Beauchamp Hall

by Danielle Steel

  And one day, while they were trying to guess how Matthew was going to rewrite the next season without Elizabeth and Bill, Winnie admitted that she had done some writing in college, and had dreamed of working in publishing in New York, and being an editor.

  “I wanted to be a commercial fisherman, or a big-game hunter when I was growing up. That didn’t happen either.” They both laughed at the fallen dreams of their youth. “Do you ever do any writing now?” She shook her head. “You should. Who knows, maybe one day you’ll write a screenplay, or a bible for a show like this. Stranger things have happened. I know plenty of actors who’ve given it up to become screenwriters and been very successful. And you’re around the show enough to get an idea of how it works, and it sounds like you know all the episodes verbatim,” he teased her. She had long since confessed her addiction to the show, and said that was why she had come here. “You should study the scripts.” He gave her a stack of old ones to take home with her, and she started reading them at night, to see how they were constructed, and how they moved from one scene to the next. She found it fascinating. But her doing it annoyed Nigel intensely. He had started spending the night with her less and less often, and would show up without calling her, acting as though he expected to find her in bed with someone, presumably Edward. Instead, he would find her at the kitchen table, making notes on a script.

  He annoyed her particularly one night, when she opened the door for him in her pajamas. Nigel looked like he’d been drinking, and he staggered slightly as he said, “No Edward?”

  “I locked him in a closet when I heard you coming,” she said tartly. She found his jealousy childish and a waste of energy and time and refused to take it seriously. He was basically a decent guy, but he was obsessed by his concern about her with other men.

  “Why are you always fooling around with the scripts?” he asked her, as he sat down across the table from her.

  “Edward thinks I should try and write a script one day,” she said innocently, thinking Nigel would be intrigued by the idea, and pleased for her.

  “Oh, Saint Edward, of course. Are you going to try and save the show?” he said bitterly.

  “I wish I could. I think Matthew can do that without my help,” she said quietly. “At least I hope so.”

  “We’ll be lucky if we get another year out of it,” Nigel said, “and then we’ll all be out on our asses, and looking for jobs again.” It was a possibility she couldn’t deny, and Edward was worried about it too. They all were, but their attitudes were more positive than Nigel’s. His fear of the future and jealousy over Winnie were slowly poisoning him, and making him toxic to be around. His mood was very dark.

  “Well, let’s enjoy it while it lasts,” she said calmly.

  “This is just a hobby for you, Winnie,” he accused her, and there was truth to it. But she was learning a lot from reading the scripts, and her dream of writing was coming to life again. It had been dormant for nearly twenty years, but she could feel it stirring.

  “This is a job for me, my livelihood. If they cancel the show, I’m liable to wind up on some show I hate. Like one of those sick reality shows, with a family of drug addicts who all go in and out of rehab.” His comment made her think of Marje and her Las Vegas housewives.

  “My sister loves those shows, but not about drug addicts. About housewives who look like hookers.” She smiled as she said it and he relaxed a little. She could still see glimpses of the Nigel she knew and loved from time to time, but anxiety had him in its clutches and he was tense and different than he had been when she met him. His bitterness was toxic.

  He spent the night with her that night, but the beer he’d been drinking caught up with him and he passed out the minute his head hit the pillow. It reminded her of Rob and the nights they spent together when they didn’t even talk to each other. She didn’t want to face it, but she could sense that what she had shared with Nigel was slipping away. She wasn’t heartbroken over it, but disappointed. He wasn’t a bad person, and he had a kind side to him, but he had become hard to live with. Impossible in fact.

  Edward said something about it one morning. “I’ve seen you with one of the sound men a few times, away from the set. Is that your boyfriend?” She nodded.

  “He has been, it’s a bit on and off at the moment. We’ve only been dating for a few months, since I got here.” She didn’t tell him that Nigel was consumed with jealousy of him. He didn’t need to know, and Nigel wasn’t dangerous, just neurotic about it, which made him unattractive. She didn’t find it charming, in fact less and less so.

  “Relationships are like that,” he said, thinking about it. “We all make compromises about something. It’s never perfect. I’ve been dating the same woman for thirteen years. We get along brilliantly, although we’re not together all the time, or maybe because of it. Her father is in the House of Lords, and he doesn’t want her to marry an actor. I don’t want to give up acting. I’ve put too much into it, and I don’t know what else I’d do, and she doesn’t want to defy her father. So we’ve never married. I’m forty-two, and she’s thirty-seven. It’s not a drama for me, but she’s getting anxious about having children, so we’ll have to figure it out one of these days. It’s awful to say, but he’s quite old, and I think she’s been waiting for him to die before we get married. But he’s made of sturdy stuff and quite a tyrant. I’m sure he’ll outlive us both.” He smiled as he said it. “And she’s not the sort to have babies without being married. I wouldn’t mind it. Things seem to change as you get older. The things one used to think were so important turn out not to be. And the things you thought didn’t matter actually become very important one day. What matters to me about Grace is being with her. I don’t care if we marry or have children. She’s the only woman I’ve ever loved. That’s worth hanging on to. And you never know what’s going to happen.”

  “I think I’m getting there too. I spent eleven years with the wrong man before I came here. I realize now that I don’t really care if I get married or have children. I want to be with the right person. Being with the wrong one is pretty miserable.” She smiled and he nodded agreement.

  “You don’t know what surprises life has in store for you.”

  “Coming here was the best surprise I’ve ever given myself,” she said happily. And she wasn’t going to let Nigel spoil it for her.

  “How are you doing with the scripts, by the way?” he asked her.

  “I’ve been studying them every night. Writing a screenplay seems easier than writing a book. The construction is simpler and more economical.”

  “Precisely. And it’s all visual. It’s all in the actor’s face, if he’s any good.” He gave her a list of calls to make for him then, to his banker, his lawyer, a dinner reservation. He was planning to go to London in the morning for his days off. He and Grace had separate apartments, but she stayed with him when he went to London. Listening to him talk about her made it even clearer how absurd it was that Nigel was jealous of him. He was madly in love with his girlfriend, and Winnie loved the way he talked about her. She would have liked to have a man say things like that about her.

  She tried telling Nigel about it that night, and he didn’t want to hear it. He left shortly after, to meet up with friends at one of the pubs he’d been frequenting recently. He was drinking more than he used to, she suspected out of anxiety about his job and his future. The atmosphere on the set was tense these days, and Bill and Elizabeth’s departure had made everyone’s anxiety that much more real.

  The phone rang a few minutes after he left, and she assumed he was calling to apologize or ask if he could come back later, which wasn’t as much fun as it used to be. He was fine if he was sober, but having him stagger in drunk and pass out in her bed next to her was a déjà vu of Rob for her, and she didn’t enjoy it or want to relive it.

  But it wasn’t Nigel on the phone, it was her sister. Marje sounded hyste
rical and she was crying. Winnie couldn’t understand her at first, but it was obvious that something terrible had happened. The first thing that came to Winnie’s mind was Erik. He had just turned fifty and sometimes bad things happened to men his age with no previous history.

  “Calm down…take a breath…try to tell me what happened…”

  She managed to get out one word. “Jimmy.” Her seventeen-year-old son. Winnie froze as she tried to guess what might be wrong.

  “He was swimming in our neighbor’s pool. They were having a pool party,” which made no sense to Winnie either. The people they knew in Michigan didn’t have pools, they hardly ever got to use them. But Marje’s neighbor was a contractor and had built it himself for his kids. “The kids were horsing around, and he slipped and hit his head.”

  “Oh my God, is he okay?” Obviously not, with Marje sobbing, and Winnie was starting to panic too.

  “He’s in a coma. He fractured his skull and has a severe concussion. I’ve been with him since last night and my cellphone doesn’t work at the hospital. Erik is with him now. I came home to see Adam. Win, they said if he doesn’t regain consciousness soon, he’ll be brain damaged.”

  “That’s not going to happen,” Winnie said automatically, rejecting the thought as soon as her sister said it.

  “He’s got swelling of the brain, and they want to see if it goes down. If it doesn’t they’ll have to operate. They might have to take out part of his brain.” She collapsed in sobs and Winnie looked at her watch, wondering how fast she could get to London, and on a plane. It was nine o’clock at night. She had no idea what time the last train left, but if there was one around eleven o’clock or midnight, she could be on it, which would get her to London at one or two in the morning. With luck, she could catch a morning flight to Chicago, and from there to Detroit. The time difference was in her favor, and even with all the stops she had to make, she could be in Beecher by early afternoon.

  “Marje, hang in. I’ll get home as fast as I can. I’m going to get off now so I can get organized. I’ll call you as soon as I know what time I’ll be there.”

  “You can’t, you’re working….”

  “Never mind. I love you. It’ll be okay.” She had no idea if it would, but she didn’t know what else to say. Her mind was racing as she hung up, and the first thing she had to do was call Edward, and tell him what she was doing. He was going to London for four days, and she didn’t want him to think she’d disappeared. She glanced at her watch again, it was still early enough to call him at just after 9:00 P.M. He picked up, and was in good spirits. He was excited to be going to see Grace.

  She told him what had happened to her nephew, and he sounded shocked.

  “How awful, Winnie, I’m sorry.”

  “I hate to do this to you, but I’ve got to go home for a few days. I’ll try not to be gone too long, depending on what happens.”

  “For Heaven’s sake, don’t be ridiculous. Stay as long as you have to. I can manage on my own. I won’t even be back on set for five days. When are you flying out?” He sounded deeply concerned.

  “I don’t know yet. I called you first. I’m going to try to get on the first morning flight to Chicago, or New York if I have to. I need to get to Detroit after that. My hometown is two hours out of Detroit. I’ll see if I can get on a train to London tonight.”

  “No, you’re not. I’m all packed. Grace is having dinner with her father tonight, so I was going to drive up in the morning. Call the airline. I’ll pick you up in an hour. I can get you to London in three hours, or less. You can stay with us until your flight if you need to.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course. Grace never lets me drive the way I want. I’ll enjoy it,” he said, trying to make it seem lighthearted. He was very sorry for her. He had a nephew the same age.

  Winnie didn’t waste time arguing with him. She called the airline, and they had a 7:00 A.M. flight to New York, which connected to a direct flight to Detroit. The flight to Detroit was due to land at 12:30 P.M. local time. With luck and no delays, she could rent a car at the airport, and be in Beecher at 3:00 P.M. She threw jeans and a stack of clean shirts into her small rolling bag, got the toiletries she needed, a nightgown, some sandals, and some papers she thought she might need. An hour later, she was ready when Edward arrived in his Aston Martin. She turned off the lights, locked her front door, ran out to the car, and hopped in.

  “I can’t thank you enough for doing this for me,” she said gratefully, and as soon as they cleared the village, he put his foot on the gas, and never picked it up. They were on the freeway in no time, and they talked from time to time, but mostly he kept his mind and eyes on the road.

  They reached the outskirts of London at 1:00 A.M., and they agreed that it made the most sense to take her directly to the airport, since she had to check in by 5:00 A.M. for the 7:00 A.M. flight.

  He called Grace from the road and told her that he was coming in that night and why, and just listening to him talk to her made Winnie realize that what she wanted was a man who spoke to her like that. The tone of his voice told the woman at the other end how much he loved her, and couldn’t wait to see her that night.

  Edward dropped Winnie off at the international terminal at Heathrow at 1:30 A.M. and wished her luck. She had three and a half hours to spare before she had to check in, and could doze in a chair in the airport, and then get something to eat. She thanked Edward profusely again and he hugged her and told her to text him and let him know what was happening. He was worried about her and her nephew. She waved as he drove away, and walked into the terminal.

  She couldn’t call Marje because she was back at the hospital by then, so Winnie texted her to see how Jimmy was doing, and Marje texted back “No change,” and Winnie responded with “Yet.” She texted Nigel after that, and said that her nephew had had an accident, and she was flying home on a 7:00 A.M. flight, and would be back as soon as she could. She was sure he was sound asleep by then after a night at the pub, but at least he wouldn’t worry when he didn’t see her at work in the morning, or think something had happened to her.

  She sat thinking about Marje and Jimmy until she boarded her flight. He’d been so sweet as a baby, and was so grown up now. This couldn’t be happening to him. He had to wake up. She wanted to will him into opening his eyes and looking at his mother.

  The flight took off on time, and she fell asleep almost as soon as it did, exhausted from being up all night, and before it took off, she texted Edward to thank him again. He had turned out to be even nicer than she’d expected, and she loved working for him. He was intelligent and down-to-earth, talented and disciplined, and modest, which was rare in his business. And thanks to the show, he was a rising star and his career had taken off. She was thinking about him when she fell asleep, and how lucky he and Grace were to have found each other thirteen years before. She hoped she met someone like him one day, minus the Aston Martin. She didn’t need all the trappings of success and riches, just a good man to spend her life with.

  The plane landed in New York at 9:00 A.M. local time, after a seven-hour flight. And she had an hour and a half before her flight to Detroit. She called Nigel then, and hoped he wasn’t on the set. He couldn’t answer if he was, and would have his phone on vibrate, but he was outside taking a break, and he picked up immediately, and sounded angry when he did.

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m in New York. On my way to Michigan. I’m between flights. My nephew had an accident. I sent you a text last night. Didn’t you get it?”

  “Yes, I got it. I went by your place last night. It was dark. Where are you, Winnie? Really. In London with Edward? I saw the call sheet. He’s off for five days.”

  “He’s with his girlfriend,” Winnie said, shocked. “You think I’m lying to you? Do you want to call the hospital and check on my nephew? He’s in a coma.” Nigel
sounded mollified for a minute, but uncertain as to whether to believe her or not.

  “I’m sorry, if it’s true.”

  “You know what, Nigel,” she said, suddenly furious, “you’re pathetic. Edward is madly in love with a woman he’s been with for thirteen years. He treats me with respect, I don’t think he even notices that I’m a woman, and you’re so busy trying to catch me cheating on you that you can’t even think straight and think I’m lying to you about my nephew being in a coma. This is sick.”

  “How did you get to London?” Nigel asked suspiciously.

  “Edward drove me, so I could make a seven A.M. flight. Is that considered cheating too? We both had our clothes on, and he dropped me at the airport at one-thirty this morning and then he went home to his girlfriend. I’m sorry if that doesn’t work for you, but with my nephew in a coma with a fractured skull, I was damn glad to get a lift.”

  “Why didn’t you call me?”

  “Because I’m sure you were drunk out of your mind by then, and you would have killed us both. Besides, you had to be at work this morning. He was going to London today anyway. It all made sense.”

  “How bad is your nephew?” he said, returning to the human race.

  “It sounds bad. They might have to do brain surgery. I couldn’t let my sister go through that without being there with her. I’ll come back as soon as I can. But I don’t want to hear about Edward anymore. It’s gotten old, Nigel, it’s just too much.”

  “I’m sorry. I just keep thinking that…”

  “I know what you keep thinking, but you’re wrong. I’ll let you know when I’m coming back.” She hung up then and texted Marje again. Marje wrote back that there was still no major change. Jimmy was still in a coma, but the swelling of his brain had decreased a little. At least that was a hopeful sign, but nothing else was encouraging. Her neighbor was taking care of Adam.