In Love with Lori Ch. 07 Pt. 02.2

She paused, smiling, and I began to see where this was going, but I had to hear the end of it.

"In the meantime, my grandfather was married-off to my grandmother, to satisfy family honour and do away with any 'scandal' and all that bourgeois blah-blah, but from the tone of his letters to various friends, and to his own father, one thing was glaringly obvious; he'd never stopped loving Lucy, nor did he ever stop believing he'd been cheated out of the life he was supposed to have, and forced into a more 'socially acceptable' marriage, all in the name of family honour. But he stuck with it; he never cheated on my grandmother, never 'played away', never once disgraced his marriage vows; he'd taken those vows, and he stuck to them, even though he couldn't see what was so honourable about abandoning the love of his life in favour of an 'acceptable' marriage; family pressure was an irresistible force in those days, and so much pressure was brought to bear on him he had no choice but to do what his family demanded."

She paused and gently brushed my cheek, her eyes soft and distant, before continuing.

"I don't think my great-grandfather ever told him he'd had a child with Lucy; grandfather was an old-school, honest and honourable man; young Harry Waterfield reminds me so much of him, and if he'd found out he'd abandoned his child to save the family's face it would have destroyed him. You and dear Davey are so lucky, times have changed, the world has moved on and almost no-one remembers why it was once thought to be so important to make the 'right' marriage; you married for love, which is the way it should be."

She paused to wipe her eyes, as did I; what a thing to do to a young man, just to save face. Sophie smiled wistfully and carried on.

"My grandfather had a son with my grandmother, my father, while Lucy also had a son, my father's half-brother. She named him George. George Cavenham, and he was your grandfather, Darling Girl. Your poor, dear mother was my first cousin, and I never knew it; if I'd had even an inkling, I would have come looking for you, for all of you."

She paused, chewing her lip, and for some reason glanced at Uncle Richard, who nodded, so she took a deep breath and carried on.

"One thing I need to tell you, darlings; I couldn't have done all this digging and note-taking without involving your uncle, too, so I'm afraid I had to let him in on your little secret; don't be alarmed! He's not angry or anything; sweetheart?"

Uncle Richard cleared his throat and leaned forward to rest his hand on Davey's and squeeze it once, reassuringly.

"Dear Boy, your father was my dearest friend in the world, and before you wonder about what else I know, let me tell you I know it all; I've known for years about my mother, my real father, what happened, and who dear David actually was; heavens, I couldn't not know, considering some of the things I overheard my supposed father saying to my dear, sweet mother, the things he accused her of, and I ached for her, for how she must have suffered, chained to that man while knowing who she really loved, and why she could never have him."

He paused and smiled gently at me, before once more patting Davey on the knee and continuing.

"You children have done what she never could, and you'll be happy in a way she could never be, and I'm happier than I know how to say. You, dear David, are the son of my brother, and you, Loretta, you're Sophie's close family, what I see in you reminds me vividly of why I married her; the apple really didn't fall far from the tree in your case, and I don't give a fig about you being half-siblings; you both care deeply for each other, that's all that's important to me, and I'm so very pleased and happy that you're so happy. I believe I'm fortunate indeed to count you my family. I shall enjoy immensely being your uncle, both of you."

Of course, by now I was more than a little bright-eyed, and Uncle Richard holding me close and shaking-out his handkerchief and blotting my tears felt like the most natural, fatherly thing in the world. Only one other thing puzzled me; I didn't get how Mom could have randomly married into a family that had such a close connection with hers; it seemed like a real stretch, and I said so, but Sophie grinned as she shook her head.

"Your great-grandfather never abandoned his first grandson; George went to the best schools the trust could pay for, he was known to, and involved with, all the families in the area one would have thought of as 'society' in those days, because I suspect they were all only too well aware he was really Henry Lascelles' grandson, but they chose not to make an issue of it, and his daughter, your mother, grew up in that world; don't forget, she met dear David at a shooting party; even in the 1970's, as it was in his father's day, and still is today, one didn't just show up at a country-house shooting party and hope to be included; you were invited because they knew you, because you were thought of as one of them."

She grinned mischievously.

"Back in the 1950's, that dreadful snob-creature, Nancy Mitford, wrote about how people are either 'U' or 'Non-U', meaning 'like Us' or 'not like Us', because she was born with a silver spoon jammed in I don't like to say where, although knowing what that woman was like, they probably had to hammer it in; your mother was very definitely 'U' in their eyes; she went to all the 'right' finishing schools, she knew all the 'right' people, she very definitely had the right pedigree, and she moved in the same circles as dear David; it was almost inevitable they'd meet one day."

Another thought struck me.

"If you're Mom's first cousin, then you're my cousin too, and Davey's; wow!"

Sophie grinned, looking just like mom.

"Yes indeed; no need to wonder anymore why we look so much alike! You, Darling Boy, are the son of my first cousin, and my nephew by marriage; whichever way you look at it, Darling Girl, you're in the middle of family, whether by blood or through marriage; I'm so glad I took a stroll through my grandfather's papers!"

I was dumbfounded; this whole story explained so much, not least that eerie resemblance I had to Sophie, and now, to find out she was my mom's first cousin...once again that thought I'd had so long ago, that Sophie was somehow Mom's way of being with me, came back to me; Mom had said before she passed away that she'd always be with me, one way or another, and now, just when I needed her, Sophie had become, if not Mom, then the closest thing to her it was possible to be; she was Mom's close family, and now she was mine. I'd always felt close to Sophie, she'd taken me under her wing and made me the daughter she'd always wanted, but now I knew we had more, a special closeness; she'd always felt like family, now I knew why. I could see it in Davey's eyes too; she wasn't just his aunt-by-marriage anymore; her close kinship with Mom made her almost Mom, and it was, for him, almost like Mom was back.

Davey was looking midway between pleased as punch, and shell-shocked at all the revelations, but when Sophie pinned him with her eyebrow, and said "nothing to say, Darling Boy?" he grinned his 'naughty-boy' grin and literally twinkled at her, something he'd copied from Uncle Richard and was getting quite good at.

"Bugger-me, Aunt Sophie, this family's more complicated than I thought, and God knows, we've all managed to muddy the waters enough already!"

A thought seemed to strike him, and he gave his trademark sunny grin.

"Uncle Richard, if you plan on telling Richard and Hugo who you really are, can I be there when you do? They are my first cousins after all, the closest family I have..."

Uncle Richard positively beamed at him.

"Well of course you should be; this is a family matter, and it's time we laid those last skeletons to rest. I'll call you when it's time."

Finis