Chapter 10

Thinking about his family always made Andrew cranky and the next morning was no different. Spending time with Maggie and Tony had been an effortless distraction as usual, but on the walk home his mind was dragged back to the issues with his father. He swam for a long time at Warrender mired in his own Escher inspired endless loop. And got nowhere with it, other than the sense he was damaged. This break was the first since before he went to university where there were no investment meetings. Neither the week before nor the week after the wedding were a good time to be focusing on the business. There were no new investments that break, they would all be left until after Julian graduated and Andrew finished second year. He had no idea how he was going to find the time to be involved in June. Hmmm. Although there were no big formal meetings Andrew did have a whole slew of meetings scheduled with Mhairi, Creighton and Morag, the last of which would be an interesting dance around the topic of his naked arse. At 9.00 on the last Monday of March in 1985 he was sitting in Mhairi’s office.

“Neil tells me the stag was good fun.”

There was no way he was responding to that, from a lawyer!

“Oh, you are no fun Andrew. I tried to get him to confess all to me yesterday. Do you know what he said?”

Andrew shook his head.

“I should have had Andrew organise my stag. Do I want to know what you got up to?”

“Ask Neil to demonstrate to you what happened.”

Mhairi just laughed and the focus turned serious.

“The property fund paperwork is ready for you to sign. It is redeemable but any withdrawals are with two year’s notice. It is not a place to invest cash you may need at short notice. It is long term and needs to have that investment horizon. It is capped at £4m and you have £250,000 of that, well £240 with the other £10 in Suzanne Jenner’s name. I will need her to sign off some time soon. That is the first of the easy ones. The engineering company is also registered. 90% is with you and 10% is with Julian. Creighton and I decided to set up separate investment companies for you both which will hold your investments. You have the reciprocal investment in his computer company. Having an investment company in place allows you to more efficiently invest in businesses, be it your own or others. So there is paperwork for you to sign for your investment company, the engineering company and your investment in Julian’s computer company.”

It all felt absurd. Three more companies and an investment in a property fund. Who the hell did Andrew think he was? But Mhairi was only getting started.

“So that is all the easy paperwork out of the way. Your modelling company on other hand.”

She stopped and shook her head.

“Stop me if you start to lose track because there is a lot going on. First Shetland Models is registered. All the paperwork with Hermès or their ad agency has been amended to show your designated modelling name. So when people ask who you are the forms all say Andrew Bressay care of Shetland Models.”

Mhairi paused and looked at him intently. Her tone softened.

“Andrew, when I was updating the paperwork with Hermès I had several conversations with Manon Roux and one with her boss, a Ms. Raymonde. They both think that these adverts, this campaign, will be a tremendous success. And they are planning accordingly. They have extended the hold period on these shoots until this time next year. And they have let me know that they hope to produce further commercials with you. Andrew, I think that you need to hire a proper agent. I know that sounds ridiculous but I can make the contract watertight and deal with the legal side of things, hire a French lawyer if necessary. What you need is someone to maximise the amounts in the contract.”

Andrew stood up and walked back and forth in her office, just for something to do as he thought about this ever more complicated mess. Finally he slumped back into his chair.

“I have a meeting on Easter Monday with Heloise and Manon in Paris to talk about all this. They have both told me about additional shoots and Heloise definitely wants to work only with me, at least at present. This is nice and all that but I am an engineering student who did this for a lark a year ago. Now look at it. The campaign starts the following day, the Tuesday after Easter. I also need to get back to the third lady I shot with, an older Italian model Chiara Zellicotti. That commercial is the raciest and has not yet been approved. Regardless, she wants to talk to me as well.”

Andrew stopped. Was he listening to himself?. Oh no, poor me, supermodels want to be filmed naked with me, what am I to do? Let’s start with grow a pair. He sighed.

“No point in getting upset with it. I will let you know the outcome of the meeting in Paris. I need to let Morag know that the phone may blow up later that week as people ask about me. Is this office the registered address?”

“It is.”

“I don’t even know if I am making any money from all this. Am I?”

It was Mhairi’s turn to smile.

“Quite a bit actually. I was advised to put additional territories as a separate hold in the contract. The commercials are being shown in eight countries initially so you are making substantial money from the hold. We always knew the shoot was a bit of a bargain but the holds are very lucrative. Check with Creighton about the actual amounts. Look Andrew, this is a fun little sideline and you have protected your privacy as much as possible. Ignore the modelling. The talk the three of us had back in September, you are completely on track with all that. You spend virtually no money, you have your OTC pay, modelling income, rental income from the house and the farmland, you even received small rent payments from the art gallery. That is before investment income from the stock market and royalty payments from the licencing of the software. The distillery is all quiet at present although I know from talking to Julian senior there are several partners who have cold feet. There may still be additional cash requirements there.”

“Thanks for that summary Mhairi, it reminds me. Can you ensure that the French company renting the house knows that there will be no extension at the end of the lease. Normally I return from annual camp sometime between the 5^th and 10^th of July. I want to be able to move into the house as soon as I return to London. No delays, no excuses.”

“I had let them know when they exercised the option but I will make sure they have it in writing that the lease terminates on June 30 next year. Is there anything else?”

“No, I think that is more than enough to be getting on with.”

Andrew walked back to the flat from Drummonds, that had been quite the couple of hours. He had no reason to be down, it was just the uncertainty over the modelling, and especially the notoriety from these commercials that was weighing on him. He had been back in the flat for less than 10 minutes when the bride-to-be arrived unannounced and on her own.

“Oh it is good to see you Andrew. Come on, we have lots to talk about.”

The few minutes down to the Meadows were quiet but once they were on the perimeter path Leslie let loose.

“I have missed you and the big old brain. I need to talk to you about the wedding, the speeches, Mum and Dad, Faith, Suzanne and the businesses. So nothing much.”

Now Andrew knew what Leslie had to put up with from him during school.

“The first domino is the key one, a lot of the other issues are as a result of this. Faith.”

That was all Andrew was getting so he gathered his thoughts.

“On Friday and Saturday she is not mentioned. It is you and Julian’s wedding day and he never even met her. I am going to see your parents tomorrow and am going to tell them the same thing. I think I will go to Mortonhall and meditate with her tomorrow morning. The gates open at 8.00 and it is always quiet then. Faith will always be a part of your life, your parent’s life, my life. But being selfish and making two days all about you, and not having to share the spotlight with a ghost, does not make you a bad person.”

He would probably have to be slightly more restrained with Brian and Mary but there was no point pussyfooting round this. This was Leslie and Julian’s day.

“Wow. You had given that some thought.”

“I had given that a lot of thought. It comes down to one simple fact. It is your day.”

“Dad and Julian are saying exactly the same thing. Mum is suspiciously quiet and I didn’t know what you would say.”

“You are only going to have this day once. Enjoy the day, totally and completely. It is a trite cliché but the person who would most want you to think of yourself is Faith. Don’t have regrets over the day and don’t let it eat away at your love for Faith.”

“So what about Mum?”

“Leave her to your dad. I will talk to her as well. I might be slightly more sugar coated tomorrow but not much. She loves you completely and totally. Everything will be fine.”

“Should I come over tomorrow as well?”

“I have no clue. I am talking about your sister, your parent’s younger daughter. I am incredibly close to your family but I am not family. It took your mother many months, many years, longer to relax with me than your father. For her I will always be the boy in the bed next to her daughter who got to live while Faith died. Maybe it is best to let your mum get it out of her system without you there.”

There was a long pause and Andrew dreaded what was coming next.

“Does Mum resent everything that has happened to me?”

He didn’t know if telling the truth was the right thing to do at that moment but it was Leslie.

“She told me once that she has dark days. She says they are getting fewer and fewer but yes, there are days when she rails against this life where you have everything and Faith is dead.”

Leslie stopped and hugged him.

“Thank you for telling me the truth, it can’t have been easy for you. I had guessed, based on some comments on what you describe as dark days. Maybe Saturday is growing too large in her mind.”

Andrew didn’t know what triggered the epiphany but he suddenly thought about what he had said. It wasn’t just Leslie that Mary had dark days about, it was him as well. And he had been wilfully blind to it for years. Maybe he had helped with the grief and the healing at the beginning but he was still this constant reminder of that terrible Friday and Faith’s last 10 days. Suddenly Andrew saw all the times Mary had excused herself when he had been over at their house. It had been even more noticeable recently. He felt sick. He shoved the issue down and tried to focus on Leslie.

“I presume the speeches comment was whether I was going to mention Faith?”

Leslie nodded.

“I won’t be. In fact I would like your advice about what to talk about in the speech. How many people at the reception know about the businesses and the money?”

“Probably between a third and a half maybe.”

“So I should steer clear of talking about it?”

“I think so.”

Andrew was silent.

“It doesn’t give me much to work with. He and I were hardly hell raisers when we were younger.”

“It doesn’t have to be long or knock them down funny Andrew. You are his closest friend. Do two minutes of meaningful stuff and sit down. Dad is trying to be shorter than you were at Jim and Freya’s wedding and you know Julian will want his speech to be over as soon as possible. Don’t worry about it.”

Easy for her to say.

“So what about the businesses?”

“Nothing earthshattering. More of an update than anything. You know what, who cares. It is the week of my wedding, I will send you a report next month.”

Andrew smiled at Leslie’s uncharacteristic avoidance of work. Which left?

“You said you needed to talk to me about Suzanne.”

“The best thing is that we have reconnected over the last month. She came through and stayed with us at the house a couple of weeks ago. I don’t want to be frustratingly vague but she has been through a lot and she has a lot to tell you. She will be attending the wedding on her own, and she knows that you are bringing Helena as your date. She wants to wait until next week to go through everything with you so that it doesn’t get in the way of the wedding. All that I will say is that she went to a dark place but that she is back, maybe not all the way, but she realises that she made some poor choices. She is worried about how you are going to react but I know you, and how you are with her. Just be your usual kind self with her on Friday and Saturday and she will come and tell you all the details next week. Okay?”

Andrew had a million questions but overarching them all was a sense of relief. He had no idea what he was going to hear and even less clue as to their future but that Suzanne was coming back into his life was a boon. He was excited and impatient but Andrew could wait. Talk about leaving the best until last.

When they got back to the flat Leslie didn’t go up she carried on back to the office. Andrew told her he would be there shortly to catch up with Creighton and talk to Morag about Shetland Models. Andrew called Brian at his office and told him he wouldn’t be able to come round to their house the following evening. Brian was surprised but Andrew didn’t want to see Mary there. He was not sure that Mary wanted to see him much at all. When Brian asked him what had happened all Andrew said was that he had spoken to Leslie and that his opinion was in line with Julian’s and Brian’s own. The strained call came to an end as quickly as he could get off the phone.

Bloody hell, how blind had he been. All these years turning up, constantly reminding her of what she had lost. Andrew shook his head. He had thought of Brian and Mary as surrogate parents. What he had never done, except maybe at the very start, was consider Mary’s feelings. This was not about Brian, there was no issue there. But Mary Campbell had been quiet and remote with Andrew for a long time, left the room regularly when he, Leslie and Brian were talking. She could and did feel guilty about the dark days with Leslie. She had no need to have that guilt about the dark days when she resented him. Andrew did not throw up but did taste bile. He would see Mary Campbell at the rehearsal dinner and on the day of the wedding, group settings where she would not be stuck in his company. After Saturday Andrew would leave her alone. If she was at Leslie’s house when he was over so be it, but he needed to stay away from their home. He had no idea how he was going to make that right.

Andrew berated himself on the walk down to the office. He couldn’t get over his blind self-absorption. In contrast the couple of hours at the office were a distraction and helped him relax. Morag got on well with Creighton and Leslie, you could see the daily interaction between the three of them had created a good working relationship. She teased Andrew mildly, at first, about the modelling but when he confessed to her what the commercials were like her face was a picture. Leslie was crying she was laughing so much.

“Morag, now you know what I meant when I told you that it would be Andrew that provided all the drama.”