Trust Me - Sheryl Browne Page 0,92

I don’t think Tom ever has.’

Leah? Emily stared at him in a combination of bewilderment and disbelief. Fran’s daughter was Tom’s? And she’d never told him? Why?

‘She was married at the time,’ Edward explained intuitively. ‘Definitely a case of throwing stones in glass houses, I’d say. It’s not common knowledge, incidentally. She confided in me once – had a drop too much to drink then, too, I suspect – so …’

He was asking her not to say anything. But didn’t Tom have a right to know? Didn’t Jake?

‘I expect you’re wondering if what she said about me has any truth in it?’ Edward asked, taking another long breath. ‘It shames me to say it, but I’m afraid it does.’

Oh God, no. Emily’s stomach dropped.

‘I believe Fran overheard me on the phone to my mortgage provider. She cleans the building I worked in, as bad luck would have it,’ he continued. ‘I wasn’t sure how much she’d heard. Enough, obviously. I think she’s had eyes on me ever since. Been doing a bit of sleuthing. You can’t blame her.’

Obviously she’d been gathering information to fuel her nasty gossip. Had Edward been about to become the next recipient of a letter? Emily wondered. None of this information would be on his file, though, which might have cast doubt on the assumption that someone from the surgery was sending them out.

‘I’m basically bankrupt.’ Edward cut through her thoughts, stunning her.

Bankrupt? But how? When? ‘Edward, you don’t have to tell me any of this,’ she said quickly. She dearly wanted him to know he could talk to her – he’d offered his shoulder to so many people – yet if she was honest, she didn’t want to hear it, didn’t want any of it to be true.

He reached for her hand, squeezing it gently. ‘I think I probably do,’ he said gruffly. ‘There are no excuses, but I’d like to try to explain, if I may?’

Emily nodded, glancing down at her hand as he tucked it back in her lap, patting it gently as if she were a child. She felt like one. Felt like sobbing like a child, for Edward, for Joyce. For Fran, ludicrously.

‘I hit a few problems at work,’ he admitted. ‘My accountancy business went under, a while back now. That new firm, Affordable Accountancy, opening up next to the bank did for me, I suspect. I couldn’t compete. I was obviously getting a bit slow in my old age.’

‘Oh Edward …’ Emily’s heart broke for him.

‘I tried to keep going for a while, relying on my savings and investments. I ran out of funds eventually. The thing is … the investments were supposed to fund our retirement. I haven’t made any other pension provision. Damn bloody foolish thing to have done.’

He had no income? Nothing coming in at all? Bewildered, Emily searched his face. It was riddled with shame and regret.

‘I tried not to worry about it at the time, thinking I would cross that bridge when I came to it. They have a habit of coming up on you faster than you expect them to, though, don’t they?’ He smiled ruefully.

Emily had no idea what to say. ‘Couldn’t you have sold up?’ she asked hesitantly.

‘Downsized?’ He met her eyes sadly, and then looked away. ‘That was the plan,’ he said. ‘I hadn’t told Joyce, unfortunately. I knew she’d stand by me, but … Pride, I suppose, stopped me initially. Then I thought I would choose my time, break the news gently. Time waits for no man, though.’ He sighed heavily. ‘Joyce got ill, as you know, and when she told me she would be happy with whatever time she had left as long as she could potter about in her garden and smell her roses …’

Emily wiped away a tear that spilled down her cheek. ‘So she doesn’t know any of this?’ she probed gently.

Edward shook his head. ‘I couldn’t bring myself to tell her,’ he said, his voice catching. ‘I haven’t told anyone apart from Jake, and even then I only hinted at how bad things were, for obvious reasons.’

Jake knew? Why hadn’t he mentioned it to her? Because they’d hardly been speaking unless to argue, she reminded herself, her heart twisting. Why? Why did people tear each other apart when life was so short?

‘He was sympathetic, of course. He’s a good listener, that husband of yours,’ Edward said, with another sad smile. ‘He suggested I look at equity release. He was going to research options for me,