Not a Love for Faint Hearts novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: Forty Million

Edith Wexford looked small in the hospital bed, with her silver hair loose on the pillow.

Her left hand would not close.

Her eyes were as pale and sharp as ever.

"There you are," she said, slowly and a little crooked. "I told that nurse you'd come before the grandson."

"He's parking."

"He's never parked a car in his life without a man to do it."

Imogen took her good hand.

It was cold and dry, and it held on hard.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't prove it," Edith said. "I watched my grandson cry for joy in my own garden."

Her mouth worked.

"And I never lifted a finger to record it."

"You watched. It was enough."

"It was not enough, and you paid for it three years."

"Edith."

"No, listen to me." The old woman's mouth worked. "Now, quickly, while I still have the words. It was never only Camille."

Imogen waited.

"Four years ago Percy's mother borrowed heavily from Camille's father's bank," Edith said. "She put up the Group's shares as security."

"And?"

"And she promised the bank something else besides."

"What?"

"A Wexford wedding. Camille and Percy."

Imogen's hand went still in hers.

"The loan was to be forgiven on the day they married," Edith said. "Then you said yes in my garden, and Percy married you in a courthouse eight days later."

"And then the crash took his memory."

"His mother saw her chance, and so did Camille." Edith's good fingers tightened. "That debt is all the two of them ever cared about."

"Is it still owed?"

"Every dollar. Camille's father has been patient because he thought his daughter would close it for him."

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