Free Midsummer at Eyre Hall: Book Three Eyre Hall Trilogy by Luccia Gray Page A

mother?”
    “John doesn’t know exactly what’s
happened or what condition she’s in.”
    “No, and he better not find out, or
he’ll have her locked up again. Moving to Wales is a good idea, but Reverend
Wharton is a harder bone to pick than the admiral. Michael will have to act
quickly.”
    “If only I could make John understand;
he wouldn’t want to do this to his mother.”
    “You can’t be serious! You can’t be
defending John. He always was a selfish conniving bastard, just like his
father.”
    “You don’t know him.” I regretted my
words at once. There was a tense silence, until Harry broke it by asking me the
question I had dreaded.
    “He’s the one who kissed you first,
isn’t he?”
    My silence was a loud and clear answer.
I didn’t want to hurt Harry, but I wouldn’t lie to him.
    “You still love that monster?”
    “I can make him understand.”
    “Understand what? Look what he’s done to
his mother, to Jane!”
    “You’re being unfair. He didn’t do it.”
    “But he consented to it.”
    “He doesn’t know what happened.”
    “He doesn’t know exactly how the archbishop’s
managed it, you mean. Can’t you see it? He wants Eyre Hall and he wants his
mother out of the way.”
    “It was the archbishop’s doing. We can’t
be sure until we speak to John.”
    “God, you can be so naïve when you want
to be. Don’t you care what happens to Jane and Michael?”
    “Michael has money and he’s resourceful.
They’ll find a way out.”
    “John and the archbishop are having them
hunted down as criminals. I’d say their chances of keeping safe are slim.”
    “Harry, what else can we do to help them?”
    “You could convince John to withdraw the
accusations and let Jane and Michael marry and come back to Eyre Hall.”
    “I could try.”
    “I was being sarcastic. You’re
delusional. He’ll never agree. If he has his own way, Jane will be back at the
Retreat and Michael in jail, and he’ll be the king of the castle.”
    “I’ll try anyway.”
    “No doubt you could use your charm and
find a way of convincing him.”
    “That remark is uncalled for and unfair.”
    “You think so?”
    “John’s their only hope, Harry.”
    “Then they’re doomed.”
    We continued our journey in silence for
a long time, then Harry asked me, “What was that about Bertha Mason being your
mother? I thought your father was Richard and Bertha’s brother. So they were
your uncle and aunt, weren’t they?”
    “It’s a long and sad story, Harry.”
    “So, is John your cousin?”
    “Can I tell you about it another time?”
    “Or is he your brother?”
    “I don’t know, Harry.”
    “If Bertha was your mother, who is your
father, Annette?”
    “I’m already very upset, and I don’t
want any more drama today, please.”
    “You don’t know, do you?”
    I was silent and he cursed under his
breath. “When were you going to tell me about it?”
    “Well, it’s not something I’m very proud
of. My mother was a lunatic, and no one knows who my father was. It’s not going
to make me very popular, is it?”
    “I don’t care who your parents are,
Annette. I love you, whatever your surname is, or whoever your parents were.
You forget that I don’t know who mine were either. I understand you better than
anyone else.”
    Of course Harry understood. He had been
abandoned by his mother at birth, and adopted by Dr. Carter, a childless
village doctor, and his wife.
    “I’m sorry, Harry, but I’m not sure you
or anybody could understand. For the first twenty-two years of my life, I
thought my parents had died in an accident, when I was a baby, and that Richard
was my uncle and only relative. Two years ago, I discovered my mother was Bertha
Mason, my uncle’s mad sister. He told me that I had been born in an attic in
Thornfield Hall in England. Bertha’s husband, Mr. Rochester, denied being my
father. Nobody knows who my father is, although Mrs. Leah remembers how Mr.
Rochester’s friends used to