Marion rested. She sipped water from time to time, giving Zani a nod when each contraction came so she could start timing on Corbin’s watch. They were strong and regular. Twenty minutes apart.
Marion called to Corbin in the cockpit. “Can you put a call through to someone from here?”
“Sure.”
“Zani, go tell him to call my doula. Her name is Christine.” Unable to find a piece of paper, Marion wrote the number on Zani’s hand, after she managed to un-prise it from the seat arm.
Zani cautiously made her way up to the cockpit, making sure that at all times she had a firm grip on a piece of aeroplane.
“Here.” Zani held out her hand. Corbin, meeting her eye and not looking away, took it. Warmth crept up her arm, and she even managed to stop worrying about Jim having a heart attack and Corbin having to fly the plane.
“Can you tell Christine Doula to meet Marion at the hospital?” she asked. “We couldn’t find any paper to write on.”
“Christine must be a friend,” said Corbin, glancing at her palm. He ran a thumb over it.
“I suppose, I…”
“Zani, another one is starting…” called Marion.
Retrieving her hand and she smiled awkwardly at Corbin, then cautiously made her way back to her seat. As she walked away, a burning flush of embarrassment over her text message prickled from her scalp to her navel. She couldn’t decide if she never wanted to see Corbin again or sit in his lap.
An ambulance met them at the airport. The moment the plane taxied to a standstill, Corbin had the door open and two cheerful paramedics hurried aboard to check on Marion.
“Feeling okay?” asked one.
Marion nodded, busy dealing with a contraction.
“Phew, that hurt,” she said. “Can you get me to the hospital now? I really want to get on with the pain relief.”
The paramedic laughed. “C’mon, then.”
“I’ll go,” said Zani, bravely ignoring visions of herself being in the room as Marion gave birth.
“Thanks,” said Marion, smiling gratefully.
“Jim and I need to sort out the situation with the authorities. I’ll meet you there,” said Corbin, glancing at the two fire engines and four police cars that had also met the plane. Throughout the flight they had been in almost constant contact with the airport, but the authorities were not taking any chances.
For the second time in the space of a fortnight Zani sat in the back of an ambulance and held on as the siren wailed and they darted through the congested London traffic.
Things moved quickly once they arrived at the hospital. Zani hurried after Marion as she was whisked away in a wheelchair. The hospital had a large maternity ward and they ended up in a plush delivery suite with a daunting array of monitors and contraptions. For a moment everyone disappeared and Zani was left looking at Marion. Who grinned.
“Don’t worry, Christine will be here soon. She’ll get me through this, you won’t have to stay.”
“But it’s my niece or nephew. Are you sure you don’t want me here? I hate the thought of you doing this alone.”
“No offence, Zani, but no. Christine is a trained doula, she knows exactly what to do, and I’ve known her for years.”
“A doula?”
“A sort of birth assistant. She’s trained to help me through the whole thing. I asked her to help the minute I found out I was pregnant. Paul never suggested he’d be here, and I’m not naïve enough to imagine he’d suddenly turn up.”
“Oh, Marion.” Zani only just stopped herself from asking how on earth she put up with Paul.
Three contractions later a short, capable woman bustled in.
“Christine!” said Marion.
Zani nearly hugged her. She’d been trying to find out where Marion’s epidural had got to and had yet to even locate a member of staff. All eight delivery suites in the hospital were occupied.
“Marion, dear. I’ve spoken to your midwife. We were at nursing college together you know. The anesthetist is on his way with the epidural. They tried to suggest you try the gas first, but I told them you have an outstandingly low pain threshold, and we wouldn’t even consider it,” rattled off Christine.
Zani sagged against the wall in relief. Marion was no longer her responsibility.
“You can go, dear.” Christine briefly turned her beady gaze on Zani. She didn’t need telling twice.
“I’ll see you after…” she said to Marion. What on earth did you say in a situation like this? Goodbye? Good luck? Have fun? Hope you don’t need a caesarean? Marion waved vaguely back as Christine bombarded her with questions for the epidural consent form.
Zani met Corbin coming out of the lift.
“Christine the doula is looking after her. She doesn’t need us,” she said.
“Good.” He nodded, his smile tinged with relief. “We need to talk.”
“Yes, my family owes the Russian Mafia fifteen million pounds and now you’re involved.”
A passing nurse gasped in disbelief. Frowning, Corbin stabbed at the lift button. The door opened immediately.
“Come on then.”
“Where?”
“Look, just come, will you? Must we debate everything?”
“Yes,” muttered Zani, but followed anyway.
Corbin strode out of the lift, and Zani hurried along in his wake. The day felt soft and humid after the hospital’s ersatz atmosphere. Corbin led her underground, through the subterranean world that was Tower Bridge Station. People surged around them, and the stuffy metallic smell of food and human beings closed in on Zani. The ground shook and a hot wind blasted as a train roared into the platform metres below.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
Before long they left the station and emerged blinking in the daylight. The wide open space of the park running alongside the Thames River soothed Zani. The trip to Russia had become a nightmarish blur. Each time she tried to think about it, her mind veered away. To Marion, her father, Paul, Fang. She couldn’t exactly concentrate on anything.
In the middle of the park, like a huge silver beehive, sat the most stunning building. She’d never seen anything like it.
“Wow. What’s that?” asked Zani.
“Sadly, it’s the home of the Greater London Authority,” said Corbin, grinning.
“What? The council?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“Is that where we’re going?”
“No, there.”
He pointed a short distance away to Tower Bridge.
“I didn’t come here to sightsee,” she snapped. “I have to get back to Chichester. Dad is all alone.”
“Did you ring the hospital?”
“Yes.”
“How is he doing?”
“Unconscious.”
“Look, just bear with me for a moment.”
She strode over to the edge of the Thames and, holding the railing in both hands, looked out over the water. Corbin came up behind her, not touching, but close enough that she could feel his heat. She shivered.
“I’m sorry, I haven’t thanked you for coming to rescue us. It was beyond anything I ever expected.” She looked up over her shoulder.
“Hush, cherie. Your thanks are not needed. There is something I want to ask.”
“Anything Corbin. You’ve done so much for us.”
“Marry me?”
“You’ve got to be joking.” Stunned Zani let go of the railing and stormed up the pathway.
Corbin hurried after her. “Look, I’m sorry, I’ve surprised you. I’d sort of planned that we’d be up on the bridge, beautiful view, I could drop a few hints, you’d be pleased.” The hurt in his voice made Zani stop.
“I’m not upset because the location of the proposal isn’t right,” she said with a touch of exasperation.
Corbin looked confused. “Oh.”
Zani only just didn’t roll her eyes. “I owe the Russian Mafia fifteen million pounds, Corbin. E
ven if I was contemplating marrying you, which I’m not, I certainly wouldn’t be doing it under those circumstances.”
“But the money doesn’t matter,” he assured her confidently. “If we were married our assets would be merged. It will take me a few weeks, but I can raise the money. You wouldn’t owe anyone anything and you wouldn’t have to lose Everwood.”
A wave of disappointment made Zani turn away. She watched a barge chug past on the brown, sluggish water.
“You just don’t get it, do you?”
“Everything seems clear to me.”
“How can you not see the position you’ve put me in? If I married you and then you paid all that money, I’d feel like I’d been bought. The fifteen-million-pound bride.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“But that is unacceptable to me. And whilst we’re avoiding the subject, what about love?” Masking her hurt, Zani gave Corbin a penetrating stare. He backed off immediately, looking down and kicking a stone off the path. It skittered through the railings and landed in the water with a plop. Bit like my heart, thought Zani.
“You said you loved me in your text message.” There was a faintly accusing note in his voice.
“Yes, but I didn’t think it’d get through. Do you really think I’d admit something like that to someone who couldn’t possibly love me back? In a text message? C’mon, I’m a bit classier than that.”
“Couldn’t love you back? But Zani, I’ve loved you from the beginning. Didn’t you realise? The last thing I wanted was to fall in love. I fought it all the way. I thought I’d go mad. I knew you were up to something, that loving you was possibly the biggest mistake I’d ever make, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop.” He stopped staring at the ground and looked up with the sweetest smile, then took a step toward her, so close she thought he was going to kiss her. “Do you know what I want to do? For the rest of your life I want to spend every single day proving to you how much I love you.”
“You do? But why? That sounds exhausting.”
“I don’t care.” He shrugged. “It seems to me that you’ve been treated badly by almost every man you’ve come across. I believe this is unacceptable and I’m happy to take on the responsibility of convincing you that first, you are worth loving, second…”
“Stop it. This is stupid.” The cold penetrated her jacket and she wrapped it more tightly around herself.
“You’re cold. Let’s keep walking,” said Corbin. Zani kept quiet, her mind whirling. Marriage. Corbin. Sometimes when wildest dreams come true, a person has trouble believing them.
He loves me.
They arrived at the base of one of the bridge pylons.
“Shall we go up?” he asked.
Zani hesitated. He’d want a reply, up there. Nothing would be the same after. Yes. It’d change everything. Such a small word, but one that had sent so many lives hurtling off in a new direction. Yes, I’ll marry you. Could this fairy tale really be happening to her.
“Let’s go,” she said.
A few minutes later they stood together looking out over the grey London cityscape. A group of chattering schoolchildren pointing out the blue hump of St. Paul’s Cathedral and filling in questionnaires drifted past. Zani and Corbin waited until they had moved on and they stood alone on the walkway, high above the traffic.
“I can’t marry you,” she said gently.
“Oh, Zani…”
“So much has changed. I need time. I have to sort out this money. Regardless of love, I think it would taint anything between us. It would taint me. I’m not saying no, or never, I’m saying not right now.”
“I see.” He looked resigned. “So it is over between us then?”
“No,” she gasped. “I mean, we can… If you want… I’d quite like to…oh!”
He bent and with delicious purposefulness kissed her. Thoroughly. Standing on tiptoe, Zani felt warmth rush through her.
“Okay. I’ll wait. But promise to tell me the minute you’re ready,” he muttered into her ear, holding her close.
“I promise. Kiss me again?”
Corbin didn’t need asking twice.
This time Zani broke away. “Sealed with a kiss,” she said.
“Sealed with a loving kiss,” Corbin finished.
“You’re amazing,” she told him, bubbling with happiness. “Really amazing. I can’t believe you came to rescue me in Russia. In a Lear jet.”
He smiled self-depreciatingly. “It was nothing.”
“To me it meant everything.”
Then she sighed.
“Fifteen million pounds. I don’t even know where to start. It’s crushing. And I’d be an idiot to think we’ve heard the last of Vladimir Klebnikoff. I do hope Marion is doing okay. How long has it been?”
“Ten minutes.”
“I need to get back to Dad. I just keep thinking what if he wakes up, and there’s no one there?”
“Zani, I think we need to worry about Klebnikoff the most,” said Corbin gently. “The Russian Underworld isn’t known for its largesse toward debtors.”
Zani rested her head on Corbin’s chest. Safe in his arms.
“I have a plan, to get the money. I don’t know if it’ll be enough, but I’m going to sell everything. If it isn’t enough I’ll think of something else, but that’s where I’m going to start,” said Zani.
“I don’t want you to lose Everwood,” said Corbin, tightening his arms around her.
“Last night, at the Dacha, I decided to hand Everwood over to Klebnikoff. I thought it would be the most painful decision I’d ever have to make. As if I was somehow abandoning my mother. But, it wasn’t as bad as I’d thought. Instead of grief and pain and loss, I felt relief. I hadn’t realised it, but that house has been holding me back. Trapping me on the day my mother died for nearly twenty years.”
“Cherie.” Corbin caught her hand, and she glanced at it, small and white in his warm, tanned one.
“It’s time for my family to let my mother go, and if that means letting Everwood go, then I think it’ll be a good thing. I still love my mother, and I’ll miss her every day. But I’m not sad anymore. What happened to us was a tragedy, but it’s haunted us for too long. Mum would’ve been devastated if she realised that when she died, the family died with her.” She sighed quietly.
“Sell Everwood, then. But you do it. Don’t just hand it over to Klebnikoff, or anyone else. It’s something you need, I think.”
Twining her fingers in his, she nodded. In her mind’s eye, she saw herself, treading the first step on the pathway that led to her new horizons.
Secret Intentions
Chapter Fourteen
“Well, madam, I am extremely busy at the moment,” said the antiques agent for Christies.
“Oh fine, I’ll call Sotheby’s then…” Zani left the threat hanging. “I thought Christies might like to have a look first. The house is heaving with antiques, and rumour says the Duchess of Devonshire is in there somewhere too.”
“Bloody hell, do you mean the lost Gainsborough painting?” The agent forgot to be posh for a moment.
Zani kept the smile out of her voice.
“My father, who has been very unwell, told me just this afternoon. It’s the family secret. The painting has been at Everwood all along.”
“I’m intrigued, madam, tell me, how would tomorrow morning suit you?” he oozed down the phone.
“It would suit me very well. Bring your antique people and your painting people.”
“Naturally…”
She clicked the phone shut and gave her father a victorious grin.
“They’ll be at Everwood tomorrow.”
“Good. Make sure they see everything. Hold nothing back. Get the money. Save Paul.” He gasped and weakly pulled the oxygen mask back over his face, as pale as the hospital pillow behind him.
“Dad, I know. Rest now. I’ll take care of everything.”
“No,” he croaked. “I’ll be fine. Get my clothes?” He tr
ied to move the bed clothes and sit up, only to get tangled in the drips and wires he’d been attached to.
Zani raised her eyes to heaven.
“You came out of a coma three hours ago. You’ve had a full heart bypass. If you don’t stay in bed, I’ll call Matron again.”
At this thought, her father looked faintly afraid.
Corbin strode in. “Sorry I was so long. Matron caught me on the mobile. She’s a terrifying woman. I’ve been outside. Marion had the baby, a little girl called Grace.”
“Oh, oh, is she all right? How big is the baby? I’m an aunty,” squeaked Zani.
“How big?” Corbin looked confused. “They are fine.”
“Dad, you’re a grandfather.”
A faint smile hovered on her father’s lips, and his cheeks gained a tinge of colour.
“Well,” he said. “Well, well.”
Matron bustled through the door, and everyone jumped guiltily.
“That’s enough for today. You can come back tomorrow. Your father needs his rest.”
Nobody dared argue.
“You go home,” said Zani in the carpark.
“Where are you going?”
“Everwood. I want to go and look around the old place before they start going over it tomorrow. I need…” Out of nowhere a sob welled up and tears filled her eyes. “I need to go and say goodbye, before…”
Corbin instantly folded her in his arms. “Then I’ll come with you. I don’t like the thought of you alone in that mausoleum.”
“We need to get Fang first, and tell Karen what’s going on.”
“Okay, you direct.”
They arrived at dinner time, when Karen’s house was more of a zoo than usual.
“Help,” muttered Corbin as they fought their way through the front door. It had been wedged shut by a small avalanche of hockey sticks.
“Four sons, one daughter, many, many pets,” said Zani.
Fang appeared the moment she heard Zani’s voice, though the rest of the family barely noticed as everyone crowded in the kitchen, howling for food. Before they could decide what had happened, Zani and Corbin were squashed together at one end of the table with piles of rice and chili con carne steaming on plates in front of them.
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