Graham, Jan - Finding Angel [Wylde Shore] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) (36 page)

As the two women left, Andrew stood and announced it was time to adjourn to the family room. He instructed Daniel to make coffee before disappearing down the hallway.

Christian and Angel sat down on the sofa in the family room and waited for both men to return. Daniel arrived with a tray of mugs filled with coffee, and shortly after, Andrew appeared in the doorway carrying a carved, wooden chest which he placed on the coffee table in front of Angel.

The wooden chest was engraved with the words
I will love you always, dear Angel.

The gold engraving sparkled like it was new. The chest was well cared for, but it had an antique appearance. Angel wondered where it had come from and why a man she had only just met was giving her a gift with such an intimate engraving.

The chest had a gold lock attached to the front it, too, which showed signs of age just as the chest did. When Angel lifted her gaze to meet Andrew Shore’s eyes, she noticed him fingering a delicate gold key attached to a red silk ribbon. His eyes appeared to glisten as though any moment tears would begin to fall.

“Before I give you this key, Angel, I need to say that when I saw you arrive today with my boys, my heart filled with emotion. I hope that this gift becomes precious to you because inside this chest is pure love. I have kept it for many years now in the hope that this day would arrive.” Andrew paused briefly and cleared his throat. “I want to tell you that it is not my intention to cause you any harm or bring sorrow into your life, but before you open this chest, there is a story that must be told, and, I am certain, tears that must be shed.”

“Dad, what are you doing?” Christian glared at his father with uncertainty. “Apart from scaring Angel to death, that is.”

“It’s okay, Christian. Let your dad speak,” Angel replied. She felt very serene, not scared, and a chill of excitement and wonder settled in her stomach.

“I’m not scared.” She stood and moved to sit next to Andrew. “I’ve learnt something from your two boys recently.” She smiled up at him and took Andrew’s hands to still the nervous play with the key.

“And what would that be?” He grinned.

“Love isn’t scary, and if you shed tears when there is love around, it’s not nearly as painful as shedding tears without it. Tell me the story, Mr. Shore. I want to hear what you have to say.”

Angel watched Andrew smile down at her. His hand gently stroked her cheek before he spoke.

“You look so much like your mother. You have her eyes and her spirit.”

Andrew placed his arms around Angel and gave her the most affectionate hug. She felt him sigh against her and kiss the top of her head. Angel wondered where the affection was coming from. It definitely felt like he knew more about her than she knew about him. Angel sensed there was a history between them that she just couldn’t place.

“Do you remember this house, Angel?” Angel shook her head. “No, I expect you wouldn’t. The last time you were here you were only five years old. It looks very different inside now. When I married Denise, she insisted on making the house reflect her taste and ideas and redecorated a great deal. Anyway, the last time you visited with your mother was the day she told Christian and Daniel’s mums that she was losing her battle with cancer. Over the next little while your mum and the boys’ mums started to plan for what would happen after she died. She kept on with the treatments that the doctors wanted her to have, but she knew it was not working. She got to the stage where she couldn’t travel, and so the boys’ mums would go and visit at your house when your father was at work. Your father and I had ended our business dealings by that stage. There was no love lost between any of us. But your mother remained our friend, and that’s why she asked that we look after you when she was gone.” Andrew gently cupped Angel’s face with his hands and kissed her forehead. “Unfortunately I was not able to fulfil her wish, and I am so sorry for that.”

“Why don’t we know any of this?” Daniel asked, “We were in our teens, both old enough to know what was happening in the family. Surely we would remember this stuff.”

“You were both in high school. We didn’t think it was a good time to tell you until all the details were sorted out. We kept you both away from Harold when you were younger because he was such an insidious human being. But the three of you have all met before, and you boys did know Angel’s mum. Although I think the last time you would have seen Angel or her mum was when Angel was about two or three.”

“Oh my god, that’s so bizarre. I bet you thought I was an annoying little thing when you two were kids.” Angel laughed.

“Anyway, back to what I wanted to tell you.” Andrew looked between Christian and Daniel before he redirected his gaze to Angel. “Your mother wanted you to live somewhere that was filled with love. She wanted you to be cared for in the way she would have done if she had been able to stay with you. So she attempted to set up her final will and testament to give custody of you to us. She told your father she had organised for a friend to care for you after she was gone, and he didn’t seem to have any objections when he was told.”

“He didn’t want me. I have known that all my life. I felt it from the time I was little.” Angel felt her eyes get moist as she looked at the distress filling Andrew Shore’s face.

“Your mother saw to everything, and the chest that you see before you was put together by her. I don’t know what it includes. All I know is it’s filled with items that she wanted you to have. It was sealed with that gold lock a few days before your mum passed away. The boys’ mums brought it to our house for safekeeping, intending for you to have it once you were old enough to know its importance. It has remained here, locked, ever since.”

“So the message on the front is from my mother.” Angel spoke softly as she ran her hand tenderly over the engraved words. Tears trickled down her cheeks as she dropped to her knees next to the coffee table. Angel’s hand trembled as she placed her palm against the wooded lid.

“Why didn’t you come and get me after she died?” Angel’s voice soft and gentle as she asked the question.

Daniel watched Angel thoughtfully. When she asked the question, her tone wasn’t accusing. There was no hint of anger, just a nervous curiosity. She could almost be asking for a refill of coffee or how someone’s day had been. There was only the barest hint of sadness filling her eyes as she wiped the tears from her cheeks.

Christian reached out to touch Angel on the arm, and she flinched as if the loving caress had hurt her. Daniel remembered what she had said the night they had spoken about Samuel’s attack.
“It hurts. Don’t touch me. It hurts.”
He sent Christian an unspoken message, a simple nod indicating for Christian to go ahead and continue his intended embrace of Angel. As Christian slipped to the floor and embraced Angel, pulling her close to his chest, she let out a painful cry before collapsing against him and beginning to sob.

Daniel looked over at his father. Andrew Shore, the man who had always been so stoic and in control of his emotions now sat staring down at Angel. His face contorted with sorrow, tears running over his cheeks as he tried to control the obviously painful emotions flooding through him.

“Why didn’t we bring Angel home, Dad?” Daniel’s question was greeted with a similar silence to the one Angel had asked.

“Dad?” Daniel prompted his father again, hoping he would answer the question.

“We got a phone call from Harold. He told us that Angel’s mum had died and he was leaving Angel at the hospital for us to come and collect. He was taking the boys home and said he would leave Angel in the waiting room. For God’s sake the man had no shame.” Andrew shook his head and rubbed his hands over his face. “I wanted to drive to the hospital, but your mothers insisted on going. They said that Angel knew them better, so it was more appropriate for them to go and collect her.”

“I remember that.” Angel said sadly. She glanced at Daniel before turning back to face Andrew. “I didn’t understand it, but I remember it now. Harold called someone and said, ‘
Faith is dead. The boys and I are going home. The little bitch will be sitting in the waiting room ready for you to collect.’
Then he walked away. He didn’t even say good-bye.”

When Angel’s eyes met those of Andrew Shore, Daniel saw a flash of horror fill her face. She was obviously realizing what had become painfully clear to all of them. Daniel watched as Angel moved closer to Andrew and knelt before him, placing her hands on his knees.

“Please don’t tell them it was my fault.” She pleaded. Daniel’s heart clenched. It was like Angel was begging his father to change the past. Daniel felt his chest tighten further. He knew what had stopped Angel from being collected that night. He knew why no one had arrived at the hospital.

“It wasn’t your fault, sweet woman. Please don’t think it was.” The pain in Andrew Shore’s eyes was all consuming. “I have to say it, Angel. They need to know what happened as much as you do.” Daniel watched his father’s gaze alternate between Christian and him. His father didn’t have to tell him anything, and from the look on Christian’s face Daniel knew his brother had realised the truth as well. Everyone in the room was well aware of what was coming.

Daniel shook his head slowly. He remembered his father’s words when he told Christian and him that their mothers had died.

“Tonight we have lost the most loving women in the world, all three, gone in one night.”

Daniel had been too shocked to question his father at the time but he assumed it was a mistake spoken in grief. All three…not two…all three. The boys’ mothers and Andrew Shore’s wives, Caroline and Francis Shore, as well Angel’s mother, Faith Wylde, the three most loving women in the world.

“That was the night they died,” Christian stated. “They had the car accident on the way to the hospital.”

Daniel could have sworn there was a rush of relief that blew through the room like a soft breeze. Christian had stated what his father was finding so hard to say. Daniel didn’t need to hear or see any confirmation from his father, none of them did. He didn’t need a nod or a
yes
. There would be no other reason that Angel hadn’t been collected from the hospital. Christian had spoken a statement rather than asking a question. They all knew what had happened, it was just Christian who had put a voice to their collective truth. Daniel watched as his brother pulled Angel back into his arms, placing his finger over her mouth as she began to speak.

“There is no apportioning blame in this story,” Christian stated, “and no need for apologies from the innocent victim that night created.”

As silence consumed them with its shared grief, Angel thought back to the night she sat alone in the waiting room. She had no idea how long she waited listening to the whispered voices of the nurses who assumed she had been left behind as a result of her father’s grief over the loss he had experienced. She remembered hearing the footsteps in the empty corridor growing louder until Harold’s chauffer appeared at the entrance to the waiting room. She hadn’t raised her head to look at him as he had taken her by the hand and led her out to the car. She hadn’t spoken as he delivered her to the door of Harold’s home and watched her walk inside. Angel felt a shiver run down her spine as she remembered her brother staring at her as she sat quietly on the stairs leading to the upper level of the house

“Angel’s back, Dad,”
Justin had stated, his voice emotionless, his eyes filled with disgust.

“Yes, it appears we can’t even give her away,”
Harold had replied as he walked past her, the boys following him upstairs to go to bed. Angel remembered the click of the light being switched off and everything going black and for the very first time fear and pain engulfed her tiny, seven-year-old soul.

Angel tuned back into Andrew’s conversation. Daniel and Christian were listening in silence as their father continued to explain the attempts he had made to secure Angel’s freedom from Harold Wylde. Legal battles that had continued for two years until there was no other process of appeal left for Andrew to follow. Every court had upheld the right for Harold to keep his “beloved” daughter, or at least that was the face Harold had presented to both the legal establishment and the Children’s Services Department. All the while, Harold had taken every opportunity to ensure Andrew knew he was only keeping Angel out of spite. Eventually Andrew had no option but to cease the legal battle and hope that eventually Harold would decide to allow Angel to come and live with him as the three women had planned.