by Jo Briggs
The little girl had been quite shy of Elle up to this point, but she tentatively did as requested. William was sat beside Elle, which seemed to reassure her out of her shyness, as she was quite responsive whenever William was around.
Lily lifted her arms up, to allow Elle to place her on her thighs; she sat there quietly for a few moments just allowing the child to settle, asking her about Mary. “Lily, you know that daddy and Uncle Richard have been talking to you about your mummy being sick, and that was why she was in the hospital."”
Lily nodded, as she continued to play with the doll rather than look up at Elle, “Mummy sick.”
“Yes, doctors tried to make Mummy better, but she just got worse. Do you remember mummy telling you about grandpa?”
“Yes, grandpa heaven.”
“Ok well, mummy was sick like grandpa, and so she has gone to heaven to be with him.”
“Can I go see her and grandpa?”
“No Lily, I am sorry, but only certain people can go to heaven. Don’t worry mummy will be ok with Grandpa to keep her company, and you can come and stay with Daddy and me.”
“Will Christian live here, too?”
“Yes, you and he will both stay here with Daddy and I, and you can colour your room; however, you like. What is your favourite colour?”
“Ye-ll-o.”
“Ok, and do you have a favourite TV programme?”
“Peppa pig.”
“Do you have lots of Peppa pig stuff in your bedroom at daddy’s other home?”
Lily nodded, “Y mummy go?” Tears misted up in the toddler’s eyes. “Was I noughty?”
“Honey, your mummy loved you terribly much; you did nothing wrong, but she was too sick, so she had to go to see grandpa where she can be happy again with no pain. Do you understand?”
Lily bobbed her head slightly.
“So, Aunt Maria is going to come to see you today, and she is going to be bringing some things from your old room, so you can have them in your new room. Would you like that?” It was planned that Maria and Richard would be packing up some of the contents from her room at William’s London house, to make surround Lily with more things that are familiar.
“Like Aunt Maria, gives me sweets."
Elle smiled, “Well, she might have some for you today.”
“Go now?”
“Yes of course. If you want to talk about mummy and heaven, come and see me, daddy or Lydia, ok?”
“Ok.”
William reassured Elle that he thought the talk went as well as it could do with a young toddler.
“I am sure she will come to one of us if she has any further questions.” Lydia spoke before following Lily to sit down on the floor before to divert her from any sudden sadness.
With Lily happily occupied for the time-being, William suggested that the two of them disappear, for a walk around the lake to see the horses for an hour, before they joined the rest of the household for a breakfast laid on by Mrs. Reynolds.
“I have been giving some thought to everything, and with all that is happening with my health and now our extra responsibility of Lily, I am going to see if Luke wants to buy more of my shares in the business, so he can get on with running it by himself, with Cate involvement. I would just consult from time to time.” Luke was the assistant designer who had been with her label since the beginning of its inception.
William frowned slightly. “You want to give up a chunk of your business entirely? But I thought design was what you enjoyed?”
“It is, and I will obviously continue with the costumes in the film, but beyond that, I would actually like to start the charity foundation. I envisage helping and expanding the work that Rachel has started in London. I would love to create a place that parents similar to us can send their children to in this part of the country.”
“Do you have any thoughts about where you will situate it?”
“Well, maybe I could perhaps use some of the space at my house, that the design team doesn't need, to start the foundation, but eventually once ready to expand I was hoping that I might utilise your generous nature and occupy some of Pemberley rooms and grounds.”
William smiled.
“I think I could be persuaded to agree to that.” He pulled her to an embrace, and kissed her on the lips firmly. “It sounds like a worthy cause, and I will help you anyway I can. Maybe once, we know for definite that Luke can buy you out, we can put a proper business plan together and go from there.”
“Thank you, darling.”
William was quite enthralled by the idea of providing a place for some children like Christian, to come and be stimulated by specialised education, to help them with such things, as sign language and music therapy.
Once Pemberley was finished being refurbished, all hundred and fifty of the original rooms, would be open for use.
It was a three-storey building, built in 1600s using honey-coloured sandstone, sourced from a Derbyshire quarry and stood in the 50,000 acre parkland with tremendous gardens, lakes and streams sculpted into the landscape with several hundred tenant farms and cottages in its heyday of the beginning of the 1800s.
The family wing was situated on the second floor facing east, and the guest wing on the same floor facing west, each wing having numerous suites of a sitting room, bedroom, dressing room and bathroom.
The master suite of course was larger with one bedroom, two dressing rooms, a wet room, his and hers bathroom, nursery and large children bedroom that all interconnected.
On the ground and first floor would be a mixture of family reception rooms on the east side and on the west side, and enough office space to facilitate the moving in of all the operational and management staff of Dexter Holdings and its three subsidiaries.
He knew there would be enough of leftover space to fit the beginnings of a school into either wing on the ground floor until they could think about having one of the large disused buildings in the grounds converted properly by an architect.
William spent the remainder of the morning locked up in the privacy of his study, calling up Jess and Cate to discuss his idea for a Mediterranean holiday for all three couples, starting in four weeks’ time. He planned to cruise his yacht around the Spanish and Italian coast, for the couples to enjoy the chilled out holiday away from the hustle and bustle of staying in hotels.
~~~
Richard arrived by late morning accompanied by Charlotte’s younger sister, Maria. Both looked pale with dark circles under their eyes, especially Maria, who at 24 had already been through a lot in her life.
Despite all that had gone on between Elle and her sister, Maria gratefully accepted a silent hug from her, as the pair was greeted by Elle and William in the hallway. “It is nice to see you after all this time.” Elle started. “Just wish it had been under better circumstance than this.”
Maria merely nodded. She had not been talkative since she heard the news from the hospital the previous night. Each time she tried to talk, she merely just began to sob instead. Maria was alone in England, now that Charlotte was no more. Her brother had emigrated some years before Australia, and her widowed mother had followed soon after to aid her ailing health by living in a warmer climate.
“I have a boot full of children toys, and pink, fluffy things that I think a certain little girl will be eager to see again,” Richard interjected, as he saw Lily rushing into the hallway to greet the new arrivals.
“Auntie, Auntie,” The little girl exclaimed excitedly tugging on Maria’s clothing to attract her attention.
“Lily,” Maria smiled for the first time, sweeping the child up into her arms and giving her a stifling hug and kiss on the cheek. “I have missed you so. Have you been behaving well for your daddy and Elle?”
Lily nodded, “Yes, I am always good.”
“I am not sure always is true.” Maria tried to laugh. “Shall we go and see what goodies Uncle Richard has got in his car for you?”
“Yes, please,” Lily, said enthusiastically.
With Maria, Richard, and William helping, they made light work of moving contents of Richard’s boot into Lily’s new room.
Surrounded by her familiar things, Lily was soon happy to be left to her own devices upstairs as the adults moved downstairs to go over the finer details of what Maria had been told by the Police with regard to what charges they would be placing against Wickham.
Along with other incriminating evidence that had been discovered at Charlotte’s apartment, there was a discarded needle Mrs. Woodhouse had the forethought to move out of sight with her foot, when she became aware that Wickham was still in the flat.
The Police felt that the neighbour had disturbed him before he had a chance to clear up the evidence, and that he may have handled the needle. The needle still had some contents within it that they had been able to match it up with what had been found in the blood test they had taken when Charlotte had been first admitted into the hospital. On top of all this, and the statement Charlotte and Mrs. Woodhouse could make, they felt confident enough to go for the charge of murder, and it was now in the hands of the CPS for preparation for pre-trail hearings.
“So have you been told when the bail hearing is?” William queried towards Maria.
“My solicitor has explained that he should go to a magistrate’s court tomorrow for a committal hearing and then onto the crown court within 48 hours after that for crown court hearing, as only they can hear bail hearings for murder. He has already been remanded in custody until the hearing, as he had absconded from bail twice in the past.”
“So will you go into the bail hearing?”
“No, I will wait until the actual trial.”
“And how long until then?"
“Probably at least two or three months.”
“What will happen about Charlotte’s evidence, now that she obviously cannot explain herself? Will they still be able to submit it?”
“The police officer running the investigation said what statement she had made before her death had been quite strong, and should stand up to scrutiny still, especially since a second witness could place Wickham in the apartment at the time of the injection. We can only hope that he was sloppy, and left some of his own DNA on the needle.”
Any further conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Gina.
Cautiously, Gina made her greetings to all the gathered adults, and made some polite chit-chat with Maria and Richard, while Elle went to let Mrs. Reynolds know that all the expected lunch guests were now here and could serve whenever ready.
Upon returning from the kitchen alone, Elle found Gina hovering outside the sitting room, as if awaiting for her return. Elle nodded her acknowledgement of her presence, silently awaiting Gina to speak first.
“Elle, I know we have not gotten off to the best start, and I would like to apologise for that. You have to realise that I saw William have hangover after hangover, as he despaired over the end of your relationship. It was like watching him grieve for our parents all over again. I was just scared that if things failed once more William would be in the same situation as before, and I would not be here to pick up the pieces. I realise now that I cannot protect him from the possibility of getting hurt, and he has to live his own life.”
“I do understand why you may have come to that conclusion, but what has led to this sudden change of mind now?”
“My husband and Evan made me realise that he is old enough to deal with the consequences of his own decisions, and I should not try to interfere.”
“Well, I thank you for your apology, and the assurance that you will not interfere in the future. I am sure William will be relieved if future family gatherings are not too awkward. I cannot say that it won't take me time to feel comfortable in your presence, but you can be assured I won't rescind on any invitation to gatherings Will, and I hold in the future because of it, as long as we can remain polite to one another.”
Gina nodded hesitantly. “Yes, I am sure we can be polite when we are in each other’s company, for the sake of showing unity in public, for Will’s happiness.”
“You still have doubts about my intentions in private though?”
“I do think that perhaps you are both rushing into living together, but that is your decision, so I will refrain from saying anything more on the subject.”
“Well, I hope in time you will see it was the best decision for both the private and public face of the CEO of Dexter Holdings. I intend to be by his side for the rest of my life.”
Gina smiled weakly, “I hope so, too.”
“Shall we join the others as I am sure Mrs. Reynolds will be calling us into the dining room anytime now?” Elle did not wait for a reply, admitted herself into the sitting room once again, and immediately slipped herself next to William, who was showing Richard some new electronic gadget he had bought. William raised an eyebrow in concern when he noted that Gina had followed Elle into the room. She offered him a reassuring smile, and placed her arm around his waist to indicate all was well.
The lunch held in the informal dining room went pleasantly, by despite the undertones of sadness radiating from Maria, and tentative truce between Gina, William and Elle.
They were all informed of William’s plan to take Elle away in four weeks or so, with her sisters and their partners, to celebrate their recent announcements.
Privately, he told Richard that he would need his presence on the trip during some of its duration, as he was organising for a surprise wedding ceremony if Elle accepted his proposal in the intervening time, and wanted Richard to be his best man.
A question asked
1 June 2010
The rest of May had faded into June.
As predicted, Wickham had been refused bail, due to the seriousness of his charge.
Charlotte’s autopsy had revealed that the freshest needle marks in her skin were made at such an angle, they could only have been inserted by another person.
The trial would take place some months in the future, once all the case had been fully prepared on either side.
To cure some of the boredom during her recuperation, Elle had been going through old boxes at her Harrogate property, which she never had time to clear out before she moved back from Florence after her graduation. Among them, she found a box that she had forgotten about. Elle had brought it back from her one afternoon planning to share its contents to William.
Finding him reading the paper outside on a paved terrace, she placed the box in front of him. “I have something to show you," She explained. "Open it up."
He lifted the lid curiously, and was greeted by a vast array of treasures.
"I have kept this collection of keep sakes to share with you of Christian's growing.
She pulled out his hospital id bracelet, a lemon knitted baby boot, a larger "first" shoe and handed them to him slowly, as he held them in his palm, rubbing his fingers over them in awe that these items had once been on his son.
"There are many photos and a journal documenting his birthdays, likes and dislikes, dates of when he first did his first milestone of crawling, walking and talking." She further explained as William's eyes misted up with tears overwhelmed with the sentimentality of the items. Seeing him overcome with emotion, she smiled. "Do you want me to leave you alone to discover everything for yourself?"
"No, honey, I want to share every minute of it with you." He said grabbing one of the hands that had been down by her side, and pulled her onto his lap.
They spent the next hour going on a sentimental journey of sorts, Elle reiterating brief anecdotes that accompanied each item.
During the past three weeks, Elle had organised for temporary modifications to be made to her Harrogate property, to provide sufficient space for her team of staff that were relocating there.
Her admin and design staff was being offered expensive relocation packages to compensate for all the disruption for moving from London to Harrogate, and would be starting at the new location in a couple of weeks, just before they headed
off on their holiday.
~~~
Cate and Evan had been come over from Paris, to co-ordinate the start of their own relocation. With all the Dexter Holdings companies coming under the one roof at Pemberley, and Cate taking over some of the responsibilities at Elle’s fashion label, they planned to take up permanent residence at Winster House, now that Elle and William had moved out of there, and into the main Pemberley house. Both estates were situated right next to each other, but with all the land, it was still a decent ten-minute journey from one house to another.
With Cate’s upcoming wedding, the sisters had taken the rare opportunity of being in the same country, and spent a leisurely day attending pre-booked appointments at several exclusive wedding dress boutiques, trying to choose the perfect dress. Elle had designed Jess’ one, a couple of years prior, but Cate said she would settle for a shop bought one, since Elle was still had a lot on her plate with her health and other things. Secretly the trip was a cover, merely a means to get some ideas to give to Luke, who was secretly designing Elle’s dress at William request.
Everything was falling into place; William had been to collect the ring that morning, as Luke had been to see Elle to discuss buying more shares of the business.
Luke and Elle had been through a lot during their friendship that stretched back to Elle’s modelling days, so he was one of the few people she would consider selling part of her “baby” to.
At the end of the meeting, Luke had signalled a confirmation to William that their plan was in full flow. Knowing his surprise was all coming together, he could not help but let out a silly grin on his face.
“You look pleased with yourself.”
“I am. A business deal I have been negotiating looks like it is all coming together nicely.”
“Will it mean having to postpone our trip?”
“Oh no, in fact, the opposite; it means I can leave to go on the trip, safe in the knowledge that everything is in place beforehand.”
Elle smiled. “I cannot wait.”