The Promise by Freda Lightfoot Page A

you could go poking and prying into places you shouldn’t?’ A familiar tone of aggrieved anger was mounting in her voice. ‘That woman ruined our lives. Anyway, it was all a long time ago. Your father certainly wouldn’t want you resurrecting the past and asking a lotof damn-fool questions. I want you out of there, Chrissie. Now ! ’
    ‘Why wouldn’t he? Dad was just as affected by their attitude as you were. How did you meet him anyway? You’ve never told me.’
    There was a small sigh. ‘He just arrived at the Hall one day, to see Georgia, I think.’
    ‘When was this?’
    ‘The summer of 1926.’ Again a slight in-drawing of breath, as if it pained her to speak of him.
    ‘You mean he just turned up, out of the blue?’
    ‘I suppose so. Oh, Chrissie, does it matter?’ The irritation was growing again.
    ‘I’m sorry if it hurts you to remember that time, Mum, but I need to know, to understand. I don’t want to shut him out completely. He was my father, after all. Why did he come?’
    ‘I really have no idea. It never occurred to me to ask. He arrived in Windermere, perhaps to do some walking, I don’t know. I was young and fell for him right away. It was love at first sight. We married the following year when I turned twenty-one in April.’
    ‘And I was born in the May. Oh, Mum.’ Chrissie’s heart went out to her, knowing Aaran must have been the love of her life. She’d never remarried but stayed true to his memory, despite their alleged difficulties, which sadly they’d never resolved, and he’d been killed early in the war. ‘But why did your mother not approve? Why would she accuse him of being unworthy of you? What was so objectionable about him? What did he do that so offendedthe family? Don’t I have the right to clear my own father’s name as an honourable man? OK, I know things didn’t work out for you, but he wasn’t two-timing you then, was he?’
    Vanessa almost laughed. ‘No, of course he wasn’t. Oh, how can you possibly understand? You weren’t there . And you’re a child .’
    ‘No, Mum, I’m not a child any longer. I really have no wish to hurt or upset you, but I would like some answers, some cooperation on your part to heal this breach. Don’t you think that would be a good thing? OK, Georgia might be bossy and nosy, and interfering, but whatever she did to you all those years ago, your mother is old now. What if she were to die and you’d never made up? You’d be devastated, heartbroken. I know I would be if that happened to you and me.’
    At that point Vanessa had put down the phone, leaving only the dialling tone purring in her ears.
    Now Chrissie sighed with exasperation, chewing on her lower lip as she watched one of the steamers on the distant lake, packed with day trippers, make its way back to the pier. Was this obstinacy born out of a sense of guilt? Vanessa was certainly very good at avoiding unpleasantness. She liked nice things, nice clothes, nice people. Everything neat as a new pin, and she was a great hoarder, never threw anything away, just as if every little thing she possessed was precious to her. So why not her own family? It was a puzzle. And despite her problems now, she’d always been a loving mother to her, very caring and attentive, almost too fussy and possessive in a way,constantly reaffirming her love and needing reassurance it was returned.
    It was as if a light had switched on in Chrissie’s head. Maybe that was it! It wasn’t her family’s disapproval that had hurt her, it was their lack of affection. Vanessa hadn’t kept in touch with them because she believed they no longer loved her, and she couldn’t bear their rejection. If that was the case, then it was even more sad, yet knowing her mother as she did, Chrissie thought it made perfect sense.
    But did that give her the right to prevent her own daughter from being allowed the opportunity to at least meet these family members, and make her own choices about whether she wanted