“I feel rude snooping into his financial situation. He says he has no money. His brother got everything, and he got nothing when his father died. What more do I need to know? He already told me. He’s not hiding anything.”
“That’s the British system,” Sam commented, and poured himself another cup of coffee. “I don’t think this is about being rude. You have to protect yourself. He leads a very high-end life with a lot of jet-set people. This is not the ‘normal’ guy we were talking about. He’s another highflyer, a flashy guy like Ed, but maybe with no way to get the plane off the ground, unless you pay for it. Check it out. Ed could do it for you. It’s not that complicated.”
“This is none of Ed’s business,” Coco said immediately. It complicated everything that she had slept with her trustee, and shouldn’t have. She regretted it now. “I’ll see what I can figure out.” Sam nodded. He had raised some good points.
“Have you met his brother?”
“No, they hate each other, and they don’t speak, if they can avoid it. His brother got everything, and gave him nothing.”
“That’s not good news either. He seems like a sweet guy. I like him. His life is a little fancy for me, with dukes and duchesses, and counts and castles. That all matters a lot to him. Is that what you want, Coco?” He was surprised. It seemed so unlike her. But Nigel was very seductive and glamorous in a boyish way, and the people around him and their lifestyle were very appealing too. They seemed to play all the time. It was a throwback to another era. Nigel readily admitted that many of the aristocrats he knew had lost their money but refused to give up the lifestyle that went with it. He didn’t seem to mind since they gave a lot of the parties he went to.
“It’s kind of fun. A lot of it is very superficial, but I’ve met some interesting people with him. And I love him. He’s kind of like Prince Charming. He’s generous with me. He paid for everything in Paris and he always pays when we go out to dinner.” But he had a miserable, seedy little apartment. She suspected that he was spending his entire salary on her. And the house parties they went to cost him nothing.
“Just make sure Prince Charming has a little something in the bank and won’t be totally dependent on you. Or if that’s the case, at least you’ll know what to expect. It’s hard to talk about money, but if you’re thinking about this long-term, you should know.” She nodded, and knew he was right. Maybe Nigel found it hard to talk about it too. It was embarrassing for both of them. He had said he was poor since they met, so he hadn’t misled her. No matter how in love with her he was, he wasn’t proposing marriage, so she didn’t need to worry about it. And by no stretch of the imagination could she see herself married at twenty-two. So Sam was worried for nothing, but she was grateful for his concern.
They talked about Tamar too. Sam said he loved her, but Coco wasn’t convinced. She was the kind of girl his parents wanted him to marry, but Coco thought he needed someone more interesting than a religious bank clerk who wanted six kids. It sounded like a dismal future to her, and to Sam too. She didn’t want to see him give up his dreams just to please his parents, and she hoped he wouldn’t.
They went out and explored London together after Sam showered. It was nice just being together, and talking, and sometimes just walking along together, lost in their own thoughts. He had given her much to think about, and he was right that Nigel just wasn’t the “normal” guy she had hoped to find. But she loved the Prince Charming aspect of him, and it was hard not to be dazzled by the people he knew, the places they went together, and the friends he introduced to her. He led such a glamorous life, whether he had money or not. She wasn’t sure she cared about that one way or another, although she appreciated Sam worrying about her. She and Nigel weren’t getting married, and she didn’t spend a lot of money to live, and even if they did get married one day, how expensive could it be? Her parents hadn’t been extravagant with all they had, although they had lived well, had nice homes and bought important art, and were generous with her and each other. Nigel didn’t seem to spend a lot of money. They usually went to inexpensive restaurants when they went out, and cooked at home several nights a week. Their busy social life cost them nothing, except flowers for their hosts afterward and she paid for those. She thought Sam was overly worried.
The three of them had dinner out that night at a nice Italian restaurant, and Nigel picked up the check, although Sam offered to. They ate dinner at home again on Saturday, and on Sunday, Sam flew back to New York. She went with him to the airport and had tears in her eyes when he left.
“I wish you lived here,” she said sadly.
“Come home soon then,” he said with the big brother look in his eyes that always went straight to her heart. He was the only family she had now.
“I love you, Sam,” she said, as the tears crept down her cheeks.
“I will always love you, Coco,” he said with a lump in his throat, and she knew he meant it. She nodded, and a minute later, he walked into the security line. She watched him until she couldn’t see him anymore. He waved for a last time, and, crying openly by then, she waved and touched her heart. He nodded, and then he was gone, back to his own life. She cried most of the way home in the cab.
She was glad Nigel was out when she got home. He was meeting friends to play tennis at their club. She wanted some time to think about Sam and her parents, and everything Sam had said. It all made sense. And she hoped he wouldn’t marry Tamar. She sounded like such a dull girl.
On the plane already in the air, heading back to New York, Sam was hoping she wouldn’t marry Nigel. Something told him she was going to get hurt. And there was nothing he could do to stop it. His heart was heavy as he left.
Chapter 6
On Coco’s twenty-third birthday in December, after three months of house parties, hunting weekends, and going to nearly every fancy party in London, Nigel took her to dinner at Harry’s Bar, and dancing at Annabel’s afterward. He was a member of both clubs, along with several others. He had wanted to give her a party, but she said she didn’t want one. Her birthdays made her too sad now, since her parents’ deaths, and she preferred to spend it alone with him. They had been to a constant round of Christmas parties for the past two weeks, and had been invited to various friends’ ski houses for Christmas and New Year’s, and hadn’t decided where to go yet. Christmas was hard for her now too. Nigel wanted to go to Gstaad or Courchevel, where his friends had houses and had invited them. Coco didn’t really care where they went, and she was enjoying the quiet evening with him on her birthday. He invited her to dance at Annabel’s, and startled her when he stopped dancing, and dropped to one knee on the dance floor. She realized then that they had been playing a song she liked and there was no one else around them, as the people at tables around the dance floor stared at them. Nigel had warned the manager of what he planned to do, requested the song, and they had asked the other clients to sit this one out. In the spirit of romance, they had agreed, excited to be part of the surprise.
As Nigel dropped to one knee, Coco stared at him, not sure what he was doing. He held her hand and looked at her with his big blue eyes. “Coco, my darling, will you marry me?” She was so stunned she didn’t know what to say, and was speechless for a moment. “Coco?” He pressed her for an answer as tears filled her eyes. She wanted her parents to be there to share it with her, or Sam, or someone she loved and knew well. Nigel looked at her so imploringly with tears in his eyes too that she couldn’t turn him down. She couldn’t do that to him and break his heart. She loved him, and wanted to be his wife, just not quite so soon, but the right man had come along, and she didn’t want to lose him. She nodded, as the tears spilled down her cheeks and she couldn’t stop them.
“Yes…yes, I will,” she whispered, as he got to his feet, took her in his arms and kissed her. The whole room applauded, and then he led her back to their table as everyone around them smiled and offered congratulations ev
en though they were strangers. Another couple sent them a bottle of champagne to celebrate their engagement.
“I didn’t know you were going to do that,” she said, as she wiped her eyes on her napkin.
“Neither did I.” He beamed at her. “I decided yesterday when I was trying to figure out what to get you for your birthday.” He took a small ancient-looking navy leather box out of his pocket and set it on the table. “It’s the only thing of my mother’s that I have. I hope it fits.” He opened the box, and took out a beautiful antique cushion-cut diamond ring of a very respectable size. “It was originally my grandmother’s.” He slipped it on her finger and it fit perfectly, and she stared at it and started to cry again.
“I wish my parents could see it, and meet you,” she said as he held her tight, as the ring flashed on her finger. It was a beautiful stone, and bigger than any of the jewelry her mother had. Her parents preferred art to jewelry.
“I wish I had met them too,” he said respectfully. “When do you want to get married? Let’s do it soon. I want you to be my wife as soon as possible. We’re going to have such a beautiful life.”
“I don’t know. Next summer? June?” She said it off the top of her head.
“Why wait that long?” He looked disappointed. “We could invite everyone we know to my club for a big reception. Do you want a church wedding?”
“I…” She choked on her words for a minute. “I can’t have a big wedding without my parents. It would kill me. Can’t we do something very small, just us and your family? We can do something later for friends, but not at the wedding.”
“I doubt my brother would even come, with his dreadful wife. And I don’t want them there. They would ruin it. I don’t have any other family. Just friends. They’re my family now.” He looked a little dismayed and hurt that she didn’t want a big wedding, but she had no family either. He wanted to reciprocate for all the fabulous parties they’d been to with a big event of his own, the bigger the better, but it was clear that Coco didn’t want that and wouldn’t agree to it. “If you don’t want a big wedding, then why wait? Why not January?”
She looked shocked. “The only one I want is Sam, and maybe Leslie, my boss, since she introduced us.” They had gotten close and Coco liked her a lot. “I don’t know if Sam could come over, although he promised to give me away. And I’d like it in a church.” There was a small church that she had discovered and liked. What she described was not the splashy, important wedding he had envisioned, but the main thing was that they get married. They could give a huge party later, when she wouldn’t feel her parents’ absence quite as acutely as on the day of their wedding. They had only been gone for a year and a half. He and Coco had only known each other for three months. He said that people were probably going to comment on that, and even wonder if she was pregnant. But this felt so right to him. Despite her mixed emotions about her parents, it felt right to her too. She remembered Sam’s admonition then that she get married in the States with an airtight prenuptial agreement to protect her, but there wouldn’t be time now, and all of Nigel’s friends were in England, for the reception. He wouldn’t know a soul at their wedding if they did it in New York.
“Let’s say a month from today, in January,” Nigel said happily. “That gives us time to plan whatever we do. We could go skiing for our honeymoon,” he said, looking excited. “I’m sure someone would lend us a chalet.”
“I’d like to go to New York after that. You could see the apartment, and my parents’ house in the Hamptons. It’s my house now.” And would be theirs, and their children’s.
“I didn’t realize you still had an apartment and a house of theirs,” he said, looking intrigued by both. She had never mentioned them. “That should be fun,” he said. He looked like a child at Christmas, as she sat next to him, with his grandmother’s diamond on her hand. His mother had given it to him before she died, for his future wife. He had been saving it in case he ever had to sell it, if he needed money, but this was a much better use for it, as the symbol of his love for her, and a prelude to their marriage. Coco looked dazed when they went home to her place that night. They never used his, it was too grim, and he’d been talking about letting it go. He was with her all the time. But she didn’t know how long she was staying in London, so he had kept it. But now she would be staying forever, as his wife. She hadn’t even thought about that yet. New York was still her home. But Nigel expected to live in London with her. He was so profoundly British, she couldn’t imagine him living anywhere else, and he wouldn’t want to.
She agreed to the January wedding date, because she couldn’t think of a reason not to. She had qualms about marrying so quickly, but she got swept along on the tidal wave of his excitement. There was a lot to think about and plan, even for a tiny wedding. She called Sam the next morning and told him the news. He was shocked.
“In January? You’ll only have known him for four months then. Coco, that’s crazy. Why the rush? Are you pregnant?”
“Of course not. Nigel doesn’t want to wait,” she said with a sigh. “He wants to do it then. He’s like a kid when he talks about it. And why not? We’re going to get married anyway. January or June? What’s the difference? Can you come then?”
He sounded upset when she asked. “No, I can’t. My father’s having knee surgery then. It’s not serious, but he’s going to be immobilized for three or four months. I have to run the business, and my mother is all stressed out about him. I can’t leave them. I probably couldn’t come till May.”
“I think Nigel will go nuts if he has to wait that long. We’re not really having a wedding or a big reception. Just a small church ceremony and lunch with a few friends afterward. That’s all I want since my parents won’t be there. I can’t do a real wedding without them, and especially if you can’t come either.” He felt guilty, but he just couldn’t make it. “We’ll give a party later when you can come.”
“I’m sorry to let you down,” he said apologetically.
“You’re not letting me down, and this is very short notice.”
“Did you look into that matter I suggested, the financial check?”
She understood immediately. “No, I didn’t. We’ve been so busy, and I didn’t think there was any rush. It doesn’t really matter. He says he has nothing and I believe him. What’s to find out?”
“Well, you’d better do something about a prenup in the U.S.,” he said sternly.
“I will. My dad always said that too. I’ll email Ed today, he can get something drafted and send it over.”
“Have you told Nigel about that yet?”
“No, I haven’t, but I will.”
“And you should probably get married in the States to make sure U.S. laws apply.”
“I don’t think he’ll want to.”
“Talk to Ed. Or any New York lawyer. Just make sure you’re covered.”
She looked pensive when they hung up.
She brought the subject up that night at dinner, and Nigel didn’t look bothered by it.
“Because of what my parents left me, I need a prenuptial agreement, particularly one that’s valid in the U.S.” She was afraid he’d be insulted by it, but he wasn’t, which was a relief. It also told her that despite Sam’s fears, Nigel was an honest man, and not after money, if he didn’t balk at a prenup.
“Of course. I’ll sign anything you want. What they left you is your money. I would never think of infringing on it.” She was relieved as soon as he said it. She had sent the email to Ed after she talked to Sam, and he called her the next morning, and sounded very surprised.
“You’re getting married? When did that happen?”
“I am. It happened once I got here. He’s a very nice man.”
“Does he have money of his own?”
“Apparently not,” she answered coolly, “so you’ll have to do the prenup accordingly to prote
ct what I have.”
“I’ll take care of it right away.” There was a moment’s pause then. “And, Coco, good luck.”
“Thank you.” She sounded distant and cold.
“When is the wedding?”
“In January.” He didn’t dare ask her if she was pregnant, but he thought it.
“I’ll get the contract to you right away. Thank you for letting me know. It’s different here but they have contracts in Europe too, denying community property and establishing separate property in a marriage.”
The agreement he had drawn up by their lawyers reached her five days later. It was a very stringent agreement that stated that all funds, investments, property of any kind and capital that was hers at the time of the marriage remained her separate property, and Nigel relinquished all claim to any of it. They both had to list all their assets as well. Ed had included the full list of hers. She wondered if Nigel would sign it. She handed it to him that night and was even more shocked when he signed all three copies of it right after he read it, and promised to add a list of his assets, which he said again amounted to nothing. He owned nothing. He just picked up a pen, signed the contracts, and handed them back to her.
“Don’t you want to have it looked at by a lawyer?” she asked him, startled by his reaction.
“No. I’m not marrying you for your money. I don’t even know what you have, and I don’t want to know.” He hadn’t even bothered to read her list of assets, but he noticed that it was long. “We’re going to have a beautiful life together. We love each other, that’s all I need to know.”
All That Glitters Page 9