Sue for Mercy - Veronica Heley Page 0,57
legal profession years to get the rights and wrongs of the situation sorted out if we’d left it to them. This way Mother still has the twenty thousand invested in Collett Cosmetics, and I can still walk into Dad’s old office tomorrow morning and start getting the business back to normal again.”
“But it’s Charles who really owns the firm now?” asked Mary. “How strange that seems! I wonder what Oliver will have to say to that; he never thought Charles would settle down and work in the firm...”
“God forbid!” put in the usually placid Ronald, and everyone laughed.
“It would never work, Mother,” said Charles. “I couldn’t work with Ronald. I’d drive him crazy. No, I’ll sell it back to Ronald. We’ll work out terms...”
“You’ll sell it back to your father, you mean,” said Mary, laughing.
Charles looked at me, as if daring me to dispute her belief that Oliver Ashton was going to come out of prison the same man as before.
Jane relieved the tension. “Then what will you do, Charles? Go back to London?”
“I might. Not to the same firm, of course. I left under something of a cloud; they don’t like their bright young executives to walk out at a moment’s notice... There was some talk once of my putting in for a job in Brussels... I don’t know...”
J.B. opened his mouth to say something, then shut it again. I could almost feel his pain as he recognised that he’d lost Charles. He sat rock still to hide it from us, but I saw his distress, and so did Charles. The three of us sat in silence while the others laughed and joked together.
“Well,” said Mary. “All’s well that ends well. I’m sure, John, that you’ll be only too glad to get rid of my troublesome son here. He can come back with us tonight to Green Gables...”
“He’s welcome to stay here,” said J.B., not looking at Charles.
“Yes, I know,” said Charles. “You know how I feel about that. I’m very, very sorry.”
“At least you’ll accept a new car for saving my life several times over. Another Mercedes?” Charles shook his head. “But you’ll accept it if I make Sue a gift of it?”
“Ah, that!” Charles smiled across at me, and then at J.B. It was a shadow of a smile, but a very sweet one. “Yes, if you give it to Sue, I’ll accept it.”
Danger! whispered a voice in my ear. I’d underestimated J.B. By offering to give me a valuable car, he had told Charles that he was willing to share him with me. I could see that Charles wanted me to be equally magnanimous, but I couldn’t do it. I stood up. It was rude, and abrupt and all of those things that one shouldn’t do in other people’s houses, but I wanted to get Charles away quickly before anything else happened.
“I’m awfully tired,” I said. “Would everyone be offended if I just took Charles away? It’s not far to my flat, and in the morning he can think what we ought to do next.”
Charles stood, too. I don’t suppose anyone but J.B. and I noticed that he had to lean on the table to get himself upright. “I’ll get my shaving things,” he said. “The rest can wait till tomorrow.”
“Why not show Sue your quarters, now that she’s here?” said J.B., also getting to his feet. It seemed only natural for him to put one arm round Charles’ shoulders as he walked with us to the door. The others were directed back to the Blue drawing-room for coffee while J.B. shepherded us to a lift which led out of the main hall and took us up to the first floor without our having to trouble with the stairs.
“This way,” said J.B., throwing open double doors to reveal an opulently furnished sitting-room. “Office through there, bathroom and kitchen this way, bedroom beyond. He’s got his own outside phone, of course, as well as an extension from the house phone. I had thought of turning all this side of the house into one self-contained unit; the rooms under this are rarely used at the moment even though they face west and have their own entrance on to the terrace at the side of the house.” He led us through into the bedroom; there was a four-poster bed in it, but my eyes went straight to the double door at the far end — through it I could see into J.B.’s own bedroom.
“It’s no good,” said Charles, in