impulsively over to her. `I'm sorry,' she said gently, taking a seat next to her on the sofa. 'I'm so very sorry.' And, remembering her mother saying only a short while ago that it was time she paid something back for the expensive education she had received, `What can I do?' she asked. While the amount of her inheritance was small, and nowhere near enough, Lydie was thinking in terms of asking to have that money released now and not two years hence, when she would attain the age of twenty-five, but her mother's reply shook her into speechlessness.
`You can go and see Jonah Marriott,' she said clearly. `That's what you can do.'
Lydie stared at her, her green eyes huge. `Jonah Marriott?' she managed faintly. She had only ever seen him once, and that was some seven years ago, but she had never forgotten the tall, good looking man.
`You remember him?"
'He came here one time. Didn't Dad lend him some money?"
'He did,' Hilary Pearson replied sharply. `And now it's his turn to pay that money back.'
`He never repaid that money?' Lydie asked, feeling just a touch disappointed. He had seemed to her sixteen-year-old eyes such an honourable man-and she knew he had prospered greatly in the seven years that had elapsed. `Coincidentally, the money he borrowed from your father is the same amount we need to stay on in this house.'
`Fifty thousand pounds?"
'Exactly the same. I can't impress on you enough that if the bank don't have their money by Friday, come Monday they'll be making representation to have us evicted. I'd go and see him myself, but when I mentioned it to your father he hit the roof and forbade me to do anything of the sort.'
Lydie could not imagine her mild-mannered father hitting the roof, especially to the wife he adored. But he must be under a tremendous amount of strain at the moment. No doubt he himself had previously asked Jonah Marriott to make some kind of payment off that loan. There was no way her father's pride would allow him to ask more than once. But to...
Her thoughts faded when just then the drawing room door opened and her father walked into the room. At least the man was tall, like her father, white-haired, like her father, but Lydie was shocked by the haggard look of him.
'Daddy!' she whispered involuntarily, and went hurriedly over to him. There was a dejected kind of slump to his shoulders which she found heartbreaking, and as she looked into his worn, tired face, she could not bear it. She put her arms round him and hugged him.
`What are you doing here?' he asked, putting her aside and sending her mother a suspicious look.
`I-thought I'd give Donna a chance to see how she'll cope without me,' Lydie invented, quickly hiding her shocked feelings. 'I'll give her a ring later. If she's okay I'll stay on, if that's all right with you?" 'Of course it's all right,' he replied with assumed joviality. `This is your h...' He turned away and Lydie's heart ached afresh. She just knew he had been thinking that this was her home, but would not be for very much longer. `Your mother been bringing you up to date with everything?' he enquired, his tone casual, but pride there, ready to be up in arms if his wife had breathed a word of his troubles.
`This wedding of Oliver's sounds a bit topdrawer. Are they going to have a marquee-you didn't finish telling me, Mother?'
Over the next half-hour Lydie observed at first hand the proud facade her father was putting up in front of her, and her heart went out to him. Looking at him, seeing the strain, the worry that seemed to be weighing him down, to go and see Jonah Marriott and ask him to repay the money he had borrowed from her father seven years ago did not seem such a hard task. Particularly as, if memory served, that money had only been loaned for a period of five years anyway.
`Your room's all ready for you.' Her mother took the conversation away from the wedding. `If you want to go and freshen up,' she hinted.
`I've things to
`You can go and see Jonah Marriott,' she said clearly. `That's what you can do.'
Lydie stared at her, her green eyes huge. `Jonah Marriott?' she managed faintly. She had only ever seen him once, and that was some seven years ago, but she had never forgotten the tall, good looking man.
`You remember him?"
'He came here one time. Didn't Dad lend him some money?"
'He did,' Hilary Pearson replied sharply. `And now it's his turn to pay that money back.'
`He never repaid that money?' Lydie asked, feeling just a touch disappointed. He had seemed to her sixteen-year-old eyes such an honourable man-and she knew he had prospered greatly in the seven years that had elapsed. `Coincidentally, the money he borrowed from your father is the same amount we need to stay on in this house.'
`Fifty thousand pounds?"
'Exactly the same. I can't impress on you enough that if the bank don't have their money by Friday, come Monday they'll be making representation to have us evicted. I'd go and see him myself, but when I mentioned it to your father he hit the roof and forbade me to do anything of the sort.'
Lydie could not imagine her mild-mannered father hitting the roof, especially to the wife he adored. But he must be under a tremendous amount of strain at the moment. No doubt he himself had previously asked Jonah Marriott to make some kind of payment off that loan. There was no way her father's pride would allow him to ask more than once. But to...
Her thoughts faded when just then the drawing room door opened and her father walked into the room. At least the man was tall, like her father, white-haired, like her father, but Lydie was shocked by the haggard look of him.
'Daddy!' she whispered involuntarily, and went hurriedly over to him. There was a dejected kind of slump to his shoulders which she found heartbreaking, and as she looked into his worn, tired face, she could not bear it. She put her arms round him and hugged him.
`What are you doing here?' he asked, putting her aside and sending her mother a suspicious look.
`I-thought I'd give Donna a chance to see how she'll cope without me,' Lydie invented, quickly hiding her shocked feelings. 'I'll give her a ring later. If she's okay I'll stay on, if that's all right with you?" 'Of course it's all right,' he replied with assumed joviality. `This is your h...' He turned away and Lydie's heart ached afresh. She just knew he had been thinking that this was her home, but would not be for very much longer. `Your mother been bringing you up to date with everything?' he enquired, his tone casual, but pride there, ready to be up in arms if his wife had breathed a word of his troubles.
`This wedding of Oliver's sounds a bit topdrawer. Are they going to have a marquee-you didn't finish telling me, Mother?'
Over the next half-hour Lydie observed at first hand the proud facade her father was putting up in front of her, and her heart went out to him. Looking at him, seeing the strain, the worry that seemed to be weighing him down, to go and see Jonah Marriott and ask him to repay the money he had borrowed from her father seven years ago did not seem such a hard task. Particularly as, if memory served, that money had only been loaned for a period of five years anyway.
`Your room's all ready for you.' Her mother took the conversation away from the wedding. `If you want to go and freshen up,' she hinted.
`I've things to
Similar Books
The Great Scottish Devil
Starla Kaye
Bone Deep
Gina McMurchy-Barber
In Vino Veritas
J. M. Gregson
Wolf Bride
Elizabeth Moss
Just Your Average Princess
Kristina Springer
Mr. Wonderful
Carol Grace
Captain Nobody
Dean Pitchford
Pretty Witches All in a Row
Lisa Olsen
Paradise Alley
Kevin Baker
Kleber's Convoy
Antony Trew