The Cavendon Women Read Online Free PDF

forget about the missing jewels for the next few days. And I will make the list next week and check every box in all the safes, I promise.”
    â€œIt is a little worrisome,” Charles murmured, and closed the safe door.
    â€œI know it is, Papa, but we must not let this problem affect the … family reunion. It wouldn’t be fair, would it?”
    â€œNo, it wouldn’t. As usual, you are making perfect sense, Daphne. Whatever would I do without you?”

 
    Five
    There was no doubt in Daphne’s mind that the moment her father had seen the empty cases, he had known who had taken the jewels. But he had waited for her to make that very obvious connection.
    Daphne sat back in the chair in the conservatory, thinking about her mother, a woman who had changed so drastically she seemed like a stranger. Daphne blamed Lawrence Pierce. It was his fault. He had been a bad influence on Felicity, and no doubt he still was.
    She sighed to herself. There was nothing much any of them could do about their mother. She was married to Pierce and, seemingly, he ruled the roost, as Miles so aptly put it. Her mother had created a scandal when she had run off to be with the surgeon in London. But somehow her father and the family had managed to weather it all, and their standing was still intact. Anyway, almost every family they knew was having some problem or other, whether marital or financial.
    It seemed inconceivable to her that their mother had just pocketed the jewelry, as if it were her own, and gone off to London to join her lover, without giving it another thought. Not about the jewelry she was taking, which was not hers to take. Or the children she was leaving behind. That had happened twelve years ago.
    Little Dulcie had been only six, and baby Alicia, her mother’s first grandchild, was not even one year old at the time.
    But Felicity’s children had managed. They’d not only had each other, they had had their extraordinary father, a very unique and loving man, who was the personification of decency, and was always there for them.
    And she herself had also had her darling Hugo, and their first child. And all the Swanns. Whatever would they have done without the Swanns. Most especially Charlotte.
    Normally, Daphne would have run straight to Charlotte today, to tell her about the missing jewels, and ask for her help. But she could not do that. Charlotte had her hands full, and she didn’t need this worry to cope with.
    Closing her eyes, Daphne focused on the stolen jewels, wondering what she could do. She had told her father she had a plan, but she didn’t really. Her only thought was to go to London to confront Felicity.
    But her mother would deny having the jewels, wouldn’t she? Obviously that would be Felicity’s only course. And how could she prove otherwise, without ransacking her mother’s house? That wasn’t a possibility, under any circumstance. She did have an ally, as she had told her father. That at least was the truth. But just how much could that ally do?
    What she really needed was a reason to invite herself to tea with her mother. But it would have to be a genuinely good reason, because they had all shunned her, more or less, over the years.
    â€œThere you are, my darling,” Hugo said, interrupting her whirling thoughts as he came striding into the conservatory, at forty-five as handsome as ever. Daphne swung around in her chair, beaming at him.
    Bending forward, her husband kissed her on the cheek, and sat down. “I’ve been looking all over for you,” he said. “Good news from New York to impart at last! I just heard from Paul Drummond, and he’s finally managed to sell those old factory lofts I bought in downtown Manhattan, near the Meatpacking District. And for an excellent price. The money can be put to good use here at Cavendon.”
    â€œOh, that’s wonderful news, Hugo!” Daphne exclaimed, her eyes filling with