Chapters (20)
“I wish, Amy, you’d just let it go.”
“But don’t you see that I can’t?”
“Of course you can! Your father wouldn’t have wanted you to carry on like this. It’s causing you too much pain, and it’s really not doing you any good. Look at where it’s got you. Nowhere! A roomful of crumbling papers and books, none of which are of any help. The past is just that, Amy—the past.”
She and Hugh rarely argued, but the one topic that was guaranteed to get them both aerated was that of her father. They had been engaged for six months, and the pressures of their forthcoming wedding had made them both a little more tense than usual. This row had started because Hugh had wanted them to slip away for a quiet weekend together, but Amy had declined, saying that she had some newly released files to look over, and this weekend would be the only chance she would have over the next few months.
“I’m sorry, Hugh, but I promised myself that I would find out the truth. I can’t give up, not now.”
“And meanwhile your life—your fiancé even—gets put on hold, while you fruitlessly search through a load of old files. You won’t find the truth in them, Amy!”
“I’ve got to try.”
“For what exactly? For the future? For us? It makes no difference to us. I’ll love you whether your father was a traitor or not. And I’m not going to love you any more just because you find out that he wasn’t. Can’t you get that into your head? Please listen to me!”
She knew that part of what he said made sense, but it would be impossible to go away this weekend knowing that the truth might be sitting in her study.
“Please, Amy. Let’s just go to Shropshire, as we had planned. The files aren’t going to go away. You can wait another three days, can’t you?”
“I might not have the time. Work’s very busy at the moment.”
“It always is. But I don’t see why I should be the one who suffers, why it’s my time that should be eaten up.”
Amy sighed.
“All right, all right—you win. But so long as you don’t mind me staying up late next week and being a rotten fiancée for a few days.”
It was worth it just to see his smile. He came over and hugged her.
“Oh thank you, darling, thank you. It’ll be so nice to be together without everyone else fussing about.”
Amy smiled. It would be nice, and she did need the break.
But even as they were hugging, she was wondering whether she could slip a file or two into their suitcase without him noticing.