Lily felt the emotion crawl up her throat, already knowing somewhere deep inside her what she should do but still incapable of allowing herself to do it.
Sunday, her new furniture was not only delivered and assembled but they went up to the top floor to where they’d stowed her belongings (the ones not tossed out by Nate) and returned them to her room so Lily didn’t have to do it.
The bed was enormous, she’d never seen a bed so huge. It was a sleigh bed made of heavy, shining oak. A massive wardrobe twice the size of her old one and intricately carved like the scrolls on the bed, stood against the wall. A thin, matching, six drawer, lingerie dresser, another, wider dresser and two beautiful bed stands were added. Gorgeous, delicate, lamps that matched the exquisite ceiling fixture stood on the bedside tables. Gossamer curtains, an even paler blue than the walls, drifted at the window with heavy, slightly-darker, blue drapes hanging outside, all of this on stunning, scrolled, wrought-iron curtain rods. The floor was covered by an intricately patterned, deep-pile, fringed rug that Lily was fairly certain by its sheen was made of silk and likely imported from Turkey (she became certain of this because Fazire told her, Fazire knew a thing or two about rugs from Turkey). Two pictures were affixed to the walls, ivory mattes in black frames with prints of fancifully drawn shoes that, on first sight, even Lily had to admit that she loved, they were so girlie and perfect, she couldn’t help herself. The bed was covered in a fluffy, ivory coverlet trimmed in the blues of the walls and curtains and there were two sets of three standard, downy pillows stacked side-by-side at the head of the bed encased in the varying blues and ivory in front of which stood gigantic European squares in soft cases that had a lovely swirl of all the colours as a pattern.
“It’s bee… you… tee… full,” Natasha breathed as she and her mother stood in the doorway staring at it.
It was more than beautiful, it was the kind of bedroom where dreams came true.
The room, however, was just the beginning.
Monday, she came home from the shop with Maxine who came over for dinner every Monday evening. Maxine knew that Fazire was a genie, Maxine was also addicted to Fazire’s tuna casserole and his equally adept hand at grilling a sausage and making the fluffiest mash potatoes in history. Maxine had also had an excited phone call from Tash and was eager to see Lily’s new bedroom.
Natasha, as was becoming a habit, tore out of the house at their arrival, her black hair streaming behind her, her face awash with joy.
Fazire, as was becoming a habit, stomped out of the house, his black hair a mess as if his hands had torn through it repeatedly and his face awash with fury.
Tash halted two feet away from her mother, lifted her arm and pointed at the street. “Look Mummy.”
Curious, both Maxine and Lily turned to look. Lily saw her Peugeot sitting there forlornly looking like it was begging to be put out of its misery and taken to the scrap yard.
“Isn’t it lush?” Tash asked.
Confused, Lily stared. The Peugeot, even if Lily had enough money to have it valeted, could never be described as “lush”.
“What are you talking about, sweetling?” Maxine asked.
“Can’t you see it? Look! Behind Mummy’s car. Daddy had it delivered today, it’s a present for Mummy. The keys are in the house.”
Lily’s eyes shifted behind her car and she saw a sleek, handsome, shining, sporty, blue Mercedes convertible.
“Dearie me,” Maxine exhaled in an unusual understatement.
Lily felt as if she’d been running for miles flat out then all of a sudden she slammed into a wall. Her breath, quite suddenly, had been knocked right out of her.
“Dearie me, dearie me, dearie me,” Tash sing-songed and danced to the car, threw her arms wide and then she actually hugged it. Just as quickly, she turned back to them and asked, “Isn’t Daddy the greatest?”
Lily was saved from answering when she heard the phone ring.
“I shall get that,” Fazire grumbled from behind them.
Lily was still recovering from the car as she followed Tash who was skipping delightedly into the house in front of them.
“What are you going to do? Maxine asked, her voice both concerned and filled with awe.
“I don’t know,” Lily answered and indeed she didn’t. She couldn’t return the car and she had to use it. Natasha had hugged the damned car, for God’s sake.
“It’s for you.” Fazire was walking down the hall, holding the phone between his thumb and forefinger like it was a putrid piece of rubbish. He handed it to her and Lily, still stunned by the car, put it to her ear.
“Hello,” she greeted.
“Lily.” It was Nate and his velvet voice saying her name caused her to shudder.
She didn’t need this right now. She could barely string two thoughts together, she certainly couldn’t go head-to-head with Nate.
“Nate,” she replied.
Conflicting emotions tore through her. She didn’t know whether she should rail at him for he was using her daughter against her, there was no denying that. Or whether she should thank him because the bedroom was fantastic, the mattress firm but comfortable and so much better than her old one it wasn’t comparable, and Lord knew, she needed a car, though a Mercedes was definitely over-the-top. Or lastly, whether she should tell him to call Alistair if he wanted to speak to her and then hang up on him which was what she should do, she knew this because Alistair told her more than once, in fact at least a dozen times.
She thought he was calling to ask if she got the furniture, the car, maybe to have a bit of a chat.
She was wrong.
He called her because he was angry. His voice was rumbling with it and she could practically feel it through the phone line.
“Your solicitor told mine that you’ve put the seven million in trust for Natasha.”
She hesitated. Why this would make him angry, she could not fathom.
“Of course,” she muttered.
“I’ll take care of Natasha. I’ve already set up a trust for her,” he bit out.
Lily stood in her hall, her lovely fairy lights twinkling up the stairs.
She didn’t see this. Already stunned, she became immobile with shock. Her daughter, just over a week ago, had some clothes in her wardrobe, a decent amount of toys, a selection of expensive bears Maxine had given her and the love of three people.
Now she had two trust funds.
Lily had no chance to voice a reaction even if she’d been able to come up with one for Nate carried on.
“That money was for you,” he clipped.
“I…” she began, she hadn’t known it was for her. She couldn’t even believe it was for her. She wouldn’t begin to know what to do with seven million pounds.
“Release it from the fund,” he commanded.
Too astonished to think straight, she replied honestly, “I can’t. It’s impossible to touch until Tash comes of age and then only she can get to it.”
He didn’t hesitate. “I’ll have more transferred tomorrow.”
“No!” she cried instantly, horrified.
He ignored her outburst, “If you give that away, I’ll have more transferred.”
“Nate –”
“Do I make myself clear?” he demanded.
“I don’t want your money.” She was beginning to surface out of her stupor.
Really, what next? Was she going to come home to a personal jet parked on a floating runway in the Bristol Channel behind her house?
“Apparently I don’t, but I will,” Nate declared, this, Lily recognised immediately, was not a threat. It was a promise.