BooksBarbecue
Back The Return Save as PDF
Chapters (73)
  1. Cover
  2. About the Author
  3. Also by Anita Frank
  4. Note to Readers
  5. Dedication
  6. Part One
  7. Chapter One
  8. Chapter Two
  9. Chapter Three
  10. Chapter Four
  11. Chapter Five
  12. Chapter Six
  13. Chapter Seven
  14. Chapter Eight
  15. Chapter Nine
  16. Chapter Ten
  17. Chapter Eleven
  18. Chapter Twelve
  19. Chapter Thirteen
  20. Chapter Fourteen
  21. Chapter Fifteen
  22. Chapter Sixteen
  23. Chapter Seventeen
  24. Chapter Eighteen
  25. Chapter Nineteen
  26. Chapter Twenty
  27. Chapter Twenty-One
  28. Chapter Twenty-Two
  29. Chapter Twenty-Three
  30. Chapter Twenty-Four
  31. Chapter Twenty-Five
  32. Chapter Twenty-Six
  33. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  34. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  35. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  36. Chapter Thirty
  37. Chapter Thirty-One
  38. Chapter Thirty-Two
  39. Chapter Thirty-Three
  40. Chapter Thirty-Four
  41. Chapter Thirty-Five
  42. Chapter Thirty-Six
  43. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  44. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  45. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  46. Chapter Forty
  47. Part Two
  48. Chapter Forty-One
  49. Chapter Forty-Two
  50. Chapter Forty-Three
  51. Chapter Forty-Four
  52. Chapter Forty-Five
  53. Chapter Forty-Six
  54. Chapter Forty-Seven
  55. Chapter Forty-Eight
  56. Chapter Forty-Nine
  57. Chapter Fifty
  58. Chapter Fifty-One
  59. Chapter Fifty-Two
  60. Chapter Fifty-Three
  61. Chapter Fifty-Four
  62. Chapter Fifty-Five
  63. Chapter Fifty-Six
  64. Chapter Fifty-Seven
  65. Chapter Fifty-Eight
  66. Chapter Fifty-Nine
  67. Chapter Sixty
  68. Acknowledgements
  69. Extract
  70. Chapter One
  71. Chapter Two
  72. Chapter Three
  73. About the Publisher

‘That’s madness!’ Fear flares Gwen’s temper. ‘How dare you? How dare you come here and say these things to me? He is my son – I carried him for nine months, I gave birth to him, I have cared for him single-handedly all these years. I love him more than life itself. I will never give up my child, never!’

‘Mrs Ellison, put your emotion aside for a moment and think of your son – think of Tom and Tom’s best interests. Look at what you can offer him, compared to the life we can give him. He will have the best education money can buy: Eton, Cambridge. He will be the friend of aristocrats and men of power. He will be heir to a mansion and five thousand acres in Northumberland, as well as other properties around the country, a townhouse in London … He will never want for anything. He will be a beloved son and a cherished heir. His future will be glorious.

‘He won’t be spreading manure across some muddy field in Berkshire. He won’t spend his life getting up at the crack of dawn to milk cows and muck out stables. He will travel, he will see the world, his life will be rich with experiences and opportunities, the like of which you can’t even begin to imagine. Would you really deny your son all of that? Is that what a loving mother would do? Wouldn’t she sacrifice herself, to give the son she loves all of those things?’

Gwen is too stunned to respond. She stares at the woman before her. When it does come, her voice is faint with disbelief. ‘How can you even expect me to give up my boy?’

Lady Helen draws closer in confidence. ‘I understand it might prove difficult to explain away this turn of events to friends and neighbours and so on, but I have thought on that and I have a proposal that would, I think, work for everyone. Gordon’s father is dying. He has mere weeks to live according to his doctors. When he is gone, Gordon will inherit the estate. He will sell up and we will move to my family’s estate in Northumberland – the five thousand acres I mentioned – which I will inherit on my father’s death and which ultimately Tom will inherit from me.