by Finian Blake
Edward laughed, “Layla I would like you to meet my sister Susan. Lynn had named her daughter Susan and Susan named her daughter Lynn. It leads to a lot of confusion and they love it. Susan this is my wife Layla.”
Susan kissed Layla warmly, “So you are the one that Edward was crazy over. I am surprised that nothing happened before this.”
“Ed, your brothers Adam and Noah are waiting for you. They took the week off when they found out that you were coming. They just made Sargent, in the SAS and they are stationed just north of Manchester.” She ran up to Alex and gave him a big hug. She stood back and the dog ran up to Alex and buried his nose in his crotch. “Shultz stop that.” Susan blushed furiously holding up a small squeeze bottle. “Mom told me to do that to you.” Layla was surprised as Alex laughed it off. Susan linked arms with the newlyweds, and started walking to the terminal. The others followed the trio out to the cars. Layla noticed an extremely tall woman chauffer standing next to a Bentley Mulsanne. She was six foot six and had a most striking appearance. Layla wondered who the car was there for. Edward walked up to the Chuffer giving her a kiss and a warm hug.
“Nadia, I would like you to meet my wife Layla.” Nadia gave her a bone crunching hug. “Nadia is my sister she will be your body guard while you are here.”
“Edward, I would ask you how married life is, but by the pleasured look on her face, life is good.” She took Layla’s hand with a disapproving look. “Edward, just a gold band, I didn’t think that you were that cheap.” Nadia took Layla by the arm. “That’s all right. I know all of the most expensive jewelers. I can take you to London.” Nadia held the door open for Layla and helped her in the back seat. She walked back to Alex.
“Susan said that the Mulsanne was for the newlyweds only. She pointed back down the curb. The rest of you can take the van.” Nadia drove off smartly, leaving the van in the dust. After twenty minutes she turned off the main road and took a turn into the equestrian property pulling up in front of an old looking home. Two older women dressed in riding Jodhpurs and formal black riding jackets were standing on the porch. The taller of the two was a striking woman about six feet tall in her riding boots. Nadia escorted the couple up to the porch. The taller woman extended her hand without waiting for an introduction.
“I am Susan and this is my partner Lynn. I believe you met Lynn’s daughter Susan.”
Layla cracked a smile and Lynn burst out laughing. “She did it! I told you she would.”
Susan continued calmly, “We put you up in our guest house. This is our place and we wanted you to have some privacy. All of the others will be across the road at the Inn. You will not be bothered for the rest of the week. Edward is no stranger here. He will get you acquainted.”
Lynn kissed Edward, “I made an appointment with Beth and Arlene for nine thirty this morning. I hope you can crawl out of bed in time to keep it.” Layla’s jaw dropped at the comment. They started their walk over to the guest house.
“Was Alex married to Susan? How are Susan and Lynn your sisters?”
Edward smiled, “No, they were never married, Susan and Lynn, are a committed couple. They wanted children, so they picked the only man that they cared for.”
Layla injected, “You mean your father. Wasn’t he married to Anna at the time?”
“Yes, she approved. He wouldn’t have done it otherwise. He is Adam and Noah’s father too. Susan and Lynn wanted girls and when they had boys they tried again. You see that makes all four of them true siblings and I am their real brother.” Layla’s head was swimming not being prepared for complicated details so soon after arriving. Edward was glad that he went slowly in navigating the family tree. “That was the straight forward part. It gets complicated from here.”
“How complicated can it be.”
“We need to go slow.” Edward decided to hold back. “This is the guest cottage.” Layla was not impressed. It looked like an old stone building. Edward opened the door. It was very modern on the inside. There was a comfortable living room and an impressive kitchen. The bed room was more antique. The bed was a classic four poster bed with bed curtains except for the fact that it was a king size bed. All of the furniture in the bedroom was made of Black oak. Edward took her in the bath. He held her hand to the floor.
“The whole cottage uses radiant heat. Even the towel cabinet is heated. You will have warm towels after your shower.” Edward undressed Layla entering the shower making love under the warm spray.
The newlyweds made their way to Beth and Arlene’s shop before they tried sleeping. Beth made a fuss over Layla. She went straight to work without ceremony. “Take your clothes off dear.” Layla looked spooked.
Edward gave her a sheepish look. “Layla this fitting is a whole different thing. Go along with her. You will understand, later.” Beth began to probe Layla’s body. She cupped Layla’s breasts and probed all of her personal areas. Layla was blushing furiously.
After Beth was finished, Arlene took over. “We are presenting your body not just covering it. You have extremely well formed legs, so we want to show those to best advantage, and your breasts are quite lovely, they need to be presented correctly. Finally, you have a long waist with full hips. I bet you have to shop forever to find the right cut for your blouses.”
Arlene stepped in, “Beth does the outer clothing and I make the lingerie. We will have you properly draped before you leave for home.” The whole procedure took an hour. Beth turned to Edward.
“How much do you want to spend on your wife?” Beth held Layla’s hand under Edward’s nose. “I have to ask since you only bought her a cheap gold band for a wedding ring.”
Edward let his frustration creep into his voice, “We were out of time and I didn’t want to get her just anything. She will require a full wardrobe. There is one request. Layla loves to wear jeans. Could you break tradition and make some for her.”
Beth made a face, “We started making jeans a while ago. Victoria our apprentice has introduced some American trends. She seems to have a real instinct when it comes to current fashions. It has become very fashionable to wear jeans now and of course we added our personal touches.” All the time that they were talking measurements were being taken, and Victoria had been writing. She was a beautiful woman with light chestnut brown hair and wide soft brown eyes. Victoria was physically fit from working out with Suki, Angela, Nadia, and Cherry. Cherry had attended design school and being Sarah’s daughter she was fully familiar with fashion photography. Cherry, now thirty-eight, was more than independent, but still lived with Sarah. She elected to stay because she had a bond with both Sarah and the Inn. Sarah was the only mother that Cherry ever respected. Her real mother sold her to Sarah for ten balloons of heroin. Cherry was still very playful, even at her age. Beth and Arlene instructed her to go shopping with them. Both Cherry and Victoria had great fashion sense.
Arlene handed the list to Victoria while she was addressing Edward. “Here is a list of accessories that need to be purchased and the shops that you need to buy them at. I also included the name of a top jeweler in Manchester that does lovely custom work. You don’t have to go to London to find quality work anymore.”
Layla wanted to look at samples before she left.
“Do you have any drawings that I can look at?” Edward interrupted her.
“Beth and Arlene make the initial choices on the first fitting. “Beth in answer to your question there is no limit. We want a full ward robe, as if she didn’t own a stitch of clothing.”
Layla was not at all happy. “You are going to spend all of that money and not give me a choice!”
“Layla you can make all the choices you want after the first session. You need to see what they can do.” She was not happy but Layla went along with Edward’s request. Nadia was waiting for them with the Bentley helping the newlyweds in the rear with Cherry and Victoria joining Nadia in the front seat. She took the list of shops and started out. Nadia started talking from the front seat.
“Tod
ay is yours. For the next week I will be requiring Bill and Layla for a few hours each day. Alex wants them trained on security, fire arms and self-defense.” Edward wanted the day alone with Layla, but he also wanted to show Layla the pampering that she was in for. He tried to dismiss Nadia, Victoria and Cherry.
“I have been here often enough. I can drive.”
Nadia was firm. “Alex told me to attach myself to Layla like a shadow when we are not at the resort. You know that I will follow his orders to the letter so you have no choice in the matter. I know that you can handle yourself, but my orders are about her.” Cherry and Victoria came along for the trip as Beth’s authority on the accessories which made Edward feel like the attendant on this trip. He kept paying for all of the purchases even those that Cherry, Victoria and Nadia wanted. They managed to take full advantage of their brother. The trunk of the Bentley filled completely and the back seat started to fill to. They made their last stop at the Jeweler’s shop. Alex and Layla decided to follow the European tradition and go with a colored stone for the ring. Alex picked out a few pieces that he liked and bought Layla a plain stainless steel Rolex and a diamond Piaget watch. All together they spent about 30,000 Pounds in the one shop.
Layla was walking on a cloud. She was carrying the bag with her purchases held tightly to her chest. Nadia was walking behind them. A well-dressed man pushed past Nadia and closed on Layla. Nadia reached in her purse producing a foot-long grey plastic tube about 40 millimeters in diameter. The man knocked Cherry over and made a lunge for the bag that Layla was holding so tightly too. Nadia pressed a button on the tube making a soft pop launching a projectile that looked like a small mushroom. It struck him in the back of the head knocking him to the sidewalk. Nadia moved in to secure him with plastic hand cuffs. Edward detected a movement out of the corner of his eye. Another man was moving up behind Nadia with a sap filled with lead shot. Edward flattened his hand and struck the assailant with the tips of his fingers just below the shoulder joint. The man dropped the sap and his arm fell to his side useless. Edward struck a second blow to the other shoulder and kicked him in the back of the knee driving him to the sidewalk. Nadia quickly secured the other man also. As she secured the second man she noticed that he could not move his arm.
“Nice move how long will it last?”
“He will be good as new in a few days, unless I reset his arm.” Cherry jumped in and kicked each of the helpless men once each in the head. They went out like a light. Layla was appalled by the move.
Edward blurted out, “What the hell was that?”
Cherry, crossed her arms over her chest. “The bastards deserved what they got. They tried to hurt us.” She went silent and went to sit in the car.
They waited for the police to arrive and filed the report. The police examined Nadia’s toy and determined that it was legal since she was a licensed body guard and the tube was a non-lethal weapon.
“We have been trying to catch these purse snatchers for a while. They work in pairs. The second man steps in if the first man has any difficulty. They were good at spotting our people, so they have been at this for a while. Will you press charges?” Nadia did the talking.
“My wards are from LA and I am their security. I can press charges.”
“Yes, I see you driving that Bentley all the time.” At six foot six, Nadia stood out. “You work for the Inn. May I stop by to get the rest of your statement? I would also like to have a closer look at your magic wand.”
“Please come by at your convenience. Right now I have to get my charges back to the Inn. If you stop by I can give you several of these tubes.”
The ride back to the Inn was filled with animated discussion. Nadia called in on the cell phone and was instructed to stop by the security building, to give Mark a full report. Frank had passed away a few years ago and Mark was now head of security. At seventy-five he was the last of the original ‘Old Men’ and the only reason he had not stepped down was that he was looking for someone with good judgment to take command. Mark was still mentally sharp and worked with Suki running the international side of the business. Tom and Brent retired and moved to the farm across the road. Susan purchased it when it came up for sale about ten years back. The older employees moved across the road when they retired to make room for their active replacements. They were too much like family to be turned out. Tom liked to tinker in the machine shop after he turned it over to Sidney. Martin still liked to work with the horses, but left the primary work to the new horse master Ernie. Brent and Ray still did whatever they felt like doing. Nadia gave a full report while Alex listened with interest.
“Layla, this is why Nadia is your personal body guard. She can act here locally without a problem. I have full faith in Edward. We just need to have the local touch. Beth and Arlene have a few pieces ready for fitting. They have had their whole staff working on Layla’s project while you were gone. They want you to bring all of your purchases to the shop.”
When Edward and Layla arrived at the shop, Beth and Arlene reviewed all of their purchases with Cherry and Victoria. Ninety percent of the purchases met with approval making a stack of the items that did not meet with their approval. Beth and Arlene talked Layla into taking those items back and then Cherry talked her into keeping them.
“Layla those old ladies are as bad as my mother. They do not lose an argument.” Edward smiled at Cherry’s diplomacy. She always maintained a deep respect for Sarah.
“What are you going to do?”
“I will load them in the car and take them home for you. Just don’t wear them around Beth and Arlene.” They were still laughing when Beth brought out the first offerings. Arlene made a few sets of underwear and some sexy lingerie. Beth brought out a pair of jeans and a few blouses with everything fitting perfectly. Layla was feeling much better about allowing the ‘Old Ladies’ to make the choices. Beth produced a purse that was twelve inches long, nine inches wide and four inches thick. The workmanship was flawless hand tooled leather.
“Take Layla to the club and get her the filler for her purse.” Edward smiled and left the shop with Layla. They walked through the hedgerow walking up to a small cottage that appeared to be half buried in the Hill.
Layla laughed, “Do the elves live here?”
“You might say that.” Edward entered without knocking. Layla was surprised to find that there was an immense room behind the door. Edward walked up to a man operating a lathe handing him the purse.
“Sidney, we need filler for this.” He took the purse having a critical look at Layla. He examined her hand and walked to a cabinet. Sidney came back with a nine millimeter Walther P99 compact. It only held seven rounds, but the grip fit her small hand perfectly. Sidney was not a size snob. He always made sure that the weapon fit the user perfectly. He always made sure that weapon fit the body and not the ego.
“Let’s go back and fire a few rounds.” Sidney laid the gun on the counter and removed the end flap from the purse. It was made for a larger weapon so he noted the interior adjustments that needed to be made. Next he broke the gun down and reassembled it reviewing the operation and the safeties with Layla. Finally, he showed her how to handle the gun. The smaller grips were perfect for her smaller hand still keeping the nine millimeter punch. Sidney fired seven rounds at twenty feet and was happy with the pattern.
“It’s your turn. Hold the gun firmly. Don’t pull the trigger just squeeze it.” Layla followed instructions and actually got the last few rounds on the paper. After an hour Layla could get seven out of seven on the paper. Sidney ended the session with a lesson with instruction on cleaning the weapon.
“You have enough to work on and I need to work on your purse, so that the gun will draw properly. Let’s get together about the same time tomorrow and we can work on this again. Why don’t we have a pint at the pub around five tonight?
Layla and Edward started to walk back to the guest house. They met Lynn walking out of the service center.
“Edward, I set up t
hose accounts for Layla. We need to go over the access numbers and she needs to go to Zurich for signatures and to log into the palm reader.” Edward was franticly waiving his hands, but it was too late. Layla was wondering what Lynn was talking about.
“What accounts are those?” The genie was out of the bottle.
Edward smiled sheepishly. “You need your own money. I setup a bank account in your name.”
Layla was curious, “How much are you putting in the account?”
“Five million… “
“Five million dollars…” Layla was shocked.
It was Lynn’s turn to jump in to the conversation, “I work in Pounds. This is England. It would be ten million dollars.”
“My god, that’s a lot of money!” Layla was floored.
“He still has one hundred twenty million in the bank.” Lynn gave Edward a playful push. “You need to go to Zurich and sign the account papers. Marc your account executive will have your charge cards prepared. He just needs your signature to initiate them. Marc and Gunther handle everybody from the Amazon Inn. Once your account is associated with the Amazon they will personally oversee your business. Connie and Lori will fly us there in the morning.” Lynn eyed Layla up and down. “Those are some nice jeans. Your ass looks great in them. How did you get Beth to make them for you?”
Layla shrugged. “I asked.”
Edward and Layla hurried back to the guest cottage. They made love and fell asleep. Layla started to travel first. She went back to the Farm. Evan was sitting in his office. The door was locked with him being in no mood for any interruptions. He asked a few of the people to answer the phones and was flatly refused. Everybody would do their job, refusing to help with Yvonne’s duties. Evan was isolated within his own operation. He needed to find a way that they could turn Yvonne over to her parents for burial. Finally, he came up with the story that she had come in contact with a biological toxin and had to be cremated. It was a weak story, but it explained the cremated remains. He couldn’t turn her over to her parents with the back of her head missing. The medical team went along with it because the other alternative was to bury her out in the desert in an unmarked grave. This way the family would have a grave to visit.