Sussex. It’s amazing how guys like that always get some benefit from their misdeeds.”
“I believe their karma gets them in the end,” Coco said philosophically. But for the moment, it was getting both of them.
Chapter 12
The exchanges between Coco’s attorney and Nigel’s got increasingly heated as they tried to come to some agreement. Nigel’s aspirations were completely unrealistic, but he wasn’t giving an inch. He was resting on the argument that he didn’t have legal representation for their marriage contract, and didn’t know what he’d signed. She wondered if that was why he hadn’t shown it to an attorney, and knew he could use it as a loophole to try and invalidate the contract later. Anything was possible with him. She realized now how calculating he was. The only part of their exchange he had agreed to so far was the transfer of the Sussex property to him, for relinquishing the parental rights he didn’t want anyway. It was no sacrifice for him. He acted as though Coco were pregnant by someone else, which they both knew she wasn’t. He had no feelings whatsoever for their baby, and seemed to view it as some kind of encumbrance he couldn’t wait to get rid of now that they would no longer be married. The prospect of sharing custody or the responsibilities of visitation held no allure for him at all. The baby he had claimed he wanted was of no interest to him, only Coco’s money. She’d had several conversations with Ed about the proceedings, and he was satisfied with her lawyer. He was willing to fight hard to protect her inheritance from Nigel. Ed was standing by to assist in any way he could. He was a worm of a human being, but was finally proving to be a decent trustee.
Nigel’s callousness finally tipped the scale for Coco. She had had doting parents until they’d died. The fact that her baby’s father cared nothing about it seemed so shocking and unfair to her that it created a stronger bond to the baby on her part. She wanted to protect it, and decided to continue the pregnancy. The baby was due in August, and so far everything was fine, and when it was born, it would be as though its father had died or never existed. Coco would be the only parent her baby had, which made her decide to redouble her efforts to love it, and welcome it into her life.
For the time being, she was staying in the new house. It would be a good place to come home to, big enough for a baby nurse at first, and eventually a nanny to live there with her and help her, and take care of the baby when she went to work.
As she passed the three-month mark in her pregnancy, and the exchanges about the divorce settled down to a dull roar, she began to feel physically better, and was able to work harder again and longer hours. She loved her job, working with Leslie in the business they had created. They had to face new challenges with every client, be creative and innovative, find them the right location which suited them, and their family, in their new city, near schools in some cases, with and without gardens, big enough or small enough. In most cases, Coco and Leslie got to do the decorating, or staging if furniture and art had to be rented. Each client’s needs and requirements were different, and they had to reinvent what they created every time. Coco loved it, and she and Leslie were thriving, with a constant flow of new clients, each satisfied person recommending them to someone else.
Leslie was swamped in February, when she walked over to Coco’s desk with a new file.
“I hate to do this to you, Coco. I know you don’t have a minute to breathe as it is, but can you take this one on for me? New client, personal recommendation from a previous client. VIP, famous American author. He’s coming to London to work on the movie of one of his books. He wants the place for a year, and isn’t bringing a stick of furniture. Hates contemporary art, seems to hate people, and loves dogs. You’ll love this. He has a hundred-and-eighty-pound bull mastiff. Landlords are going to love that.”
“Oh, an easy one.” Coco laughed, as she took the file from her. “Who is he? Have I heard of him?”