The Secret Heiress

“He’s a high muckety-muck in horse racing. American. He’s going to run for some horse-thingy president. Against Jacko Bullock.”

“Uck.” Marie shuddered. Bullock turned up several times a year at the Scepter during the racing season. She thought he looked like and acted like a pig. “Bullock’s nasty. He’s worse than Butch any day. He propositioned me right at the table one night, in front of three other men. I almost poured his drink on his head. I’d have loved to.”

“Well, he’s powerful,” Izzy said. “He’ll gobble that poor Yank up and spit out his bones.”

“Sad but true. The Yank seemed like a nice fellow.” He had, she thought vaguely. An extremely nice fellow.

“I guess,” Izzy rejoined with heavy irony. “And that’s why you ended up in his arms? I thought he was going to plant a big smoochie on you.”

Marie shrugged irritably. “Look, I went wobbly. I had a bad day.”

“Oh, chook,” Izzy said. “I’m sorry. Is it your mom?”

“Yes,” Marie said, her throat tight. “But I don’t want to talk about it.”

And Izzy, who had a kind and sensitive heart, asked no more.

But at home, Marie had to think about her mother. She could think of nothing else. She took Colette’s envelope, sat on the edge of the bed and forced her hands to stay steady as she opened the flap.

She unfolded a sheet of paper, a letter. It was dated just over two years ago and signed “Willadene Gates.” It began:

My Dear Miss Colette Lafayette,

Thank you for writing me, for I think I can answer your questions, as years ago when I was not yet 17 yrs. of age I become an attendant at a home for unwed mothers.

A high-priced place, it promised total discretion, if you get my meaning. I do remember your birth, for your birthday is the very same day as my own, March 9!

“Your mother’s name was Louisa Fairchild. She was 16 yrs. old, unwed & pregnant, & come from quite the posh family.

And I remember you, even after all these years. I said to myself, how could anyone give up such a darling infant? But that girl refused to even speak of you. Cold as ice, she was.

In a few days, her parents come and took her home. Louisa F. walked out of the ward with never a backward look. She never even spoke to her own parents!

Now she’s grown up and grown old. I see her name in the news. She’s rich as Midas and lives on a horse station near Hunter Valley—very hoity-toity! She never married and don’t get along with any relatives, I hear tell.

Should you find her, and she recognizes you as her own, I hope you will not forget your friend, Willadene, what give you this info, as I am now elderly and living in reduced circumstances (although as you see the memory is still sharp!)

Your friend, the first to ever hold & kiss you,

Willadene Gates

At the bottom, Colette had weakly scribbled a note.

I wrote Willadene Gates two months later. The letter came back marked “deceased.” I didn’t know what to do next. My feelings are still mixed about whether I should try to find out more or let the matter go.

Marie, I put some of my nail clippings in a little plastic bag. I pricked my finger and let some blood fall on a piece of cloth. I put them in an envelope in my jewelry box. If we’re related to Louisa Fairchild, your DNA and mine should match hers, if I understand what they say on the telly.

It would be good to know the truth, at long last, but I was never brave enough to search further. I should have done it for your sake and apologize that I did not. I leave it in your capable hands.

Your proud and loving mother.

Marie read the letter again, disbelief mingling with suspicion.

How had Colette found this Gates person? Could the woman be trusted? Her words had a slippery coyness that oozed with hunger for reward.

Marie rose and went to her mother’s bedroom and opened the shabby velvet jewelry box on the dresser. An envelope lay in the box’s bottom drawer.

Almost fearfully, she opened it. Inside was exactly what Colette had said, a little bag of nail parings and a square of white cotton with three drops of blood.

She also found a second, smaller paper envelope. Opening it, she saw a newspaper photograph with a short article. The article, eight months old, reported that charges had been dropped against Louisa Fairchild, 80. She’d been accused of shooting and wounding her neighbor Sam Whittleson, 61.

The short piece left Marie even more stunned. As a very young woman, Louisa Fairchild had apparently abandoned her daughter. As a very old woman, she’d shot her elderly neighbor. Such a relative didn’t seem promising.

But the picture of Louisa Fairchild shocked her more. She saw a lean, imperious woman staring straight and almost arrogantly at the camera. Her mouth was a rigid, unsmiling line. Yet her resemblance to Colette made Marie’s nerve ends prickle and chilled her stomach.

Louisa Fairchild still had wide eyes, shaped like Colette’s. She had Colette’s high cheekbones, slender nose and cleft chin. And Marie herself shared these features, too, except for the cleft chin.

She was suddenly overcome with an almost irrational curiosity. The Fairchild woman lived in Hunter Valley. Not long ago, Marie’s uncle had gone to work in that very region. Could he know anything about this woman?

She went back to her room, snatched up her phone and dialed her uncle’s latest number. It was after midnight, but Reynard was a night owl. He answered after only a few rings. “Marie!” he exclaimed. “How are you, love? And how’s my dear Colie?”

Marie heard background noise and supposed he was in a pub. “Rennie, Mama’s not well. She’s very weak—and she doesn’t look good—I’m afraid for her.”

Reynard’s voice went serious. “She’s taken a turn for the worse?”

“I sense it. She’s getting weaker. The doctors don’t seem able to help her.”

Reynard spat out several colorful oaths concerning doctors. Then his tone grew solemn again. “Should I come? Would it help if I was with you?”

“Rennie, you’ve got a job. You just can’t walk away.”

“I can if I need to be with her and you, pet. No man owns Rennie Lafayette.”

Marie feared she’d sounded too alarmist. “Wait until I know more. But Reynard?”

“What, love?”

“Mama gave me a letter that a woman wrote her. This woman said she’d worked in a home for unwed mothers and remembers when Mama was born. And she named Mama’s birth mother. Do you know anything about this?”

“Stone the crows!” he said in surprise. “I never—she never said a word to me. When did she find this out?”

“Over two years ago. And the woman died shortly after. I don’t know how to check this out. Or even if I should. Mama’s mother might be dead, too, by now. But she lives or lived in Hunter Valley. Have you ever heard of a Louisa Fairchild?”

“Heard of her?” Reynard demanded. “Crikey, I know her! She’s supposed to be Colie’s mom? Hold on. I’m going outside for a bit of privacy.”

Marie heard him tell someone to deal him out; he had a family emergency. The background noise faded. She pictured him stepping, alone, into the Southern night.

“There,” he said. “Now—Louisa Fairchild is supposed to be Colie’s mum?”