The colour draining from Mark’s face told them all that he wasn’t expecting that.
‘What, you mean you won’t get no money?’ Loretta wore her horror blatantly.
‘Not a penny.’ Harriet was enjoying this, she even let Loretta’s double negatives go.
‘And, well, raising that much money, in what, three months, isn’t going to be easy, it might even be impossible,’ Connor added.
‘If only we had a plan,’ Harriet said, scratching her head for good measure.
‘Well, surely you’ll will think of something?’ Mark said, not bothering to disguise the panic in his voice.
‘Well, Mark, you’re normally full of good ideas, if you have any, I’d be delighted to listen to them,’ Harriet told him. Mark fell silent but she could almost see his brain whirring.
‘Gwen?’ Harriet said sweetly. After all, she did have a plan, which by the look of Mark and Loretta was already working. And it was almost genius, if she did say so herself.
‘Yes, love.’
‘Let me help you clear up, the rest of you go through to the drawing room, after the tragic day we’ve had you all probably need a brandy.’
She grinned at Gwen as she followed her out to the kitchen.
Chapter 29
Gwen opened the built-in cupboard where the large TV was hidden. It was a rarely watched television, except when they were all together, like at Christmas. Harriet felt irrationally nervous, but it had worked. The plan she concocted the night after Elton died had come to fruition. She confided in Gwen, banking on the fact that if Mark thought the money was out of reach he would concoct a meeting with Loretta. He had done, that very same night. Harriet loved predictable people.
‘I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this,’ Gwen started, pointing the remote control at them. ‘But it has. Your father would be very disappointed. He wanted this year at Meadowbrook to bring you all together, to see you behaving like a family again, but it’s torn you all apart. And I think that it’s only fair now to sort out the reason for that.’
‘But—’ Mark said.
‘No, you don’t get to talk.’ Gwen waved the remote threateningly at him. ‘You’ve been very unfair on Harriet.’
‘But I—’ Pippa started, but Gwen silenced her, holding up a hand.
‘Well, luckily for all of you she didn’t just leave you all to get on with it,’ Gwen said. Harriet was quite enjoying the Gwen show; she’d never sounded quite so forceful. ‘I did it for you all, especially poor Harriet, but more importantly I did it for your father. He loved you so much and he loved Meadowbrook and if he could see you now, which he probably can, he’d be heartbroken. The idea that Pippa and Freddie would let these two destroy the home he put his heart into doesn’t bear thinking about.’
‘Now hang on,’ Mark started.
‘We don’t want to destroy nothing,’ Loretta protested.
‘He’s my husband,’ Pippa interjected.
Freddie stared, open-mouthed, at Gwen.
‘Really, well we’ll see. But you all have to take responsibility for what you are about to see. And think of your poor dad and how much he loved you all, and Meadowbrook.’
Gwen pressed play and went to stand next to Connor.
The video was a bit jerky but soon two bodies appeared on screen, after a while the heads appeared.
‘So, Mark, what are we going to do?’ a voice shrieked, Loretta’s face became clearer, although they could already identify her voice. Pippa gasped as Mark’s face came into picture.
‘STOP THIS NOW,’ Mark shouted and lunged for the remote control, Connor batted him away.
The video continued.
‘Right, well whatever happens, we need to make sure they get that money,’ Mark said.
‘Can’t you donate it?’ Loretta asked.
‘I wish I bloody could. Only I don’t have that sort of cash lying around. Do you?’
‘Nah, I mean, my mortgage is quite big, my income’s gone right down and it costs a fair bit to look this good. I was relying on Freddie to take care of me.’
Harriet giggled, then she realised that Loretta was being serious.
‘And now, look at them all, playing happy families. Unwittingly we had them where we wanted them, Harriet was an outcast, but now they seem intent on being pally with the bloody woman, again.’
‘If there’s no money, then what are we going to do?’
‘OK, don’t panic, you need to make sure Freddie and you set the date – I can’t believe you made him think he’d proposed, so you won’t find it that hard. I’ll find a way to come up with the shortfall for the sanctuary and then get Pippa pregnant. But we need to come up with another plan to get rid of Harriet.’
‘You don’t mean bump her off, do you?’ Loretta asked. Pippa gasped.
‘No, as tempting as that sounds we’re not bloody gangsters, Loretta. No, we just need to turn the others against her.’
‘How?’
‘Leave that with me, and when I get Pippa pregnant and you marry Freddie, we’ll have control of fifty per cent of the Singer siblings. Gus is a pushover, and Harriet will be in Coventry. Even though it wasn’t exactly our plan at first, I think we can get safely back on track now,’ Mark finished.
‘She’s moving to Coventry?’ Loretta asked and Harriet burst out laughing as Gwen stopped the tape.
Freddie gaped, Pippa started to turn a startling shade of red. Gus shuffled awkwardly and Connor went to his mother’s side. Mark looked as if his mind was whirring a million miles an hour, and Loretta started crying. Harriet hoped her fake eyelashes would fall off.
‘How on earth did you—’ Mark started.
‘Harriet and I came up with a plan and I followed you. One thing about you, Mark, is you never notice me, you think of me as staff, it was easy enough to keep track of you. And, Loretta, you always left your phone lying around, unlocked. I knew you were going to the summer house, so I took Andrew’s video camera and hid behind the curtain.’
‘Look, I am sorry that you had to find out this way, but I have been trying to tell you, Pip, surely you’re not going to let him talk his way out of this, are you?’ Harriet said, still finding it all more amusing than she should.
‘No, I’m not. Mark, you’re a bastard, I wish I’d listened to Harriet in the first place. How dare you try to turn me against her? I was so under your spell.’
‘But darling, I did it for—’
‘Shut up, shut your lying mouth.’ She slapped him across his face, even Harriet felt startled by the force of the blow. ‘Now listen to me, Mark, you are a fraud, I know that, I know Harriet wasn’t lying, but I couldn’t admit that I’d made the biggest mistake of my life marrying you. You made me so unhappy lately but I still blamed myself and I almost lost my family over you. Now here’s what’s going to happen, you are going to leave this house, and I’m going to divorce you. I have grounds, so you won’t contest it. You can keep the Cheltenham house, or what’s left of it after all your debt, but you get nothing more from me and if you even so much as try, this video goes public.’
‘But, Pippa, you can’t do that to me.’ Desperation oozed out of his mouth, you could almost feel it coming out of his skin. ‘I love you, I need you.’
‘No, you don’t and more importantly I don’t need you. Yes, you need my dad’s money, but you know what? You are not getting a penny. Just try.’
Suddenly Mark’s eyes darkened.
‘You’ll regret this, you stupid little bitch, I will see to it that you regret it.’ He rounded on her threateningly.
Gus took a step forward and lunged for Mark, punching him square on the jaw. Mark fell back into Loretta who shrieked.
‘I’m sorry I didn’t stand up more strongly before, Harry, Pip and Fred, but I’m not letting anyone hurt my family again,’ Gus said, rubbing his fist.
‘Oh, Gus, that was incredible,’ Amanda said, throwing her arms around him.
‘Fred?’ Loretta looked at him, Bambi-eyed.
‘You know, Loretta, I probably could have forgiven you for wanting me to be rich, but I can’t forgive you for what you and that idiot were prepared to do to my family, and I certainly can’t forgive you for letting me think I was going mad when you said I’d proposed. How could you lie like that to me?’ He looked incredibly hurt, Harriet saw.
‘Well if you weren’t such a drunk then you’d never have fallen for it,’ Mark pointed out.
‘You’re right.’ Freddie slumped down. ‘But I didn’t drink much that night.’
‘No, Fred, you’d been drinking a lot less lately,’ Harriet said.
‘Oh for God’s sake. I slipped one of my sleeping pills into your drink, knew you’d never remember a thing. I could have told you that we were married and you’d have believed me.’
‘Get out of here,’ Freddie shouted. Harriet went to his side. He had worked so hard in controlling his drinking and done so well, she knew how much that must have hurt him.
Connor and Gus became all macho as they marched both Loretta and Mark off and away from Meadowbrook.
‘I’m sorry I had to do that,’ Gwen said, as they all sat round nursing whisky for the shock.
‘I’m glad you did,’ Pippa said. ‘I’m just sorry that we didn’t believe you, Harry, will you forgive me?’
‘Pip, I’ll always forgive you but it hurt, you know, the way you treated me. Accusing me of being a lonely, bitter old spinster, who tried to ruin your marriage was incredibly unfair.’ Harriet was relieved but she still wasn’t over it.
‘I didn’t exactly say that …’ Pippa protested.
‘But we didn’t treat you right, did we?’ Freddie said. He’d been pretty quiet since the incident.
‘No, you didn’t.’
‘But we will from now on. We’ll make it up to you,’ Freddie said. ‘I am going to throw myself into events here at Meadowbrook and I’ll clean up my act and, when I meet someone, if I meet someone, I’ll be myself,’ he said. ‘Not shallow, or silly, but someone with some self-worth.’
‘Me too,’ Pippa said. ‘I think I’ll need a lot of strength to get through this, I’ve been with Mark for so long, and under his control for all that time, I need to find my way back again.’
Harriet looked at her siblings, at Gwen, at Connor, it was time. She knew what she was going to do and now seemed like a good time to tell them.
‘Look, I’ll forgive you both, of course I will, and I’m so glad you are both going to face the future. But you know, you were right in some ways; I am too bossy, too interfering, and I need to take a step back, a step away. I’ve been offered my old job back in New York, and as soon as this year is over I’m going to take it.’ Harriet stood up. ‘I love you, perhaps too much, but anyway, that’s what I am going to do. I’ve made my mind up.’
‘But—’ Connor said.
‘Harry, no—’ Pippa shouted.
‘Please, just hold on a minute—’ Gus started.
‘Oh God, look what we’ve done,’ Freddie finished.
With that she left the room and it wasn’t until she made her way upstairs and into her bedroom that she held the door frame, bent over double and let the tears fall.
Chapter 30
‘I’ve sold two hundred tickets for the event,’ Freddie announced proudly. They were meeting to discuss the upcoming Easter egg hunt. As per usual, Freddie and Pippa had organised the event, as they’d discussed before, an Alice in Wonderland theme. Pippa, a perfect Alice, was dressing up as her, and of course Freddie was the Mad Hatter. Gerry, who liked dressing up a little too much, Harriet thought, was the white rabbit and Harriet had reluctantly agreed to be the Queen of Hearts. Having forgotten the story, Harriet first thought she’d been totally miscast, until she read up that she happily handed out death sentences. Gus had got out of dressing up because they were opening the gardens again, this time also ticketed.
Costumes had been made by the Easter egg hunt committee, formally known as the winter wonderland committee, formally the summer fête committee. Same people, but they insisted on changing the name every event. John and his morris-dancing troupe were also going to be performing, but only because they insisted.
Bella had got all the eggs donated and Freddie who had been in charge of selling tickets had done a brilliant job. They had already raised a considerable amount, but Harriet knew that after this event, the last of the year, she would know exactly what was left to be done. She wouldn’t let the animal sanctuary get into trouble, she couldn’t bear anything bad to happen to it, or the animals. She still found it hard that her father was willing to gamble it, but then she remembered how much faith he had in them, and how he pushed them to succeed in everything, so it did make sense.
‘Harry, please, will you reconsider?’ Pippa asked, as she had done every day since Harriet announced she was returning to New York. Mark had stayed away, but in the days that followed, he called Pippa constantly, and Pippa had finally opened up about the reality of her marriage to him. Harriet, although still angry, felt her heart breaking again as she listened to the details, the clothes he insisted she wear, the isolation from all her friends, the tight budget he kept on her – no wonder she was the only one happy with their father’s allowance. It wasn’t physical abuse but it was a systematic eroding of Pippa’s personality. She offered any practical advice she could, as her residual anger dissipated. Harriet got Pippa a new phone, so Mark didn’t know how to reach her, she went with her to see a lawyer, one recommended by David, who said, given the situation, Mark wouldn’t have a leg to stand on. Bizarrely, although they had no money, David said a contingency fund was available for Pippa’s legal fees. It seemed their father had expected this all along.
The divorce would soon be underway and the solicitor was already playing hardball with Mark. When he was uncooperative, he was threatened with court, with being fully exposed, and Mark couldn’t bear to have his reputation – if he had one – publicity slated so he had no choice but to tow the line.
‘No, sorry. My mind is made up. I need to get on with my own life and I can’t do that here. I’m booking a ticket for the minute that the will business is over. I’ll let you guys decide what you want to do with Meadowbrook, I don’t care about what you do with the house, I don’t need any money from it. End of discussion.’
‘Harry, this isn’t like you,’ Gus said. ‘What’s going on?’ They were sitting around the breakfast table as they had for the last few months, but what a ride it’d been. One which Harriet was looking forward to coming to an end.
‘Nothing. This was just a year, Gus, and when it’s over, which is soon, I have a life, a job to go back to. My apartment in New York will be waiting for me.’ She knew she sounded cold. She felt cold. Yes, she would do anything for them, but she would do it from the safety of New York. There was no way she could protect herself here, but of course she wasn’t going to tell them that.
‘Harry, we screwed up, I know that,’ Freddie said. ‘But we are all just finding ourselves now, we don’t want to lose you.’
‘You’ll never lose me, but I have to do this. It’s not all about you, you know, Fred. Right, now, let’s get this Easter Eggstravaganza under way.’
‘Oh God, Harry, I might miss you but not your terrible jokes,’ Freddie said.
‘Why are Agnes and her lamb wandering around where the hunt is taking place?’ Harriet asked as they reached the field. She was wearing a ridiculous red wig which itched her head, bright blue eyeshadow, a red dress covered in hearts, and white stockings. She looked ridiculous; Helena Bonham Carter had nothing to worry about.
‘It was my idea, Auntie Harry. Lambs are to do with Easter.’
‘Usually for lunch,’ Freddie pointed out.
‘Shut up, Uncle Freddie. Anyway, it just adds to the occasion. Now, what time is kick-off.’
Fleur had thrown herself into the event, helping Gwen make hundreds of jam tarts – heart-shaped of course, as well as helping out with the organisation.
Harriet was
trying to be gracious about it, yes they were set to make about three thousand pounds, which was a great amount, but still not enough, and time was ticking. Ha, she thought that was yet another reference to Alice in Wonderland.
Bella and Connor approached, which was all she needed when she looked so awful. Bella looked lovely, wearing normal clothes, pretty make-up and her hair glossy.
‘Oh, Harriet, you look great,’ Bella cooed.
‘I really don’t.’
‘You look bloody funny actually,’ Connor said.
‘Connor, don’t be mean, she’s doing this for the animals.’
‘Yes, I don’t see you in bloody costume,’ she pointed an accusatory finger at him.
‘I’m supervising,’ he said, still laughing.
She sat up against a tree trunk, idly stroking Agnes while her lamb grazed nearby. Being nice to children was so exhausting and Harriet had never really had to interact with them so much before. But she had had so many photos taken, even signed autographs – as the Queen of Hearts of course – and her face ached from smiling. They had one more hunt to go today and she was looking forward to getting home, getting the costume off and having a bath and an enormous glass of wine.
‘Hey.’ Connor sat down next to her.
‘Hi.’ Although Harriet’s heart still flipped when she saw him, she was hoping that soon, when she’d gone, she would finally get over him. Having to see him every day was proving so difficult, hurtful, and even worse when Bella was around.
‘I wanted to talk,’ Connor said.
‘So talk.’ Harriet knew she sounded a bit tetchy, but she wasn’t feeling very warm towards him, especially not dressed like this – no, she would soon scream ‘off with his head’ if she wasn’t careful.
‘Look, I know you’ve been avoiding me since that night. And I’ve tried to talk to you about it so many times but either someone else turns up, or I can’t find the words …’
‘Right,’ she sighed.
‘I just, well, Harry, having you back in my life has been great and the fact that you’re going back to New York is so awful, we want you here, we need you.’
A Year at Meadowbrook Manor Page 27