A family of Four

Synopsis – A family of four
 

 

A family of four is a romantic dark thriller novel featuring the Protagonist’s; Henry Pickering (A working class man) and Giselle Le’Grand (An upper-class woman) who grew up together in Switzerland on the edge of Lake Geneva. Henry’s mother is an Au Pair to the family who is shortly dismissed back to Stourbridge after Giselle leaves the family home for an Education in the UK at a boarding school. Moving forward many years after Giselle disappears and Henry is working in construction – The Antagonist of the story is Arthur Darlington, Husband to Giselle and father of two children.  After childhood separation Henry and Giselle reunite under the circumstances of her father’s funeral. It is at this point that the story begins to unfold in all its twists and turns that takes place in Leamington spa where Giselle lives in the late 1970’s. Henry learns that Arthur is brutally beating and sexually abusing Giselle and so Henry begins watching over the Darlington Household. An incident then occurs where one of the Darlington boys go missing, But Henry is the only person searching for him.

 

Whilst Arthur struggles to maintain the family secret, Henry is actively following the family and seeking all the information he can. It is uncovered in a twist that the boy who is missing is in fact a figment of Giselle’s imagination and that the other child, although real – Is not Giselle’s son and is from Arthurs previous widowed marriage. Initially Henry is in shock at the discovery and disappears for a while until the truth is fully understood. Upon acceptance Henry then makes it his mission to get Giselle away from the brutality of Arthurs household. Henry manages to gain access to the house via trickery and finds Giselle sedated in a bedroom and Arthur pleading justification. Henry then engages in a fight with Arthur and carries Giselle away from the property and seeks medical attention for her. Upon seeking medical attention, it is discovered that Giselle has Psychosis caused by a brain tumour, after a few weeks in hospital it is realised that the tumour is terminal.

 

Henry takes Giselle back to the Le’Grand family home in Switzerland where he spends every day caring for Giselle and gradually fixing up the neglected home around her. There are extremely cathartic moments and as her time comes to end, they fully rekindle the love they had for each other all those years before. Giselle passes away in Henry’s arms and is laid to rest under the cherry tree that features at the very beginning of the story.

Upon Giselle’s passing, it comes to light that Giselle and Henry’s departure from the home as children was due to her father’s business deal that had gone badly, and the families’ lives are at risk. The family and the Au pair was purposely split up, letters were hidden, and contact was cut off. Upon leaving school, Giselle was unknowingly placed into façade marriage and became a family of four in order to hide her from harm’s way. Giselle and Henry’s lives were entirely dictated by her father’s decisions that were implemented by 3 surprise associates from a freemason friendship circle.

The very end of the story finishes with Henry laying on the ground next to Giselle’s burial site and going to sleep by her side one last time.

The story presently sits at around 43,000 words.

Excerpt of Chapter 3: Henry threw his cigarette down on the floor and scrubbed it out with the sole of his shoe. He took one last glance at the old man with a raised brow before opening the black gloss door of the solicitor’s building and stepping inside.

Hands in his pockets; he trundles into the lobby whilst looking up at the grand ceilings and the eloquently placed vases of irises. It had been quite some time since Henry played witness to such grandeur. Since his childhood.

 

At the end of the hallway Henry spots sight of a mahogany desk in front of a window bay, He slowly walks up to the half-open door and knocks…

 

‘Come in!’ replied a deep crackled voice from behind the door.

‘Hello I’m Henr…’

‘Henry Pickering, I’ve been expecting you, please take a seat!’

The gentleman gestured to two Chesterfield armchairs in front of an old marble fireplace.

Shyly Henry takes a seat and begins to observe his surroundings. The solicitor had Debussy playing softly in the corner of the room and a lit cigar smouldering away in a cut crystal ashtray on the leather-topped desk.

 

 

‘Apologies Mr Pickering, I realise this must all be quite a lot to take in. My name is John Lansdown. I’ve been searching for your whereabouts with regards to a deceased who wishes to pass some things on to you.’

 

‘A deceased?’ replied Henry.

‘Yes Mr Pickering, it appears someone was particularly fond of you. They Left with me a letter and some possessions to pass over.’

‘Really, but who, I don’t understand, I don’t know anyone who’s recently passed away?’ puzzled Henry.

Mr Lansdown arose from his chair and glided slowly over to the drink’s cabinet. ‘Would you like a drink, Mr Pickering?’

‘Urgh, a whisky please, make it a large if you wouldn’t mind?’ jittered Henry.

‘Of course, I think you’re going to need it!’ said Mr Lansdown as he opened a glass cabinet and pulled down two sparkling short glasses. He carefully poured the drinks and carried them over to the table.

‘You may smoke if you wish’ stated Mr Lansdown.

Henry jumped at the opportunity and quickly rolled up and lit a cigarette before taking a large gulp of the single malt whisky.

‘Henry, I sense this is going to be some difficult news for you. The deceased in question is Mr Giulian Antoni LeGrand’

There was a moment of complete silence. Henry’s eyes grew wider, He took another large gulp of his drink.

‘I don’t understand, the last time I saw him was under bad circumstances over 20 years ago… why now… why this?’

‘I think it’s best that you read the letter he left for you to better understand today’s meeting’ said Mr Lansdown as he passed over a wax-sealed envelope.  Henry opened the letter:

 

 

 

 

Mr Henry Pickering,

 

I hope this letter finds you and finds you well. I am sure this is all quite confusing for you so please allow me to explain. Some 24 years ago I did something I have regretted hugely to this day.

 

I tore apart my family, your family and everything my daughter and yourself had ever known. I realise now that you took greater care of my daughter than I ever could. She listened to you, and you never once led her astray. After I dismissed your mother from her job, I hid the truth for several years. I couldn’t tell her the truth, there is a far greater truth that I couldn’t tell anyone.

 

If she knew that you moved back to Wordsley, I knew she would have dropped out of school to go and find you. Giselle found out about yourself and Edith leaving De La Roux on the day of her graduation ceremony from her boarding school. She had just turned 18 and her disappointment in me was very clear.

20 years later, I still have not heard from her. She ran away not long after finishing school and has never reciprocated the times I have made contact. I worry about her dearly. Unfortunately, I write to you knowing my time will soon be at an end. The only thing I can do Is try to express to you, my sincere apologies.

 

I am incredibly Sorry, from the bottom of my heart. What I did was inexcusable, and for that, I have paid the ultimate price. I lost my daughter, I only hope that you can find her again, protect her and take care of her.

With this letter, there is a door key for De La Roux and some other possessions in a box.

 

She loved that house and enjoyed being there dearly. I am sorry that this has all come so late in life. But I am a dying man with very few options for how to protect his daughter. I know you will keep her safe and keep her from harm.

 

Should you need any help in the future, Mr Lansdown has assured me he will be able to assist after my passing.

 

 

 

Keep her safe Henry, I lost the moon whilst counting the stars. Heed that you do not make the same mistakes I did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kindest Regards

 

Giulian LeGrand

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Henry was lost for words. He could not comprehend even half of the letter he had just read. They both sat in silence whilst Henry took everything in. He reached into his pocket and rolled another cigarette whilst Mr Lansdown refilled the whisky glasses.

‘If there’s anything I can do to help you, Henry, please don’t hesitate to ask,’ said Mr Lansdown.

‘Thank you, it’s just a lot to take in… it’s been a long time since I spoke to Giulian. He is the one who gave me the scar on my cheek. Hell… the guy damn near beat me half to death for kissing his daughter’ Henry lightly scoffed and chuckled.

 

‘Ahh, that explains the generosity of his gifts,’ said Mr Lansdown. ‘I have to say, in all my years of this profession, seeing him reach out the way he did. I honestly believe he was sincere in his apologies.’

‘Hmm’ replied Henry. He sat quietly and stared at the ash in the fire basket on the fireplace grate.  A small beetle had walked the ash across the black gloss subway tiles on the floor of the fireplace. He had so much to ponder through that he merely shut off for a few moments and watched the scuttling of the small insect. Each leg moved purposefully, the sunlight from the window bouncing off the iridescence of its wing casing.

‘Which you’ll get just as you leave,’ said Lansdown.

‘Huh? Sorry, what did you say?’ said Henry as he zoned back into the conversation.

 

‘There’s a key and a box of belongings that Giulian Left for you, you’ll get given these as you leave Mr Pickering.’ Explained Lansdown.

‘Thank you!’ Said Henry. ‘I should probably go actually, it’s a long drive back to Wordsley’

‘Indeed indeed. Oh, and I forgot to mention, Giulian’s funeral is on the 19th of March at 10 am. I have your invite here in fact. Will you be attending?’

 

‘Sure’ Henry replied softly whilst nodding and looking down at the floor. Henry stood up from his chair and started walking towards the door. Mr Lansdown picks up and carries the small walnut burr box and hands it to Henry. The gentlemen shake hands, nod, and part ways.

With the box under Henry’s arm, he walks into the lobby towards the front door. He steps outside, lets out a big sigh of relief and climbs into the Jag. He leans over and places the box on the passenger seat. Henry glances over at it. Feeling lost; he rests both hands on the steering wheel and lets his head flop forward onto his chest.

Giselle had not bothered to contact him all these years. Why should he go out of his way to protect and help her now? More so why him? He was just a labourer… his home and town were ravaged by the mining industry… he was lucky to have a job at all. He was in no position to go galivanting after a missing person.  He slipped the key in the ignition turned over the car and began the journey back home with the box and letter at his side. The journey home felt much longer and slower this time. So, Henry purposely took the opportunity for a longer route home, he wanted to be alone a little longer just to work things out. He did not understand what it was exactly that was expected of him.

Oddly, he still thought about that little beetle, how he got there and why was he there. Henry smirked to himself. He realised he had more in common with Beetle than Mr Lansdown.

I grew up in a humble town in Hampshire, where nothing interesting has ever happened. I would mostly describe it to be a cesspit of misery that my parents fell into. I had a pretty traumatic upbringing and had to fight for every inch of the life that I live today. In some way or another, there are genuine experiences, emotions, names and places throughout my book. It took several years to produce and has been largely unseen by anyone other than my fiance who cried at the ending and has claimed it’s an original plot.  I have no past writing experience, but hope to write much more in the future should my work be appreciated. Presently I’m an accidental electrical process engineer with a history of dabbling in all things equestrian and cowboy. From the ages of 17 – 18, I lived in Switzerland working on a horse stud where I frankly lost the plot and ended up in a terrible relationship that stole years of happiness away from me. After a mild dabble in poor mental health, an identity disorder and a couple more terrible men, I now live the most wonderful life with my fiance and two children.

To have my work finally published would truly mean the absolute world, to know that all I’ve been through wasn’t all for nothing. To finally sleep knowing that my dream and my family’s hopes for me, eventually came true.