page48 (1/1)

‘By the time you were born, my relationship with Isabel was only a friendship,’ Donald Hamilton contended

That was not hoenna re to her father’s mood Her un to appreciate that thehad never cared for her the way she cared for him

‘My firstthe Massey estate seemed like my only escape route,’ the older man continued with determination ‘I needed to make a lot of money I had a wife to keep, I had you and your mother to support and, by then, I’d also met another woman’ Gwenna could not say that she was surprised by that admission ‘Didn’t that happen to you rather too often? Off with the old, on with the new?’ Her father grimaced ‘I don’t expect you to understand but Fiorella was different She was an Italian, very glamorous I hoped to marry her but that affair blew up in ot to do with my mother’s will’

‘I’ to explain why I did what I did’ Unimpressed by what struck her as a clumsy attempt to so file, which lay on the coffee table

Beneath the table, Piglet sighed in his sleep She was beginning to wonder why she had even bothered co he could say was going to make her feel better about the fact that he had stolen her birthright and held onto it for so uilty about his firstup He had allowed her to believe that her adoption had led to his divorce Yet he had just ade

Things she had closed her eyes to, co in on her Her stepsisters had grown up in a lovely big house with their mother and her father, while Gwenna had been exiled to a down- the holidays, her presence in her father’s marital home had been barely tolerated by her stepfamily Gwenna had scrie courses Frohteen, she had lived in a cramped and shabby little flat that was basically just the roof space above a glorified shed of a shop and she had run the nursery for a e Yet a mere word of approbation fro on air for days afterwards

‘Gwenna…’ Donald Haency ‘You have to listen torelevant The story of your rolamorous Italian woman isn’t,’ she muttered with distaste

‘In this case, it is,’he insisted ‘One day three ht and told hter, who already had a husband I arned that if I wanted to stay alive and prosper I had to get out of Fiorella’s life’‘Really?’ Gwenna only registered that her father had been indulging in an affair with a ht if he had for once been called to account for his behaviour ‘Maybe my mum would have had a happier life if she’d had a father capable of pulling the saun toto die!’ Donald Hamilton protested furiously ‘They were violent cri where the tall tale would go next

‘I wasFiorella’s s demanded that I hand over all of that money They escorted eood deal of it and the men threatened to come back and visit me a third time if I didn’t cover the amount that had been spent I had to pay up They bled me dry Needless to say I cut loose fast from Fiorella, but I was financially ruined’‘I’m sorry…I don’t believe any of this and I don’t kno you can expect me to’‘Your mother’s solicitor worked in the same practice as I did He was elderly, overdue for retirement It was easy to remove papers from his safe,’ the older man admitted ‘I approached a loan co it as security, I borrowed a large suations at home Remember you and your rasping the connection, even if she didn’t credit the preceding story ‘How could you do that to my mother? Was she just one more person to be used and fleeced? Is there anyone you won’t use?’‘When your ainst the estate and I had to cover up the evidence of that What choice did I have? I ed that will but I did it with the best of intentions I had such wonderful plans’ A ragged laugh fell froave you a home I adopted you,’ her father reminded her without hesitation