by Jenny Frame
Becca allowed Trent to give her a quick hug and kiss before she sat down.
“How’s the sprog?” Trent asked.
The term immediately made Becca mad. “His name is Jake.”
Trent held up her hands defensively. “I know. It’s just an expression. How is Jake, then? Still on his way to becoming the next Albert Einstein?”
Becca sat down carefully and Trent sat on the corner of the desk with her arms folded. That was Trent. She always had to play these games, but she had lost the ultimate power game with her.
“Jake’s doing well. His new school has really helped him grow.”
“Hmm.” Trent let out a long breath. “It’s extremely expensive, Becca.”
It was times like this that Becca wondered if having her ex as her lawyer was a good idea, but no matter what stupid things Trent might say, she could trust her with her personal business.
“Yes, and something you will never be burdened with,” Becca said with a sharp tinge to her voice.
“Okay, okay. No need to get excited.” Trent walked back around and sat at her desk.
Becca had been mulling over whether to ask Trent’s advice about Dale McGuire, and decided it couldn’t do any harm to get legal advice. “Trent, before we get started, I wanted to ask you something.”
“Shoot.”
“You know I used a donor egg and sperm to have Jake and this little one?”
Trent nodded, and Becca continued, “Is it possible for the donor to have any rights over any children that are born from the donation?”
“No. As I’m sure you know, the only ones who have any rights are the children when they reach eighteen years old. They are then free to try and track down the donor. Why? Has something happened?”
Becca thought carefully before answering. She was always careful with what information she gave anyone, even her oldest and most trusted friend. “Jake hacked into the clinic’s database and brought the egg donor to my door.”
“Good God. Are you okay? Did she threaten to take Jake from you?” Trent asked angrily.
“No, she said that she just wanted to bring Jake home safely and had no interest in having a family. To be honest, she didn’t look like the type to want children.”
“What was her name?”
“Dale McGuire. She owns McGuire’s Motors. Have you heard of it?”
Trent looked surprised. “Dale McGuire? My God. Yes, I have heard of her. She’s well known in the pubs and clubs. A bit of a player, so I’m told.”
That description confirmed everything that Becca’s first impression had given her. “Just what I thought. I doubt I’ll have to worry then.”
“If she comes back, just give me a call. I’ll sort it out for you, okay?”
Becca felt better. She doubted that anyone fitting that description would want to interfere with her family. “I will. So, my father’s estate?” This was the real reason why she was here.
Trent said, “Give me a second till I call up your records.”
She was dreading this, but had to face it. The settlement of her father’s estate. She watched a frown appear on Trent’s face as she read over the details. It clearly wasn’t good reading.
Eventually Trent leaned back in her seat and clasped her hands. “I’ve given this my personal attention, Becca. I want you to know that.”
“I know. You always try your best for me, Trent. I’ve never doubted that.”
Trent nodded and began. “After extensive investigation into your father’s estate, we found huge debts. Most have died along with them, but as you know your father transferred his mortgage into your name, to try and hang on to the family home, and there’s one creditor who is non-negotiable.”
Becca nodded solemnly. “Eugene Hardy.”
Most people coming from the London area knew of the Hardy brothers, and no one would ever want to be indebted to them, especially Eugene, the head of the criminal gang. Apparently her father never had those same worries.
“Exactly. He’s been in touch, you could say,” Trent said reluctantly.
“Was he here?
At Trent’s silence, Becca’s heart started to pound. “Just tell me.”
“I have good news and bad news. The good news is that we found some money your father had in a slightly shady offshore account. Something that wasn’t seized as proceeds of crime.”
“Shady? Sounds like Father. Just how shady?”
“Not shady enough for you to worry about, especially with me as your lawyer. Besides, we need as much money as we can get.”
This was what she was waiting for. The amount of debt her father, Thomas, and his recklessness had left her.
“So? How much is owed?”
“After using the funds we have secured, and some hard negotiating with Eugene and your other creditors…£500,000.”
Becca felt her stomach drop and a million thoughts raced through her mind. How could she pay for this? How could she afford to pay Jake’s school fees? How would they even live? Tears welled up in her eyes, but she called on the control she had learned as a teenager, tamped down her panic under a steely barrier.
“I see,” Becca said in a monotone.
Trent picked up a pen and tapped it repeatedly on the desk. “My advice, as your lawyer and your friend, is to declare bankruptcy, and I can give you—”
Becca’s shock and panic turned to anger. “No. My father might have run away and dodged his responsibilities, but that is something I will never do.”
Trent threw down her pen on the desk in frustration, and walked over to the windows overlooking the London skyline.
“Why did I know you were going to say that? You’re so stubborn—you’ll be saddled with debt for the rest of your life.”
Trent turned around and looked directly into Becca’s eyes. “Things could have been so different. I wanted to marry you. We could be living in my beautiful apartment, you with your successful business, and me, owner of my family’s prestigious law firm. Instead of that comfortable, stress-free life, you put your needs above mine and walked away.”
“My needs being having a baby? I’m not having this argument with you again, Trent. If I didn’t have Jake, I would be empty, unfulfilled. Is that what you wanted for me? Remember, you were putting your needs above mine too, and gave me an ultimatum. You tried to shape my life for me, and I said no.”
The reason why they broke up was still a touchy subject, and anger still bubbled beneath the surface.
“I never wanted children in my life. I think what we had together was enough.”
“I know you didn’t, and there’s nothing wrong with not wanting children, but it made us incompatible. We’re different people, Trent. You were there for me at a time when no one else was, but you know we were never going to work. We wanted very different things. You know that. Besides, you don’t lack for female company.”
Trent nodded. “I don’t understand why you got pregnant again, a few months after your father died. Wasn’t one enough? Now you’re so ill because of it, you can’t work as much, you’re losing clients, and you’re in big financial trouble.”
Becca had heard enough. She got up as quickly as her body would allow and placed a hand on her baby bump. “She’s going to be a lovely little baby girl, Trent, not an it. No, you would never understand why I did it, Trent. That’s why we could never have a future. I think you should stick to being my lawyer and stop giving out personal advice.”
“Becca, wait, I’m—”
“I’ll go over my accounts tonight and email you with my plan.”
That was why Becca knew she would always be alone. Trent was the only one she had ever trusted with her past, since her life had gone out of control, but they didn’t want the same things in life. She couldn’t imagine trusting anyone else with her heart or her secrets.
* * *
Jake looked so peaceful and content as he slept. Becca had given him thirty minutes to read in bed before lights out, and he had fallen asleep qu
ickly. She kissed his forehead and pulled his covers up to his chin, so he wouldn’t get cold. There was some heat coming from the room’s radiator but not much. Yet another thing on her to-do list—or, rather, to-pay-for list.
Like this, Jake looked peaceful and secure, but in reality things still weren’t good between them. He was convinced in his naivety that getting his egg or sperm donor to help them was the answer to all their ills, but of course he didn’t understand the risks of allowing someone to help you.
Becca did.
She picked up the iPad that had dropped onto the covers as he fell asleep and said, “Goodnight, Pooh Bear.”
Becca took the tablet down to the kitchen, where the heat from the cooker range would keep her warm. She picked up a notepad and paper from the countertop and sat down, then opened her banking app with great trepidation and let out a sigh at the account balance displayed there.
“Okay, stay calm. We can find a way out of this.”
Becca started to write down the figures and sums, listing Jake’s school fees, and the utility and tax bills, and it all came out to not enough money to pay back her father’s debt. Being self-employed and unable to do much work, she had been living on her savings, and the little left over from a trust left by her grandmother. The trust fund had bought this house, and paid two instalments of Jake’s school fees, but now between that and her savings there was barely a thousand pounds left, which would hardly cover two months of utility bills. While the central heating was not working properly, it was hugely inefficient and still costing a fortune.
She felt queasy and shaky. How was she going to get out of this mess? It was no wonder her blood pressure was through the roof.
Tears started to well in her eyes and only now that she was alone would she allow herself to cry at the situation she was in.
In desperation, she opened the browser to run a search for rates for re-mortgaging the house, and found herself staring at the website for McGuire’s Motors.
Jake had still been looking up info about Dale, and there she was on the homepage of her business.
Dale McGuire was standing with two other women—one very beautiful woman, whose picture was captioned with the title Admin Manager, and the other a butch-looking woman in overalls like Dale, whose title was General Manager.
Becca touched the screen and let her finger trace Dale’s good-looking, warm face, while she stroked her baby bump. If Trent was right to think that she was a player who would have no interest in Becca’s family, then why did she feel warmth when she looked in her eyes?
* * *
Ash had taken up residence on a bar stool at her favourite cocktail bar, O’Henry’s, and was drowning her frustrations in vodka martinis. The bar was surrounded by many newspaper offices and was a popular hangout for journalist and media types. She had called every informant she had in her phonebook and turned up nothing but minor celebrity scandals. She needed something big, something to keep hold of Nika, slip a ring on her finger, and get her hands on the family fortune.
The truth was—and she would only admit this to herself—she had been lucky to get her first big break, the Carter story.
One of the biggest governmental financial scandals to hit the United Kingdom in years, and she just happened to be attending the same university as the daughter of one of the main players, Dr. Thomas Carter.
There had been a resurgence of interest in the Carter case when Thomas hanged himself in jail recently. Ash’s publisher had contacted her about a new book, but she had no new information. Victoria Carter had disappeared after the trial, never to be heard from again.
Ash swallowed the last of her drink and walked to the bar to order another. The dark-haired woman next to her was looking at a picture on her smartphone, and something about the woman in the picture rang a bell. She’d need to get a closer look.
She turned to the girl. “Hi, I saw you from across the room and I just knew I had to come and speak to you. I’m Ash.”
The young woman looked at her quizzically and then broke out into a smile. “I know you. I’ve seen you on talk shows. Are you the famous journalist?”
Ash got a ripple of pleasure through her body as her ego was stroked. She gave her biggest smile and said, “Guilty as charged. And your name is?”
“Lisa. It’s great to meet you at last. I’m actually a junior reporter at your newspaper.”
Ash smiled. “Lisa, can I get you a drink?”
* * *
Lisa unlocked her door and led Ash into her flat. “Can I get you a drink, Ash? I’ve got bottles of lager, white wine?”
“I’d love one. A lager, please.”
Lisa dumped her bag on the side table and left her phone on the arm of the couch. “Take a seat.”
Ash sat right beside the smartphone. “Thanks, Lisa.” She eyed the phone and wondered if she had enough time to look before Lisa got back. Ash had had to listen to her whine about being dumped by some woman, and be sympathetic, for two hours to get as close as this. She had a hunch about the picture she’d glanced, and she always followed a lead, no matter how tenuous, till the very end.
When Lisa went into the kitchen, she quickly grabbed the phone and tried to open it, but it had a fingerprint lock on it.
Fuck! This isn’t going to be easy.
Lisa came back with her drink and sat down. Ash took her drink and moved closer. She was in full-on seduction mode.
“I wouldn’t waste your time being hurt over this Dale woman.” Ash put down her bottle and stroked her fingers tenderly down Lisa’s face. “You’re too good for her.”
Lisa gulped hard and her lips parted in response. Ash moved in to kiss her and thought, Women are so easy.
After kissing her for a minute or so she pulled back. “You see? You’re too good.”
“Why didn’t Dale think that?” Lisa said sadly. “She blew me off completely. All she cared about was a stupid picture.”
Bingo. “A picture?”
Lisa reached for her smartphone and opened it up. “This one. I snapped it while she was sleeping.”
Ash grabbed the phone from her hand, and a smile spread across her face as she looked. Victoria Carter. Hello again.
Chapter Five
McGuire’s Motors’s biggest branch in Lambeth, East London, was busy with customers on Monday afternoon. Dale felt like getting her hands dirty, and so was helping out with the repairs.
Her other mechanics were busy all around her as they worked in their own car bays. Dale wanted to work on her own and lose herself in grease and motor oil, and yet all she could think about were Jake and Becca. She had been staring absently into the engine of this Porsche Cayenne, and somehow didn’t know where to start.
Dale felt a slap on her back, and she jumped. “Hey…oh, it’s you.”
Sammy had brought her a cup of tea. “You’ve been staring at that car for twenty minutes. What’s wrong, mate? You look miserable.”
She sat back against the car and sighed. “What do you think?”
“Jake?” Sammy offered.
“Jake, Becca, and the wee yin she’s having. I can’t get them out of my head. Even though Becca wanted me to leave, I feel like I’ve abandoned them.”
“Like you were?” Sammy offered.
Dale nodded and took a sip of tea. “Aye. I mean, I never imagined in a million years that I’d want children, but now I’ve met Jake, I feel…”
“Responsible for them? Like I do with Mia?”
“Yes, exactly. I feel like it’s my job to take care of those problems Jake told me about, even though Becca doesn’t want me there.”
“There’s no right answer here, Dale. This is a really unusual situation. I mean, you read stories like yours occasionally in the newspapers and on the web, but to have it actually happen to you against all odds…”
“But it did happen to me. What should I do? I can’t just do nothing,” Dale said.
“Val and I were talking. She’s afraid you’ll get hurt, but I think
you should go back and try again. Maybe fix her car at least. Then you can say you’ve tried. What do you think?”
Excitement immediately started to build inside Dale. “I’d love that. You think I should? Really?”
“Yeah, take tomorrow off, and go while Jake’s at school, so you don’t make his mum too mad about it.”
Dale smacked her friend on the shoulder, “Aye, I’ll do it. Thanks, mate.”
* * *
Dale stood in only her boxers and sleeveless compression shirt, staring into her wardrobe at the hangers of T-shirts and jeans, and wondered at the wisdom of what she was doing. Her friends had advised her that the only way she could put these feelings of guilt and interest to bed was to visit Ms. Harper again and talk properly. Maybe Rebecca would let her repair her car at least, even if she wouldn’t take anything else from Dale.
So here she was agonizing over what to wear to visit a woman who had asked her never to return.
“I must be crazy,” Dale said, before pulling out one of her most understated designer T-shirts and looking at it carefully.
The thing that had most annoyed her during her brief encounter with Becca was the way she had looked at her clothes, had made her feel like she was immature. Dale was a small business owner, and a successful one at that, and did not like to be painted as a child.
She thought about her visit to Belles and how she’d felt old amongst all the bar patrons there, for the first time. Maybe she did dress too young, but it was just part of her personality.
Quickly she grabbed her black suit, the one that she only ever wore to her lawyers or accountants, and held it up in front of herself. Maybe if she dressed smartly, Becca would take her seriously.
Decision made, she got suited and booted and looked in the mirror. Her white shirt was crisp and smart, but her black tie hung loosely around her neck. She had to keep some part of her personality on show.
Dale waxed her hair so it was perfectly neat instead of her usual messy look. “I look like an extra from a bloody gangster movie.”