Authors: Tilly Bagshawe
‘Here we are, darling.’ Angela walked back in bearing a tray of tea and biscuits. ‘What a treat to have the afternoon to ourselves like this. I can’t remember the last time it was just the two of us.’
Jason took a deep breath. ‘Listen, Mum. There’s something important I have to tell you. A few things actually.’
‘Oh?’ Angela looked curious rather than worried.
‘I think you’d better sit down.’
Less than ten minutes later, Angela found herself staring into the fire, hypnotized by the glowing embers as she tried to take in everything that Jason had told her. Three facts leaped out at her from the series of bombshells he had just dropped.
My son is gay.
I may be about to become a grandmother.
My husband has been lying to me. Again.
She was aware that the first two ought to be the most important. And yet she found it was the third fact that ate away at her, and left her needing to know more.
‘So, your father has known about this for
how
long?’
‘About me being gay, you mean?’ said Jason. ‘Two weeks.’
‘And it was Tatiana who told him?’
‘Yes.’ Jason looked confused. This wasn’t the reaction he’d expected. Perhaps she was still in shock?
‘But why? I mean, why would Tatiana do that? I didn’t know they were even in contact.’
‘They aren’t, usually,’ said Jason. ‘You know that we were bought out of Hamilton Hall, against Tati’s will?’
‘Yes. Her board accepted a takeover bid. Brett told me it was a good offer. That the two of you have made a lot of money.’
‘We have. But then again Dad would say that. It turns out he was the one who bought the schools.’
Angela went white. ‘What?’
‘Tati found out about it and went over to Cranley Estates’ offices to have it out with him. They had an argument and that’s when she told him about me. To be honest, I don’t know if he even believed her. You know what those two are like when they start going at it. They fight like cats and dogs.’
Yes
,
thought Angela.
I know.
Brett had promised her that his obsession with Tatiana was over, a thing of the past. Yet here he was, making a hostile takeover of Hamilton Hall without so much as breathing a word to her. Never mind the fact that he’d known about Jason and said nothing.
Nothing!
This was the old Brett in spades. Lying, conniving, concealing. And always, somehow, Tatiana Flint-Hamilton was at the centre of it all.
He’s in love with her
, thought Angela.
Deep down, under all the rivalry, all the hatred, all the stupid games.
Why should I leave the home I love for a man who lies to me? And not just to me. To himself.
‘Mum, are you OK?’ Jason looked concerned. ‘It’s all right to be upset, you know. To be disappointed. Shocked, even. It’s normal.’
‘Oh, darling.’ Angela looked at him suddenly, as if waking from a dream. ‘I’m not disappointed. Not in you, anyway. You’re my son and I love you. More than anything.’
Leaning forward, she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. To his embarrassment, Jason found himself starting to cry. The three people he’d dreaded hurting the most – Tati, Logan and his mother – had accepted him unquestioningly. It was more than he’d dared hope for.
‘So,’ Angela said brightly, kissing him on the cheek. ‘When am I going to meet this George?’
‘I don’t know,’ Jason sniffed. ‘Somehow I can’t see Dad inviting us for a family Christmas in the Hamptons just yet.’
‘Don’t worry about your father,’ said Angela firmly. ‘You leave him to me.’
Leon di Clemente straightened his silk Hermès tie and picked up his handmade Italian leather briefcase. He was about to leave for work. Glancing around his immaculate bachelor pad on the corner of Broadway and Bleecker, checking everything was in order before he set the alarm, he felt a surge of confidence and happiness about the prospect of the day ahead.
Life was good. Better than ever, in fact. Not only had he just pulled off a sweet deal worth a cool ten million dollars, but Tatiana Cranley was on her way to visit him from London, with ‘something important’ to discuss. They’d only spent one night together, but they’d been texting almost daily since, and Leon sensed that her interest in him might be growing. He hoped so. He couldn’t remember the last time he had wanted a woman this much.
Not only was she wildly sexy and a fucking dream in bed, but Tatiana Cranley kept him guessing in a way that few women, even the married ones, ever did. Leon had sensed as soon as he met her that her marriage was in trouble. She’d practically admitted as much. And now she’d been bought out of her business, too. One by one the ties that were keeping her in London, and away from him, were falling away. If he played his cards right on this trip, he might be able to persuade her to move in with him.
Punching in the code on his alarm panel, he opened the front door and almost jumped out of his skin.
‘What’s the matter, Leon?’ said Tatiana coolly. ‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’
‘Tati! No, I … I’m surprised, that’s all. I wasn’t expecting you till tonight.’ He laughed nervously. He wasn’t usually a nervous laugher, but Tatiana did that to him. It was six weeks since they’d last seen each other, and he felt as excited and unprepared as a schoolboy at his first prom.
The alarm was still beeping behind him.
‘Let me just turn that off.’
He punched some more numbers into the keypad. The beeping stopped and they both stepped back inside the apartment.
‘So,’ Leon exhaled. ‘I guess you got an earlier flight?’
Taking off his coat and dropping his briefcase, he moved forwards to kiss her but Tatiana sidestepped him, walking across the room to the window.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I needed to talk to you.’
‘OK, well, good,’ said Leon. ‘I want to talk to you too. Actually, I wanna do a lot more than talk. I’ve missed you, Tatiana. Like crazy. I—’
‘I know it was you,’ Tati interrupted him. She was wearing an immaculately cut Stella McCartney suit in navy blue, with her hair swept up in a neat chignon, and she carried a sleek black Aspinal’s of London briefcase. Belatedly it struck Leon that she was dressed for business, not pleasure.
‘What was me?’ he frowned.
‘You sold me out to Brett Cranley,’ said Tati.
Leon opened his mouth to speak but Tati cut him off.
‘Please, don’t insult my intelligence by denying it. You were the only one who knew about the negotiations on Seventh Avenue. Brett was here that week. He saw us together at the Maidstone Club. After I left the Hamptons, after our night together, you went to see him and you sold me out, didn’t you?’
Leon hesitated. ‘It wasn’t like that. Hear me out, OK?’
‘Just out of interest, what cut did he give you?’ asked Tati, her face displaying no emotion.
‘Tatiana, please. It truly wasn’t like that. Brett contacted me and—’
‘What percentage? Humour me, Leon. I’m curious.’
‘Fine,’ said Leon. ‘Ten per cent.’
Tati was quiet for a moment. Then, turning back to the window she said, ‘You’re a fool. You’d have made much more with me. Those schools were so well positioned. New York was just the beginning. We’d have expanded right across Asia and the Middle East. Shanghai. Singapore. Dubai. You’d have had a stake in all of it, not just the real estate. Brett sold you a pup.’
‘I didn’t do it for the money,’ said Leon. ‘At least, not only for the money. I wanted you out of that business. I wanted you to leave London and live with me, here.’
Tati looked at him incredulously. ‘You wanted me to move to New York? To leave my husband and move here?’
‘Yes,’ said Leon. ‘Why not?’
‘
Why not?
’ The arrogance was breathtaking. He and Brett Cranley were two peas in a pod. ‘How about
why
,
Leon? Apart from anything else, you just stole my fucking business here. I’d have had nothing to do.’
Leon walked towards her, grinning. ‘I’d have given you something to do.’
But Tati wasn’t in a playful mood. ‘Don’t touch me,’ she spat, vehemently enough to stop even Leon in his tracks. ‘You sold me out. You betrayed me, to the one man on earth who’s hurt me more than any other.’
‘I’m sorry you see it that way,’ said Leon.
Tati did see it that way. It hadn’t taken her long to figure out who Brett’s ‘inside source’ must have been. But she’d wanted desperately to be wrong, especially now, with the baby and all the turmoil at home with Jason. Part of her had clung to the idea that she might have a future with Leon. That he could be her lifeboat, her means of escape from the wreckage of her life in England. She told herself she wouldn’t know for sure until she saw him face to face and looked into his eyes.
Well, now she was here, looking. Now she knew.
With an effort, she reined in her emotions.
‘There’s something else I have to tell you. I’m pregnant.’
Leon took two steps backwards, staggering as if he’d been shot.
‘Are you sure?’
‘Positive. The likelihood is it’s yours. Although there is a technical possibility it could be my husband’s.’
‘Fuck.’ Leon leaned against the wall for support, loosening his Hermès tie. Suddenly he found it hard to breathe. ‘OK, well don’t worry. We’ll take care of it.’
Tati raised an eyebrow. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I know an excellent doctor,’ said Leon. ‘He’s very discreet.’
‘Oh, I’m sure you do,’ said Tati.
How many unwanted babies had Leon carelessly fathered over the years, she wondered? How many desperate girls had he sent to his ‘discreet’ abortionist? She imagined the beautiful flowers he sent them afterwards.
Don’t worry, darling. You did the right thing.
What had she ever seen in him?
‘I’m not having a termination, Leon.’
She watched his expression change from incredulous to hostile.
‘You can’t be thinking of keeping it?’
‘I’m not thinking of keeping it,’ Tati smiled sweetly. ‘I
am
keeping it.’
‘I won’t accept paternity!’ Leon thundered. ‘Not without a test. For all I know you’ve slept with hundreds of guys. Even if it is mine, it’s fucking entrapment. You won’t get a penny out of me, sweetheart.’
Tati’s lip curled with disdain. ‘I wouldn’t touch your money if I were starving to death. I came here to give you these.’ Reaching into her briefcase, she pulled out a sheaf of documents and dropped them onto Leon’s coffee table. ‘They absolve you of all paternal responsibility. And rights.’
Leon eyed the papers suspiciously. Then he looked back at Tati. Was he making a mistake, letting her go? She looked terrific when she was angry, her eyes blazing like hot coals, her body taut and tense beneath her business suit, like a tiger ready to pounce. He tried to imagine her pregnant, that slender, toned, built-for-sex body growing rounded and soft and milky and full. A shiver of distaste ran through him.
‘Pass me a pen.’
Tatiana walked into August, a faux-rustic Mediterranean restaurant in the West Village, feeling confident and calm. Bizarrely, her meeting with Leon had left her on a high. She’d been afraid that seeing him again might stir up unwanted emotions, of affection, or at least of attraction. That subconsciously there might be a part of her that wanted him to tell her he loved her. That he wanted the baby. That Brett had double-crossed him too, and the whole thing with Hamilton Hall had been a huge misunderstanding. But he hadn’t, and Tati’s reaction had been unadulterated relief. She was free. Free from her marriage, free from Leon, free from the business, albeit in ways she wouldn’t have chosen.
I’m young, I’m rich, I’m independent and I’m about to have a baby.
She allowed the happiness to flow through her. It was a wonderful feeling, warm and serene.
Not even Brett Cranley can take that away from me.
There would never be a better time to face Brett, she decided. Nor a better place than here in New York, on neutral turf, far away from the reality of their lives back home. Once today’s lunch was over, Tati would at last have closure. Her freedom would be complete.
‘Hello.’
Brett stood up to greet her. He too was formally dressed, in a dark suit and tie, with blue and gold cufflinks glinting at his wrists. Behind him, the flames of the pizza oven leaped and roared.
He looks like the devil, welcoming me to hell
, thought Tati, smiling to herself.
‘Something funny?’
‘No, not really.’ She shook his hand and sat down.
Brett looked at her warily. He wasn’t used to this version of Tatiana – the calm, contented, peaceful version. It made him nervous.
‘I was surprised when my secretary told me you wanted to meet me. After our last encounter in London, I didn’t think I was high on your list of lunch companions.’
‘I was angry,’ said Tati, pouring herself a glass of water and perusing the menu. ‘That was a difficult day for me. I can look at things more objectively now.’
Brett said nothing. He was still waiting to see what she wanted. He didn’t even know why she was in New York. He couldn’t imagine she’d come here purely to talk to him. Not unless she had some plan up her sleeve, or some proposal she wanted to make.
‘I’m sorry I told you about Jason,’ she said, helping herself to a bread stick. ‘I mean, I’m sorry I told you in anger. It’s not the way he would have wanted you to find out.’
Brett’s face darkened and his body tensed. He’d tried to block out Tati’s bombshell about Jason’s sexuality. He’d even tried to convince himself that it wasn’t true. As if by not admitting it, or thinking about it, or telling Angela, he could somehow
make
it not be true. But looking at Tati now, it was clear that she hadn’t been lying. His son was gay. There was nothing he could do about it.
‘I don’t want to talk about Jason,’ he said gruffly.
‘He loves you, you know,’ said Tatiana. ‘All he wants is for you to accept him. To love him for who he is, not for who you want him to be.’
‘Let’s order,’ said Brett, closing both his menu and the subject as firmly as possible. ‘We’ll both have the Caprese salads and the Greek pizza. It’s very good here,’ he added to Tati as an afterthought, sending the waiter away without asking whether she approved of his choice, or what she might like to eat. It was typical of his arrogance and overbearing manner. In other circumstances Tati would have called him on it and summoned the waiter back at once. But today she let it go. She had bigger fish to fry and was determined, for once, to get through an hour in Brett Cranley’s company without losing her shit.