Or perhaps, Douglas thought absently, not so much of a mystery.
Tamsin had always been a hopeless romantic and since she was a little girl she believed in the legendary Myth of Sommersgate, its awful history and its alleged curse. She’d told him more than once she’d hoped he’d free the house she loved from the curse and free the long line of barons who presided over it from the tragedy and unhappiness that plagued them.
In other words, his sister desperately wanted Douglas to fall in love.
This desire increased substantially after she’d found Gavin, wanting some of the bounty she had for her beloved brother. Douglas thought this had to be her reasoning, throwing Julia into his life. Douglas had little doubt that in Tamsin’s romantic imaginings he would fall for Julia and end the curse she foolishly believed rested on Sommersgate and, in so doing, afflicted Douglas himself.
Driving by a still-lit country pub going about its business of closing down for the night, he turned his thoughts to his current challenge.
Julia Fairfax.
He was surprised Julia hadn’t remarried. It couldn’t be for lack of offers.
He wished she had. If she’d had a loving home with two parental substitutes to offer the children, no doubt Tamsin and Gavin would have left them to Julia alone.
Douglas would have accepted that, unless she’d made another foolhardy choice in husbands, which seemed to run in her family. Patricia Fairfax had married a philanderer who had run off with an heiress but he continued to work as a surgeon at the same hospital where Patricia was a nurse. Trevor Fairfax set up house with his new woman, having three more children and daily rubbing his former wife’s face in it until Patricia had become fed up and moved to other employment.
Gavin and Julia rarely saw their father when they were growing up; Trevor Fairfax was so consumed with his other family. By the time Gavin had his assignment in England as an electrical engineer with a multi-national construction company, his brother-in-law hadn’t seen his father in years.
According to Douglas’s research (and he most definitely investigated his future-brother-in-law), Gavin and Julia hadn’t missed much with their father. Trevor wasn’t invited to the wedding and had never seen his grandchildren. And, as far as Douglas was concerned, that was the end of that.
Which meant, of course, that, indeed, was the end of that.
But now, the Fairfax family was causing another problem and Douglas may have had a great deal of patience with a lot of things but he had no patience with problems.
Julia Fairfax would be living in his house, with his mother, and that was not going to work.
He had no affection for his mother but she was his mother. He owed his existence to her if nothing else. But she was a difficult woman and even though she tolerated Gavin, barely, she loathed his mother and sister.
Julia was Gavin’s sister and Douglas liked Gavin. He was one of the few acquaintances who held both Douglas’s regard and respect. Julia was also the chosen guardian of Tamsin’s children and that, in addition to his regard for Gavin, meant Douglas had to find some way to make the situation work.
In any other circumstances, he would have been happy to settle a monthly amount of money on Julia and allow her to take the children to whatever backwater town she lived in. Or settle an even larger amount of money on Julia and have her just go away. If she had taken the children, Douglas would have been content with Samantha gathering progress reports and sending appropriate gifts during holidays and birthdays. He quite liked Tamsin’s children, even held some affection for them, but he had no desire to raise them.
However, that wasn’t what Tamsin wanted. Tamsin wanted her children to be raised at Sommersgate and for himself, and Julia, to do it and Douglas would respect his sister’s wishes, regardless of how inconvenient they were.
However, there was another issue with Julia.
He remembered when he first met her, or more to the point, he remembered that he wanted her the first moment he saw her.
She was a great deal different then. When she first visited them in England it was the first time she’d left her home country. She was uncommonly pretty, tall and shapely with thick blonde hair, green eyes and long, long legs. She held herself with a posture that demanded attention, effortlessly wearing clothes that were both timeless and vogue. The Americans called it “cool” and Gavin had been the same way, it was one of the reasons (Tamsin had told Douglas) why the American had caught his sister’s discerning eye.
Douglas had overheard a cousin at Tamsin and Gavin’s engagement party referring to Julia as “a bit intimidating.” At the time, he’d been surprised by the remark but watching Julia, who conducted herself with the grace and confidence of an old-fashioned movie star, he could see how those less confident would think it was true.
When Julia was younger, she lit up a room with her laughter. She was affectionate and cuddled up to Gavin and her mother, and eventually Tamsin, without any embarrassment.
But she’d grown out of that or more than likely Webster had worn it out of her.
Now she was still affectionate with the children. She also had the American, or perhaps Midwestern trait of touching your hand or arm when she was talking to you or hugging when you saw each other after a long period of time.
Monique detested it.
Now, he knew, Julia was no longer naive or unsophisticated. And the natural grace had been refined to unaffected elegance, an elegance that had just the slightest bit of an edge. His cousin would no longer find her “a bit intimidating” but undoubtedly very much so.
This appealed to Douglas.
Julia appealed to Douglas, through the years, she always had.
She’d gained her degree from the same university as Gavin, she’d acquitted herself well even after she’d chosen an ass like Sean Webster and she’d shown unconditional love to Tamsin as a member of her family and the same, in wild supply, to Tamsin’s children. Unquestioning, she’d left every scrap of her life and any future she might have had behind her to do as her brother and Tamsin asked and moved to Sommersgate. That showed loyalty and Douglas valued loyalty above all. It was in short supply, he himself had only had four people in his life show it to him, his sister, his friends the Forsythes, and Nick.
In all the time he knew her, Douglas could have easily, and pleasurably, become entangled with Julia and he had thought of this option often.
Always, he controlled these thoughts, not wishing the nastiness which would no doubt ensue when he ended it (he didn’t relish the idea of angering Gavin who was a very genial man but who was also immensely protective of not only his wife, but his mother and sister, and Douglas wouldn’t even consider eliciting the response Tamsin, who adopted Julia as her sister, would have).