Chapter 39

"Where, Anne?" asked Stan, mildly. But he was anxious, twisted up inside. "Is it far?"

"No, Stan, not far. I'll commute. It's about an hour each way, about sixty miles or so up the motorway."

"So you're going to stay with us?" asked Denise, looking and sounding troubled.

"Yes, of course!" Anne answered, sitting up straight.

"Thank God!" muttered Stan, and Anne took his hand in both of hers. "I wouldn't leave you, silly!" she told him.

"Good! 'Cuz we're not planning on letting you go!" Denise exclaimed.

Suddenly, Anne just simply broke down. Her face crumpled and she turned away from them both. Stan could hear her sobs. He and Denise moved together to comfort the crying woman.

Stan kissed her underneath her ear, while Denise restrained herself to merely hugging her, murmuring "It's all right. We love you, Anne," repeatedly. Anne simply let them do this for a while. Then she shook herself a little and pushed them away. She stood, sniffing back her tears and fetched herself a tissue.

Stan watched as one of the two women he loved fought herself back under control. He was continually amazed at Anne's control, her self-discipline. When her mastery over her feelings, burst like this he knew there had to have been a major reason.

Finally she seemed to be in command of herself again. She looked up at Stan, then over to Denise. She told them both, "I'm sorry about that. I don't know what came over me. I'd been holding this in for a while, now, since Sid got into contact with me. He told me I had to keep it secret, "deeply under the rose" as he put it, and I couldn't say what was happening to anyone. But in the end I had to tell you, I had to. It wasn't fair to you, and it wasn't fair to me, either. I'm so sorry, and then you go and say that to me. I thought you'd both be upset and angry with me. To be quite honest I was frightened about what you'd say. Thank you!"

As Anne spoke, tears began to flow down her cheeks again and, at the last, her voice broke once more. But she visibly commanded herself to stop, Stan could feel the order radiating out from her centre, and she dabbed her eyes once more.

"God, I must look a mess!" Anne said. Denise immediately replied "God, I wish I looked half as good as you even when you are a mess!"

"Ladies!" Stan called, making a "Time-Out" motion with his hands. "You're both beautiful! Stop trying to out-humble each other!"

Denise looked at him and stuck her tongue out. Anne reached over and gently punched him on the arm. Denise clipped his ear. Suddenly they both launched themselves at him.

For a while it looked as though Stan might win and pin them down, even with both of the ladies combined against him. But then Anne demonstrated that she'd been paying attention to his reactions in bed — she tickled him underneath his foot. Stan howled, he flopped, he begged, but with Denise grabbing his other foot he had no chance. Eventually Denise had mercy on him and let go, and Anne followed suit. Stan had tears in his eyes, but the other two were grinning from ear to ear. Denise turned to Anne and held up her hand for a high five, and Anne slapped it.

"And let that be a lesson to you!" Anne told him.

"What for?" he asked, gasping

"Whatever! I'm sure you must have done something wrong!" she answered him, and Denise nodded in agreement.

Stan was happy that they'd stopped tickling him, but even happier that the mood had taken a turn for the better.

"So, can you tell us the story, now?" he asked Anne, once he'd got his breath back.

"Well, okay, but this really is hush-hush, all right?" she told them. "Sid's come up with a pretty innovative design idea, and asked me to come up with an independent proof-of-concept design to show to some venture capitalists. He's setting up a company to complete the design and turn it into a real product, if he can get the finance in place. I don't know much about that end of things, sorry.

"But I've just finished the first simulation run of the POC design, and it comes out clean. So I sent it to him this morning, for him to get some more in-depth simulations run — I can only get so much done here, and I can't do it at The Firm, obviously. So, for the moment, my extra work hours are at an end. Thank goodness!"

"That's got to be good news, anyway," Stan said, and his sentiment was echoed equally by Denise.

"Yes, well... it's only a temporary respite I expect. But to really go further I have to have access to more powerful tools than I can use at home, and that's going to be dependent on Sid getting the financing. If he can manage that, then I expect I'll be handing in my notice the next day. That's one of the reasons I've been pushing hard at work, to get my project wrapped-up there as far and as clean as possible so Percy can appoint someone to take it over with a chance of success."

"You do realize what you're letting yourself in for, don't you?" asked Denise. "That commute's going to be hell!"

"Tell me about it!" Anne groaned, "but it's the only way, really. I simply can't do the work from home at all, even if I wanted to — I need those software tools, and a high end workstation to run them on."

"When?" Stan asked.

"If it comes off at all, that is, if Sid gets the first tranche of money, it'll be soon. January, February at the latest. I fully expect to hand in my notice in January and be working full-time for Sid very soon after that.

"But in the meantime, we've got Christmas and New Year. I expect that'll be my last chance to really relax for a while, and I want to make the most of it!"

"Cheers to that!" Denise exclaimed!

Christmas was coming fast, and Stan was wondering what to get for his special ladies. He had to find something for his assistant, Elizabeth, too.

As usual, Stan did most of his shopping online. He quickly found the perfect gifts for 'his ladies' as he was now accustomed to thinking of them, and something for the older lady. He also selected personal gifts for Denise and Anne.

Of course, every day at The Firm they still saw Elaine. Stan could tell that Denise was having a difficult time adjusting once more to having Elaine as only a friend, not a lover and confidante. He knew it was something that only time could cure, so he and Anne simply did their best to help her through it.

Now that Anne was free of the bone-numbing workload that she'd been under, and merely working about ten hours a week overtime, she and Stan took Denise out as much as they could.

It was Friday, less than two weeks before The Firm had its annual Christmas party before closing down until the New Year. Stan had managed to get tickets for "The Phantom of the Opera" at Her Majesty's Theatre, Haymarket, — it was Denise's first West End Musical.

"Are you sure I'll like this, Stan? I mean, musicals aren't really my scene," she told him on the drive into London.

"Oh, yes, you'll love it!" Anne replied before Stan could answer. "There's something about live musical theatre. I just love it. And it's not as if you don't like the songs — You've been humming "Phantom" for weeks now."

"Yes, but that's because Stan bought me that Nightwish album, and it's on that. I don't think it'll be quite the same!"

"You'll be surprised, I think," Stan said. "Its pretty close. Yes, Denise, I'll stake dinner out tomorrow night on it. You'll love it."

"But you're already taking us out tomorrow, Stan," Denise protested.

"Then I can't lose, even if I lose, can I?" he said, smiling at her in the rear view mirror.

Parking in London was never easy, but Anne had an advantage — Sid had opened an office there, well within easy walking distance of Southgate tube station. It had an allocated parking space that she'd made sure was free. So Anne was in the front reading the directions. Stan hated driving in London, but it was easier if he didn't have to navigate. It was a case of adjusting to it, and Stan found that he became more assertive as the drive went on. He had to, to make headway — everyone else was intent on taking full advantage of any hesitation! They made it with plenty of time to spare, got out and walked the short distance to the Tube station.

They got off at Green Park, and walked the quarter mile back up Piccadilly to St. Jermyn's Street and the theatre. Stan's careful research had ensured good seats — it was easy to get cheap ones, where the view was partially obscured by pillars — and after ordering interval drinks they sat down to enjoy the Phantom's use of Christine as his face and voice to project his music.

Stan liked 'Phantom', but he'd seen it before. He kept a careful eye on Denise. This was her night, and he wanted to be sure she was enjoying herself. After all, it was his suggestion. To his delight, it was obvious that she was more than just merely enjoying the show — she was spellbound. Good!