Chapter 9

Wednesday morning George didn't come into the office. He was meeting up with Henry and making the final adjustments to the plans for the court appearance. But Jennie, Jeff and Neil were at work. Jennie saw this as a golden opportunity to get to know a little more about the company's - and George's - recent past. Neil was happy to tell her about it, only she understood very little. When she had made it clear to Neil that she really had difficulties with his accent, he relented and switched to something closer to her English. That helped. The story he told made her blood boil.

Lillian Sanders had been more or less openly unfaithful for years - with a shocking number of their male friends and several of George's staff. The last straw was when she took up with John, George's second in command, and actually moved in with him. George was finally going to give both her - and John - the boot when Lillian fell ill. Very ill. In just weeks her health deteriorated to the point where she was at death's door. The diagnosis was acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and the prognosis was dire. Neither chemotherapy nor radiation therapy brought significant, much less lasting, remission. She fled 'home' to George who without question took her back in, assigned the day-to-day running of the company to John and nursed Lillian through the horrors of the treatment. When it was obvious that only a bone marrow transplant could save her, he tirelessly located potential donors amongst Lillian's extensive family, battered them into being tested for compatibility and in the nick of time found a second cousin that matched to perfection (chiefly, the doctor confidentially told George, because the DNA profile showed the donor was actually a half-sister, not a second cousin).

The treatment was a complete success. Lillian recovered very quickly, needed no immuno-suppressing drugs and in a short time span she was back in her usual health. And her usual habits. Her 'thank you' to George was to leave him again and once more move in with John who had 'set up shop' on his own while George was nursing Lillian. Through a combination of half-truths and outright lies, most of the staff had followed John over in the new company and the rest had been sacked, but as Neil had explained yesterday the company was not a success and many had subsequently left.

And several key staff, like Neil and Tina, who had been with George from the beginning, were outraged when they slowly learned the truth and deeply ashamed that they had deserted George in the way they did.

"Well you're here now Neil," Jennie said warmly. "There was true joy in George's eyes when I told him yesterday you'd walked in."

The huge scot beamed at Jennie. "Aye, that was guid. And I noticed he has a keen eye for you my wee lassie," he said.

"Och aye," Jennie said with a grin and went back to work.

The lady judge spoke. "The petitioner has requested that the court makes the decree absolute without delay. The court may do so in accordance with the provisions in subsection 4 of section 10 of part 1 of the Matrimonial Causes Act provided the court has obtained a satisfactory undertaking from the petitioner that he will make such financial provision for the respondent as the court may approve."

She looked frostily at George and Henry, and then turned to Lillian's camp. "The respondent has agreed in principle to this and provided a list of assets and a suggestion for their just division," she said in a much milder voice.

George snorted and the judge once more looked at him with an icy stare. "Does the petitioner agree to the accuracy of the summary of assets and the fairness of the proposed division?"

"Neither!" George muttered. Henry put a restraining hand on him and rose to deliver their rehearsed objection.

"Your Honour, my client finds neither the summary of assets to be a true representation of the combined estate nor the proposed division reasonable," Henry said.

"What is the nature of the objections?" the judge asked icily

"There are numerous. First and foremost my client finds it objectionable that the valuation of the summer cottage in the Lake District that it has been agreed the respondent retains is listed as the lowest of the 3 valuations obtained whereas the value of the house in Kent that my client retains is listed as the highest of the 3 valuations. We would propose a mean value be used for both," Henry said - hoping that this red herring would work.

"Anything further?" the judge asked.

"My client also finds the value assigned to the goodwill of his company to be highly inflated. At the present there is next to no activity in the company. That fact in itself is the subject of separate legal action..." Henry said.

"And is thus not relevant in this court," the judge cut him off. "As to the valuations of the two properties, they were all made by independent parties. Given the difference in the market situation for recreational and permanent dwellings respectively, this Court does not find the chosen valuations unreasonable."

George was spluttering and Henry once more put a restraining hand on him. "Your Honour, can I take counsel with my client for a moment?" he asked - assuming an exasperated visage.

"By all means do," the judge replied with something bordering on sympathy (for Henry) in her voice.

Some heavy-duty whispering went on - designed to be clearly audible to both the judge and Lillian and her legal team. "George, restrain yourself! You risk only getting a decree nisi, not a decree absolute. Then we have to wait another 6 months and waste a lot of money. And the judge will still find in favour of Lillian's list," Henry said in a loud whisper.

"But what if I managed to sell the house well in a couple of years, or if the company recovers. Or if she tries to sell the cottage and loses out. Can she come back for more?" George whispered loudly in a grumpy voice. "Will this ever end? What about pensions in 30 years?"

"We could ask that the asset list be set aside and a simple final lump sum be agreed," Henry said

"Will that save me anything?" George asked petulantly.

"Only trouble," Henry replied. A faint sniggering from Lillian's counsel could be heard.

The rest of the conversation was inaudible to the judge and opposing party.

Henry rose again. "Your Honour, I have advised my client that he petition the court to set aside the respondent's list of assets and their division in favour of an agreement in which the two properties are to be held absolutely by the respective parties, all present and future assets in the company be awarded to my client and one final and invariable lump sum paid to cover the balance."

"The court will have no objection to that provided the respondent agrees," the judge said with an inquiring look at Lillian's side.

Lillian's counsel rose. "The respondent is equally interested in complete closure," she said - thus clearly indicating she had overheard Henry and George's 'private' conversation, "provided the sum does not change!"

She smiled at the judge 'we've got the bastard by the balls' she seemed to communicate. The judge smiled a thin smile back.

"Oh very well then," George spat loudly.

"I take that to be consent," the judge said drily. "This court grants an immediate decree absolute. Title to the property in Sevenoaks is granted to the petitioner who also retains all rights and assets in the company Sanders IT Security. Title to the property in Windermere is transferred absolutely to the respondent. In addition the petitioner pays the respondent the sum of £1.800.000 as a complete and final settlement within 7 days."

George and Henry managed to look grim all the way out of the court. Only when they had gotten round the corner did they break out in loud guffaws. "That was glorious," George laughed, "the twit thinks she won!"

"Yes, we did all right," Henry laughed back. "We haven't acted better since the 6th form school play! Should we go out and celebrate?"

"Yes rather," George said. "But not for too long. You have to get home to Annie and the kiddywinks and I am going to see Jennie at the apartment tonight!"

At 7 PM George - certainly in a good mood, but not by any means drunk - rang the bell at the apartment. When Jennie opened the door she could barely see him for a gigantic bunch of long-stemmed red roses.

"How did it go?" Jennie asked. But from George's face, she already knew the tidings were good.

"Hook, line and sinker," George chuckled. "They thought they were so clever and won a big victory. Lillian's counsel and the female judge were almost crowing over having thwarted yet another man. It was glorious."