‘Right you are, Grandfather.’
Blackie seated himself in the chair facing Emma, picked up his cigar and puffed on it reflectively for a moment, then said to her, ‘And I expect you’ve had a busy day as usual. I’m beginning to wonder if you’ll ever retire…as you’re constantly threatening to do.’
‘I don’t suppose I ever will,’ Emma laughed. ‘You know very well I plan to go with my boots on.’
Blackie shot her a chastising look. ‘Don’t talk to me about dying. I’ve no intention of doing that for a long time.’ He chuckled softly. ‘I’ve a lot more damage to do yet.’
Emma laughed with him, and so did Shane, who carried their drinks over to them. He fetched his own, and they clinked glasses and toasted each other. Shane took a swallow of his scotch, and said, ‘Would you both excuse me for a few minutes. I have to phone Winston.’
Emma said, ‘I hope you have better luck than I did. I was trying to get him for ages, earlier. First the line was busy, then there was no answer.’
Shane frowned. ‘Perhaps he’d slipped down to the village. Any message, Aunt Emma?’
‘Tell him that we didn’t – ’ Changing her mind, she broke off and shook her head. ‘Never mind, Shane. It’s not important. I’ll be seeing him tomorrow, and I’m sure we’ll have a chance to chat at some point then.’
When they were alone, Blackie reached across and took Emma’s hand in his, and stared deeply into her face. ‘It’s grand to see you, me darlin’. I’ve missed you.’
Emma’s eyes danced. ‘Get along with you, you silly old thing. You just saw me the day before yesterday,’ she exclaimed, amusement surfacing. ‘Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten our dinner at Pennistone.’
‘Of course I haven’t. But it seems like a long time to me, caring about you the way I do.’ He patted her hand affectionately and sat back in his chair, giving her the fondest of looks. ‘And I meant it when I said you looked bonny, Emma. You’re a real bobby dazzler in that dress, it’s very flattering on you, me darlin’ girl.’
‘Some girl! But thank you, I’m glad you like it,’ she answered with a smile of real pleasure. ‘My friend Ginette Spanier, at Balmain’s, picked it out for me and had it shipped over from Paris last week. Mind you, Edwina was rather scathing earlier. She told me it was too young for me, the colour, you know.’
Blackie’s expression altered radically. ‘She was just being catty, Emma. Edwina’s got a chip on her shoulder the size of that old oak tree out yonder in my garden. She’ll never change.’ He noticed the look of pain flit across Emma’s face, and he frowned with concern for her, cursing her daughter under his breath. Edwina had always been troublesome. But then so had most of the others, and there were a couple of Emma’s children whom he could quite cheerfully strangle with his bare hands. He cried heatedly, ‘I hope she’s not been giving you a hard time!’
‘No, not really.’
She sounded unusually hesitant, and Blackie spotted this immediately, and shook his marvellous white, leonine head, and exhaled in exasperation. ‘I’ll never understand Jim. I don’t know what prompted him to invite her. It was stupid on his part, if you ask me.’
‘Yes, and Paula was upset too, but I decided not to intervene. I thought it would look petty. But…’ Emma shrugged, and, since she confided most things in Blackie these days, she told him about her conversation with Edwina, her attempts to reason with her daughter.
Blackie listened carefully, occasionally nodding, and when she had finished he said, in a low voice, ‘Well, I’m happy for Sally, if this is what she wants. She’s a lovely lass, and Anthony is a nice chap. Down-to-earth, and not a bit stuck up, which is more than I can say for that mother of his.’ He paused. Recollections swamped him. Slowly, he added, ‘She was most peculiar when she was growing up, and never very nice to you, Emma. Always slighting you, if I remember correctly, and believe me, I do. I haven’t forgotten how she used to show her preference for Joe Lowther, making it so bloody obvious too. She was a little bitch, and she hasn’t changed. Please promise me you’ll let this matter about Anthony rest. I don’t want you getting agitated because of Edwina. She’s not worth it.’
‘Yes, you’re right, and I promise.’ She smiled faintly. ‘Let’s forget about Edwina. Where are you taking me to dinner? Shane was most mysterious when we were driving over here.’
‘Was he now, mavourneen.’ Blackie grinned from ear to ear. ‘To tell you the truth, Emma, I couldn’t think of a nice enough place, so I told Mrs Padgett to prepare dinner for us here. I know you like her home cooking, and she’s rustled up a lovely bit of spring lamb. I told her to make new potatoes, brussel sprouts and Yorkshire pudding, all your favourites. Now, me darlin’, how does that sound to you?’
‘Delicious, and I’m glad we’re not going out. It’s much cosier here, and I do feel a bit tired.’
His black eyes narrowed under his bushy brows as he examined her alertly. ‘Ah,’ he said softly, ‘so you’re finally admitting it. I do wish you wouldn’t push yourself so hard. There’s no need for it any more, you know.’
Dismissing this comment with an easy smile, Emma leaned closer to him, and no longer able to suppress her curiosity, she asked eagerly, ‘What do you want my advice about? You sounded cagey on the phone this morning.’
‘I didn’t mean to, darlin’.’ He sipped his whiskey, puffed away for a moment, and continued, ‘But I’d prefer to wait until Shane comes back, if you don’t mind, since it concerns him.’
‘What concerns me?’ Shane asked from the doorway. He strolled into the room, his drink in his hand.
‘The business matter I want to discuss with Emma.’
‘I’ll say it concerns me!’ Shane exclaimed rather forcefully. ‘It was my idea in the first place.’ Seating himself on the sofa next to Emma, he settled against the cushions, crossed his legs and turned to her. ‘Winston’s sorry he missed your calls. He was out in the garden earlier, worrying about the beck flooding. It’s dangerously near to it apparently.’ His eyes swivelled to his grandfather. ‘I just rang Derek and asked him to get a couple of our men over to Beck House tomorrow, to check things out.’
‘Aye, that’s a good idea. But they’ll have to shore up those banks a lot better than they did last year,’ Blackie remarked pointedly. ‘Now, if you’d both listened to me, it would have been done right in the first place. Let me explain a couple of things.’ He commenced to do so, not giving Shane a chance to respond. And then for the next couple of minutes they discussed various methods of reinforcement. They sounded for all the world like a couple of builders about to embark on a major construction project, and Blackie was most vociferous in his opinions, which tickled Emma. He was still a bricklayer at heart.
But she soon lost interest in their somewhat technical conversation. She had become extremely conscious of Shane’s presence next to her. His bulk did more than fill the sofa, it commandeered it. For the first time in years she began to regard him through newly perceptive and objective eyes, not as an old family friend, but as a younger woman – a stranger – might. How marvellous looking he was tonight, dressed in an impeccably tailored grey suit and a pale-blue voile shirt with a silver-grey silk tie. He had inherited his grandfather’s large frame, his broad sweeping back and powerful shoulders, along with Blackie’s wavy black hair and those sparkling eyes so like jet. His complexion was dark too, but his light mahogany tan came from winter sun, garnered on the ski slopes of Switzerland or a lazy Caribbean beach, and not from toiling long hours as a navvy out in the open as his grandfather had once done.
His appearance was much like Blackie’s had been at his age. The face is different, though, she thought, sneaking another surreptitious look at him, but he does have Blackie’s distinctive cleft in his chin, the same dimples when he smiles. And that long upper lip betrays his Celtic origins. I bet he’s broken many a heart already, she added silently with an inward smile of amusement. Then she experienced a tiny pang of sadness for Sarah. Easy to understand why the
girl had a crush on him. He was a splendid young man who exuded virility and manliness, and there was a unique warmth and gentleness in him. That was the most devastating of combinations, and she knew only too well about men like Shane O’Neill. She had loved such a man herself, had had her heart broken by him once when she had been young and vulnerable and very much in love. But he had repaired her broken heart, had given her immeasurable happiness and fulfilment in the end. Yes, Paul McGill had had the same kind of potency and fatal charm such as Shane O’Neill possessed in some abundance.
Blackie said, ‘Daydreaming, Emma darlin’?’
She shifted her position on the sofa and smiled lightly. ‘No. I’m patiently waiting for you two to finish discussing that damn beck, so we can get down to brass tacks about the business you want my advice on.’
‘Why yes, of course, it’s wasting time we are,’ he admitted, his manner more genial than ever. In fact, conviviality seemed to spill out of Blackie tonight, and he beamed first at Emma, then at Shane. ‘Now, me boy,’ he said, ‘please top up Emma’s glass with a drop more of that bubbly, and give me a refill, and we’ll settle in for a nice little chat.’
And this they did, after Shane had attended to their drinks.
It was Shane who began, concentrating his attention entirely on Emma, his tone as sober as his face had become. He spoke rapidly, but clearly, as he generally did in business, plunging in without preamble. Emma appreciated his directness, and she, in turn, gave him all of her attention.
Shane said: ‘We’ve been wanting to build, or acquire, a hotel in New York for several years. Dad and I have both spent a great deal of time scouting out possibilities. Recently we found the ideal place. It’s a residential hotel in the East Sixties. Old-fashioned, of course, and the interiors are in need of considerable remodelling – rebuilding actually. That’s what we’ll do – most likely. You see, we tendered a bid, it has been accepted, and we’re buying the hotel. The papers are currently being drawn up.’
‘Congratulations, Shane, and you too, Blackie!’ Emma looked from one to the other, her face bathed in genuine delight. ‘But how can I be of help to you? Why do you need to talk to me? I don’t know a blessed thing about hotels, except whether or not they’re comfortable and efficient.’
‘But you do know New York City, Emma,’ Blackie countered, leaning forward with intentness. ‘That’s why we need you.’
‘I’m not sure that I follow you – ’
‘We need you to steer us in the right direction to the best people,’ Shane cut in, wanting to get to the crux of the matter. He pinned her with his bright black eyes. ‘It seems to me that you’ve made that city your own in so many different ways, so you must know what makes it tick. Or rather what makes its business and commerce tick.’ His generous mouth curved up into the cheekiest of grins. ‘We want to pick your brains, and use your connections,’ he finished, regarding her carefully, his cheekiness still very much in evidence.
Amusement flickered in Emma’s eyes. She had always liked Shane’s style, his directness, his boyish impudence. She stifled a laugh, said, ‘I see. Do continue.’
‘Right,’ Shane replied, all seriousness again. ‘Look, we’re a foreign corporation, and in my opinion that city’s as tight as drum. We can’t go in cold…well, we could, but we’d have a tough time. I’m sure we’d be resented. We need advisers – the proper advisers – and some good connections. Political connections for one thing. And we’ll need help with the unions, with any number of things. I’m sure you of all people understand what I’m talking about, Aunt Emma. So, where do we go? Who do we go to?’
Emma’s mind had been working with its usual swiftness and acuity, and she saw the sense in Shane’s words. He had analysed the situation most shrewdly. She told him this, went on without hesitation, ‘It would be unwise of you to start operating in New York without the most influential backing and support. You’ll need everybody in your corner, and the only way you’ll get them in it is through friends. Good friends with clout. I think I can help.’
‘I knew if anybody could, it would be you. Thanks, Aunt Emma,’ Shane said, and she saw him visibly relaxing.
‘Yes, we’re very grateful, me darlin’,’ Blackie added, pushing himself up out of the chair. He took his drink to the console behind the sofa, plopped in extra ice, added more water to his whiskey, and said, ‘Well, go on, Shane, as Emma asked.’ He touched her shoulder lightly, lovingly. Emma glanced behind her, questions on her face. Blackie chuckled. ‘Oh yes, there’s more,’ he said, and ambled back to his chair by the fireside.
Shane said: ‘We have a solid, well-established law firm representing us in the purchase of the hotel – they’re specialists in real estate. However, I feel we are going to need additional representation for other business matters. I’d like to find a really prestigious law firm that has political savvy and a few gilt-edged connections. Any suggestions about that?’
There was a moment of thoughtfulness, before Emma said, ‘Yes, of course. I could send you to my lawyers, and to any number of people who would be of use to you. But I’ve been thinking hard whilst I’ve been listening, and I believe there is one person who would be of more assistance to you than me and my lawyers and my friends put together. His name is Ross Nelson. He’s a banker – head of a private bank, in fact. He has the very best connections in New York, throughout the States, for that matter. I’m sure he’ll be able to recommend the law firm most qualified for your purposes, and assist you in a variety of other ways.’
‘But will he do it?’ Shane asked, doubt echoing.
‘He will if I ask him,’ she said, giving Shane the benefit of a reassuring smile. ‘I can telephone him on Monday, and explain everything. I hope I’ll be able to enlist his help immediately. Would you like me to do that?’
‘Yes, I would. We would.’ He swung his head to Blackie. ‘Wouldn’t we, Grandfather?’
‘Anything you say, my boy. This is your deal.’ Blackie tapped ash from his cigar, looked across at Emma. ‘That name Nelson rings a bell. Have I met him?’
‘Why yes, I think you did once. It was some years ago, Blackie. Ross was over in England with his great-uncle, Daniel P. Nelson. Dan was a close friend and associate of Paul’s, if you recall. He’s the fellow who wanted me to send Daisy over to the States during the war, to stay with him and his wife, Alicia. But as you know, I never wanted Daisy to be evacuated. Anyway, the Nelsons only had one child, Richard. The boy was killed in the Pacific. Dan was never quite the same after that. He made Ross his heir, after his wife, of course. Ross inherited controlling interest in the bank in Wall Street when Dan died, and God knows what else. Not millions. Zillions, I think. Daniel P. Nelson was one of the richest men in America, had tremendous power.’
Shane was impressed and this showed in his face. He asked quickly, ‘How old a man is Ross Nelson?’
‘Oh he must be in his late thirties, early forties, not much more.’
‘Are you sure he won’t mind helping us? I’d hate to think he would regard your request as an imposition. That kind of situation can create difficulties,’ Shane remarked. He was intrigued with Nelson, wanted to know more about him. He reached for his drink and took a swallow, observing Emma out of the corner of his eye.
Emma laughed quietly. ‘He owes me a few favours. And he won’t think I’m imposing, I can assure you of that.’ She gave Shane a shrewd look through her narrowed green eyes. ‘Mind you, I know Ross, and he’s going to expect something in return. Business, I’m sure, in one form or another. Actually, you might consider doing some of your investment banking with him, and let his bank handle your affairs on that side of the Atlantic. You could do worse.’ There was a cynical edge to her voice, as she finished, ‘There are two things you must remember, Shane…one hand always washes the other, and there’s never anything free in this world. Especially in business.’
Shane met her cool, concentrated gaze steadily. ‘I understand, ’ he said softly. ‘And I learned long ago that anyt
hing for nothing is usually not worth having. As for Ross Nelson, I’ll know how to show my appreciation, you have no worries there.’
Blackie, who had been following this exchange with considerable interest, slapped his knee and laughed uproariously. ‘Ah, Emma, it’s a spry one I’ve got me here.’ He shook his head and his benevolent smile expressed his love and pride. ‘There are no flies on you, my boy, I’m glad to see, and it won’t be the same without you.’ A hint of sadness crept on to his face, wiping away the laughter. ‘I know it’s important and necessary, but I hate to see you go away again, and so quickly. It pains me, it truly does.’
Emma put down her glass and stared at Shane. ‘When are you leaving, Shane?’
‘I fly to New York on Monday morning. I’ll be staying there for a good six months, maybe longer. I’ll be supervising the rebuilding of the hotel in Manhattan, and trotting down to the Caribbean every few weeks to check on our hotels in the islands.’
‘Six months,’ she repeated in surprise. ‘That is a long time. We shall miss you.’ But perhaps it’s just as well he won’t be around for a while, she added under her breath, thinking of her granddaughter Sarah Lowther. Out of sight, out of mind. Or so she hoped.
Shane cut into her thoughts, when he said, ‘I shall miss you too, Aunt Emma, and Grandfather, everyone in fact. But I’ll be back almost before you can say Jack Robinson.’ He leaned into Emma and squeezed her arm. ‘And keep an eye on this lovable old scoundrel here. He’s very dear to me.’
‘And to me too, Shane. Of course I’ll look after him.’
‘Ah, and won’t we be taking care of each other now,’ Blackie announced, sounding extremely pleased with himself all of a sudden, thinking of his Plan with a capital P. ‘But then we’ve been doing that for half a century or more, and it’s a difficult habit to break, sure an’ it is.’