She gently pushes back a piece of hair that has strayed onto his forehead and smoothes it down.  She knows he is not in love with her.  But she can live with that.  She wants him on any terms.  She wants his seed in her.  She wants to see him in her children’s faces.  She wants to watch the grey appear in his temples, and she wants to sit out in her father’s French seaside home when they are old, watching the sunset. A fond look.  An affectionate smile, a caring touch from him would be enough for her.

For a long time, she simply sits with her cheek against his hand.  Eventually, there is a noise at the door and she turns her head.

Marcus has entered the room.  He stands awkwardly in the middle of the room for a moment.

‘Hello, Marcus,’ she says.

‘Hey,’ he says and coming to her, kisses both her cheeks.

‘The nurse told me he regained consciousness for a short while.  Did he say anything?’

She shakes her head.  She didn’t want to tell him about Lana.  ‘How did it happen?’

‘I don’t know…exactly,’ he says evasively, and moves to the other side of the bed.  He didn’t want to tell her about Lana.  About the stupid thing his brother did for love.

Victoria knows he is hiding something from her.  Now she knows his accident has something to do with that Lana woman he has installed in a penthouse in St John’s Wood.  But all this while she thought it was not serious.  That it was a strictly sex thing.  She saw the contract, after all.

‘I guess I’ll come back in the evening,’ she says.

She closes the door and walks along the corridor.  She hates the smell of hospitals.  It always reminds her of her grandmother.  The many months she spent in a hospital bed before she died.  As she rounds the corner she stops and takes a step back.  The nurse at the desk is talking to Blake’s tart and a ghoul-like creature covered in tattoos.

Anger bubbles inside her.  These low people.  How dare they?  How dare they show up at this hospital where her father could very well come to?  The cheek of it.  She hears the nurse very firmly enforce the instructions she has left.  ’I’m sorry but I have very strict instructions not to let anyone but the family members on this list.’

It looks to Victoria as if the ghoul would fight it out but Blake’s tart takes a step back and the ghoul says loudly, ‘You’re right, Lana, leave these stuck-up, la di da shits to get on with it.’  She grabs the Lana’s hand and pulls her away.  They do not see Victoria.  Now Victoria knows.  Something has to be done.

Thirty one

The doorbell rings and Lana turns in surprise and simply stares at the door.  None of her friends are allowed to visit, so she has never had a visitor.  There is always somebody at her mother’s door wanting to borrow a hairdryer, a pen, red lipstick, a sparkly handbag, or something.  But here?  Such a possibility does not even cross her mind.

She walks to the door and opens it.  There is a woman standing outside.  She looks to be in her early twenties. She is dressed as if she is going to a lawn party.  In an elegant linen dress and black pearls. Dully Lana notes that she would never have thought to combine black pearls with such an outfit. Her blonde hair is held back by a black band. She has very good skin and is wearing pale lipstick.  Her mouth curves into a smile.  From every pore of her flawless skin exudes good breeding and finishing school class. She is pure style.

You can live in a fine home, wear the right clothes and even go to the right parties but you will never be one of us, her very being seems to say.

‘Hello, I’m Victoria.  May I come in?’

Lana cannot stop staring at her.  So this is the woman that Blake is going to marry.  This is the woman who will have his babies and live with him.

‘Please,’ Victoria says.

Lana opens the door wider and stands back.

Victoria enters.  She looks around the room, but refrains from commenting.  Lana precedes her into the living room and turns around to face her.

‘You are prettier in real life,’ Victoria says.

Lana doesn’t know if she should acknowledge the compliment.

‘May I sit?’

Lana nods and Victoria perches.  Her movements are all dainty.  She puts the small pink purse she has been holding in her hand into her lap and crosses her legs at her slim ankles.  She smiles again.  ‘Will you sit too?’

Lana flushes and sits.  This is not the woman’s place and yet it seems she has somehow taken charge.

‘I know you are shocked to see me here and even more shocked to see that I neither hate nor feel angry with you.  You see, our ways are different.  You’ll probably never understand so I won’t try to explain too much.  Suffice to say that I don’t think it is ideal, but I have been trained to understand that men must sow their wild oats before they settle down, so I allow it.  I can see what’s going through you.’

Lana makes a strangled sound in her throat.

‘You are thinking and hoping for exactly the same thing that every woman who has signed one of these sordid agreements and who then falls in love wants.  You want Blake to fall in love with you and marry you.  But he never will.  Men like Blake have been taught since they were knee high how to take, how to have their cake and eat it in every situation.  Marrying you or staying with you will not be that.  This agreement until he gets bored and then marrying me will be the options most desirable to our men.  And that is what Blake will do too.  Has he in any way suggested more than this arrangement?  Perhaps given you hope for a different future with him?’

Woodenly, Lana shakes her head.

‘You see, the most important thing for us is to secure the right bloodlines for our children and ensure our wealth is not dissipated away into careless hands.  Blake knows where his loyalties lie.  Consequently, I fear nothing from you. If anything, I feel sorry for you and want to be fair to you.  I can see that you are in love with him, and in the end, you will be left with nothing more than a broken heart.

‘Well, I guess I might as well come to the point.  Nobody knows I’m here and Mummy would scream blue murder if she knew I was.’

‘So why are you here?’

‘I know about your contract and I know it will expire in six weeks.’

‘How?’

‘I have my ways.  It is not important to our discussion today.  Strange as it may seem, I am now your only friend.’

Lana has been staring at the carpet but at her words her head snaps up.  She cannot imagine a scenario where this proud, self-assured woman could be her friend.  Let alone her only friend.

‘What is important to you must be that you are adequately compensated at the end of your time here.’ She pauses meaningfully.  ‘Of course, there is a possibility that Blake will extend or renew the contract for another three months.  Then again there is the possibility he will not.  I am here to offer you a hundred thousand pounds for you to leave…not at the end of the contract, but today without any explanation.  There is no punitive action allowed in your contract if you end it earlier than its term.’

Lana looks at her with shock.  She has glanced through the contract so fast she has not even registered that clause.  Yet this woman has perused the contract carefully and is here to bargain with her.  ‘I will increase the amount to two hundred thousand pounds if you will leave the country.  No note. No goodbyes.  Just gone.’

No note.  No goodbyes.  Just gone.

Wow!  Lana looks at the young woman who sits so brazenly before her and feels a bubble of hysterical laughter forming in her throat.  She stands up and walks to the glass wall.  Far below there are small children playing with a dog in the park.  With her back to the woman, she closes her eyes.  She tries to think, but her mind is blank.