Chapter 12

“COME and sit here, Gill dear,” Gertie patted the side of the bed and turned to address Barrington, who was already walking forward, “do you have both the documents ready, Barrington?”

“Both, Gertie?” he asked and, on her nod, continued, “of course,” handing them over to Gertie.

“Are these the pre-nups to sign?” Gill asked.

“No, of course not, dear ... we don’t, well we haven’t so far, gone down that distasteful route. If you feel it necessary or events warrant, you could of course opt for that. But I don’t think you will need to. Barrington’s daughter Caroline was originally earmarked to look after your legal matters in future, only she is presently on holiday in Africa with her family. Now, circumstances have changed suddenly so we have rather been caught on the hop. Caroline is good, brilliant in fact, she has a young family and is about your age, maybe a couple of years younger, so I think you should develop a rapport quite quickly.”

“Ahem, if I may be so bold?” Barrington asked, pausing until Gertie nodded, “I have spoken to Caroline this morning and she is available to return at any time if need be, but I assured her that I would make myself completely available to you in the interim. Your secretary at the bank, Kelly, has been given mine and all Caroline’s contact details and has booked appointments for her to see you immediately upon her return. Kelly is currently organising the moving of your office into Gerry’s old office, while he is moving into the office next door. And Caroline, who has given me three delightful grandchildren, is about eighteen months your junior.”

“All right,” Gill said, “reaching for the folder Gertie offered, “but I like to thoroughly read all the documents before I sign them.”

“Of course you must, my dear,” Gertie said soothingly, “but these two papers are only single-sided pages.” She paused while Gill opened the folder, “That first sheet is a form of proxy so you can vote for the 13% of Standhope Winter Bank shares currently registered in my name. That is just in case there remains any attempt to takeover or merge the companies at the board meeting on Wednesday, but we don’t think that will happen now, after Jake’s sterling efforts in South America. You will of course be voted in as joint chief executive with Gerry at that board meeting. Gerry will stay on at the bank, on a part-time basis, ready to take over during your honeymoon and if ... if you fall pregnant, for example. You do want a child with Jake don’t you, my dear?”

“Er, yes, a couple, if possible, he’s such a sweet man, our children would be ... amazing. But, what’s this about being joint CEO? I’ve only been a department manager at the bank for three months or so.”

“Gill, even I know that you virtually ran that department for two years prior to taking over as department head. No, you have impressed and been tracked throughout your career and earmarked as a future leader of the bank, and not just because Jake has been fond of you for all these years. This is a family decision, which he has deliberately kept out of. I thought he avoided the discussions about you because he was generally disinterested in the bank, despite his success as a businessman in every other field he has entered. Once he brought you into his life, my dear, the reasons for his reticence became all too apparent, as did by implication his true opinion of your worth, confident that you would be regarded as outstanding without any influence at all on his part. So, this sheet has already been witnessed by Michael and Barrington, will you sign the proxy?”

“Yes, of course, this is quite the most straightforward and agreeable document I’ve ever signed,” she scribed her signature, noticing as she held the paper with her left hand how brightly the blue diamond shone, “it is just that all this is just so much, almost too much, all at once. And this ring, it is so lovely and, being engaged to the man of my dreams, I am almost at a loss for words.”

Gertie patted her hand, “That ring was my first engagement ring, too. It is 1.44 carats, one of the deepest blue diamonds ever found and absolutely flawless. It was purchased in its raw state in the 1880s and studied for many months by the jeweller commissioned for the work before the stone was cut and polished. You are its fifth recipient in the family.”

“Gosh!”

“This will all seem a bit overwhelming for a couple of weeks, dear, while we get you up to speed. Belinda will help you, but remember that you never have to tackle anything alone. We are a family and we can and do rally round to help. Jake is all about family. It will get a whole lot easier, dear, believe me. All this wealth and power are merely minor distractions that have to be attended to from time to time, but most of it runs like a well-oiled machine. You can call on a range of resources that can give you the help and advice you need and rely on to carry out your instructions to the letter. Leaving you able to concentrate on fulfilling your life in happiness with Jake and your immediate family.”

Gill smiled her thanks, and Barrington took the proxy from her to put in his bag.

“I will be at the board meeting with you on Wednesday, ma’am, just in an advisory capacity. I expect it to only last five minutes or so for your appointment to your new position to be made, now that Jake has secured Winstone’s. My partner, Jamieson, is waiting for him to, shall we say, smooth over any ruffled feathers at Winstone’s.”

Gill looked at the other form, again a very simple one, but this was showing the transfer of ownership of the shares of Standhope Winter & Company Merchant Bank in the name of Gertrude Elizabeth Albury, formerly Gertrude Elizabeth Standhope, to Gillian Louise Moorhouse.

‘Standhope,’ Gill thought, ‘of course! It all started to make sense! Gertie, Jake, Gerry, they were all descended from the founders of the bank. Standhope Winter was their, now her, family business.’ She looked up at Gertie.

“What’s this mean, Gertie?”

“I think you better call me Gran from now, dear, Jake always does,” she smiled.

“OK, er, Gran, but what is this?”

“This was my total shareholding in the bank, dear, I have no further use for it. After all, I was only keeping it until I could pass it onto you.”

“But, I’m only engaged. I’m not married to Jake yet, not even set a date. How can you -”

“Oh! You are not thinking of jilting my lovely grandson at the altar, are you Gill?” Despite the words, Gertie was smiling broadly, the words gently mocking.

“No, of course not, I love him.” Gill said.

She did, of course she did. Her career, the wealth, the power, none of it mattered a jot when looked at from the viewpoint of perpetual financial security. All that really mattered was love and family.

“Of course you love Jake and he loves you. In time, of course, you will pass this share ownership on to the bride or groom of the progenitor of the next generation. That may be Jake and yours future natural son or daughter or, if you are not blessed in that direction, then it might be Jenny or Clay’s future spouse.”

Gill nodded her understanding; family really meant the complete family.

“You and Jake will have to decide the who and the when, but hopefully not for another forty years or so. But these shares, and other holdings, which will eventually pass to you in my will, means that you will receive a regular income that is separate from your bank salary that you can save, spend, give away. You will never have to rely on handouts from your husband, such unbalanced marriage partnerships went out with the Victorians. This type of arrangement, making the spouse individually wealthy is an act of faith, of trust. It has worked perfectly in the family for nearly two hundred years. A marriage of equals is by far a much stronger unit than one of master and slave, or husband and poor second-class wife. It was explained to me many years ago both by my husband’s grandmother, and my dear friend Evie, that the gift of great wealth gave the spouse a degree of independence and equality that would otherwise cause tension in an unequal marriage. It means that if Jake ever became unreasonable or abusive, you would have sufficient resource to tell him to stuff it in his pipe and smoke it!”

Gill and Gertie laughed, and she signed the form without further hesitation and handed it to Barrington who, with the slightest of smiles, slipped it into his briefcase.

“I’ll pop this along to the registrars now and get the paperwork moving, we should have written confirmation of the legal transfer by the middle of next week at the latest. Er ... would you like to know the valuation of the shares now, ma’am?”

“No, I don’t think so, Mr Barrington, it is a private not a public company, which means I cannot sell them to anyone without the approval of the majority of shareholders and, as I am unlikely to ever realise their value, I suppose I do not really need to know.”

“Oh, go on Gill,” Gertie gently nudged her, winking, “Barrington is absolutely meticulous in these matters, so I bet he’s dying to tell you how much you are worth.”

“Go on then, Barrington,” Gill smiled, “tell me, pray, what are these bank shares worth?”

Barrington smiled, “Thank you ma’am. Can I first just say that our firm are at your disposal at any time, our fees reasonable, considering our infinite level of service, and in any case paid for out of a central trust fund, so there is never any need on your part to hesitate to call on the slightest pretext. We have worked with your family since the Germans invaded Paris...” He chuckled, enjoying a private joke, “not 1940 of course, but the previous time in 1870, so you can be sure you are our top priority at all times. This folder, which I will leave with you, was prepared by Jamieson on Jake’s instructions. It sets out in detail all the holdings in his personal name, and in the possession of the various family trusts, which you both now control. There’s quite a lot to read through, although the South American portfolio will need rebuilding once Winstone’s is on a firm footing again. Fortunately, you own the local airport and have a stranglehold over the Andes ski resort, so it should return to the fold quite soon.

“This single sheet here sets out your personal holdings. The shares your new grandmother has generously signed over to you are 13,000 six-penny shares, issued in 1863. Nominally this is worth £325, but the last estimation of their value from the latest set of accounts was rather conservatively put at 280 million -”

Gill gasped. Gertie gripped her hand. “It’s only numbers, dear, only numbers. You deal in numbers all the time at work, these just happen to be ... your numbers. Please go on, Barrington.”

“Thank you, Gertie. Ma’am, in line with family policy of maintaining a growing reinvestment in the bank’s reserves, you will be required to draw only 25% of your annual dividend, which last year amounted to 2.4 million.”

“Oh, £600,000 is a tidy chunk of change,” Gill joked, to offset the rising queasiness in her stomach at the very thought of so much money, more than three times her current salary, “I could buy that frock I saw in Miss Selfridges last week -”

“Ma’am, the 2.4 million is the 25% of your dividend. Your bank salary as CEO will be shared with Gerry, for the time being. He has agreed to draw £400,000, leaving you with £800,000, he hopes that will be acceptable.”

“Yes, yes, that is more than generous, but this quick promotion, won’t that put everyone’s back up?”

“With 13% of the equity, Gill, believe me, no one is going to be affronted by you running the bank,” Gertie answered, “besides, you are extremely well respected at Standhope Winter. I am sure you will be the only one with any doubts, and Gerry will be there part of the time if you have any questions, or Jake will always be willing to offer advice at the end of the line.”