Rebecca started to clear up the broken glass. She could just give in, transfer the money, let him buy White's, change her own plans if necessary to make it affordable and just get on with life. Why didn’t she?
She didn’t see much of Daniel for the next few hours. The house was big enough to lose the two of them. She heard him in the study. She heard him in the small snug room listening to the TV. She heard him upstairs, in the guest room she’d shown him to the previous week. But she managed not to bump into him at all until early evening when he appeared in the doorway of the kitchen.
‘The solicitor has put the offer to White's. They’ll give us an answer within 72 hours,’ he spoke coldly, stiffly. ‘I hope that your - planning has been completed by then. When they accept I’ll expect the money to be in the account to complete the sale Bec,’ and he walked out, his back stiff and radiating disapproval and a few minutes later she heard his car wheels screeching down the drive.
Rebecca spent the rest of the evening with great waves of guilt and confusion flooding her every moment. She decided to transfer the money. She would phone Daniel and apologise, let him buy whatever he wanted so they could move on with the rest of their lives in some semblance of peace. Then she shook her head. No, she would stand firm and hang on a little longer. Make a decision about Parklands, think objectively about the benefits of buying White’s. She would transfer the money when she felt they had made a sensible decision about any investment.
She wondered if Daniel would come back to the house and finally she gave up waiting and went to bed at 12.30. She heard Daniel come in shortly after and could tell from the staggering steps in the hallway that he was drunk. She waited until his bedroom door had slammed and then she slipped downstairs to lock the front door. She had also worried that he might come into her room but that seemed far from his mind at the moment and as Rebecca paused outside his bedroom door she could hear the sounds of his snoring already filling the room before she went back to bed and tossed and turned the night away.
The next morning Rebecca dreaded getting out of bed but eventually she did to find the downstairs empty of Daniel’s angry presence. It was almost like the weeks before Daniel arrival, when she’d had the house to herself and relaxing a little she made herself a coffee and a croissant and curled up on the raspberry settee as she looked out onto the garden and the fields beyond. She made the most of the peace and quiet but all too soon she heard footsteps in the hall and a hung over Daniel put his head round the kitchen door just as the phone rang.
‘Helen,’ said Rebecca as she watched Daniel’s progress to the coffee machine. ‘Lunch? Sorry, just hang on a minute Helen.’
‘What?’ she said to Daniel who was waving his arms around to catch her attention.
‘Don’t go with Helen,’ he said as Rebecca stood with the phone in her hand her eyebrows raised questioningly.
‘It’s just that I thought, well it would be good, nice if we spent some time together. You know, try and get over all this… business.’
Rebecca stared at him for a moment and then raised the phone to her ear.
‘Sorry about that Helen, no I can’t make it today, I’m having lunch with Daniel. But I’ll call you later shall I?’ and she rang off.
She looked at Daniel slumped over the kitchen table, clutching his head.
‘Are you sure you’re up to going out?’ she asked.
‘Yes, yes,’ he waved his hand in the direction of the coffee machine, ‘I just need to get going that’s all.’
An hour later he was in the same position and Rebecca who had showered, dressed and cleaned the kitchen sat down opposite him.
‘Daniel you’re clearly not up to it. We’ll go out another day shall we, I’ll phone Helen and…’
‘No!’
Rebecca raised her eyebrows and Daniel continued in a quieter tone. ‘No, don’t do that I’m sorry - I’ll get ready now and we’ll go have a meal somewhere nice, talk about all this ...mess in a calm adult fashion.’
‘Okay,’ she smiled. ‘That sounds good.’
It sounded anything but to Rebecca and she sincerely wished she had arranged to meet Helen for lunch but the ever present guilt insisted that she at least give Daniel a chance. She was upstairs with her wardrobe doors open trying to decide whether she needed a jacket or something warmer when the door opened and Daniel walked in.
‘We’re going to have to go back to Darlington Bec, I only came down for a day remember, I can’t keep wearing the same clothes much longer.’
He stopped short and stared over Rebecca’s shoulder at the wardrobe full of clothes.
Rebecca closed her eyes briefly, waiting for the onslaught.
‘Well, well,’ he said softly, ‘You have been busy haven’t you.’
Rebecca hung her head. After all what could she say. That she had been in Leeds shopping without a care in the world while he had been in Darlington none the wiser.
‘I have been shopping,’ she admitted meeting his gaze. ‘I needed some clothes.’ She saw his face darken and sighing she reached out and put a hand on his arm. ‘I’m sorry Daniel, I’m so sorry. I know that I went ahead and started all this without you but I truly intended to tell you, it was just never.. I didn’t….’ her voice trailed away.
Daniel was silent, still staring in the wardrobe.
‘Why don’t we go into Leeds?’ offered Rebecca tentatively. ‘Let’s start all over again Daniel. I…we’ve won a lot of money and you haven’t really felt the benefit of any of it yet. Let’s go shopping!’
Several hours later Daniel had finally stopped sulking and Rebecca’s guilt was slightly easier as they arrived home. Daniel was still angry but not enough to stop him spending money. He had bought clothes, toiletries, shoes and a new watch the price of which made Rebecca wince. He had quietly seethed as Rebecca paid for all the purchases and had lectured her throughout the day as to how selfish and unfair she was being by keeping the money in her account. It was humiliating, he said, having to ask her to pay for every little thing he wanted. It was unrealistic that he couldn’t go to the shop without her coming along with her credit card. He sulked in the coffee shop because he found he didn’t have enough change in his pocket and had to ask Rebecca for more. By mid-afternoon Rebecca was beaten. She couldn’t argue with him because deep down she knew he was right and she was being unfair. She was just so determined to control the money in a way she hadn’t been able to control anything for years.
‘Okay,’ she said quietly half way through one of Daniel’s diatribes.
He stopped short. ‘What?’
‘I said Okay Daniel. You’re quite right you need access to money.’
She turned away from the smug look on his face. ‘So you’re going to move it into our joint account?’
‘No, I’ll…’
‘But you just said that I should have access.’
Rebecca took a deep breath. ‘I’m not moving it all Daniel, I’ve told you. Not just yet. But,’ she held up her hand to halt his interruption, ‘I will move some over now. So you have access.’
She could see him fighting with his natural need to disagree with her. He wanted control of all the money and she had offered him a tiny taste. But it was better than nothing and he nodded his head stiffly.
‘It’s a start,’ he grunted and then frog marched Rebecca to her bank. He wanted to go in with her but Rebecca refused point blank and made him wait downstairs in the lobby as she went into the inner sanctum.
‘So how much do you want to transfer?’ asked Richard Dickinson.
‘I don’t really know, just something so that Dan…so that we can use the main bank account.’
She twiddled her fingers together. ‘Daniel is not working at White's at the moment so there will be no salary going in and that means the mortgage payment, the direct debits - things like that need to be met. Plus Daniel does need to have access to some money,’ she said almost challengingly.
Richard smiled reassuringly. ‘It’s pr
obably a good idea Rebecca. Why don’t you put in say - £250,000? It will cover your costs in the meantime, gives Daniel access to ready money and doesn’t compromise any of your plans.’
So a transfer was made from Rebecca’s account to the joint account and she went downstairs to tell Daniel that he now had access to a quarter of a million pounds.
The initial blaze of triumph on his face lasted approximately 30 seconds.
‘Is that all?’ he demanded.
Rebecca lifted up her chin. ‘For now,’ she said quietly.
Daniel glowered, ‘Well I suppose it’s better than nothing,’ he grumbled and they went home.
Despite his displeasure at the amount Rebecca could see the change in Daniel. He couldn’t help the smile on his lips and she knew how he felt. The knowledge that the credit card in your hand can buy whatever you want was a heady feeling and she had denied that to him.
‘Do you still want to go for something to eat?’ she asked, smiling at him as they dumped the bags of shopping on the table.
‘Actually,’ said Daniel ‘I’m starving!’
So they left the unpacking and went to a little pub not very far away. They had been before, many years ago but the prices had been beyond their reach so it had never become a regular haunt.
Daniel drank a whole bottle of very expensive wine to himself plus the glass of champagne he ordered when they arrived. Rebecca stuck to fresh orange after her champagne and watched as Daniel ate everything that was put in front of him and then ordered a brandy and a cigar.
‘I’m afraid this is a no smoking establishment sir, I can bring a cigar but you will have to smoke it outside.’
Daniel scowled at the waiter. ‘Well that’s no bloody good is it. Oh bring it anyway and be quick with the brandy,’ he ordered, waving the young man away with a dismissive flick of the hand.
Rebecca smiled apologetically at the waiter as he left. It wasn’t the money that had turned Daniel’s head, he was always rude to waiting staff and Rebecca usually left anywhere they went with her cheeks flushed with embaressment.
So Daniel smoked the cigar on the way home, oblivious to Rebecca’s indignant glares as she opened the window wide and waved her hand theatrically at the smoke wafting across the car.
But at least the atmosphere had subtly altered. With access to some of the money Daniel was significantly less unpleasant and the evening passed calmly with Daniel soon ensconced on the settee in the snug snoring loudly. And although Rebecca felt guilty because she hadn’t seen Gwen for the last few days she was exhausted from a day spent with Daniel and tiptoeing through the house so as not to wake him up she decided that Parklands would have to wait until another day and she curled up and spent the evening with a book and a glass of wine.
Chapter 16
‘You did what?’ Rebecca asked her hands still immersed in the bowl of soapy water.
‘I bought a new car,’ said Daniel defensively. ‘After all you bought a car and a house without consulting me. I just bought a car.’
Rebecca took out her hands and wiped them slowly. She supposed he was right. In fact he was right.
She tried to smile. ‘Of course it’s alright,’ she shrugged, ‘why shouldn’t you? What is it?’
Daniel grinned and threw a pile of glossy brochures onto the kitchen table. ‘A Mercedes!’ he gloated. ‘Top of the range.’
Rebecca really wasn’t a car person but she wasn’t at all surprised that Daniel had chosen a well-known and expensive car.
‘And what’s more,’ he added, looking even more pleased with himself. ‘I told them how you’d bought that silly little car because you didn’t know what you were doing and I’ve arranged to part exchange it. They’ve got a 4x4 sitting in the courtyard, ex display, immaculate condition. They’ll bring it round later in the week and take the Fiat away.’
Rebecca stared at him as he flicked through his brochures.
‘My car?’ she whispered, ‘you’ve told them to take my car away?’
‘Mm.’ Daniel had lost interest in Rebecca and was happily reading about the engine performance of his new car.
‘But I don’t want to change my car.’
‘I wonder if I should have opted for the cabriolet,’ mused Daniel. ‘Thing is the weather is never good enough. You see people driving around in the freezing cold with the top down trying to look as though they’re enjoying themselves.’
‘Daniel, I don’t want to change my car.’
‘I think they just look ridiculous,’ decided Daniel. ‘No, I’ll stick with my choice.’
‘DANIEL!’
Daniel looked up frowning. ‘What’s wrong with you?’
‘You’ve arranged to change my car. My car Daniel. The car I told you I was happy with. I don’t want to change it.’
Daniel screwed up his face in irritation. ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ he said dismissively. ‘It’s not the car you need.’
‘But it is the car I need. And it’s the car I want. You have no right to decide to change it.’
Daniel threw the brochures on the table in exasperation. ‘For God’s sake Bec, what do you know about cars? What do you know about anything really? You bought a totally unsuitable car because you tried to do it on your own. You’ve bought this bloody big house that we don’t need in a place where we don’t want to live because you tried to do it on your own. I think the lesson here Bec is that you shouldn’t do anything on your own. You don’t understand money and cars and houses and businesses. Leave it to me and we’ll be alright,’ and he stalked out of the kitchen with his brochures under his arm to read in peace in the study.
Rebecca stared at his retreating back. At moments like this the guilt faded to almost nothing and she had an overwhelming desire to buy another house far away and make sure that he never found out where she was.
She realised that she was biting her lip so hard that it was bleeding and she tried to relax her stiff body. She folded the tea towel up carefully and put it on the surface before walking to the study and opening the door.
‘I’m going to Parklands,’ she announced. ‘I’ll only be a couple of hours and Daniel,’ he made a pretence of looking up although he continued to read the brochure. ‘Please make sure that the order for the 4X4 is cancelled. I do not want one. I like my car and I will be keeping it,’ and with that she smiled pleasantly and walked out, shutting the door quietly behind her.
At Parklands Rebecca couldn’t believe the change in the atmosphere. Dotty was still there but she would be leaving in a few weeks and the difference in the old lady was quite shocking. Her lively spirit had vanished, the twinkle in her eyes gone and she sat slumped in her chair by the window oblivious to everyone and everything around her. Two more residents had been told they must leave, one of them sniffled quietly in the corner being consoled by her friends, the other had not come out of her room since the news broke. Mrs Wendover looked beyond exhausted although she still greeted Rebecca with a smile and arranged for a pot of tea to be brought to her and Gwen who was sitting quietly in one of the large sunny rooms looking out onto the roses.
‘Hi Mum,’ Rebecca kissed Gwen on the top of her head and was worried by how much weight Gwen seemed to have lost over the last few days.
Gwen smiled at her daughter but without the usual radiance about her as she patted Rebecca’s arm.
‘How are you my darling? How is everything?’
Rebecca hadn’t seen Gwen since she broke the news about the lottery win and she tried to look happy and carefree.
‘Oh it’s great! We’ve moved into the house in Leeds, Daniel is coming to terms with the money and well… everything is ...great.’
But Gwen was a sharp old thing and she could see the dark shadows under Rebecca’s eyes and the droop to her shoulders.
‘And is Daniel pleased?’ she asked.
‘Of course he’s pleased Mum. We’ve won millions, why wouldn’t he be pleased?’
Gwen smiled and shrugged. ‘Money doesn’t make everyon
e happy,’ she offered. ‘It doesn’t seem to be making you very happy at the moment.’
Rebecca hadn’t told Gwen the full story, about how she had won but not shared the news with Daniel. About how she had won and kept that glorious feeling to herself for as long as she could, buying houses and cars and leading a totally separate life. But she confessed now. She told Gwen about the lies and the deceit and how Daniel had eventually found out and about the guilt that was now a part of her every waking moment.
Gwen listened to it all silently and when Rebecca finally ground to a halt there was a long period when neither of them spoke.
Did I Mention I Won The Lottery? Page 17