Dead of Winter, page 5
Fresh nerves jittered in Lola’s stomach. It was like being at an interview or waiting to see a doctor.
Drawing in a steadying breath, she smoothed a hand over her hair, wishing there was a mirror in the hallway so she could quickly check over her appearance.
It mattered, she realised, his first impression of her.
Which was ridiculous. She wasn’t trying to be someone else.
Keeping that thought in mind, she followed after Rose.
10
Lola followed Rose and Monty into another longer hallway. This one was much narrower than the first, but with the same dark panelling on the walls, giving it an oppressive feeling. Most of the doors were closed, and those that were open led into dark rooms where it was impossible to make out their function. At the end of the hall was a large living room, much cosier than the rest of the house, and dominated by a huge lit fireplace that was warming the space.
She didn’t take in any other details of the room, her sole focus on the man in the wheelchair who sat in front of the fire, watching as it crackled and blazed with dancing orange flames.
Had he heard them enter the room? He made no attempt to turn around and Lola stood awkwardly just inside the doorway, next to Rose, unsure whether to approach.
She was about to speak his name, when Rose called to him.
‘Daniel. She’s here.’
Taking that as her cue, Lola stepped towards him, relieved when he finally turned his chair.
She recognised him instantly from the Lamborghini photo, but he was no longer clean-shaven, instead sporting a full beard. It was a couple of shades lighter than his dark hair.
Scowling eyes looked her up and down. ‘Miss Henderson.’
‘Lola, please. Thank you for meeting with me, Daniel.’
He seemed to bristle a little at her use of his first name, but gestured to a nearby sofa. ‘Take a seat.’
It sounded more like an order than an offer.
‘I’ll go make some drinks,’ Rose told them, hastily leaving the room.
Alone with her brother and the dog, who slumped to the floor beside the sofa, Lola lowered herself onto the leather seat, unsure where to begin. She had wanted this meeting and had a list of questions for Daniel, but she hadn’t expected such a formal greeting. He had been terse in their messages, but she had convinced herself that things would be different once they were face to face. Instead, he was staring at her like she was a stranger. Which, she supposed, she still was. They might be brother and sister, but they had never met before.
‘What is it you want to know?’ he asked abruptly, catching her off guard.
Lola scrambled her frazzled brain, determined to focus. She had come here for answers and she wasn’t going to let him guilt her into leaving before she had got them. She had already accepted that there would be no relationship, but he owed her the courtesy of this one meeting.
‘What were our parents like?’ she asked, holding eye contact, despite his permanent scowl. It was a broad question. One that required more than a one-sentence answer. Now she was getting the measure of this man, she was determined to hold her own and not let him off the hook.
‘They were just regular people. My dad, Nigel, was a banker. Quiet, hard-working, though he had a temper when pushed.’
Lola smarted at his use of the word ‘my’. Had he said it on purpose to try to exclude her?
‘What about our mother, Annie?’ she asked, refusing to acknowledge the slight.
‘She was a receptionist in a hotel when they met.’
‘Was this in Oxford?’
Daniel nodded. ‘Yes. She didn’t stay there long, though. I was born not long after they married and then she stayed at home looking after me.’
‘What was she like?’
He shrugged. ‘Not as serious as Dad. She was the fun one, I guess.’
She continued with her questions, trying to break down that barrier. Asking more personal ones about Nigel and Annie, trying to get him to react and engage. But there was no connection. He didn’t want to talk about them, at least not with her. If anything, he seemed bored of their conversation, bored of her, and he wasn’t even trying to hide it.
‘Do you have any photos of them?’ she asked. If he wouldn’t give her any information, perhaps he would let her see pictures. She hadn’t been able to find anything online.
Daniel didn’t get a chance to answer, as Rose timed that moment, arriving with a tray laden with tea things. It all looked very formal as she set the tray down on a coffee table. There were cups with saucers, a teapot, milk jug, and even sugar cubes in a little dish.
Was this something they only brought out for guests or did they live like this all the time?
‘How do you take your tea, Lola?’ Rose asked, and although she was friendlier than her husband, there was still a stiffness about her.
‘Just a little milk, please.’
She watched Rose pour the drink, noticing that her hands were shaking slightly.
Was she nervous having Lola in her home? It made no sense why she would be.
Lola thanked her as she took the cup, turning her attention back to Daniel.
‘Photos of our parents,’ she pushed. ‘Do you have any?’
‘Of course.’ His tone was sharp.
‘Am I able to see them, please?’ Lola was annoyed that he was making her ask.
Seeming determined to be the peacemaker, Rose gave what appeared to be a warning look to her husband to play nice. ‘I’ll go get some,’ she offered. ‘You two drink your tea.’
As Rose left the room, Lola realised she had forgotten to remind her about the Wi-Fi password. She asked Daniel for it now.
‘I promised I would check in with a friend,’ she explained, hoping he would sense her urgency and not think she was being rude for asking.
‘I don’t have it on me,’ he said dismissively. ‘Rose will have to get it when she returns.’
Lola must have looked frustrated, because he gestured to his legs and shrugged, before adding, ‘I rely on her to do a lot for me these days.’
It was frustrating, but she would have to wait. Would Quinn be keeping an eye on the time? She knew the bad weather had bothered him and he was worried about her making it safely to Saham Toney. He was still at his sister’s, though, so perhaps he was being distracted by his nieces and hadn’t given it much thought. She would message as soon as she was able.
‘How did you end up in the chair?’ Lola asked, deciding to try a different approach with Daniel, even though voicing the question aloud made her a little uncomfortable. So far, her questions had been all about their parents. Perhaps if she asked about him personally, he might engage more.
‘A skiing accident.’
‘Were you very old?’ Lola already knew he had been twenty-nine, having read about it online, but he didn’t need to know that.
He fell silent, seeming reflective, and she waited, hoping she hadn’t conjured up bad memories for him.
‘No,’ he said quietly. ‘I wasn’t. It happened a couple of months before my thirtieth birthday. I didn’t believe the doctors when they told me I would never walk again. But I guess I didn’t know shit, because here I am.’
The harshness of that last sentence seemed at odds with the man she had been talking with and Lola was unsure how to react.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said. What else could she possibly say?
Daniel’s lips curved into a smirk as he studied her, and for a moment it seemed he was noticing her properly for the first time.
‘People say that to me a lot, you know. I’m sorry. It’s a bit of an empty phrase, don’t you think? You’re sorry for what, I want to ask them. That it happened? That it was me and not them? I don’t need anyone’s sympathy, Lola. It was a long time ago and, look, I have this fancy chair on wheels to ride around in. I have everything I need here, and I get by just fine.’
Was he trying to embarrass her? Although her cheeks heated, it was more with anger. Why was he being such an arsehole? Okay, she might have pushed to meet him, but that was because he was her brother and the only one who could give her information about her family. He still could have said no.
‘Good for you,’ she managed, biting down on her annoyance, though she couldn’t stop her sarcasm slipping through.
She sipped at her tea as a silence descended upon them, forcing herself to swallow the too-hot liquid over the growing ball of frustration that had built in her throat, while Daniel stared at the tea tray.
He had yet to touch the drink that Rose had poured for him.
Why had Lola kidded herself this would be different once they had met? She had believed she would somehow win him over, but now she understood the truth, that Daniel had never been up for this. She should have left well alone.
If she hadn’t messaged him again, she would be back in Ely having dinner with Quinn. Instead, she faced a horrible drive back on the icy roads.
‘What’s your story, Lola?’
The question came out of left field, completely catching her off guard.
They had reached a stalemate. Daniel making it obvious she wasn’t welcome and Lola, seeing no way forward, was beginning to wonder if she should cut her losses and leave. But now he had broken it, and he was showing an interest in her.
It took her a moment to try to gather herself to respond, unable to decide if he was genuinely interested in her answer.
‘What do you want to know?’ she asked cautiously.
‘You’re in marketing, right? Have your own business.’
‘Yes,’ she confirmed. ‘That’s right.’ She was surprised he had looked her up.
‘Are you married? Engaged? A boyfriend?’
He steepled his hands, forefingers pressing into his chin as he waited and she thought of Quinn. Of what they had once had and lost.
‘Right now, I’m single.’
‘No children then?’
Her breath caught. ‘No children,’ she managed.
Her voice sounded strained to her own ears and she hoped he hadn’t picked up on the emotions clogging her throat as she spoke the words.
‘Well, that’s good, I guess. We don’t want any little nieces or nephews popping up out of the woodwork trying to lay a claim to Uncle Daniel’s estate.’
It took a second to register his words, and the heat behind them.
There it was, the accusation laid bare. He thought she was after his money.
Lola wanted to defend herself, but shock and fresh anger choked her. How dare he suggest she was only here for his money?
Rose chose that moment to return to the room and if she picked up on the tension, she didn’t say. She held something in her hand and as she neared, Lola saw it was a couple of photographs.
‘This is your mother, Annie, and your father, Nigel,’ she said, taking a seat beside Lola, and handing her the first photograph. ‘It was taken on their wedding day.’
Lola studied the picture. The tall, stern-faced man standing next to his smiling bride. Her mother, Annie, wore a long-sleeved puffy gown, her light-brown hair falling in ringlets around a heart-shaped face.
So these were the people who had created her, but then abandoned her.
She would be a liar if she claimed not to be upset by their actions, but, equally, it saddened her she would never get the chance to meet them and learn their history. That was why she had come here today, for answers. It had nothing to do with money.
Rose pushed the other photo into her hand. ‘This was your mum with Daniel when he was younger.’
Much younger.
Annie and her brother as a child were on a beach, and seeing Daniel’s toothy grin, it was hard to reconcile him with the man sitting next to her.
‘Do you know why they gave me up?’ she asked Daniel, readying herself for another harsh answer, but needing to know the truth. It made no sense to her why they would have one child, who it appeared they loved, yet when another baby came along, they weren’t interested.
He shrugged, and for a moment she didn’t think he was going to answer. ‘I didn’t know about you until a few years back. I was still very young when you were born and I didn’t realise Mum was pregnant. They never discussed it in front of me. All I remember was they were fighting a lot and then Mum went away for a while. I didn’t realise until much later that there had been complications with the pregnancy and they’d had to keep her in for observation.’
The look he gave her suggested he held her responsible for those complications, and it was a reminder of the wall he had erected between them.
As far as he was concerned, she wasn’t his family and without her birth parents here to ask, she was never going to know the full truth about what had happened.
She went to hand the photos back to Rose.
‘You can keep these,’ the other woman told her, insisting. ‘We have copies.’
At least she would be leaving with something, Lola supposed, even though the people in the photographs were strangers, despite their blood bond. ‘Thank you.’
She slipped the photos in her bag, finished the rest of her tea, and started to get up. She had been here for just under the hour she had asked for, but there was no point in outstaying her welcome. Besides, she was eager to get back before the snow worsened.
‘You’re going?’
Was Lola mistaken or did Rose sound relieved?
Still, the woman had been much friendlier to her than Daniel had, even if there was something a little off about her.
‘Yes, I have to drive back to Cambridgeshire. Thank you for your hospitality, though, and for the photos.’
She glanced at her brother, tempted to leave without saying goodbye to him. But she was better than that. She wouldn’t stoop to his level.
‘I appreciate you talking to me. I won’t bother you again.’
He nodded, his expression blank.
Rude bastard.
Daniel made no attempt to leave his position in front of the fireplace and as Lola followed Rose back through to the main hallway, Monty again following, then through to the entrance porch, the heaviness of nerves started to lift.
She should never have come here. She knew that now. But it was over and she wouldn’t have to see Daniel again. It was disappointing not to learn more about her birth family, but it was time to close the door on this history.
Rose was already taking Lola’s coat and scarf from the peg, hovering over her as she put them on and reached in her pocket for the car fob.
‘Safe travels,’ she said, opening the door, and Lola wasn’t sure if there was a hint of relief in her tone.
As she thanked Rose again and said goodbye to her and the dog, Lola went to step outside, the scene before her taking her by surprise. It had stopped snowing, but everywhere was white; the light dusting that had been on the ground had been replaced with a much heavier coating, that looked several inches deep.
‘Oh,’ Rose gasped beside her.
Oh, indeed. How had so much snow fallen so quickly?
Quinn had warned Lola not to come. Now she was going to have to drive back in this.
Staying wasn’t an option. She had another meeting with Rich Bradford lined up for the morning and a train back to Manchester booked for the afternoon.
Besides, the thought of stepping back into Midwinter Manor held zero appeal.
‘Are you going to be okay to drive in this?’ Rose asked.
Lola nodded. ‘I’ll be okay. Thank you, again.’
She trudged her way towards the hire car, glad she had her boots on, then spent a few minutes brushing fresh snow from the windows and roof. By the time she pulled the driver’s door open, her hands were freezing and the front of her coat damp.
Inside the car, she tried the engine, her breath catching when at first it didn’t start. But then it spluttered to life and she tried to roll the tension out of her shoulders.
It would be okay. She just had to get back on the main road.
She cranked up the heating, waiting for it to clear the windscreen, turning on the headlights and then the wipers as a fresh flurry of snow started to fall. As they batted back and forth across the windscreen clearing the white flakes, she glanced in the wing mirror.
Rose hadn’t gone back inside. Instead, she stood watching from the open door, Monty still beside her. Gingerly, Lola eased the car forward, aware from the way it started slipping around on the snow that there was little traction.
Getting back to Ely was not going to be an easy task.
She took it slowly and had almost made it down to the gate, when she broke the number one rule of driving in icy weather, touching the brake as she turned the steering wheel. As she lost control, the Peugeot skidding to the left, she continued to pump the brake uselessly. Unable to break the swerve, the front of the car slammed into the left post, jolting her sharply against the seatbelt, the sound of metal hitting metal making her wince. The engine stalled, then something under the bonnet hissed and smoke rose into the air, only just visible through the swirling snow.
Even though she knew she was wasting her time, Lola tried the ignition, her heart sinking when it coughed and spluttered, then cut out again. She was still sitting there trying to get the car to start when, a minute later, there was a knock on the driver’s side window, and she glanced back to see Rose.
The woman had gone back inside to grab the fur-lined coat and was hugging it around her as she urged Lola to open the door.
‘Are you okay?’
‘I am, but I’m not so sure about the car. I hope I haven’t damaged the gate post.’ She could already imagine Daniel’s irritation. ‘Obviously I will pay if I have.’
‘It’s fine,’ Rose said, waving away the offer. ‘But the car definitely won’t start?’
Remembering the reception she had received in the Whitlock home from Daniel, Lola tried the ignition again, but this time there was nothing.
She shook her head. ‘It’s dead.’
Rose was silent for a moment. ‘Come on, you’d better come back inside the house,’ she said eventually. Although there was a hint of stiffness in her tone, the smile she offered appeared genuine.
Reluctantly, Lola got out of the car, mad at herself for crashing into the post and already thinking ahead to how this affected everything.
