Page 40 - The Letter By Ann Newhouse

‘The families managed to keep the secret and soon after the boy’s parents were buried the young girl’s parents took her away leaving the village and a very heartbroken young boy behind’.
There was a knock on his door and his secretary left some papers for him to sign on his desk before quickly leaving. Mr. Harris remained silent until she had gone again. ‘Mr. and Mrs. Doyle took in their grandson to live with them’, he continued after a minute, ‘there was an older sister too, but she had already enrolled in college, so she was soon gone. At first everything went well but after about a year the cracks began to show, and they were having problems with him. Finally, tensions hit breaking point and there was a serious argument and the grandson left. We were told he went to London to college. By all accounts he never got over his girlfriend’s family taking her away he was ready to stand by her and be a family. He vowed he would find her no matter how long it took. There were only a few of us who knew both the families involved, your friend Penny was good friends with the young girl’s mother, she’d remember all this’.
He walked over to a side cabinet and from a large jug filled with ice cold water he poured out a glass holding it up towards me and asking if I’d like one too, I shook my head no just wanting him to get back to the story.
‘The Doyle’s are quite wealthy, they own the derelict barn near the village and a vast amount of land around there, they planned on leaving it all to their two grandchildren. I bought your cottage from them before they left in hopes of using it as a holiday cottage but got sidetracked with my work so never really finished, as you know’. ‘They also set up an account for the great grandson, it broke their heart too when the young girl’s family left, it has accrued quite a large sum of money for him if he can prove he is the genuine article’.