Chapter 13

GILL walked down the corridor with her new driver Jimmy. He was quite chatty, talking about Gerry sharing what is now her car. He was telling Gill that one of the two guys appointed to look after Wayne in Istanbul was a Turkish Cypriot who had served as an NCO with the British Army and was married to a cousin, spoke the lingo like a native and knew his way around the Middle East like the back of his hand, while his partner, although not family, yet, was ‘well experienced’, he said, in foiling kidnap attempts.

But Gill wasn’t really listening; she had so much running through her head.

Sir Michael watched Gill and Jimmy disappear through the door and down the corridor before turning to Gertie.

“Well, I think that went quite well, ma’am, all things considered. She seems a sweet girl.”

“She is Michael. Anyway, when we are here, even on our own, why don’t you call me Gertie like you do when you’re my guest, be it in London or Derbyshire?”

“Because here you are in my environment and my rules apply, I can’t allow myself to call you anything other than Ma’am or Your Lady, ma’am.”

“Tosh! You’re miffed because I’ve taken one of your hospital beds -”

“I don’t mind the bed, but I draw the line at bringing your chef to my kitchen, I had a full-grown revolt on my hands just now.”

“Sorry, Pierre is so impulsive, but I’ve gotten used to his cooking my evening meals. Have you thrown him out on his ear?”

“No, he’s now got the rest of the staff eating out of his hand and getting them to follow his recipes and food preparation methods for today’s lunch and dinner. They’ll never be the same down there after this!”

“Ha! Pierre has a full measure of Gallic charm,” Gertie grinned, “so, you’re not sore about me using this ward -”

“Ma’am, I’m well aware that your family founded this hospital for the poor of East London, 150 years ago, and you have been our leading benefactor over the years, but the Lady Standhope Wing has much better appointed rooms than this.”

“Well, I could hardly dupe my love-sick grandson into a meeting with the love of his life, to either shock them by my imminent demise into getting back together or fall back on banging their bloody heads together, in a wing of the hospital with my name plastered all over it, could I?”

“I suppose not ... Anyway, the funny thing is, you didn’t need to do any of this because it looks like His Lordship was going to propose to her at the bank this morning anyway!”

“Yes, he’d had the ring refurbished and in his pocket ready. I should have known better than try and second-guess my grandson!”

“Your grandson has certainly been a stubborn and determined character ever since I’ve known him as a child, but I couldn’t help notice that several of his shirt buttons were undone at the neck today, which I think is a first. I believe Lady Gill is going to be the making of him.”

“Me too. I like her a lot. It’s going to be fun seeing her children blossom under our care too.”

“I know I signed both those papers Barrington brought here before they arrived, ma’am, but I thought you were only going to give her the proxy today and hold back the share transfer?”

“I was, but Jake’s marriage proposal and acceptance to the engagement, had changed all that. Those shares are merely a token, just a drop in the ocean, but once she has accepted that the money is just a series of meaningless figures, she can remove that from the equation and put her trust in the immeasurable community of family. I received my gift of those very same shares in the bank from Johnny’s grandmother the same day I was engaged to him, and engagements in those days had to be at for at least eighteen months to prevent tongues wagging. Hopefully, Belinda will persuade Jake and Gill to marry before this spring is out. I will give Belinda a call in a moment.

“In the meantime, Barrington tells me my retirement fund has exceeded all his expectations and therefore we can look again at those maternity wing plans you broached last year.”

“Hi honey!” Jake’s voice boomed out of her mobile speaker, “Have you left Gran yet?”

“Yes, Jake, we left about ten minutes ago, Jimmy’s taking me back to the bank now. How’s everything at Winstone’s? And, more to the point, how did your meeting with Wayne go?”

“Sweet. He went down like a leaky balloon when he found out we knew everything. I had to work every trick in the book to build him back up again, so he’d toe the line rather than storm off in a huff. He’s got one hell of an ego that man, I’ll give him that!”

“He can sell sand to camels, fridge magnets to Eskimos, and smile along with you while he robs you. He smiled while he robbed me of my dignity ... Jake, you had me worried last week, I really thought I’d lost you.”

“Sorry sweetheart, but once Jarvis closed down the print room at Winstone’s and locked out Sally and her assistant Chrissie, I lost my eyes and ears on what he was doing outside of his computer input. I really didn’t see the Standhope Winter bank takeover bid coming and I had limited time to find an effective strategy to counter. With Jarvis moving back in with you and the kids, well, I wasn’t exactly sure of what his motives were, and how much he knew what we knew.”