Read The Elephant Girl (Choc Lit) for Free Online Page B

back to England to talk about her inheritance. She could have written a letter, saving Sweetman the trouble and herself the unpleasantness of facing Helen’s anger. Because it was still there.
    ‘Is that really why you sent for me?’
    ‘Certainly not. I wanted you back here so you could take your place on the board of Ransome & Daughters. I’m getting a little old for that sort of thing.’
    ‘But I’m not interested in sitting on the board. I don’t know anything about the running of a business. What if I make a mistake?’
    Aggie made a dismissive gesture. ‘Oh, you won’t. You’re a bright girl, and Letitia is there to advise you. She’s practically been in charge single-handedly for the past five years now. I’m only there for important meetings, and Ruth’s more or less dropped out. Letitia is good at what she does. She’ll fix you up with something.’
    ‘Fix me up?’ Helen grimaced.
    ‘With a job, so you can learn the trade. That’s what your mother did.’
    Aggie rarely mentioned her mother. and the snarky remark died in Helen’s throat.
    A smile creased the corners of Aggie’s piggy eyes. ‘Mimi was quite a woman. She persevered and worked her way up. If she wanted something, she found a way to get it, through her own application. She had integrity,’ Aggie added when she noticed Helen bristling. ‘You may not believe this, my dear, but I truly admired her. She was a fighter.’
    Like me, thought Helen. Or am I?
    She only had hazy memories of worshipping her mother as a child, and although she hardly remembered her now, Aggie’s unexpected praise warmed her. Some of the tightness in her chest lifted, and for the first time her grandmother seemed almost human, fallible even. Maybe she was a fighter too, even though she hadn’t fought for Helen when it really mattered.
    ‘Ruth and Letitia won’t have anything good to say about my mother,’ she commented, not quite won over. ‘They couldn’t stand each other.’
    Aggie grunted. ‘Certainly there were ructions between the girls. Letitia adored her late father and didn’t want me to marry William, so she resented the set-up. It didn’t help that your mother was so pretty. As are you, if you would only make the best of yourself.’ Her gaze fell on Helen’s scruffy clothes.
    ‘I don’t like drawing attention to myself.’
    ‘That’s understandable, given what you witnessed as a child, but maybe it’s time to say goodbye to the ugly duckling and turn into the swan you were always meant to be. To come into your own, as it were.’
    Ignoring Helen’s glare, Aggie nibbled a piece of sponge cake, like an automaton as if she didn’t really taste it. ‘I admit that William and I didn’t do as much as we could’ve done to make the girls get on. We were too preoccupied with the merger. The company was our passion. When we did notice that all was not well between our daughters, William fell ill, and I divided my time between nursing him and running the company. Letitia was a great help, as was your mother, though she was barely out of school.’
    ‘What about Ruth?’
    Aggie scoffed. ‘Ruth was in love. She always was in those days. Nothing else seemed to matter to her. One after the other, and they were all disasters.’
    ‘But then she married Jeremy.’
    ‘Eventually. He was a disaster too.’
    It suddenly dawned on Helen what Aggie was driving at. ‘And now you want me to do what Ruth can’t, or won’t. You want me on your side against Letitia. That’s why you wanted me to come back.’ She hadn’t imagined she could be useful to Aggie, and now she saw the role she was expected to play, it wasn’t quite what she’d hoped for.
    Aggie’s mouth tightened. ‘Letitia will do as I say. I still own eighteen per cent of the shares. That’s enough to throw a spanner in the works, with a few of the other shareholders on my side. You, my dear, read too many trashy novels.’
    ‘I haven’t read a book in years. Reality is strange