What Happened That Night: The page-turning holiday read by the No. 1 bestselling author

by O'Flanagan, Sheila

  ‘Not at first,’ said Lola. ‘But she found out some time later because she went through the accounts and saw the debit going out to me every month. She thought . . .’ She took a deep breath before continuing. ‘She thought Richard was having an affair with me.’

  ‘That’s absolutely gross!’ cried Bey. She looked anxiously at her mother. ‘You weren’t, were you?’

  ‘Exactly what sort of a woman d’you think I am?’ demanded Lola. ‘Of course I bloody wasn’t. But Adele . . . well, her father had left her mother for a younger girl and ruined the family business. She thought Richard might be doing the same thing. It was one of the reasons she didn’t want me involved with Philip in the first place. Apparently I reminded her of this Sophie person.’

  ‘No!’

  ‘I didn’t know that, of course,’ said Lola. ‘Your grandfather and I didn’t speak about Adele very much. But then I bumped into her at the hospital. Your grandfather had gone in for his bypass surgery and I was visiting him.’

  ‘Was that not a crazy thing to do?’ asked Bey. ‘Wasn’t there always the chance you’d cross paths with her?’

  ‘I checked there was nobody with him. And he thought she wasn’t coming in till later. But obviously she was furious when she saw me there and told me in no uncertain terms what to do with myself. After I left, she and Richard had a fight.’

  ‘I’m not surprised.’

  ‘The fight wasn’t about me coming to visit him,’ said Lola. ‘It was because . . . because when Adele saw me at the hospital, she was convinced that one of her other suspicions was actually true. She was afraid you were his child.’

  Bey looked at her mother in horror. ‘I always wondered why she seemed so angry with me all the time. As though there was something she could never quite forgive me for. D’you think she still feels . . . Ugh, I don’t even want to think about it!’

  ‘I can’t imagine she does,’ said Lola. ‘But she’s the sort of person who would have hated to even have the thought.’

  ‘I hate that she had it too!’ cried Bey.

  ‘She was crazy about Richard, you know. I don’t think she seriously believed he’d betrayed her, but she couldn’t understand why he wanted to help us if he didn’t have an ulterior motive. Anyhow, I only spoke to Richard once more after that. He hoped he’d convinced her how silly she’d been. And now you’re up to speed on all my past history and dodgy deals,’ Lola ended. ‘I understand if you’re disappointed in me.’

  ‘I’ll never be disappointed in you,’ said Bey. ‘You’re still the strongest, bravest woman I know. But . . . but I really do owe the Warrens.’ Her expression was troubled. ‘Grandfather’s money meant I was able to do what I wanted to do. Without him – and without you saving it for me – I wouldn’t have been able to go to Birmingham. I wouldn’t have had the qualifications to get the job at Van Aelten. Or even to set up my business. And of course it was coming back for his funeral that helped me to find out about Raymond Fenton too. He’s been there for me every step of the way, even though I didn’t know it. And even though he’s dead.’

  ‘I didn’t tell you this to make you feel as though you had to take the job with them,’ said Lola. ‘I told you because . . . because I should have told you before.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Bey. ‘You really should.’

  ‘Are you coming home tonight?’ Lola looked at her anxiously.

  ‘You know, I definitely have to get a place of my own,’ said Bey. ‘You already had a kid at my age. I’m a grown-up and I’ve been sponging off you all my life.’

  Lola said nothing.

  ‘But for now . . .’ Bey put her arm around her mother’s shoulder and hugged her. ‘For now, it’s still you and me together – and where else would I go?’

  Chapter 34

  Pavé: stones set close together showing no metal between them

  It was Terry, Lola’s boyfriend, who said that the least Bey could do was see what kind of contract the Warrens planned on giving her before she made a final decision on whether to work for them.

  ‘Go in with a game plan,’ he said. ‘Ask for a lot of money. Remember that your skills are valuable, that you’re a professional person, and that they’ve come to you, not the other way around.’

  ‘But they’re a very important brand,’ she pointed out. ‘And the Adele range is a classic.’

  ‘And floundering,’ said Terry. ‘You’re in a strong position here, Bey. You’ve got to press home your advantage. If they’re prepared to accept your terms, then you can think about it seriously. But there’s no point in getting yourself into knots until you know.’

  She’d been far too excited at the job offer from Van Aelten and Schaap to even consider the terms and conditions. She’d happily accepted their initial offer without question, just as she’d accepted the intern job with Jurado’s before that, thinking that she was lucky to be working for such great companies in the first place. She wasn’t used to having the advantage, she told Terry. She wasn’t used to negotiating anything.

  ‘Other than the lease on your workshop,’ he reminded her. ‘And a start-up loan from the bank.’

  ‘A very small loan,’ she pointed out.

  ‘You negotiated it all the same,’ he said.

  But it would be totally different with her father. Even though she had the skills he wanted, she was sure he still thought of her as his troublesome daughter. Nevertheless, she listened to Terry’s advice, and when she met Philip a few days later, once again in the Westbury Hotel, she did as he’d suggested and laid out her terms and conditions as clearly and concisely as she could.

  ‘You can’t possibly be earning that sort of money selling silver trinkets to the masses,’ said Philip when he heard the salary she wanted. ‘You’re being totally unreasonable.’

  ‘It’s what I was paid as chief designer at Van Aelten and Schaap,’ she told him.

  ‘Why did you leave them if they were giving you such an outrageous amount?’ demanded Philip when he recovered from the shock. ‘What on earth made you come back here to faff about?’

  ‘I’m not faffing about,’ said Bey. ‘I’m building up a business. I decided it was what I wanted to do. And as I told you, I’ll need a certain amount of time made available so that I can continue to work on that too. I have an assistant, but she’s not very experienced.’

  ‘You want to be paid a full-time salary for a part-time position?’

  Was this part of the negotiation? wondered Bey. What should she allow him to shave off her demand to make it worthwhile? She tried not to let her anxiety show as she told him that she’d be giving far more time to Warren’s than Bijou for Bey, but that she still needed to oversee her own business.

  ‘We have a deadline for the collection,’ said Philip. ‘We need your undivided attention.’

  ‘I can multitask, you know.’ Bey realised that she was now trying to persuade him. That perhaps she did want the job after all. ‘I can give tons of undivided attention to the Warren collection while still allowing some time for my own stuff,’ she added.

  ‘I don’t know if it’ll work,’ said Philip. ‘It’s not what I had in mind.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter to me if I work for you or not,’ Bey told him. ‘In fact, I have serious reservations about getting involved with Warren’s at all.’

  ‘This is a great opportunity for you,’ said Philip. ‘You should be pleased we even thought of you.’

  ‘I don’t need your opportunities.’ Bey suddenly realised that she believed what she was saying. That she believed in herself. There was more determination in her voice as she continued. ‘I’ve done a pretty good job of making my own. I haven’t been waiting around for you to think of me. Which is fortunate,’ she added, ‘because if I’d done that all my life, I wouldn’t have got very far.’

  ‘This is business, not personal,’ said her father.

  ‘I know.’ Bey fixed her clear blue eyes on him. ‘And you should be having this discussion in a businesslike way instead o
f talking to me as though I’m still twelve and making beaded necklaces in my bedroom.’

  ‘All I’m saying is that you’re demanding the kind of money—’

  ‘That a professional earns,’ she interrupted him. ‘Now either you’re interested or you’re not. I don’t mind which, but I don’t want to waste my time sitting here being lectured by you.’

  ‘I’ll have to talk to Peter before I agree to anything,’ said Philip.

  ‘I thought you already had,’ said Bey. ‘And what about Adele? Have you spoken to her yet?’

  ‘No,’ admitted her father. ‘I wanted to get the package agreed first.’

  ‘The package I want?’ asked Bey.

  ‘I’ll recommend it to Peter, but I can’t be sure he’ll accept it. It’s way more than we would have offered Darren Daly.’

  ‘You had to pay him for the outlines he gave you, though, I presume?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘You should’ve come to me first,’ she said. ‘You would’ve saved money that way.’

  She took a sip from her cup of tea. It was almost cold and she replaced it on the saucer without taking any more.

  ‘Have you had any design ideas since I first made the suggestion?’ asked Philip to break the silence that had descended on them. ‘Or do you charge for those too?’

  Bey still couldn’t help thinking that she wouldn’t be designing anything for them if Adele had her way, but she considered the question anyhow.

  ‘You’ll want some statement pieces for which we’ll have to source stones,’ she replied. ‘And there’ll be other—’

  ‘We don’t look for stones ourselves any more,’ said Philip before she could go any further. ‘The people who make our jewellery know what we need already.’

  ‘This is a new collection,’ Bey reminded him. ‘Completely different. We’ll have to get the right stones for it. Yes, there’ll be core pieces that’ll just need bog-standard diamonds – if you can call any diamond bog standard. But you want bespoke pieces too, don’t you? Or am I wrong? Is this just some kind of marketing exercise for you? Aren’t you serious about it?’

  ‘Of course we’re serious,’ said Philip.

  ‘Yet you don’t seem to have thought it through properly. Either in terms of what you can offer me or in terms of what you want me to design for you.’

  Philip stared at her in astonishment. When he’d offered her the job he’d thought she’d be grateful and he’d also thought he’d be the one calling the shots. But he’d totally underestimated her. He was beginning to wonder if he’d bitten off more than he could chew.

  ‘We’ve thought it through enough,’ he said. ‘And we’ll have detailed conversations before you start.’

  ‘ If I start,’ she amended.

  Philip felt himself grow even more tense. This wasn’t going anything like he imagined. And he didn’t know whether to be pleased or not.

  ‘If I start,’ she repeated to Lola later when she was telling her about the meeting.

  ‘You’re like a different person all of a sudden,’ said Lola. ‘And I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s like everything is crystal clear to you and you know exactly what you want. Were you like this in London?’

  ‘I might have been.’ Bey was feeling more relaxed than earlier. ‘But it’s also thanks to Terry. He made me feel like I was worth something after all. He’s amazing, Mum. You’re lucky to have him. As for the rest – I guess I learned how things should be done when I was with Van Aelten and Schaap. I know I can do something great for the Warrens. What I don’t know is if they’ll ever allow me to try.’

  Philip rang the following day to say that they’d like to have a family meeting with her at Adele’s house in Rathgar. Bey replied by saying that it was a business meeting and she wasn’t going to have it in anyone’s house, but that they were welcome to come to her workshop. Philip said that Adele wouldn’t dream of visiting a converted garage. Bey then compromised by saying that she’d be happy to come to the Duke Lane shop.

  The following day she stood outside the building, looking at the windows with interest. They certainly knew how to show their jewellery to best advantage, she thought. But no amount of stylish displays would make her like the fussy Adele Pansy.

  She pressed the bell on the door and was buzzed inside. It was the first time she’d been inside the shop, and she looked around, comparing it to Van Aelten and Schaap in Bond Street and thinking that even though the Warrens were stuck in the past with the Adele range, the store itself was stylish and welcoming. Her father’s office was more utilitarian, and when she arrived there was only just enough space left for her at the desk, the other seats having already been taken by Adele, Peter and Anthony.

  All of them looked at her intently as she greeted them.

  ‘Well,’ said Adele. ‘This isn’t a day I ever thought I’d see.’

  ‘Me neither,’ said Bey.

  ‘I’m not convinced it’s a good idea,’ added Adele.

  ‘But it’s good to know you’re open to it,’ said Bey as calmly as she could. The last person she wanted to antagonise today was Adele, no matter how much Adele might annoy her. She realised, with some surprise, that she was suddenly feeling sorry for the older woman.

  ‘Look, we’re here to thrash out whether Bey is the right person to take Warren’s forward,’ said Philip. ‘I know there are reservations on both sides. I want to assure Bey that if she comes on board, we’ll fully support her.’

  ‘And I want to be assured that she knows what she’s doing and won’t sabotage our family heritage,’ said Adele.

  ‘You think I’d do something like that?’ Bey said. ‘Really?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ replied Adele. ‘I’m aware that you have a certain unjustified level of resentment towards us.’

  ‘I promise you I don’t,’ said Bey. ‘If there’s any unjustified resentment, or suspicion, it’s not coming from me, Adele.’

  There was a moment’s silence during which Adele stared at her while Philip and Peter looked anxiously between them and Anthony tapped at the open iPad in front of him.

  ‘Look,’ said Bey, when none of them spoke. ‘My father made a proposal to me and I gave him terms. I care very much about what I do and the last thing I’m thinking of is creating something that would impact negatively on my future career, which I can assure you will be far away from Warren’s.’

  ‘So you’re looking on us as a springboard to catapult yourself back into the kind of job that you left for reasons that are unclear to us?’ Adele’s voice was like cut glass.

  ‘Why I left is nothing to do with any of you,’ said Bey. ‘But if you’re thinking that there was some sinister reason for my departure, then there’s such a lack of trust between us that there isn’t a hope of me ever working for you.’ She pushed back her chair and stood up. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said as she turned to her father. ‘But if Grandmother detests me so much that she wants to believe the worst of me, there’s no point in even talking about this any more.’

  She left the office and closed the door firmly behind her. She was walking out of the shop when he caught up with her.

  ‘Please,’ he said. ‘Mum doesn’t mean half of what she says. Come back. Let’s talk about it.’

  ‘Why?’ asked Bey. ‘Why should I sit there and be judged by you all when I don’t need to be? Why should I watch her looking at me as if I were some kind of viper come to poison you all? She may have her personal grudges, but I don’t have to put up with them.’

  ‘I agree that my mother has a . . . an unreasonable amount of hostility towards you,’ said Philip. ‘I don’t understand it myself. But you’ll be working for me and reporting to me and she won’t – can’t – interfere.’

  He didn’t know that Adele had accused Richard of having an affair with Lola, thought Bey. He’d been kept in the dark too. In fact, she realised, more secrets had been kept from Philip than from anyone else.

  ‘I understand there are fears and resentme
nts and all sorts of things going on,’ she said. ‘But I shouldn’t have to prove myself to all of you when I’ve already proved myself to other people, and when Anthony has a job that involves playing some stupid game on his iPad when he should be focusing on what’s at stake.’

  ‘You’re really not the person I thought you were at all,’ said Philip. ‘I’ve underestimated your professionalism. We all have. I’m sorry, Bey. Please come back.’

  She stood undecided at the entrance to the shop, looking at the diamonds and rubies sparkling beneath the halogen lights. Leaving Van Aelten and Schaap had been a decision based on her personal, not her professional, life. Walking out on the Warrens would be exactly the same kind of decision. Professionally, working for them would be a wonderful opportunity. But on a personal level . . . on a personal level she wanted to run away.

  And then she remembered running away from them before. Which had only made things worse.

  ‘If I go back up there, you’ll have to agree to my terms without question,’ she told Philip in a voice that wasn’t quite steady. ‘I’m not sitting there listening to your mother argue for me to be paid less than I’m worth.’

  ‘Done,’ said Philip.

  ‘And I’ll want the time I need to ensure my own business maintains its clients,’ she added more firmly. ‘I’ll need to help my assistant even though I know she’s very capable. I find that most women are, despite what many men think.’

  ‘Is this a woman versus man thing now?’ asked Philip.

  ‘Not really,’ Bey said. ‘It’s personal versus professional. And professional has to win out.’

  He nodded and held out his hand. She took a deep breath, then shook it and followed him upstairs again.

  The low hum of conversation stopped when they walked into the office together. Philip told them that he’d agreed to Bey’s terms, which, he said, were perfectly reasonable for someone with her skills and experience. Nobody, not even Adele, objected.

  ‘Good,’ said Bey. ‘Now, let’s get one or two things clear about where we want to go from here. From what Philip tells me, the Adele range has flatlined, the stores are losing money and you want new designs to lift things. The latest ones you were shown didn’t do the trick—’