Desire (#4) Read Online Free PDF

asked.
    I nodded and pulled a face.
    “Yes, he seems to work a lot,” I said. “Colin came around to discuss something about one of their projects.”
    Mrs. Wicker got to her feet when the kettle began to whistle as it came to the boil.
    “It’s nice to see them working so well together,” Mrs. Wicker said. “Especially after everything that went on between their fathers.”
    “Yes,” I said, pretending I knew what Mrs. Wicker was referring to.
    I didn’t like to gossip, but I wanted to know more about the mysterious Benjamin Easton and his family. The Easton family history intrigued me, and Benjamin didn’t seem keen to talk about his family’s past.
    “It’s a good job Benjamin and Colin have managed to move forward,” I said, watching Mrs. Wicker pour the boiling water into the tea pot.
    “It is. For a time, everyone thought the Easton family would be fractured forever.”
    “Oh?” I prompted.
    Mrs. Wicker carried the teapot over to the table. “The old man, the boys’ grandfather, must have known what he was setting in motion. After he gave the entire inheritance to Benjamin’s father, it tore the brothers apart. They never spoke another civil word to each other again. Then Benjamin’s mother left before his second birthday.”
    “I thought Benjamin’s mother had passed away,” I said, shocked. I hadn’t realised his mother had abandoned him.
    “She passed away when Benjamin was a teenager, but she hadn’t seen him for years.”
    “How awful,” I said, thinking of Benjamin as a child growing up in this vast house without a mother.
    “You can’t imagine it, can you? A mother leaving her little boy like that.”
    I watched the steam rise from our cups as Mrs. Wicker poured the tea.
    “Colin and Benjamin grew up together,” Mrs. Wicker said. “They got on well, despite the feud between their fathers. But it all boiled over when their grandfather passed away. He left Benjamin’s father everything and didn’t leave Colin’s father a cent.”
    I nodded I remembered Mrs. Wicker telling me this part of the story when I first came to work on the mural.
    “Colin’s father exploded with rage and promised to destroy the Easton legacy,” Mrs. Wicker said. “He took young Colin away to a school in England.”
    “But Colin and Benjamin are close now?”
    Mrs. Wicker nodded, sagely. “Yes. It could have destroyed their relationship forever. But they made it work. Benjamin reached out to Colin after his father died.”
    “And Colin’s father?”
    “Drunk himself to death, apparently. He died while Colin was studying at Oxford.”
    “How sad.”
    “Yes. A sad life. All that money and none of them were happy.”
    “What about Colin’s mother? What happened to her?”
    “Oh she’s living in South Carolina now, I believe. She left Colin’s father over his drinking and remarried.”
    I could see why Benjamin didn’t have a high regard for families.
    “It must have been very hard for Colin too,” I said.
    Mrs. Wicker smiled. “He’s an Easton through and through. And Benjamin has involved him in the company and the estate. You know, sometimes I think Colin loves Cliff House more than Benjamin. Well, you saw for yourself how interested he was while you were working on the murals.”
    I nodded.
    “Speaking of which,” Mrs. Wicker said, “they need an artist to do some restoration work at the Newport Preservation Society. Would you be interested?”
    “Yes, very interested.” I set down my mug of tea as Mrs. Wicker explained what she thought the job might entail.
    It sounded perfect. I sipped my tea and thought this had been a very productive evening: A possible job and information from Mrs. Wicker that made me feel I knew a little more about the enigmatic Benjamin Easton.

7

    ON THURSDAY MORNING, I got myself ready for the counselling session. I struggled to decide what to wear, eventually picking out a smart, navy pant suit and a white blouse. I didn’t know what I would be