by Jade Winters
She pushed herself away from the table slightly and pressed a couple of buttons on her laptop. Five mobile phones beeped in the room.
‘Before the gentlemen of the board open those messages, I have a couple of things I would like to suggest to the board. This contract, as you all know, is to handle the PR for The Oasis hotel in Thailand.’ The men all nodded their heads. ‘I would like to propose that the winner of the bid should be appointed to handle the PR for the entire Clover Ltd Group on an annual contract of five hundred thousand pounds a year. As a company we need a guiding hand when it comes to our reputation. If we lose that, we lose everything.’
Darcie managed a quick peek at Laura and Bette. Both were looking like they were planning the celebrations already. She hoped she didn’t end up in the same bar as they were.
‘Would the board vote on that proposal please? All those in favour?’
Five hands were raised.
‘My second proposal can wait until the winner has been announced. Before we do announce, I have a few words to say. As the majority shareholder I have opted not to vote to avoid any question of unfairness as I have had dealings with both parties previously. I felt that was the only fair and honourable thing to do.’
Darcie watched closely as Madison stepped around the side of the boardroom table, hands behind her back as she walked. As far as Darcie was concerned, Madison looked perfectly in control of her situation.
‘While I understand that business is business and there is little room for too much sentiment, I believe that fairness and honour are the best approaches to take. As involved as I have been in the process,’ Madison was passing in front of Laura and Bette when she stopped and faced them both, ‘it has come to my attention that while one of the bidders has bid with fairness, honesty, and a genuine commitment to the future of Clover Ltd,’ she inclined her head to Bette and Laura who smiled broadly in her direction, ‘the other bid has been placed,’ Madison moved quickly to stand in front of Emma and Darcie, who were now trembling, ‘with deceit, dishonesty, and a desire, quite frankly, to get rich quick at the expense of Clover Ltd. It was not a fair and honourable bid.’
She fixed Darcie with a smile that stretched, confusingly right up to her eyes.
Is this it, her revenge, to malign me in public?
Darcie took a step back awkwardly and dropped her eyes.
Was the bid that bad?
Before she spoke again Madison walked the length of the table and took her place back at the head.
‘Eric, would you be so good as to open the envelope containing the file I mentioned.’
‘Just me?’
‘Yes, I think one will be enough, but if you’d rather someone else—’
‘No, no. I’ll do it.’
‘OK, while Eric reads through, we’ll count the votes and announce the winner.’ Madison waved through her secretary.
‘Terri, can you just tell everyone which proposal belongs to which team please?’
The woman sounded nervous to Darcie, but it was nothing to the way Darcie was feeling. Both hands clamped together to stop them shaking, but there was nothing she could do to stop her quaking knees or the horrible feeling that this was a disaster of epic proportions.
‘Bid one belongs to Silver Lining. Bid two belongs to Gaze.’
Madison laid a hand on the woman’s arm. ‘Thank you, and just to point out that I had no knowledge of which was which. Would you mind calling out the numbers for me please?’
Chapter Thirty-Two
Madison watched carefully as Terri showed the number on the piece of paper to the room, then turned back to her. Nobody in the room seemed to want to breathe. Everyone had something at stake and Madison’s stake was bigger than most.
‘Proposal number two,’ Terri announced clearly.
Madison drew a stick next to the large GAZE she had written on the board. She looked over to Bette who was fidgeting around like crazy, unable to wait to claim her victory. As Madison waited for Terri to show the next number around, she nodded through the glass partition to the two men who had just arrived in her office with the young woman she had gone to see earlier that day. Darcie’s ex-employee, Sophie.
‘Proposal number two.’ Terri’s voice was firm. A small whisper wove around the room before fading to nothing.
One more vote for Gaze and it was all over. For her, for Darcie and Emma.
Madison drew another stick next to Gaze. Then she nodded to Eric who was looking tense, but the second Gaze vote had cheered him up a bit by the looks of the start of a smile that was forming on his face. Madison glanced at Darcie. The look of defeat on her and Emma’s face froze her heart, but she had to continue the torture.
‘Proposal number one.’ Madison squeaked a stick next to Silver Lining. Eric’s smile faded a little and Bette stopped fidgeting.
‘Proposal number one.’ Madison heard a gasp and a sudden intake of breath from somewhere behind her. Madison’s heart was pounding now. The gamble she had taken was either about to pay out or come crashing down.
Terri picked the final piece of paper out of the bowl, which now it was empty, refracted the light from the ceiling lights into rainbow coloured patterns on the dark, polished wood surface.
Madison held her breath. The room was silent other than for the rustle of paper being unfolded and the sound of unsteady, quiet breathing.
‘Proposal number one.’
Uproar broke out. Madison quickly stole a glance at Darcie. She still had her head down, but Emma was holding her by the shoulders, talking animatedly in her ear.
‘It’s a fix. We’ve been cheated,’ Laura shouted. ‘You fixed it for your girlfriend, I demand … I demand …or …’
Madison walked slowly around the table until she was facing Bette directly, standing no more than a foot away from the woman who, as a girl, had made her life such a misery and who had almost destroyed her happiness once more.
Without looking at him, she said, ‘Eric, tell me about the third proposal.’
Eric looked over at Laura, then around the rest of the boardroom where all eyes were fixed on him.
‘Eric?’ she said.
‘It’s word for word the same as proposal number two.’
‘Thank you, Eric. Could the five board members check their phones please?’ There were rustles of clothes and various beeps. ‘The photo I sent is a screenshot of the properties for this file. It shows that the author of the document was Darcie from Silver Lining and for those of you who can’t remember that far back, the file was first created before my uncle’s death. Just a few days before you, Bette, in your normal, sneaky, underhanded way, stole the information in that file on the day of my uncle’s funeral.’
Bette stared at Madison, her face a picture of vicious, heartless cruelty. She leant in and barely six inches away said, ‘Prove it.’
Madison didn’t move or back up one inch. ‘The two gentlemen over there have the CCTV footage from the camera in my office which caught the whole thing. I believe they want to talk to you about that, oh, and you, Laura.’ Madison lifted one hand and waved the two men inside. ‘I believe these gentlemen also wish to talk to you about . . . what was it again . . . that’s it, fraud and bribery I believe it was. You remember Sophie don’t you? Well, she’s been filling the officers in on what you’ve both been up to.’
Bette and Laura released an audible gasp simultaneously. Sheer terror in their widened eyes.
The men walked into the boardroom, moving to stand by one woman each.
‘Just so you know, the press release announcing the winner is going out in the next ten minutes with a full disclosure of why your bid lost. You two are finished in this business and I for one will not lose a single minute’s sleep over that.’
The two policemen took the women away.
‘Eric. I believe you have a letter to write?’ Madison said, staring at the old man’s now rheumy eyes. The man stood, stared at Madison, then without a word, strode out of the boardroom.
Madison turned to the rest of the board. ‘I’m going to treat you gentlemen with dignity, but I am going to make it very clear to you, that whichever one of you took that bribe, and voted for Gaze, will be leaving a note of your immediate retirement on my desk by nine a.m. tomorrow? Now if you wouldn’t mind leaving us alone?’ She held out her hand to indicate the way to the door.
As the four men filed out, the secretary looked set to follow them until Madison asked her to stay.
Madison looked over to where Darcie and Emma were standing. Neither of them were moving, or talking, they both looked like they were thunderstruck. Madison stepped in front of them and smiled broadly at them both.
‘Thank you,’ Darcie said quietly. ‘Thank you for everything.’
‘I didn’t do anything. Your proposal won fair and square. It might have been a bit of a tight squeak but I had nothing to do with the result. Your proposal was the best, look.’ Madison strode quickly to the whiteboard and span it round so she could show the comments the board had made earlier, she walked back and leant against the unit. ‘You won. All I did was make sure Laura and Bette had a tough time and hopefully never work in this business again. The fact it also got me off the hook with Eric is a bonus. I shan’t be sad to see him go.’
Emma seemed to be coming round at that point. ‘But all that other stuff, the whole company contract. Was that all real?’
‘Contracts are being drawn up as we speak. Right, Terri.’
The woman nodded again.
‘I do have one question,’ Emma said.
‘Go ahead.’
‘You said you had two ideas for the board, but you only mentioned one.’
Madison jumped up.
‘You’re right, Emma, thanks for reminding me. This idea doesn’t need a vote from the board. It only needs one person’s vote. The one person who is the most important person in the world to me and who today it has actually been all about.’ Madison felt in her pocket for the small, purple velvet box, she had picked up on her way in to the office. She opened the lid of the box, took to one knee, and said, ‘Darcie Williams. Ten years ago, I told you that I loved you. It took me another ten years, until this very morning, to tell you again. If you would agree to marry me, I promise, on my heart, that not one more day will pass without you hearing those words from me. Will you marry me, Darcie?’
***
Darcie looked down at Madison as she knelt before her. She had heard the words. She knew what they meant but for some reason, they just didn’t sink in. Everything had happened so quickly. She tried to fit what she had seen with her own two eyes into some kind of logical order.
The speech, the vote, the face off, Laura and Bette being escorted away by the police. It was all just so … perfect. But this? Madison on one knee. It was like every dream she’d ever had, all rammed in to one dream that was so big, so intense, that it just blew her mind.
Madison’s face as she looked up at her was beatific, she was as beautiful as any painting of any angel that had ever been painted. And she was asking Darcie to marry her.
‘Darce. Are you going to answer?’ Darcie knew it was Emma’s voice, but she couldn’t make out quite where it was coming from. Besides, she had already answered, yes, yes, yes, a thousand times in her head. Now she needed to find a way of saying it out loud.
She looked down at Madison, her beautiful Madison, and the rest of the world just faded to grey. She was all there was, and she was waiting for her to reply.
‘Yes,’ Darcie said and immediately was engulfed in tears, ‘Yes, yes, YES!’ She screamed her answer at the top of her voice, so all the world would know.
Epilogue
Eighteen Months Later
‘Good Morning … Mrs Willis-Williams.’ Darcie rolled over just enough to plant a kiss on the side of Madison’s head.
‘Good Morning … Mrs Willis-Williams,’ said Madison, turning over and facing Darcie. ‘How are you this fine Thai morning?’
‘In heaven, or something awfully close. This hotel is the best.’
The Oasis hotel reopened, on schedule, in May, with every room booked for a month and 90 percent of rooms booked for a whole year. It had been Darcie’s relentless PR campaign to thank for the turnaround.
Madison had spent a good part of the time being interviewed by travel journalists, guest blogging on the most popular travel blogs, and had even had a handful of TV interviews. Throughout that time, she had plugged not only the fact that the rooms were the most luxurious in the world, but that the staff who looked after them were well-paid, even by western standards. The two Michelin stars that had been awarded to the restaurant, staffed entirely by all workers, was a source of immense pride, but today was the crowning glory.
After a relaxing and delicious breakfast in the restaurant, the two women walked out of the front door and turned left. In front of the next building a low dais had been set up with a microphone which somebody was currently testing.
Darcie admired the way that the new building had skilfully been blended with the hotel, so it looked to be part of it while still maintaining some distance. She read the sign across the top of the entrance doors and smiled—it was perfect.
A small crowd had gathered before Madison took to the stage, grabbing Darcie by the hand and dragging her up with her.
As Madison looked out over a sea of smiling faces, Darcie couldn’t help but wonder whether she would have been standing there, doing what she was about to do, if Bette and Laura had won the bid. The last she heard, Bette had escaped prosecution but had moved to Spain to try to outrun her reputation which she was struggling to do. The last report they’d had was that she was waiting tables in Torremolinos.
Laura wasn’t so lucky. She was sent to prison for five years for fraud. She would doubtless be back out soon enough, but her reputation was in tatters.
Eric had sadly died six months previously, before he could be prosecuted, and Bill Matthews had retired from the board immediately after the bid announcement. Nobody had ever seen him again.
Madison tapped the microphone to check it was working then started to speak.
‘Good morning to each and every one of you who have taken the time to be here today. I understand that you all lead busy lives, so I appreciate you being here to support this new project. My aim, when I became the owner of Clover Ltd was to make our brand not only synonymous with the utmost luxury during your stay, but also to ensure that our staff are the best paid people and doing a job they love.
‘As part of that commitment we have instigated a policy of having a childcare facility, professionally run, connected to each of our hotels worldwide. I’m proud to say that this beautiful building is the very first of very many more.
‘The people who work for us, now know that not only will they be paid well, but that their children are being looked after and all for free. We have also instigated partnerships with local adoption and foster family organisations so that children who are in that situation can get free care, meaning their adoptive or foster parents can then work to improve their family’s lives, knowing their precious children are safe.
‘It is a cause that is dear to the heart of both myself and my wife, so it is with great pleasure and pride that I formally declare “The Bryan Willis Oasis Childcare Centre” officially open.’
A cheer rose among the crowd as the people who had watched, edged forward to be taken on a tour of the building, with free refreshments being provided by the hotel.
Madison turned to Darcie as the first people passed on their way inside.
‘And I also formally declare that you, my love,’ Madison grinned as she curtsied, ‘will be forever in my heart, wherever I am in the world. I love you, Darcie.’
‘Madison. I loved you back then and love you more now.’ Tears welled in her eyes. ‘I promise, on this our first full day as a married couple, that I will do everything I can to make the next day even more loving. I will love you forever.’
The kiss they share
d that day was the first of many, many more.
As they walked back up to the front door of the hotel, the chief doorman, resplendent in his livery, opened the door and doffed his hat.
‘Miss and Miss,’ he said, standing stiffly to attention.
‘Thanks, Stan,’ the two women said simultaneously.
The End
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BOOK LIST
Standalone Novels
143
Caught By Love
Guilty Hearts
Say Something
Faking It
Second Thoughts
Secrets
In It Together
Love Interrupted
The Song, The Heart
Accidentally Together
Flirting With Danger
Lost In You
Just One Destiny
Unravelled
Starting Over Again
Picking the Right Heart
The Ashley McCoy Detective Series
A Walk Into Darkness
Everything To Lose
Novellas
Talk Me Down From The Edge
Free Short Stories
The Makeover
The Love Letter
Love On The Cards
A Story Of You
About The Author
Based in Dorset, UK, Jade Winters is a passionate author with a particular focus on lesbian romance.
Jade always enjoys discussing her books with readers. You can visit her website or get in touch with her via Facebook or Twitter. Her books are available on Amazon.