”

  “Keep your voice down. Yes, I am, so I can stay in touch with Jack.”

  “I see. But why?” Natalie probed, riddled with curiosity.

  “To make sure everything’s running smoothly, that’s all,” Linnet fibbed and turned to Emsie. “Just look at you, Emsie, you are a silly goose, you’ve got the orchid practically upside down. Come here, let me fix it.”

  “Oh, there’s Great-Aunt Edwina and Uncle Robin!” Natalie said suddenly, sounding excited. Handing her orchid to Linnet, she asked, “Can you do me first, please, so I can go to Edwina? I just adore her, and she does need looking after.”

  “Like the Earl of Warwick in his armor astride his destrier needed looking after,” Linnet scoffed. “She could be Warwick’s second in command, in fact. She looks as if she’s about to lead a charge into the Lancastrian hordes.”

  Emsie giggled, and it took Natalie a lot of self-control to keep her face straight. Linnet could be very amusing at times.

  “Gosh, she’s coming this way,” Emsie muttered. “Quick, Linnet, get my orchid on.” Emsie looked down when she felt a tug on her dress and frowned. “What’s wrong, Adele?”

  “Where’s Mumma?”

  “I think she went with Grandma to the Stone Hall.” Taking hold of the child’s hand firmly, she added, “We’ll go and find her in a second.”

  Adele smiled up at her, clinging to her hand. “All right, Emsie.”

  Edwina said, “Ah, Adele, my darling girl, you look a picture today, you do indeed. A very pretty picture.”

  “Thank you, Great-Aunt Edwina. So do you.”

  Edwina chuckled at this unexpected comment. “Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings,” she murmured and turning added, “Good afternoon, ladies. And you are both so fair and charming in your lovely frocks. And you, Linnet, should always wear pale blue.”

  “As you must always wear purple, Great-Aunt,” Linnet answered.

  He felt like part of them, and they thought of him as family, yet he was the outsider.

  Jack Figg was well aware of this, but it did not trouble him one iota. He cared about them all in different ways, loved some more than others; in a sense, they were his only family now, with all of his blood relatives dead and buried.

  It was just before three o’clock, and he stood in the Gray Sitting Room watching in amusement as his two favorite redheads, Linnet and Natalie, bustled like sergeant majors, lining up the family for the big wedding portrait the photographer was impatiently waiting to take.

  His eyes followed the two young women alertly, and as he noticed how skillfully they moved people around, he realized that what they were working out had a lot to do with the color coordination of the clothes. They both held clipboards and kept conferring with each other, stepping back and viewing the group as a whole.

  How clever. Somebody, more than likely Evan, with her eye for clothes and her color sense, had created a color plan for the wedding, especially the photographs. As he continued to watch with great interest, he saw this plan take shape. Brilliant, he thought. Just brilliant.

  All of the male members of the family were wearing dark navy business suits, white shirts, and pale blue ties. Each man had a white carnation in his buttonhole, just as Jack did, and of course he was dressed in a navy blue suit, too. He had been told to wear that color.

  The four adult bridesmaids, Natalie, Emsie, Elayne, and Angharad, were beautiful in their long, pearl gray taffeta gowns; little Adele wore the same dress in miniature and was enchanting. The grown-up girls had green orchids pinned on their left shoulders; Adele carried a bouquet of the same green orchids.

  Linnet was dressed in a pale blue silk suit with a long, well-tailored coat and long skirt, while her sister Tessa was in a pale bluish gray caftan, which had blue beading around the neck. Their cousin India had chosen a long Nehru-style tunic and narrow pants made of heavy silk that was the same bluish gray as Tessa’s caftan.

  Snap, he thought. Navy for the men; gray for the bridesmaids; pale blue or bluish gray for these three. Color coordination indeed.

  Jack’s eyes scanned the other women. Paula, his great favorite, wore a long, violet-colored velvet coat and a violet chiffon gown underneath; Emily had chosen a tapestry coat predominantly grayish blue, with small touches of soft color; while the mother of the bride, Marietta, was in gold brocade over dark brown silk.

  Glancing along the rows, he found another touch of gold brocade, this time worn by Elizabeth, Emma Harte’s second daughter, while Daisy, her daughter by Paul McGill, was dressed in a splashy magenta shade.

  Great-Aunt Edwina, the eldest of Emma’s daughters, wore her favorite deep purple. Jack smiled broadly. God bless her, he thought, she just keeps on plowing the seas like a great old battleship. He adored Edwina, whom he considered the greatest character he had ever known.

  Finally, he found another pool of rich purple and gold. Sally, Countess of Dunvale, India’s mother, wore a long, gold brocade coat over wide palazzo pants of gold
-colored silk, and her sister, Vivienne, had chosen a purple cut-velvet coat and dress that echoed Edwina’s deep purple.

  What it boils down to is a mixture of dark navy, pearl gray, and grayish blue, Jack decided, with strong color from the violet, purple, and magenta, these shades balanced by the gold brocade.

  And at the center of this rather simple color plan stood the bride, in her shimmering blue-on-blue ombréed chiffon that reflected all the shades in the sea. How beautiful she was. Jack couldn’t help smiling wryly to himself. He, the most conventional of red-blooded heterosexuals, had certainly learned a lot from Emma Harte. More than he’d realized until today!

  The family portrait is going to be spectacular, Jack thought, silently congratulating Evan for her foresight. She must have guided the women in their choices of color, even been insistent, perhaps.

  Seemingly all was completed. Linnet and Natalie took their own places, and the relieved photographer got ready to start shooting film when Shane stepped forward.

  “No, no! Stop! Wait a minute,” he cried, looking at the photographer, then he shifted his gaze, zeroed in on Jack. “What are you doing down there, Jack? You’re supposed to be up here with us. We need you for this shot in particular.”

  “But I—”

  “No buts, Jack. You’re family. Come up here and stand with me and Paula.”

  Jack did as he was told, unable to utter a word. He was overcome with emotion.

  Much later, when the reception was in full swing, Angharad wandered amongst the guests, looking for Jonathan Ainsley. She was fascinated by him, expected him to be present, but he was not. She was bitterly disappointed.