Did I Mention I Won The Lottery? (20 page)

She slipped
into the conservatory and curled up in her chair to watch the
darkening skies and sip her wine.

Eventually he
came to find her, rubbing his hands with glee.

‘I think it
will be in the bag pretty soon,’ he gloated his face smug. ‘We’ve
had a valuation done and made an offer. Just have to wait for them
to accept now.’

He threw
himself in the chair opposite Rebecca sighing with happiness.

‘What fantastic
timing, they screw me over on the job and I win enough money to buy
them out! Priceless.’

Rebecca had to
work hard to remind Daniel that he hadn’t won anything. She on the
other hand, had won 15.7 million.

‘What’s for
tea?’

Rebecca stared
at him.

‘Oh, shall we
have a take away then? By the way did you speak to the bank
manager?’

Rebecca
shrugged, sipping more wine. ‘Not yet.

‘You need to do
it straight away Rebecca! We can’t have the money festering in that
silly little bank account of yours. I might need to move quickly
next week, the money needs to be available.’

Rebecca didn’t
answer.

‘And besides, I
can’t use any of it when it’s in your bank account. I mean how
ridiculous is that. I’ve won over 15 million pounds and I can’t
spend any of it.’

How long did
guilt last wondered Rebecca? How long would she feel so deeply and
profoundly guilty?

‘Shall we have
a Chinese or a curry?’ she asked and ignored Daniel’s glare of
disapproval as she went to find the menus.

‘Monday
Rebecca, speak to him on Monday. I need to have access to the money
- I can’t actually afford to pay for a curry for God’s sake. I’ve
just won all that money and I can’t even afford a curry!’

‘And will you
bring back another bottle of wine,’ asked Rebecca. ‘A decent bottle
not that house plonk, it tastes like vinegar.’

It was Monday
and Rebecca woke with an overwhelming need to pack a bag and travel
down to Leeds. Daniel was already up and she could hear him
whistling as he wandered around downstairs. She laid in bed staring
at the ceiling. He would be busy planning his new empire, there was
no reason why she couldn’t go to Leeds. She hadn’t seen Gwen in
days and when she had last visited there had been a great deal of
general upset about Dotty leaving. That reminded Rebecca that she
still hadn’t really made any decision about Parklands. It was
pretty much off the cards anyway if Daniel went ahead with his
plans to buy out White's. It would leave them struggling to afford
the lifestyle they were busy buying. But she could still go to
Leeds. There was no reason why she couldn’t go back to her house.
Daniel knew everything now. He could phone her there. He could
visit her there. In fact, she could stay in Leeds permanently now
it was all in the open. It was up to Daniel when or if he came down
to visit.

She slipped out
of bed and pulled on her dressing gown. Daniel was just making a
coffee.

‘Slept in eh?
All that money making you lazy!’

He laughed at
his own joke and took out a cup for Rebecca. ‘Don’t forget you need
to phone the bank manager this morning.’

Rebecca didn’t
know how she could possibly forget. He had reminded her every hour
on the hour all over the weekend. When he had gone to put petrol in
the car he bemoaned that he didn’t have access to ‘his’ winnings.
When he had gone for a paper and to get some milk from the local
shop he reminded her that he couldn’t just dip into a bank account
holding millions like she could.

‘I may have to
go see him,’ said Rebecca casually.

Daniel
stiffened. ‘Why would you need to do that?’

Rebecca raised
her eyebrows and snorted derisively. ‘Daniel! This is a bank
account holding millions of pounds, do you think they’ll take a
phone call and just transfer it all into another account!’

Daniel flushed
a little.

‘I thought you
had more business sense than that Daniel,’ and she left the room
her sense of guilt in overplay but her satisfaction levels riding
rapidly.

She was halfway
up the stairs, her step suddenly a lot lighter.

‘I’ll come with
you’

She stopped,
turning and looking at him standing at the foot of the
staircase.

‘I’ll come with
you, we can sort out the bank together.’

Rebecca gripped
the coffee tightly.

‘No need.’

‘I know but we
haven’t spent much time together lately and let’s face it, now
we’ve got all the time in the world!

Showered and
dressed, Rebecca refused to share a car with Daniel as they drove
to her house. She might want to visit Gwen whilst they were there
and Daniel wouldn’t want to join her, she reasoned. So they took
two cars which gave Rebecca some time to think and as she pulled
into the drive of her beloved house she had a proposal for
Daniel.

‘Why don’t we
stay here for a few days, a week, a few weeks?’ she asked as she
unlocked the door and led him inside.

‘What for?’
asked Daniel grumpily. He had driven much faster than Rebecca and
had been waiting in the drive a good 20 minutes.

‘Because it’s a
beautiful house. Because we can afford it. Because... because why
not?’

Daniel didn’t
reply for a moment. The entrance hall of the house was particularly
attractive. The walls curved around a wonderful wooden staircase
that rose upwards against an exposed wall of rich honey stone. The
polished floor stretched to either side, the multi paned windows on
each side of the door flooded the area with light together with the
slight scent of honeysuckle that grew above the front door. It was
rich and welcoming.

‘I suppose,’
began Daniel reluctantly, ‘it could …’

‘Good,’
interrupted Rebecca briskly. ‘You had a good look round last week
but if you want to know where anything is…’ and she left Daniel
standing slightly bemused with the door still open to the elements
as she strode off in the direction of the kitchen.

She had always
known that eventually she would be sharing the house with Daniel.
Maybe once he had spent some time in Beech Grange he would stop
being so resistant to the idea of moving to Leeds. For now she was
just thankful to be living in her home without any pretence.

Within minutes
Daniel was ensconced in the study, his mobile to his ear and his
chest puffed with importance. Rebecca took him in a cup of
coffee.

‘Just a
minute,’ he demanded to whoever was at the other end of the phone,
‘Rebecca, when are we going to see the bank manager?’

Rebecca paused
by the door and then turned to give Daniel an amused look. ‘Pop in
and see him? Ask him to move millions of pounds? I think you’ll
find we need to make an appointment Daniel,’ and then quickly left
the room before he could reply.

Standing in the
kitchen with the fridge door open she decided to go to the
supermarket and writing a quick note rather than risk another
conversation with her husband, she slipped out of the house and
back into her car.

Shopping bags
full, Rebecca sat in the car park of Tesco for 10 minutes staring
out across the nearby fields that were finally beginning to show
signs of spring after the horrendously cold weather of the last few
months.

Then starting
the car she pulled out of the car park and in minutes was on the
A61 heading into Leeds.

‘I don’t have
an appointment,’ she explained to the woman on reception, ‘but I
could really do with speaking to Mr Dickinson if he’s available. My
name is Rebecca Miles.’

The woman
smiled and spoke softly into a phone before waving Rebecca onwards
and within minutes she was sitting in Richard Dickinson’s office
with a fresh cup of coffee in her hand.

‘Rebecca, good
to see you.’

Strangely
Rebecca felt he actually meant it and gave him a slightly strained
smile.

‘Richard, thank
you so much for seeing me. It’s a bit… delicate.’ She cleared her
throat nervously. ‘I mean it’s just that I need to, well I…’

‘Is it about
your husband and the transfer?’ asked Richard Dickinson taking pity
on her.

Rebecca looked
down at the highly polished desk. ‘Yes.’

‘Okay,’ he
leant forward, steepling his fingers under his chin. ‘Well, let me
start by just reminding you of a few facts.’

Rebecca put her
cup and saucer down on his desk. He had a very smooth and efficient
tone that immediately relaxed her.

‘The money you
won is yours and yours entirely Rebecca. You have placed it in the
account of your choice. Whether you move that money is your
decision and yours entirely. If you choose to move the money into
your joint bank account, then tell me and I’ll do so immediately.
If you feel that you would have more - control over the money by
keeping it in your own account, then I have to say that is a
decision that I would applaud.’

Rebecca twisted
the fingers that lay in her lap. ‘I don’t want you to think that I
don’t want him to have any…’

Richard held up
a hand to stop her. ‘It’s not up to anyone else to judge what you
do with your money and believe me I only have you and your best
interests at heart.’

He leant in a
little closer. ‘Rebecca you have a considerable amount of money,
carry on being as careful as you are before sharing it out amongst
anyone else including your husband.’

Rebecca stayed
a little longer and they chatted about anything that had nothing to
do with money and husbands before Rebecca thanked him and drove
back to the house.

Daniel was
pacing the floor in the living room when she returned, shooting
into the hall as he heard the door slamming.

‘Where the hell
have you been?’

It was funny
thought Rebecca she didn’t remember Daniel caring at all where she
was at any point over the last 5 years. In fact, Rebecca did
remember spending most of her weekends alone as he went to play
golf, entertain business prospects and generally ignore her. But
there again, she thought, she hadn’t had over 13 million pounds in
her bank account then.

She pointed to
the shopping bags gathered in the hall.

‘Shopping,’ was
her only reply as she gathered them together and made her way into
the kitchen.

‘You’ve been a
long time,’ he accused not attempting to help carry any bags.

Rebecca
shrugged.

‘Did you go to
meet Helen?’

Rebecca stared
at him.

‘I told you, I
went to the supermarket. Why on earth would I call in and see
Helen?’

‘Well I don’t
know but you need to watch that one, especially now the word is out
about the money. I never really trusted her.’

Rebecca looked
at him in amazement. Never trusted Helen? For years Helen and Steve
had been their closest friends. They’d spent most weekends
together, had shared numerous bottles of wine, put the world to
rights over the kitchen table, helped each other out with
babysitting, garden tools, lifts to the airport. Daniel had always
got on with Helen.

‘What on earth
are you talking about Daniel. Not trust Helen. Are you mad?’

Daniel turned
away, his shoulder’s stiff. ‘Just saying that’s all. Did you phone
the bank, make an appointment for us to see that useless bank
manager?’

Rebecca paused
in her stacking of the fridge.

‘No,’ she said
casually. ‘I actually called in on my way back from the shop.’

She didn’t
mention that the bank was nowhere near the shop, she didn’t have to
really. She was sure Daniel could work it out.

‘You did what?
I thought you said you need an appointment? What did he say, why
the hell did you go without me?’

Rebecca looked
into the fridge. It was still early but she pulled out a bottle of
wine. She had a feeling she would need it.

‘I just thought
I would try on the off chance that he could see me.’

‘Yes, well I
suppose that was - good thinking. But you should have waited until
I was with you. Anyway what did he say, when is he moving the
money.’

The only sound
in the kitchen was the gentle ripple of wine hitting the bottom of
a glass.

‘He’s not.’

Rebecca took a
deep drink. There was nothing like cold, cold Chardonnay.

‘What? What do
you mean he’s not? I told you he was useless!’

Daniel snatched
the bottle from Rebecca’s hand and slopped some into another
glass.

‘You shouldn’t
have gone without me Rebecca. You don’t have what it takes to
handle this kind of money. You have no experience with high
finance, with business.’ He drained the glass and slopped in some
more spilling some on the kitchen counter where Rebecca watch it
pool against the side of the bottle.

He turned on
her, waving his free hand in the air.

‘You know
nothing Bec, nothing about handling money and negotiation. You
should have told me right at the beginning and then you wouldn’t
have ended up with a silly little car and a great big house miles
away from where we live. The money would be in the right account
where I could access it and not stuck in your savings account.’

His voice was
getting louder and louder, his face an unpleasant shade of
purple.

Rebecca briefly
considered letting him believe that the bank had simply refused to
let her access her money. He would phone and shout at them but they
wouldn’t transfer the money, Richard Dickinson had promised her
that.

‘Daniel,’ he
paused in his ranting, glaring at her as she turned to face him
full on. ‘Daniel, I told the bank not to transfer any money. Not
for the moment.’

They stared at
each other.

‘You did
what?’

Rebecca took a
step towards him but he pushed a chair in her way, holding up his
hand as though to warn her away.

‘Daniel please
don’t think that I am trying to keep the money away from you. Of
course I’m not.’ She ignored the snort that erupted from his
throat.