Oxford Blood (The Cavaliers: Book One)

by Georgiana Derwent

  ***

  Harriet tried not to think about her mother at all and just concentrate on enjoying the holidays. On Christmas Eve, however, she dreamt about the time she’d given her the necklace.

  Her mother’s visits always excited Harriet. On this occasion, she could only have been about six. A few weeks before, Kate had given her a little gold crucifix on a chain. None of the family was particularly religious, but Harriet didn’t have any other jewellery of her own and wore it every day.

  When her mother had arrived, Harriet ran to her as usual, expecting her to pick her up. At first, the perfectly groomed woman smiled to see her, the love clear in her eyes. But as Harriet got closer, her mother recoiled.

  “Wait there a second, darling,” she said, taking a step back, before turning to Aunt Kate in fury.

  “Is this your idea of a joke?” she shouted to Kate.

  “I just want to keep her safe,” her aunt replied, not entirely able to hide the hint of smugness in her voice.

  “By stopping me from being able to get near her? I’m her mother. I would never hurt my baby.”

  Harriet stood frozen, close to tears.

  Adelaide regained some composure, knelt down and spoke gently to her daughter. “Why don’t you take that silly necklace off? I’ve got a much prettier one here for you.”

  With that, she took the elaborate pearl necklace from around her own neck. Harriet had always been fascinating by her mother’s beautiful locket, and without a second thought took off the crucifix and handed it to her aunt. As soon as she’d done so, her mother hugged her, picked her up and proceeded to fasten the pearls around her neck, carefully arranging the engraved, ruby encrusted pendant.

  “That’s much too old for her,” her aunt snapped.

  “I’ll make that decision,” Adelaide had replied. “Besides, you wanted to protect her. Believe me, this will do a much better job.”

  After a moment, Adelaide placed Harriet down. The little girl tried to cling to her, but her mother held firm. “Go to your bedroom sweetheart. I need to talk to your auntie. I’ll come and get you in a little while, and we can go to the park. It’s really exciting there at night-time.”

  Reluctantly, Harriet complied. After what had felt like forever, she grew bored and crept back downstairs to listen in.

  “How dare you try to stop me from even holding my daughter,” her mother screamed. “You’re the evil one here, not me.”

  “I won’t let you have her,” her aunt replied. “For all I know, you killed my brother.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Adelaide hissed. “I loved Sam, you know I did. I thought we had a grown up arrangement. I thought you’d give her a normal life, but still let me see her, let me love her. Clearly I made a mistake.”

  “If you take her, I’ll report her abducted. I’ll have the police track her down.”

  “She’s my daughter. Half the police are under our control anyway. I’ll get all of Gus’ lawyers on the case. We won’t spare any expense. They’ll give me custody, you’ll see.”

  Harriet listened in fascination. Did her mother really mean it? Was she really going to take her home with her, be a real mum? As she crouched outside the door, she could hardly stop herself from bursting in.

  But then, Kate laughed. “I don’t doubt you have the money, and you have the lawyers, and probably half of the judges are your sort. But do you honestly think for one moment that any court is going to give custody to a woman who’s been registered dead for five years?”