Winner Takes It All (40 page)

There was a knock on the
door, Alex sat up in bed.

‘
Come
in.’

The door opened and Tara
came in, wrapped up in her pyjamas and housecoat, looking about
twelve years old. Alex held out her hand and her cousin took it,
sitting down on the bed with her.

‘
How are you
darling?’ Alex asked. ‘That was a big revelation down
there.’

‘
I wish mummy
had told me. It wouldn’t have changed how I felt about grandpa
Ben.’

‘
I suppose she
just felt it didn’t matter. After all, I don’t think of her as
half
aunt Paula. She’s just Aunt Paula.’

‘
There is one
other thing,’ Tara said, a blush coming to her coffee coloured
cheeks. ‘I’m pregnant.’

‘
Pregnant!’
gasped Alex.

‘
Shssh. Tom
doesn’t know. I don’t know how he’s going to take it. We haven’t
been together very long.’

‘
Tom worships
you. Look at all what he did just to get our approval so you could
be together. He’ll be over the moon. I’m so happy for you
darling.’

‘
I think it’s
hilarious,’ Tara giggled. ‘Sorcha Sheridan’s great grandchild is
also going to be Lou’s great-grandchild.’

‘
I think
that’s karma don’t you?’ Alex smiled.

‘
Definitely.
Shall I go and tell him?’

‘
Yes. And let
me know what he says in the morning.’

Alex was awoken by a
sensation telling her that there was a commotion going on in the
house. She opened her eyes to the sound of footsteps creaking on
the floorboards and different voices outside her door. Getting out
of bed, she threw on her robe and left the room to find Julie
rushing past.

‘
What’s going
on?’ she asked.

‘
I think
Sorcha’s dead,’ Julie replied.

Alex followed her
step-mother along to the room at the far end of the corridor where
Sorcha had been placed. The nurse was trying to perform CPR on the
old woman, but it was obvious from her pale pallor and the
stillness of her expression she was gone. Tom and Tara stood by,
watching on. The nurse stopped what she was doing and stood back,
doing the sign on the cross.

‘
Oh Tom I’m so
sorry,’ Alex said. She was his grandmother after all.

‘
I barely knew
her,’ he replied flatly. He then laid his hand upon Tara’s tummy.
‘I’ve got my own family to think about now.’

Alex smiled and gave a
secret thumbs up to her smiling cousin. Tom had obviously taken the
news well and she was delighted for her.

Alex heard her father’s
stick and turned around to find him entering the room.

‘
The wicked
witch is dead,’ he said, receiving a scornful glance from the
nurse. ‘How ironic. She spends her life hating us and she dies in
Layton House.’

In keeping with Cusack
honour Christian arranged for Sorcha’s body to be taken to
Claremont Hall, where she would be laid out so her family could
come to pay their respects. Briggy was too weak to fly over and
would be attending the funeral in Donegal. Tom said he wouldn’t be
going to it, feeling it hypocritical.

Lastly came the reading
of Ben’s will. Alistair Baines, the family solicitor came to the
house and everyone gathered in the drawing room. Alex knew without
any doubt, every single person in there would rather have Ben back
than any money or possessions he might have left them.

The first thing Baines
did was take a small, white envelope from his briefcase and passed
it to Paula.

‘
Your father
asked for me to give you this upon his death.’

Paula took the envelope,
laying it on her lap. Baines then put on his reading spectacles and
got on with the job in hand.

‘
This is the
last will and testament of Benjamin Jonathan Stanley Cusack being
of sound mind. Upon my death, I bequeath the following to my
beloved family. To my eldest child Paula Margaret Marie I leave my
flat in Chelsea; the Gables in Hampstead and the sum of one million
pounds. Knowing my darling Paula, she’ll give it to her battered
wives rather than treat herself to a pair of new shoes!’

Paula giggled, knowing
this to be true.

‘
To my eldest
son Christian Benjamin I bequeath Layton House and all its assets
and this will subsequently go to Michael, his eldest son. To Henry
Peter I leave Cusacks publishing house with this to be passed down
to Henry’s children as he sees fit. To my darling baby Lucy Jane I
leave the sum of one million pounds and my mother’s jewellery. To
each of my grandchildren, Daniel, Tara, Michael, Alexandra, Joanna,
Jemima, Louisa, Benjamin and Lucas I leave the sum of one million
pounds. To my great grandson Antoine I have set up a trust fund of
five hundred thousand pounds. I have also made provision that any
subsequent great grandchildren receive a trust fund of five hundred
thousand pounds that reaches maturity when they are eighteen years
old. If he is still alive, I bequeath my old MG to Andrew McDonald,
my oldest chum. Maybe he can persuade Tara to whip him around the
South Downs in it! If I have forgotten any other assets, cars,
planes whatever, then I wish for my family to divide them up as
they see fit.’

Baines lowered his
glasses and looked at them all.

‘
There you go.
You’re all very rich.’

‘
We’d rather
have grandpa,’ Jemima lamented.

‘
Here here,’
Daniel agreed.

Baines left but everyone
else remained. Paula opened the letter and read it to herself.
Everyone diverted their eyes but in reality was desperate to know
what it said. Suddenly there came a sob and everyone looked at
her.

‘
Are you okay
mummy?’ Tara asked.

She nodded, passing the
letter to Alex, who was nearest to her.

‘
Read it to
everyone Alex. I want them to hear what daddy said.’

Alex took the fairly
short letter from her aunt and began to read.

‘
My darling
Paula,’ she began. ‘I am just writing this brief note to tell you
something I never had the courage to when I was alive. You may
already know this - knowing your mother she probably felt the need
to confess when she was dying and since her death I’ve noticed your
attitude to Andrew has changed slightly so I’m wondering if she
did. I am not your father. Andrew McDonald is. He was the love of
your mother’s life so please don’t think her some little minx who
went around seducing the village boys. The circumstances of your
birth are not important. All that matters is that I loved you from
the moment I first held you in my arms and I have loved you until
the day I died. You’re my daughter, my first child and a Cusack.
Thank you for making me so happy all these years and providing me
with Daniel and Tara, my wonderful grandchildren. What I do ask of
you is to mend your bridges with Andrew. He has spent nearly sixty
years living on the sidelines, watching another man raising his
child and I could not even begin to imagine how painful that is
given the joy my four children have given me. Andrew may not be
long for this world and I don’t want him dying thinking his
daughter hates him. Goodbye my darling Paula Cusack, your father
Ben.’

There wasn’t a dry eye in
the house after Alex finished reading the letter - herself
included. How typical of Ben to make his final act one of kindness.
She put down the letter and reached out, taking Paula’s
hand.

‘
You know
grandpa was only saying what the rest of us think don’t
you?’

Paula nodded. She got up,
smoothed down her skirt and looked at her daughter.

‘
Tara,’ she
said quietly. ‘Will you take me over to see Andrew?’

Twenty Two

It had been the most
turbulent two days of Tom’s young life. He’d been to a funeral,
lost his grandmother and discovered he was going to become a father
and things didn’t look as though they’d quietening down for some
time yet. Tara drove him and Paula over to Andrew’s house, Paula
remaining in the back of the car, quietly chewing on her thumbnail.
She had aged since Ben’s death and although still beautiful,
suddenly looked like a woman approaching sixty.

Tom sat beside Tara, occasionally
glancing over at her lap and going dizzy when he realised his child
was in there. When she’d told him the night before, just for a
moment he’d experienced the most awful feeling of panic, wondering
how he was going to cope with having a child when he still felt
like a kid himself. But it didn’t take long for it to all sink in
and he realised it was the best thing that had ever happened to
him. Shortly before the will reading, they had gathered Paula,
Wesley and Fiona in the study and told them the news. Wesley and
Fiona had both been over the moon at the thought of becoming
grandparents but Paula, while kissing her daughter and wishing her
well, remained detached. Tom got the feeling this had nothing to do
with him, it was more she had her own problems to deal
with.

They reached Andrew’s
house to discover he was taking afternoon tea in the garden while
Mrs Ball did the vacuuming. Tom and Tara remained in the
conservatory and watched as Paula walked across the garden towards
her real father. They couldn’t hear what she was saying and it was
like watching a silent film. Andrew looked up at Paula, a sad smile
upon his face, then Paula knelt beside him and it was impossible to
know what was being said. Tom couldn’t even begin to imagine what
Paula was going through. He didn’t even know where his father was,
let alone find out he had two!

Paula stood up, then bent
over and embraced Andrew, their hug long and meaningful. Tom heard
Tara sniff and saw she was crying. He wrapped his arm around her
and pulled her to him. They watched as with a frail hand, Andrew
gripped his daughter’s head and kissed her hair. Tom felt so sorry
for him; he tried to imagine Tara bringing his baby up with someone
else and all the time remaining on the sidelines - never able to
reveal his true identity. It would be a living hell.

Paula pulled away and
turned around. She walked towards Tom and Tara; her eyes were red
from crying. She came into the conservatory and looked at
Tara.

‘
Why don’t you
go and tell your grandfather your news?’

Like an excited child,
Tara grasped Tom’s hand and pulled him into the garden. They ran up
to Andrew’s chair, and Tara knelt beside it.

‘
I’m so glad
mummy’s made her peace with you,’ she said.

‘
We were so
close when she was young,’ Andrew lamented. ‘Then she changed just
after your great-grand father died and she caught me consoling Lou.
I could see in her eyes she’d pieced it together and from then on
she gradually grew colder towards me. Then when Lou died she gave
Paula a book telling her all about it and she found out for sure
she was mine.’

‘
None of it
matters. Grandpa forgave you. His dying wish was for Paula to make
her peace with you.’

‘
Ben was a
wonderful man,’ Andrew ruminated, a tear coming to those still
bright blue eyes. ‘I could never live up to him.’

‘
You didn’t
have to. We all love you for you. You’re part of this family and
you always will be.’ She looked up at Tom and smiled. ‘And it’s
going to become a bigger family.’

‘
What do you
mean?’ Andrew asked.

‘
You’re going
to become a great grandfather.’

‘
Oh Tara,’ he
beamed, laying his liver spotted hand upon hers. ‘Oh my darling
Tara I’m so happy for you.’ He looked up at Tom. ‘And
congratulations to you young Tom.’

‘
Thanks,’ he
smiled. ‘It’s a bit scary.’

‘
Children are
a wonderful blessing to be treasured.’ He looked at Tara, stroking
her face. ‘And your grandchildren.’

‘
Oh
grandfather I think we’re a bit far off that,’ she laughed. ‘This
one hasn’t even been born yet.’

It may have been a slip
of the tongue from Tara, but Tom saw the delight in the old man’s
eyes as he was addressed as grandfather for the first time. In
Andrew McDonald he saw himself had he not come to Summerset and
changed his ways. He would have died an unfulfilled old man with
not much to look back on. But now he had a lovely new family; a
beautiful girlfriend whom he adored and best of all, a baby on the
way. He guessed he had something to thank Cousin Jackson for –
after all, it was his idea for him to infiltrate the
Cusacks.

Andrew insisted they
stayed for supper and the four of them spent the evening sitting
around, chatting about the old days. Tom enjoyed hearing stories
about Ben and Lou and Andrew when they were the same age as he and
Tara. Andrew laughed when Paula informed him Ben had left him the
old MG and he was amazed it still ran. He smiled with joy when
Paula refused to let her pregnant daughter step inside the rattling
old machine and insisted she would take him for a spin in it
herself.

Just as they were getting
ready to go, there was a knock on the door and even now Tom jumped.
Jackson was still out there and would be baying for his blood and
he wouldn’t put it past him turning up un-announced; after all, his
grandmother had done it at the funeral.