Chapter 2: Consequences

Ralph Morrow had been almost 35 when he married Allison's mother. He was the product of a very strict non-conformist religious, and temperance upbringing, and he was by any standard, a very autocratic and domineering husband. When Allison was born, he was delighted, although, he had really wanted a son, but he attempted to bring her up in the same way as he had been brought up, with the same strict code of conduct, and religious beliefs He strictly regulated her friendships in her teens, although he lost some control when she went to University. When she finished University, he refused to let her work, saying that she should stay at home with her mother, and prepare herself for marriage and to be a good and faithful wife.

Allison had known her fiancé Lord Max Rooker, a life peer, and his late wife, from the time she was ten years old. They were friends of her fathers. She got on well with the family, and sometimes she stopped for holidays at his home in the North of England, she thoroughly enjoyed the company of his live wire daughter Debbie whose upbringing was very much more flexible than Allison's. She also very much enjoyed, and made use of the greater freedom allowed her whilst staying in the Rooker home, and to some extent, that probably helped her to rebel against an unloved marriage when the time came.

Allison was just eighteen, when her father first suggested that Lord Rooker now a widower, would make an ideal husband for her, and somehow to Allison's surprise, the engagement was announced, and agreed, without Allison ever really being conscious that she had actually agreed to anything. However, she rather liked Lord Rooker who was a regular visitor to her home when the House of Lords was sitting, and so they did have regular contact, and he did take both Allison and his daughter Debbie to the theatre on occasion, but there was little if any hint of romance between them. Even his daughter Debbie tried to warn her that the marriage was all wrong, but at first Allison would not listen to her friends, but her doubts were growing...

As time went on her doubts increased, she was not entirely sure that marrying Lord Rooker was the best thing for her, and on one occasion she told her mother "I know he is a nice man, but I don't love him." Her mother had responded "That's alright darling, you will grow to love him after a time." and so Allison had for the sake of peace gone along with it. Her one consolation was, that the marriage was a way of getting away from her fathers strict repressive regime, and she knew that Lord Rooker led a far more relaxed style of life, than she had been allowed up to the present.

She first came into contact with Tony Nash when visiting the bank to see her father during office hours, and again, they met by accident a couple of times at theatre productions and also later at one of the banks social events. Somehow, from that point on, they became casual friends, seeming to have much in common, such as their taste in music and theatre. Their occasional dates, were something she enjoyed, and when she went out with him, she had just told her parents where she was going, but implied that it was with a girl friend. From that point in time her contact with Tony gradually accelerated her doubts about her forthcoming marriage.

But what Allison did not know at the time, was that her father was regularly reading her diary. Initially, dating Tony was an act of bravado on her part, and she got a little thrill from the fact that she was to all intents and purposes as she thought, been successfully deceiving her father.

Her father however, was very disturbed at the thought that she could be marrying a lowly bank clerk as he termed Tony. But he dared not reveal the fact that he was reading her diary, as much as he despised her, for ostensibly lying to him and her mother. The main reason being, that he knew if he told her, she would stop leaving her diary where he could find it, and then he would not know what was happening in her life, but from then on, he tried to break up the friendship with Tony by making Tony's life a misery at work. He also made a point in running Tony down at home, in front of Allison. He failed to consider the consequences should he succeed in breaking up their friendship. Increasingly, he had tried to put the brake on her limited social life without causing a major row with Allison.

His open attempts at running Tony down in front of Allison, plus the fact that Tony was the perfect gentleman on all their dates, made seeing Tony a much more attractive option to Allison, than spending time with her future husband, and quite soon she was sure that her father was wrong in his assessment of Tony. This plus that fact that several of her friends, seemed to think that she could do better than Lord Rooker, and actively encouraged her to seek the company of younger men her own age. All this helped to push her even closer to Tony as a friend. It became increasingly, quite a habit to telephone him a couple of times a week just to chat.

After her short stay in hospital, Allison asked to stay with Tony, until she had a chance to sort herself out - she knew from past experience, that life at home from then on, would not be worth living. Her father was never likely to forget or forgive her. Forgiving was not in his nature. She allowed her mother to visit her, and bring her clothes, and her bank book and passport, and other private trinkets to Tony's house over the week end, and she promised to keep in touch with her mother. Her mother tried to persuade her to go home, but she was adamant she was going to stay with Tony, and she made it clear to her mother that Tony and her were lovers and would remain so.

On the following Monday, Tony went into the office as usual. He was expecting some sort of backlash, but he was surprised and shocked, to find that on his arrival he was not allowed into the building, unless it was under escort, with a security guard. When he eventually got to his desk, he found his few private possessions packed in a box, plus a formal letter from Allison's father dismissing him forthwith. But no reason was given.

His work colleagues knew nothing about the reasons behind his dismissal, so he told them what had happened over the weekend, and that this was the way Ralph Morrow was taking his revenge. They all knew and understood that what the boss was doing was unlawful, but Tony persuaded them to leave it to him to sort out.

Tony had mixed feelings about his dismissal. In one way he welcomed it, but in another, he resented losing his job in this unfair manner. Tony responded immediately by writing a formal letter to the Managing Director of the bank, requesting the reason for his instant dismissal in writing within one week as the law required. He took this accompanied by the security guard who was also very sympathetic to Tony, to the Managing Directors office, and gave it personally to his secretary, asking her for receipt before he left. In his anger he pointed out to the Managing Directors Secretary that he was a major shareholder in the bank, and he would probably bring the matter to the next shareholders meeting.

Allison was furious with her father, but Tony after some thought was in one way quite amused, yet, he was still highly irritated that he should be made a victim of a her fathers personal prejudice in such a manner. Later that day, he had a telephone call from the Banks Personnel department bank saying that it had all been a mistake, and would he return to work as soon as possible. Tony thanked them for the offer, and formally referred them to his lawyer.

His lawyer telephoned later, to say that on his instructions he was awaiting a formal letter to explain the reason for Tony's dismissal, he told Tony that the way all this had been handled was a slur on his character and he would be seeking damages, but initially on Tony's verbal evidence, he had lodged a claim against the bank for wrongful dismissal. The following week Tony had two offers of employment with other banks which came out of the blue, which he acknowledged, but did nothing about.

As the days went by, both Allison and Tony separately had the thought of their eventual marriage on their minds, but both of them were somewhat shy in broaching the matter openly. They slept together regularly, at Allison's insistence. In fact Allison was very keen to marry Tony, and she was hoping that it would only be a matter of time before he formally proposed.

Tony was aware of the fact that she had been brought up in a very strict home, and that before they considered marriage seriously, Allison ought to get out in the world, and meet other people. Tony himself, could easily have agreed to marriage, he had become very fond of Allison, and indeed he gave it a great deal of thought. But he knew that she had been brought up in a very sheltered home, and in his mind he also wanted if possible to have some form of reconciliation between Allison and her parents, before they took the inevitable step into matrimony.