Special Relationship (40 page)

“Yes you have. It's all about what Megan would have wanted and she, obviously, would want to be close to you.”

“I've never known
anything so tragic,” Lady Ashton said to her husband in the car following.

Alex surprised herself with the strength she found to read the eulogy. She wanted the others to hear about Megan. But before the end, everyone – even
Tavis, the hardy Scot - was wiping tears.

At the end of the service, and after she had thrown a handful of soil on to the coffin, a feeling of some peace began to repel the torment she felt. The church was less than two hours from London, and she could visit regularly, she thought, as she thanked the congregation one by one for attending.

To Kerry she reserved a hug of special feeling and thanked her again for being “the best friend I could ever have wished for.”

“I told you we'd make it, didn't I?” Kerry said.

It was only two months after Megan's funeral that learned they would soon have another to attend. Nick had called her in the early morning to tell her that Lord Ashton had died suddenly but peacefully in his sleep.

The funeral was held in the grounds of
Brockhurst House. After the service Nick and Alex read the cards accompanying the flowers. There was Lady Ashton's “How dare you leave me.” There was one from Tavis “Only the good die young” and their own. “Love always, Nick and AlexandER.”

“He'll be having one of his extra loud laughs now,” Nick said.

“He probably thinks the capitalised 'ER' is Elizabeth Regina like in The Queen,” she smiled.

As they shunned the funeral cortège to walk along a country lane, Nick lamented that the man who befriended him despite them coming from opposite end of the English class divide would no longer be around.

“If we were ever to get married, his speech would have been the funniest at the reception, no doubt.”

“And he still wouldn't get my name right,” she replied.

“I just wonder why he didn't just call you Alex.”

“I think he knew what he was doing – just a bit of a mischief maker...like someone else I know.”

Two weeks later, when they were relaxing at Sandbanks, Nick handed her a copy of the Saturday's Financial Times folded for her to see the story he wanted her to read. The headline read “Hensen quits fund manager role”.

Alex gasped and read the opening lines. “Nicholas
Hensen, one of Britain's most successful investors, announced that he was resigning from leading Hensen Fund Management in a surprise announcement to the London Stock Exchange yesterday.

“Shares in
HFM that he built from a small investment company into one of the country's biggest financial institutions fell 5% immediately after the announcement but recovered to close 2% lower.

“
Hensen said that the company remained financially 'strong' and that he was relinquishing his position for personal reasons. In an interview with the Press Association hours after the official announcement he said: 'It's been a great adventure, but the company remains in very good hands and I will retain an advisor position. I am still committed to HFM both financially and personally, as it is a company that I helped build into the significant force it is today.”

“You quit?” Alex asked, amazed by what she had read.

“Yep. Sorry, I couldn't really discuss it with you earlier – insider dealing rules and all that and, to be honest, I was worried you might tell me not to. But now I get to spend more time with the woman I love,” he said, kissing her firmly on the lips.

He sat next to her. “Maybe I'll also spend more time with my wife.”

“Your wife?”

“Yep, if I can find one.”

She slapped his leg and paused for thought. “If you ever stop being such a complete bastard...”

“You'd marry me?”

“No, I'd leave you.”

“We'd better get hitched then.”

“But, now you are unemployed we might struggle,” putting her hands down the the rear of his shorts as they kissed again.

“I'll just have to make it up to you in other ways, Miss Anderson.”

It was the second marriage proposal of her life and totally unlike the first when the man who had all but destroyed her had got down on bended knee, with ring and flowers. Nick didn't have to make a similar effort because he didn't do convention and because their relationship thrived on laughing together and effortless companionship.

The engagement ring from him arrived the next day, when they were playing the horse racing machine at the arcade and she found it in the slot of the machine along with her fifty pence winnings when her horse, number five, had crossed the line first on the electric track.

Back in London, Alex caught up with some work for the company, feeling guilty that she had rather left the running of it to her friend and partner while spending so much time away from the office.

She'd already decided that she would offer Kerry an equal share in the company, which would soon become known as Anderson-Turner Financial Support. But before then she had news to tell that might astound her even more.

“Got something to tell you,” she said quietly, inviting her to an after-work drink.

Kerry presumed they had more work from Hensen but when they sat down at a table with a bottle of house white she could tell that Alex was nervous. She was rubbing her hands through her hair and looking at her, apparently not knowing how to phrase the opening statement.

“You are going to be shocked,” she finally said.

“Come on, girl, spit it out,” Kerry pleaded.

When she eventually managed to tell her - recounting the story of how Nick in his playful way had asked her - Kerry jumped up from her seat in her excitement.

“You have to be absolutely fucking kidding!” she shrilled before apologising to an elderly man frowning at her over his beer.

“Champagne, champagne, champagne,” she screamed as the other customers looked on in bewilderment.

“Kerry sit down,” Alex laughed.

“I can't believe it – you've nabbed one of the country's most eligible bachelors!” she proclaimed so loudly that Alex had to cover her face to hide her embarrassment.

“Shhh,” she implored her, blushing as the couple opposite smiled at her.

“It's nothing – he's only a bank clerk,” she told them.

After she had calmed down enough to go to the bar to order the champagne, Kerry returned to ask eagerly but, thankfully, for Alex in quieter tones, “So when are you going to do it, babes?”

She told her that one white wedding with church and reception had been one too many and that they were going to have a simple civil service “in
Manarola in a couple of months” – just the two of them.

“Oh, no, I won't be able to wear a fancy dress again,” Kerry lamented.

“Sorry Kels, but I didn't want anything like last time – as you know, Nick likes the simple life too which is one reason I love him so much. But we will have a big bash when we get back, so you can frock-up for that.”

“I'm not going to lose you am I?”

“Of course not, silly. The company goes onwards and upwards and so do we...”

She looked at her with genuine feeling. “ I'm so happy for you, Alex Anderson...or should I say Alex
Hensen?” she said, taking her hand.

Alex decided she would leave the announcement of the new set up of the company until a later date. Kerry was bouncing on her seat, unable to keep still at it was. Any more excitement and she might become unmanageable.

Instead, they made plans for the next few weeks. Alex would work the next month “flat out” she promised and after that Kerry would again have to hold the fort.

“When are you going to tell Adrian and Suzanne?” Kerry asked.

“Good question. Everything seems so surreal I'm scared of telling anyone in case...well, you know, something goes wrong...”

“It won't babes,” Kerry assured her. “And I've got to tell Luke.”

The bar was about to close when Kerry called her husband to tell him that she was staying over at Alex's. “I don't fancy the late tube,” she said, trying not to slur her words. “And...err...tomorrow I'll tell you the big news. Don't worry, it's good.”

Luke was used to their late nights once or twice a week, but this one seemed different. “I'm intrigued,” he said.

“Wait till you find out...love you loads,” she said before hanging up and giggling at Alex.

“Night club, honey?”

“Kerry, no, we are getting a cab back to mine and behaving ourselves for once.”

“Spoilsport.”

Alex was as good as her promise over the next few weeks, working hard to make up for how she had been neglecting the company and burdening Kerry with its day-to-day running. When he was in London, she spent the evenings with Nick at his apartment.

She finally told Adrian and Suzanne of her big news and organised an “office party” for just the four of them, bringing in beers for Adrian and champagne for the rest of them and having a gourmet buffet delivered to the office. It was just three days before she and Nick were leaving on the way to endorse their relationship.

“The weird thing is we are having the honeymoon before the wedding,” she told Adrian and Suzanne.

“Yep,” said Kerry, laughing, “That's how desperate she is to get into his pants.”

“I'd have just the honeymoon and forget the wedding,” Adrian said. “And I can't believe she is marrying a good-looking half-billionaire when she could have me.”

“You're taken!” the three women shouted together, Adrian having once again repaired his on-off relationship with his girlfriend.

Before Italy, Nick and Alex holidayed in French Polynesia where they swam in the lagoon of Bora Bora and scuba dived to view the sea life of the barrier reef. One day they made the three-hour trek to the top of Mount Pahia to marvel at the beauty of the Pacific Island and its blue waters.

Back in Europe, they stopped in Greece where Christos showed them Crete, including the stunning
Samariá Gorge. But the highlight was the gathering of his family and friends at his large, rustic home so they could enjoy a meal in the sun, “like in the Godfather.”

Alex loved watching the kids play around the tables. They were as happy as anything kicking a ball and chasing after each other. If only Megan could be with them, she thought.

The adults ate, drank wine and talked enthusiastically among themselves, looking equally as contented with life.

“Who needs money when you have this,” Nick remarked.

“CG is a lucky man,” she replied.

“Me too,” he said, playing footsie with her under the table.

Christos himself was bursting with pride to have them as his guests and he fussed about to make sure they were having as good a time as everyone else. They told him that they were enjoying it more than anyone because they'd never experienced such an event before.

“I told you you'd like it,” Christos told her as he pecked her on the cheek. “My favourite ever passenger,” he then said to Nick, pointing his finger at the top of her head.

“Better than me?”

“Damn right, boss.”

Christos did not yet know of the wedding. Nick deciding to keep it quiet as he didn't want him and Alex to become the centre of attention. “Let's ensure they do what they always do at family gatherings,” he'd suggested to her before they arrived, and she fully agreed.

It was two days later, on the morning they were due to leave for Italy, that they broke the news.

“I always knew,” he said, beaming. “From the first moment I saw Alex...I think this is your future wife. Even you, boss, are not mad enough to pass on this fine lady.”

“CG, you are right but I'm still mad enough to employ you.”

“Only bad thing, not big wedding,” Christos replied, ignoring his remark.

He was right, the wedding wasn't big at all. On a terrace in
Manarola, overlooking the sea, they were joined by the registrar, an interpreter and two witnesses – one the receptionist from the hotel, the other an old lady who lived locally and whose hobby was to witness weddings and who wept throughout the short service.

The ceremony, by law, was held in Italian, and would have been shorter still had the words not
needed translation.

A simple wedding held against the most most stunning backdrop the two of them could imagine, And they knew that the vows were barely needed, so sure – now - were they in each other.

It was just what Alex wanted. She only wished Megan could have been with them. How excited her little girl would have been.

After the ceremony they went back to the hotel and sat on the same terrace as they had when he had first shown her the town.

“Seems like we are married,” Nick said.

“Seems like we are,” she replied.

“Weird, isn't it?”

“Weird, and totally wonderful,” she said, sitting on his lap.