Chapter 31

Nathan could see the strained look easing on Lucas's face as he began, the simple act of unburdening himself to someone else having an immediate impact on the man. Once he started, he spoke eloquently, the words flowing as he took himself back to a time over a decade earlier, when he was a young man very much in love.

"I was in France, in the middle of a grand tour of Europe and North Africa with my uncle. It was what I had dreamt of doing for so long, seeing the great masterpieces and visiting the museums and galleries. The historic sites. But I found myself in a difficult situation when the offer came. Although not officially engaged Rachael and I had already planned out our future together but she insisted that I go. "This is your dream, not mine. Get it out of your system. Then you will come back a happy man ready to spend the rest of your life with me."

A fleeting smile crossed his face and Nathan knew he was remembering the woman who had stolen his heart. "I don't think I had ever loved her as much as I did in that moment. Her selflessness and understanding of who I was is something I still have never had from anyone else." With that thought the pain was back on his face once more.

"Our fathers had been in business together for years. I always thought they were close, almost brothers, and we children had known each other all our lives. Like cousins really. Being with them was the only time in my life that I felt a sense of belonging, of being truly loved." Despite what had clearly developed into a sad situation Nathan was comforted to hear that Lucas had at least experienced some good times in his childhood. That he had people who were special to him and to whom he mattered. Perhaps that explained the Jekyll and Hyde character of the man, the two sides of his past taking control according to the situation. He had seen how caring Lucas could be towards someone like Allie on one hand, whilst treating others with total disregard when it suited him.

"We had disembarked the boat from Tangiers a few days earlier and travelled by train up through Spain and along the mediterranean coast to Nice. I was tired when we arrived at the hotel and not feeling well, which I thought was just the result of eating so much strange food for the past month. It turned out I had dysentery. A very bad case of it, as it happens."

Nathan had seen big men brought to their knees by this illness and so felt great sympathy for Lucas but he was still trying to fit what he was saying into the story that Mary had told him. He began to shiver, the cold starting to creep into his bones now so he reached for a blanket to wrap around his shoulders. Lucas reacted immediately, jumping up to stoke the small fire and add a few logs to get it blazing again. All the while he kept up his story.

"By the time I was well enough to get out of bed more than a week had passed. It was only then that I checked my messages and was surprised to see a number from my father, all from before we arrived. And many more from my love."

He had to pause then, taking a deep breath to banish the images swirling around inside his head before he could go on. "I immediately sent a telegram to both, explaining my delay in responding, but only one came back. From my father. Then that was followed by another. And another. Until the full story had been told by him. But no matter how much I tried to contact Rachael there was nothing from her."

Nathan had heard Mary's version of the next part, about how there had been a disagreement between the two friends and that Lucas's father had accused hers of causing him to lose money and damaging his reputation as an astute businessman. The truth was, she had said, that her father had made a bad business decision, but on a deal of his own. He never denied that. He needed cash urgently and when he asked his friend and partner to help him by agreeing to the sale of some jointly owned property he had refused and instead offered to buy him out. In desperation her father had agreed but then discovered it was for a much lower price that the actual value and would not be enough to save them. The fear and shame of it had caused him to suffer a heart attack and he died, leaving his family penniless. Everything was gone.

"I didn't know any of this Nathan, having been out of contact with everyone for nearly a month. All I knew was the version my father told me, which I later found was not the truth. At the time I reached out through my parents to Mary's family, to Rachael, wanting to reassure her that nothing had changed in my feelings for her and that as soon as I arrived home all would be resolved. In the meantime I foolishly believed that my parents were looking after these people who were like family to us."

Nathan could see how hard Lucas was struggling to keep his emotions in check, constantly needing to take time to collect himself so that he could continue. "I'm guessing that was not the case?"

Lucas shook his head, anger welling inside him as he remembered. "No, it wasn't! By the time I could get passage home a few more weeks had passed so that I eventually arrived in Vancouver more than a month after this had all occurred. There was no sign of any of them, they had simply vanished. My parents kept up the pretence of having tried to help, saying that on the day they were to leave their home they simply disappeared. My father accused the children, Michael, Rachael and Mary, of having stolen things that no longer belonged to them. Items that should have been sold to pay off the family's debts."

Knowing exactly where the next part of the conversation was going Nathan tried to make it easier for Lucas, saving him from having to relate the part of the story of which he presumed he was most ashamed. "And you believed him, not understanding why she hadn't waited for you. Wondering how she could flee without giving you the chance to help? I'm guessing you were an angry young man by then."

Lucas nodded, remembering the sense of betrayal and loss he had felt. "My father had assured me that they had done everything they could to help, offering for everyone to come and live with them until I returned and we could sort something out."

Nathan could feel his sympathy for the other man growing with every word. "How did you find out he had lied to you? When?"

"Five years later. For five years I believed him and let him have that power over me. He convinced me that I had been foolish to think she loved me, to let myself become beguiled by someone who had clearly set out to capture my heart for financial gain. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, he would say. If her father was a cheat and a swindler then it was no surprise she would be one too. And the others. Suddenly my haven, my oasis from the hardships of my life, was gone. Every memory of it destroyed. I didn't know what was right anymore. And I realised I was alone."

Lucas was becoming agitated again, pacing up and down in the small room until Nathan managed to grasp hold of his sleeve. "Sit down and take a breath, you're not doing yourself any good getting so worked up. We have plenty of time."

But Lucas was determined to get the rest of the story out. "My father was ill with influenza and his assistant came to me asking for clarification on a deal that had been completed a number of years prior. My mother was at the hospital visiting him so I offered to look in my father's study and it was then, in an envelope at the back of his bureau, that I found everything. All my messages. But, more importantly, all of theirs. Begging to be told when I would be returning. If I was returning. Asking why I hadn't been in touch with any of them. Asking for help over and over again. Then the last one was a letter from her to me."

Lucas began to silently cry, soft tears trickling down his cheeks. He wiped them away quickly, a look of embarrassment on his face but Nathan stopped him before he could say anything, "It's okay to cry Lucas. I've been there and sometimes it is just what we need in a particular moment. There is nothing to be embarrassed about."

The other man nodded his head up and down a few times, standing there with his shoulders hunched, hands in his pockets until he was ready to go on. "I remember the words so clearly, as though the letter was sitting right here in front of me. It wasn't cruel, that was never her way. It spoke of sadness and disappointment. But understanding too. That was what really hit me the hardest. There they were going through hell and she was showing consideration to what I must have been feeling. How awful it must have been for her to then not receive even a reply back. To feel that I had abandoned them mercilessly, without so much as an explanation."

"What did you do when you found these?"

"I confronted my father. Both of them actually but my anger was directed at him the most. He laughed, saying that was business and I needed to toughen up if I was going to take over from him one day. He had no guilt about what he had done. But I knew there was more so I started questioning other people in the company and eventually the true picture emerged. My father had been skimming money from the business for years and suddenly he had the feeling that Phillip was on to him. So he arranged for someone to set up the deal that broke him and then watched as an entire family's world fell apart."

Nathan was confused. Nearly seven more years had passed since Lucas had discovered the truth. "Did you not try to find them then. Surely you must have been able to get someone to search for you. Explain that you didn't know and how sorry you were."

"For allowing my father to ruin their lives? For not trusting the woman I loved enough to disbelieve all that I was told about her? How could I explain that away, Nathan?"

"So you just stayed and pretended it never happened? Carried on with your life in the same way."

Lucas's whole body shook in denial of that. "No, I have not spoken to my father since that day. I went immediately to my lawyer to make sure that everything my grandparents had left in trust for me was still there and could not be touched by him or anyone else. Then I told my mother that the only way she could continue to have a relationship with me was without him. She was never to ask me to see him. In fact she could not mention him to me at all. We have stuck to that, although we are not close. Then I became a gambler, moving from place to place, not staying anywhere for too long and never getting close to anyone. But it is a tiring life, Nathan, and there were enemies I had made along the way who I could not escape from. So I found myself a backward little town with a saloon for sale and decided to stop there for a few months."

"But it has been more than a few months. What has made you stay?"

A smile grew on Lucas's face and Nathan wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer for there was no doubt in his mind that it involved Elizabeth. He watched as the other man disappeared into the other room and could hear him rummaging in his bag for something. Eventually he came back holding in his hand a leather picture case, the kind that is like a book holding two photographs inside. He opened it and held it out for Nathan to take.

His reaction was immediate, with no more questions needing to be asked. There staring back at him from one of the photographs was a younger version of Elizabeth.

"What? How?" He could think of nothing else to say, the shock on his face showing. But then he looked more closely and could see the differences. The smile wasn't the same and her hair was not quite as full and wavy but at first glance it would be hard to tell them apart.

"And this is?"

"This is Rachael Williams. Mary Watson's sister. The woman I have loved for nearly all my life."