CHAPTER VII
EXPLANATIONS
When Dick and Titty returned to the house that morning Dot was still sitting at her desk sobbing, the tears streaming down her cheeks and dripping on to Timothy's last letter. On hearing them as they entered the house she quickly attempted to stuff the letter back in to its envelope. Titty, who had heard her crying as the came in through the front door, rushed in to the writing room, she had realised at once that something was amiss.
"Dot! What is it? What's the matter?" Dot attempted to wipe away her tears with her sleeve as she tried to put the letter back in to the envelope.
"Nothing, nothing, I'm fine!" She was not at all convincing in her denial.
Even Dick, who had followed his wife in to the room, could see that his sister wasn't 'fine'. Titty organised him, she wanted him out of the way but had not the heart not tell him so directly.
"Dick, be a dear and go and make some tea for us all would you?" He could tell at once that this was an instruction to get him out of the room and not just a suggestion. So he left the two of them alone and went off to the kitchen. With Dick out of the way Titty again tried to get from Dot what the matter was.
"What is it Dot? Tell me. Is it this letter?" She had noticed the tear stained document on the desk and Dot's attempts to hide it. "Is it from Timothy?" Titty recognised the writing and had been expecting something like this ever since the funeral. Dot nodded and passed her Timothy's letter to read.
Titty had unwittingly discovered Dot's affair with Timothy many years ago and at the time she had been sworn to secrecy, this secret was one she had willingly and loyally kept, even from Dick. Titty read the letter and felt her own eyes well up. When she had finished reading Dot then passed her the solicitor's letter, she read it and gasped loudly when she got to the part about the trust fund.
At the moment she gasped Dick returned from the kitchen with a tray of mugs of tea.
"Titty! Dot! What on earth is wrong?" He looked worried and confused, his sister was clearly upset and his wife was obviously surprised about something. Titty didn't wait for Dot to speak.
"Tell him Dot, tell him, you must tell him, there's no harm in him knowing, not now."
"Tell me what?" Dick demanded, Dot just looked upset and embarrassed. She still said nothing and was still crying, Dick and Titty sat down, they hoped she would gather her thoughts and explain herself. They only had to wait a few moments before she began.
"Dick. Timothy, well, yes, Timothy," she paused, "we had an affair, for twenty years. He loved me, I loved him." Dick interrupted; his tone was kind and sympathetic, after all this was his sister and his wife's best friend.
"But Dot, he was married." Dick as ever saw the logical aspects of the matter even though he had no wish to judge her. Dot sniffed loudly, hoping to stem her tears.
"He never loved her, she never loved him, she tricked him in to marriage, tricked him for his money, told him she was pregnant, she miscarried weeks after they married, well, she said she did, I don't think she was ever pregnant! But he wouldn't leave her, he was scared, she wasn't stable, she was mad, so mad she threatened to kill herself many times, he could never be sure if it was an act." Dick was still not entirely sure what was happening.
"When did it all start?"
"Before he married, don't you remember, when you first got back from America he visited the flat a lot, well I had been seeing him from a few years before, and you know, these things happen. I always liked him, even when we first met."
"But we were all children then!" Dot, despite her tears, was annoyed with him.
"So were you and Titty!" Dick realised he had been unfair to her, and that the circumstances of those times for them were very different from the lives of many other people.
"Yes, of course, of course, I'm sorry. But why did you carry on when he was married?"
"I loved him, I always did. I knew when it started he had other girlfriends, it didn't bother me, but then he got married, but he wrote to me still and after a few weeks or so we picked up where we had left off, that was when he realised just how much he loved me." Dick looked directly at Titty.
"You knew?"
"Yes, I knew. I found out by accident, about fifteen years ago. I went to Dot's flat one afternoon as it was the closest place to where I was at the time, I'd felt ill, terribly sick, I was supposed to be dowsing for a missing ring for someone, when I arrived Timothy was there, and, well... you can imagine the rest and it was embarrassing but after he'd gone Dot asked me to promise never to say anything to anyone."
"She's been so loyal." Dot was sobbing once more. Dick ignored her and spoke again to Titty having noticed the papers on the desk.
"What's in the letters?" Titty answered.
"One's a goodbye for Dot from Timothy when he knew he was ill, but the other, well." She passed Dick the solicitor's letter. Dick read it quickly.
"What!" Dot knew all too well what her brother's reaction meant.
"I know, I know, what will I do with it, I don't want the money!"