Chapter 1

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“Has dad bought a Bentley?” Belle asked excitedly as she ran into the kitchen.

“Ahh, you’re back,” Lia said, ignoring the question, “how was your tour of the storage lockers.”

“Tiring,” Belle sighed, “Poppy walks so quickly, she doesn’t appreciate I’ve only got little legs.”

“Such nice legs though,” Poppy replied, as she hugged Belle from behind, “anyway, who’s is the black Bentley? It looks like Batman’s.”

“You’ve got a visitor,” Lia replied as she pushed a couple of mugs of tea across the counter, “she’s with Katie in the lounge.”

“Who is it?”

“Someone called Amy, that’s all she said.”

“Holy shit!” Belle exclaimed, “is she a bit shorter than Poppy, red hair, gorgeous?”

Poppy looked at Belle, “surely not.”

Lia looked at the girls, “that’s exactly what she looks like. What am I missing?”

“She’s like this legend,” Belle told her, “She’s a billionaire or something. She’s set up this school in the Lake District, a boarding school. She takes girls from the streets, girls she thinks have potential, and she puts them in her school, for free.”

“She’s so young, like 25 or something, how did she get to be a billionaire?” Lia asked.

“Not a clue,” Belle replied with a shrug, “let’s go and ask.”

Amy and Katie stood as the three girls stepped into the lounge, Belle stopped in the doorway and just stared at Amy for a few moments.

“See, I told you she was real,” she whispered to Poppy, “and she’s fucking gorgeous.”

Amy smiled at Belle, “yes, I’m real, Belle. And you look even prettier close up.”

“How do you even know my name?”

“Come in properly and sit down,” Amy told her, “And I’ll tell you why I’m here.”

Poppy and Lia sat either side of Katie, Belle sat on the floor by Poppy’s feet as Amy resumed her place in Alex’s armchair.

Whilst Belle was snuggled close to Poppy, she couldn’t take her eyes off their visitor. Amy really was as beautiful as she’d heard. Her skin clear and pale, it almost glowed in the afternoon sunlight streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Her shoulder-length red hair shimmered and bounced as she moved.

“I can feel your stares,” Amy laughed, “I guess I’d better tell you why I’m here before one of you slaps me.”

“Oh, we won’t slap you,” Belle told her, “But I am wondering how you know my name, and how you found us.”

“The first one is easy; I’ve been following your story, so I decided to look for you. In truth, I’ve been looking for Poppy on and off for a few years.”

“Why me?” Poppy asked.

“I overheard Belle, she mentioned my school. I work with charities in most cities, they tell me about girls who’ve fallen through the cracks, girls with talents, with potential. If I like the sound of the girl, I send people out to look for her. If they find the girl, and they confirm she’s a good fit for the school, I come down in person and talk to her.”

“So why were you looking for me?” Poppy asked, “I was a fucking mess when I was on the streets.”

“My people saw past the mess, Poppy. They’d heard about how you looked after Belle, how you stood up for other girls in your squats, getting into fights you didn’t start to protect your friends. I liked what I heard, so I came down to find you. Unfortunately, by the time I tracked you down, your squat had been demolished and everyone had scattered. So, I went back north. My spies found you again, they told me you were in a bad way and needed urgent help, so I flew down...”

“You can fly?” Belle asked, not sarcastically, she was fully prepared to believe this vision sitting in Alex’s chair could fly.

“I have a helicopter, but someone else flies it. My people knew where you slept most nights, we tried all your usual places, but you’d gone. We asked around and eventually learnt you’d been kidnapped. I stayed in London for a few days, searching high and low for you, I didn’t sleep for days while we looked for you. Every lead dead ended. Eventually we heard you’d been killed, which was devastating, I’d tried so hard to find you, spending thousands in payments for information, and we’d lost you.

“While we were here, I tried to find you, Belle, but nobody would tell me a thing. It was clear people knew where you were, but they wouldn’t tell me. I think that’s because you were under Poppy’s protection, and the girls we met were continuing to protect you.”

Poppy leant forwards and kissed the top of Belle’s head, pleased her friends had protected her.

“I’m now glad I didn’t find you, because it seems the news of Poppy’s death was wrong, and if I’d found you and taken you to the school, Poppy would have lost you.”

“Why did you want to find me,” Poppy asked quietly, “you say it’s because I protected my friends, but that’s just what any decent person would do.”

“Unfortunately, there’s simply not that many people who will step in and potentially get beaten to a pulp for someone else.”

“So, what does your school do?” Lia asked, because Poppy was speechless.

“Is it like Hogwarts,” Belle asked, because she’s rarely speechless.

“Not quite,” Amy replied, smiling warmly. “My school is quite small, I have 50 girls there at the moment, the youngest is 12, the oldest is 18.”

“And what do they learn?”

“Anything they teach in a regular school. They learn Maths, English and Science, because everyone needs to learn those things. Then they can learn anything they like, if they want to learn French, or German, they can do that. The subjects I like them to learn are Business Studies, Psychology and Sociology; but they can literally study anything they want to.”

“So, what do your girls do once they’ve finished.”

“I’ve only had five girls leave so far, one has just opened a tattoo studio, one is working for the charity Shelter, the other three have gone to University, which is amazing considering they were failing everything in school before I took them on.”

“So, how does your school work,” Katie asked, “where do the girls live?”

“They board, full time if they’re homeless, term time only if they have families, but they can choose to stay year-round if they like.”

“And who pays for the boarding?”

“You know that part about me being a billionaire.”

“Ahh, of course.”

“It’s not a money pit, I have a business manager who makes sure we’re not wasting money. Most of the teachers are shared with nearby schools, so I only pay them for a couple of days a week.”

“So, you found me, what now?” Poppy asked.

“Well, let’s step back a bit. Obviously, I’d heard rumours that you were alive, and that you were settled into a family, so I left you alone. My school is for girls left behind by society, that’s not you anymore. I didn’t forget about you though, my people kept feeding back information about your ideas for a charity, and this piqued my interest. Your plans sounded amazingly ambitious. My friend Marina gave me a couple of tickets for your gala...”

“You were there!” Belle exclaimed.

“Yes! I was there!” Amy replied with equal enthusiasm, “it was a lot of fun, I especially loved the drive in the Bugatti Chiron...”

“You bought the Bugatti for the weekend?” Belle asked, “I was watching to see who got it, I’m sure it was a man.”

“That was my husband, Gary. I’d nipped to the loo, champagne goes straight through me, he knew I wanted it, and he didn’t fail me.”

“Was it worth £30k?”

“Definitely. I love my cars, I only buy British though, so I don’t have a Bugatti of my own. I drove it up to Scotland, it was awesome.”

“£30,000 is a lot of money to spend on car hire,” Katie said.

“Yes, but it’s a lot less than I’d have to pay to buy one.”

“How much are they?” Poppy asked.

“A few million,” Amy replied, “which is cheaper than my helicopter, but like I said, I only buy British cars.”

“Is your helicopter British,” Belle asked.

“I’m afraid it isn’t, I looked, but nobody builds them here anymore, so I had to buy an Italian one.”

“Why didn’t you come down in it today?”

“Mostly because it’s really expensive to fly, and I wasn’t sure if you had room to park it here.”

“I could have painted a big H on the roof of Lia’s office.”

“Maybe next time Belle. So yeah, your gala, I loved it. The way you spoke about your plans for the charity really got me thinking. So, I kept an eye on the news, I saw the coverage of your first night, and I read reports online about your work. Then I saw you on TV and was about to send you some money when the wonderful Taylor beat me to it...”

“She kissed me,” Belle told her, touching her cheek as if she could still feel Taylor Swift’s lips.

“Wow! That’s amazing, did she kiss you as well Poppy?”

“She did,” Poppy replied quietly, still in awe of meeting Taylor, “I could smell her perfume, she smelt of vanilla.”

“Have you managed to buy your own kitchen yet?”

“We’re looking.” Lia replied. “At the moment we use four kitchens in rotation, and they’re all different, so Belle has done a lot of work planning what meals we can cook in each kitchen. My job is to find a building that doesn’t need too much work, somewhere we can park all our vans and bikes securely, and somewhere we can build a single kitchen with the best bits of the four kitchens we use currently.”

“And do you have enough money for what you want?”

“We can’t afford to buy a building, at least none of the suitable ones I’ve found so far. We’ll probably need to rent something.”

“Have you asked your local council? They often have empty buildings they’ll give to community groups, either for free, or cheap. You need to prove you really are doing work for the community and sign a declaration that you’ll never sell the building.”

Lia looked at Poppy and Katie, “that’s a great idea. You’re the best at talking to people, Katie. Do you think you could phone around tomorrow?”

“No problem, I’ll do some research later.”

“OK, why I’m here. I’ve been wanting to speak to you, I didn’t at the gala because it was your night, I didn’t want to interfere by mentioning my charity. I’d heard all these tales about your aura Poppy, about how you exude strength, kindness and love...”

“She’s a goddess,” Belle whispered.

“Well, to be honest, I was a little nervous about coming down to meet you all. I’m glad I did. I’ve got a really good feeling about you. I don’t know about a goddess, but you do have a presence, Poppy. So, down to business. What I’d like, is for you to come and talk to my girls.”

“Just me?” Poppy asked.

“Oh no, all of you.”

“What do you want us to talk about?” Katie asked, “I was never homeless.”

“And that’s what I’d like you to talk about, what it’s like living with three street girls. As I said, I know Marina, she’s good friends with my guardian, Geoff. She’s quite taken with you all and has told me a lot about you. So, I know you didn’t have a great time at home, Katie. I know you went through hell, Lia, yet you sit there, beautiful and proud, a testament to your strength. Marina says you spent your time on the streets reading.”

“Yes, I missed a lot of school, because I was, err ... badly treated at home.”

“You don’t need to sugar coat anything for me, Lia, I’ve heard stories that make me lie awake at night crying. If you’ve lived through it, I can stand hearing about it.”

“My dad and brothers used me; they raped me and beat me for years until I found the strength to run away. I’ve had broken arms and ribs; I sometimes couldn’t walk because of all my bruising. Once I was free of them, I tried to catch up on the stuff I missed in school, so I spent my days in the library, studying. At night I would read books I’d picked up from charity shops.”

“She spent a couple of months in our squat,” Poppy added, “Belle used to steal candles for Lia, so she could read at night. She’d try to teach us stuff, but neither me nor Belle are clever enough to have taken in much of what Lia tried to teach us.”

“The very fact you’re alive Poppy is proof that street smarts are just as important as book smarts,” Amy told her, before turning to Belle.

“And you, sweetheart, are here to show me that even the happiest childhoods can be so easily derailed by tragedy.”

Belle dropped her head and wiped a tear from her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Belle, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“It’s OK,” she replied, sniffing a little, “sometimes I remember home, and I think how fortunate I was, compared to Poppy and Lia, and even Katie. She had a lovely house, but shit, her mum is pure evil.”

“She never hit me or anything,” Katie added, “she just ground me down with her hatred.”

“Why did she hate you?” Amy asked.

“Because I’m gay, and that offended her fundamentalist Christian values. It was fine for her to drink and smoke and fuck anyone but my dad, but it wasn’t OK for me to be in love with a girl.”

“That’s awful Katie, I can only imagine how oppressive it must have been. Refusing to accept a child’s sexuality can do so much damage to their mental health. Were you ever bullied at school?”

“Mmm, I wasn’t out at school. Even when I started dating Poppy I didn’t come out, although I think a few people guessed. It was when Belle came along everything changed. There’s no way we could keep anything secret with Belle around. She’s wonderful, but not good at keeping secrets.”

“I see, and what about afterwards? How were you treated once you came out?”

“Ahh, that’s a little complicated, because practically everyone is now afraid of Poppy and Belle, so they don’t dare say anything bad.”

“Why are they afraid of you?” Amy asked Poppy.

“It’s all Belle’s fault,” Poppy replied, laughing, “she’s just too beautiful.”

“I don’t understand...”

“The day Belle started school a girl tried to slap her for seducing her boyfriend.”

“I wasn’t even looking at him,” Belle replied indignantly.

“We know, sweetie,” Poppy replied, running her fingers lovingly through Belle’s hair, “it’s just you’re so beautiful, other girls fear their boyfriends will fall for you.”

“Anyway, Jade tried to slap me, so I knocked her out...”

“Actually knocked her out, unconscious?”

“Yep,” Poppy replied, a definite note of pride in her answer, “it all happened too quick to see what happened, but Jade ended up in hospital and we ended up in the head’s office.”

“I got suspended and had to write a letter to Jade, apologising for over-reacting.”

“And ever since, people are scared of Poppy and Belle,” Katie concluded, “they saw just what Belle can do, and the rumours of what happened to Poppy on the streets started to spread, so they realised she was probably even more dangerous.”

“Poppy killed the man who kidnapped me...” Belle announced, then realised she shouldn’t have, “ahh, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“I’m assuming you had no choice,” Amy replied, not fazed by this news.

“We could have left him for the police,” Poppy told her, “But he was the most evil fucker to ever walk god’s green earth. He killed girls for fun, he was going to rape me to death, that’s what his guys did to the hookers who were too used up. They raped and beat me for a whole weekend, he ripped me up, down below, you know, I only escaped because everyone else passed out and they forgot to lock me up.”

“That’s when Alex found you?” Amy asked, tenderly, “That was the end, and the beginning?”

“Yes, it was. I can never thank Alex enough, he’s a saint, an absolute fucking saint.”

The room fell silent for a moment, as everyone thought about the horrors they’d all seen, and how they all came to an end because Alex saw Poppy and had the human decency to help her.

“Does anyone want another drink?” Lia asked once the silence became awkward.

“So, when would you like us to come to talk to your girls?” Poppy asked as she sipped her tea.

“As soon as possible, I could take you up tomorrow if you like.”

“It’s the summer holidays, isn’t school closed?” Belle asked.

“We never close,” Amy replied, “most of my girls have nowhere to live, so they stay in school all year. They have trips out in the holidays, and I took them all on holiday for a few days in June, but otherwise they’re in school. They don’t have normal lessons in the holidays, because that wouldn’t be fair on the few students who’ve gone home.”

“What would we be doing, standing in front of a classroom or lecture hall or something?” Lia asked, “because I don’t think I could do that.”

“Oh no, we don’t have a lecture hall or anything, and none of our classrooms are big enough for everyone to gather at once. The school building was a big house, it used to belong to a Victorian factory owner, it’s huge for a house, but small for a school. The girls all eat in what used to be the billiard room, so when we have visitors, we have them speak during the evening meal, or we could do it in the garden if it’s a nice night.”

The girls chatted amongst themselves for a moment, before coming to a decision.

“OK, we’ll come to talk to your girls, but we’ll have to ask mum first,” Poppy checked her watch, “she’ll be home in about half an hour.”

“If you want to take us up tomorrow, where are you staying tonight?” Katie asked.

“I was going to get a room at the pub down the road,” Amy replied.

Belle thrust her hand in the air, “you can stay in our room, we’ve got a king-size bed.”

Amy smiled.

Alex arrived home at the same time as Jenny, “who’s is the Bentley?” Alex asked as they stepped into the kitchen, where the girls had convened so Belle could start cooking dinner.

“Ahh, it’s mine,” Amy replied, “do you need me to move it?”

“Not at all,” Alex replied, “I was just hoping Belle hadn’t stolen it,” he added, moving round the kitchen island to hug Belle.

“This is Amy,” Poppy told her parents, “She’s come down here to meet us.”

“Amy is like Batman, being a billionaire is her superpower,” Belle added.

“Mmm, it’s not my superpower,” Amy replied, blushing a little, “well, not in the Batman sense.”

“How did you become a billionaire, you look so young,” Jenny asked.

“Thank you, I’m 24, and I got my money the old-fashioned way, I inherited it. Well, not inherited so much as my guardian gave me almost all his money as a wedding gift.”

“Shit, really!” Jenny replied, blinking in amazement, “That’s quite generous.”

“I thought so,” Amy replied, matter-of-factly, “it’s mostly tied up in a trust that I manage, and I use the trust income for charitable purposes.”

Katie left the table so Jenny could take a seat opposite Amy.

“Why have you come down to meet my daughter’s” Jenny asked, not quite ready to trust Amy.

“I’ve been looking for Poppy for a couple of years. I own a school, a boarding school, for girls who’ve fallen through the cracks, girls with potential. I want to give those girls the same chances rich kids have got. A good education, and good contacts.”

“How did you know about Poppy two years ago, she was still on the streets then.”

“I’ve partnered with charities across the country, I pay them to look out for girls with potential. I know there’s thousands of kids out there that need my help, and one day I hope to have a network of schools, but right now I have 50 beds, that’s my limit, so I choose my girls carefully. As Poppy has proven admirably, she had the potential I was looking for.”

Jenny took a mug of coffee from Katie; she was relaxing a little as Amy spoke.

“Poppy was hard to find. By the time I’d made my decision, and come down to London to talk to her, the squat had been demolished and all the girls had scattered. This happens a lot, I guess the kids deliberately make themselves hard to find.”

“Yep,” Lia replied, “especially people like me and Poppy, who were hiding from family.”

“Indeed,” Amy acknowledged, “A few months later, I got an urgent call from a woman called Angel, she works for a street charity called Night Action, she’d just heard Poppy had been kidnapped. I called my pilot, and he flew me straight down and I spent the next few days looking. I had about a hundred people searching everywhere we knew Poppy, and the people we thought kidnapped her, had connections. After three days we gave up, there wasn’t a single sighting of you anywhere.”

Amy looked at Poppy, “where did they take you in the end?”

“An empty squat in Merton, a few miles from here.”

“Ahh, we didn’t even look there, I’m so sorry.”

Poppy smiled weakly, “if you’d have found me, we’d have all been dead, those fuckers were pure evil. They’re all dead now, all of them,” she added, coldly.

“Do you still want Poppy to join your school, is that why you’re here?” Jenny asked.

“Ahh, no. Even if I wanted Poppy, I’ve no spaces at the moment. You see, what I was going to do is give her the money for a kitchen, after watching her and Belle on TV, but Taylor Swift beat me to it. I do have a few ideas I’d like to mull over, like, I’m currently funding about 300 volunteers in London, I’m sure they could help you out.”

“That would be awesome,” Lia replied, “we’ve about 75 people helping at the moment, I’m sure we could extend our reach with a few more.”

“Consider them at your disposal, I’ll give you the team leaders’ details, there’s five different groups, they could work in shifts. Anyway, what I’d like, and you have final say here, Jenny, is I’d like to take all four of your girls up to talk to my girls tomorrow.”

“What do you want them to talk about?” Alex asked.

“Well, every single one of my girls is damaged in a different way. Some ran away from abuse, some ran away because their parents weren’t interested in them, or died from drugs, or were killed by partners or boyfriends, or were struggling with their mental health and the parents and schools didn’t understand them or have the skills to cope. Between your daughters, we have most of those bases covered. I’d especially like Belle to talk, because she had an almost perfect childhood that ended suddenly in tragedy, I have a girl who had a very similar experience. Not totally the same, as her father killed her mother...”

“My dad killed mum,” Belle replied, almost too quietly for anyone to hear.

“Are you sure,” Poppy asked, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend.

“I’m pretty sure, I’ve been thinking about it more and more recently. I don’t think he could cope with mum having another baby that wasn’t his. He was a nice man, a good father, I think, but he got angry at times. I’d come home from school and there was an atmosphere, you know that feeling when you walk in a room and people have been arguing?”

Everyone nodded.

“Yeah, it was like that sometimes when I got home. I think dad had had enough of mum sleeping with Mr Clarke and all the other people.”

“How does that make you feel,” Poppy asked, “better or worse than when we thought it was an accident.”

“I’m annoyed, obviously,” Belle replied, “but ... in a weird way, everything has been better since, you know. Well, a lot of the sleeping on the streets was a pain in the arse, but we had fun as well, didn’t we? And without what dad did, I’d never have met my new family...”

Poppy pulled Belle into a tighter hug, “you were sent from heaven to save me Belle, I’m 100% sure of that. Whoever’s up there, looking out for us, rolling the dice to see who lives and dies, maybe the only way he could get you to me was to cause that tragedy that night.”

“So, this is all part of a plan?” Belle asked seriously.

“I think it is,” Poppy replied.

“I’m still not happy about mum dying, I’d like to have known her longer, but if she had to go so that we could be together and do all the good stuff we’re doing for other kids, then I suppose it’s for the best. I just hope I don’t have to die to help someone else, because I thought I was going to die when Mikey had me taped to that table. You came to save me though, because you really are Wonder Woman.”

“Is Mikey the man you ... err ... killed?” Amy asked.

“Yes, he’s the guy who kidnapped me, well, his men kidnapped me on his behalf. Then a few weeks ago he kidnapped Belle.”

“And I can assure you, none of what I’ve heard will ever be repeated, I don’t even tell Gary most of the stuff I’ve seen and heard. He’s a wonderful guy, but he doesn’t work the same way I do. I handle the caring side of the foundation; he handles the spreadsheets and websites.”

“So, err, if you don’t mind me asking, and full disclosure, I’m a Detective Sergeant, why did your guardian give you all his money?”

“Well, he didn’t give me everything, just most of it, and the bulk of the money is in a trust, so I can’t just go and spend it all. There’s so much money in the trust, that it’s growing far faster than I can spend it anyway.”

“How much money is there?” Belle asked.

“Right now, it’s over £4 billion...”

Belle spat out her tea, “shit, I thought I was rich with half a million.”

“You are rich, Belle,” Amy assured her, “because you have a beautiful, loving family. You can have all the money in the world, but if you don’t have people who love you, and people to love, you’re still spiritually poor.

“So, back to my money ... mmm, where to start ... OK, so, I was like you Belle, I had a loving family, and I had a good life. We weren’t rich, but we weren’t poor, we were comfortable. Then my dad died, it was super sudden, one day he was fit and well, the next he was dead amongst his rose bushes, he’d had a massive heart attack. We couldn’t afford to keep up the payments on the house in Manchester, so mum and me moved up to Cumbria, to a house my Uncle Tony owned.

“I started 6^th Form at the local school, a nice school, but I fell in with someone who wasn’t nice. Oh, Mary seemed nice at first, she introduced me to all her beautiful friends and their hunky brothers and boyfriends. Then she started to arrange dates for me, and it soon became clear she was just empire building, using me to forge alliances with the important families, basically she was pimping me out.

“These boys would usually rape me if I didn’t put out quickly enough, so I learnt to put out, it was less painful in the long run. I was basically the school slut, a hooker who got paid with drinks and dinner.”

Amy paused to sip her coffee, she looked around, all eyes were on her.

“After one unfortunate date I fell pregnant,” Amy continued, “I spoke to the deputy head, a lovely woman called Wendy. She listened to my story without comment, then after discussing my plans for the future, she advised me to have an abortion. Not a pleasant experience, but the best option for all concerned. Wendy also got me a job in school after my A-Levels, which was when my life started to turn around.”

“Ahh, sorry to interrupt,” Belle interrupted, “dinner will be an hour, shall we move into the lounge for a bit?”

“That’s a good idea Belle,” Jenny replied, “I was so engrossed with Amy’s story I’ve not even noticed what you’ve been cooking.”

“We’re having chicken supreme tonight, organic chicken cooked in a white wine, cream and mustard sauce.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Amy told Belle as she followed the family into the lounge.

“We’re using Helen’s favourite wine; she’ll go mental when she finds out I’ve used the last bottle.”

“Who’s Helen?”

“Dad’s sister, she’s just the most amazing woman, she’s a psychologist, she’s kept us all sane, well, almost.”

“If you tell me what wine she likes, I’ll send her a case.”

“No need, she’s rich enough to buy her own wine,” Belle replied as she resumed her place on the floor beside Poppy.

When everyone was settled, Amy resumed her story.

“So, where was I? Ahh yes, I’d reached rock bottom. One day, out of the blue, Mary reached out to me, we’d not spoken since the last of our exams in June, so it was a bit of a shock, I should have been annoyed, because she’d been the cause of a lot of heartbreaks, but I’m not a vindictive person, I don’t hold grudges, so I took her call. She said she had a date for me, I was instantly wary, but she told me this wasn’t one of her rugby-playing boyfriends, he was an older gentleman, with the emphasis on gentleman. The date would be dinner and dancing at a very expensive hotel, I decided I had nothing to lose, so I accepted.

“Before the date I had a massive panic, posh hotel, I needed a dress, so mum took me shopping and I found one in Oxfam. It was from Monsoon, I love their dresses, green with a red paisley design.

“On the day Geoff picked me up in a brand-new Range Rover, it was the fanciest car I’d ever been in. The hotel was in acres of parkland, the driveway was nearly a mile long. Inside I marvelled at the paintings on the wall, the fancy carpets, the celebrities, even someone I recognised as a cousin of Prince William, but I forget her name.

“The meal was many courses, with many different wines. I wasn’t completely uncivilised, I already had good table manners, but the sheer amount of cutlery and glassware required for a 6-course meal had me flummoxed, luckily Geoff sensed my distress and whispered advice to me throughout the meal.