The Knapthorne Conspiracy by Malcolm Ballard (best english novels for beginners txt) 📕

composure, content to stroke her hair as she had many times, waiting for her to go to sleep when she was a child. When Bella finally found her voice, they spoke of times such as those. Good times, of which there had been many. Times when they had laughed, and cried. Times which brought the memories flooding back, drawing them closer together, so that Maria knew the moment had come.

“I know you don’t remember much of Patrick, your father, do you, bella mia?” The mention of his name had been unexpected, sending a shiver across her back and raising gooseflesh on her arms. Was her mother about to enlighten her, after all this time? Panic seized Bella and suddenly she wasn’t sure if she were better off only knowing what she already did, thinking of how she’d inspired Kyle into action and what had happened as a result.

“It all seems so long ago, now, mama. Maybe it’s not so important any more.” Maria gave her a benevolent look.

“Families are important, Arabella. And family history. Why not make yourself comfortable, in your chair. There are things you should know. Things I must tell you.” Bella couldn’t remember her mother ever sounding so melodramatic though she had been an actress in her younger days. As instructed, she resumed her seat then tucked her feet up beneath her. With a flick of her head she tossed her hair back over her shoulder and waited for her mother to begin.

“Where to start?” As she voiced the rhetorical question, in her mind’s eye Maria took herself back down the years to a time when she had been a young married woman in a strange country. Wife of a flamboyant, eccentric Irishman, second son of a peer of the realm and living just outside of London.

“Your father was such an attractive man,” she began. “Not the way he looked only, you understand. It was his personality.” She paused, thoughtful. “His charm,” she said, with a smile, having found the word she was looking for. “He came to watch Shakespeare, in Milano. Much Ado About Nothing, I remember, and we met afterwards at the party. Such a big, strong man. There was immediately the buzz between us! You know what I am saying?”

“Yes, mama. I know! Go on.”

“Well it was love at first sight for the two of us. Mind you, all the girls at the party felt the same about Patrick. He was a devil for the women!”

Maria went on to talk about the early years of their relationship, how they had married and had their first child, her brother, Liam. The painful memory was evident in her eyes as she spoke of discovering Patrick’s infidelity. Even worse was the fact that he had embarked on the affair while she had been pregnant. Not until some years later did she discover that it probably wasn’t the first time he’d strayed either. They were living in London while Maria pursued her acting career and she had been too naïve, too much in love with him at the time to notice, she had confessed. Then Laura had come along and, for a while, Patrick changed, playing the part of the perfect father to the daughter that was so obviously his. Same eyes, same hair, same temperament.

“Your father had a temper, too,” Maria said, “especially when he had been drinking, but when we were first married it didn’t seem to matter so much. He was bigger than life, it seemed.” Bella corrected her before Maria added that in those days she could be fiery too. “Patrick’s temper started getting him into trouble and one day he came home looking pretty beaten up. He had been away on business for his brother and, when I ask him what happened, he would only say that he had been in accident. What accident I do not know, I never find out.”

“When was this?” Bella asked.

“Oh, not long after you were born, carissima. When you came along, that’s when the real trouble started!”

“In what way?”

“Everything slowly got worse. Your father thought you were the most beautiful baby he had ever seen and your sister was immediately jealous. At first Patrick was besotted with you then I think he found being in the house with three children was just too much for him. After doting on Laura, he suddenly began to act as if she did not exist. So, Laura began to take his neglect out on you. I don’t know whether Patrick’s drinking got worse because his temper became more uncontrollable or whether it was the drinking that affected his temper. Anyway, by the time you were four years old, I was on the point of leaving him when he was killed in a hunting accident.”

“And that’s about all I really knew of him,” Bella confirmed. Maria’s revelations had stunned her since, before now, Bella had simply assumed that the marriage had been a happy one.

“It is all I wanted you to know, before now. You were so young when he died, what did it matter?”

“Then why should it matter now, mama? Wouldn’t it have been better to have left things as they were? It must be painful for you to talk about.” Maria’s face softened as she held her daughter’s inquisitive gaze.

“It is, cara mia, but I am not certain how it will be, after the operation. If anything should happen to me, I will be happier because you know the truth of these things.” Bella didn’t want to break down again and forced herself to be strong, for Maria’s sake. “Your father went from being lovable rogue to something I do not have the words to describe.” Trying to imagine what life had been like for her mother, Bella contemplated what effect her father’s change in personality must have had on his marriage.

“Was Patrick unfaithful right from the start?”

“I cannot say, bellissima, but it is more than likely. To your father it was like an addiction, I think. Sex was