Addicted To Greed (11 page)

Returning to suburbia where her children were waiting her
return, she opened the gate to her small but modest house, trying
to regain some inner strength for her children who would be full
of curiosity and many questions.

Ella’s elderly neighbor Mrs Walsh was left to look after her
boisterous clan and was quite relieved at the sight of Ella,
judging by the expression on her face and the noise in which
Ella heard coming out of the living room.

“Ella my dear, I have tried to separate the boys, however I’ve
had very little success, there just playing up like all boys do at
their age, and it amazes me that the little one hasn’t stirred in the
least, as she’s still sleeping through all this din.”

Once back into familiarity of family life and home she felt
relieved to hear her boys Broody and Carter.
“Boys that’s enough, I want you to apologise to Mrs Walsh right
now.”

As soon as they heard
their mother’s voice they entered the
kitchen, rather quietly, their tiny expressions showing remorse at
the fact that they had been playing Mrs Walsh up.

“We are sorry Mrs Walsh
.”
They both said in tandem putting their heads down in shame
avoiding Ella’s stern face.

“Oh my boy’s
, apology accepted so long as you don’t make a
habit of it okay? You can both be such little angels at times; I
don’t know what’s gotten in to you both today!”

After thanking Mrs Walsh profusely, Mrs Walsh gathered her
handbag and quietly left winking playfully at Ella.

Ella motioned the boys to sit down at the table, Broody her
eldest raced to the table first grabbing the best seat, and she
found herself admiring his clumsiness as he knocked over two
chairs to get there in record time. Carter took his time, reluctant
to wind up his brother some more. Once seated she joined them.
Broody took it upon himself to be all grown up for his thirteen
years asked, “Are you ok mum?”

Ella summed up all her courage to reply, “Yes sweetheart, I am
thank you.”
The boys were very upset about their grandfather, so she knew
she had to tread carefully.

“Listen boys, your grandfather has left us all a lot of money in
his will and it is going to change our life’s a little bit for the
better, it means we can afford a lot more things and have more
holidays, but it also means that we need to move to a new house,
a much bigger one, maybe a long way from here, how do you
both feel about this?”
Broody couldn’t conceal his excitement and shouted out, “How
much, has he left us mum?”

Ella hesitated for a moment and decided to tell them a watered
down version of the truth, they both looked at her in pure shock
and wonderment. Carter broke the silence first, “Does that mean
we can change schools forever?”

“Yes it does, but only if you both want to, it’s a big decision and
I want you both to give it some thought and let me know how
you feel about it over the next couple of weeks or so.”

Broody and Carter began to bombard Ella with hundreds of
questions, she gradually felt herself slipping back to normality,
the tensions of the day disappearing in the presence of her
beloved little monsters who were more interested in asking for
what they could buy now they knew money was in great supply
and not the opposite as they had all become accustomed to.

It wasn’t long before the boys got into another argument about
which one of them would have the biggest bedroom. Ella
sensed their excitement and somehow managed to find some of
her own. Knowing her boys would be happy with a move and
discussing, new schools and areas in which they would like to
live, her mind was made up, she would contact Mr Wallace
tomorrow and ask if he could recommend an estate agent. There
was so much to think about, she rang her mother and told her the
news.
“Congratulations my dear, you and the boys deserve it, it’s
fantastic news. I had no idea your father was so rich, I just feel
for Destiny, I thought your father would have made things fairer,
but knowing your father like I did all those years ago, it doesn’t
surprise me.”

Ella assured her mother that she would make things right for
Destiny and offer her some of hers. Then Ella tried offering her
mother some of her fortune.

“Ella dear, you know, I don’t want for anything, I have
everything I need, money is something I don’t need in my life.
I’ve had my fair share of it and I live very comfortable as you
know, so thank you for your generous offer, but I can’t accept.
What I’d like is for you, the boys and little Anna to enjoy it.”

After much deliberation
Ella’s mother wouldn’t hear of it again.
However it didn’t stop Ella purchasing two exclusive Caribbean
cruise tickets for her mother and step father online that very
night, she also arranged to send them recorded delivery for the
next day as a little surprise.

Oh the joys of having money and plenty of it. Ella wrote
Destiny a cheque for two million pounds waiting for her weekly
visit to give it to her. The next thing on her agenda was finding
a suitable house and with the help of a well established estate
agent, referred to her by the lovely Mr Wallace, her life began
transforming at a pace she could hardly keep up with.
After plenty of clothes shopping for the boys the next day in the
town centre, Ella was completely thrilled to buy Broody the
newest Nike Air trainers, as soon as the shop assistant put them
in the bag she explained, “These are the newest line from
America, just in today; we expect to sell out in less than a
week!”

Ella was over the moon to have been the first to purchase them.
“Can I have another pair in size fives please?”

Only too happy to assist, the assistant came back with the
second pair. Ella planned to surprise Carter with these. She
found herself walking the high street for sometime looking
through shop windows for more treats for the boys and she
found plenty, so much so she couldn’t carry anymore shopping
bags she decided to retreat to the nearest taxi rank and head
home. Tempted with more retail therapy on her way home she
decided there’s always tomorrow and the next day and many
more after that. However she considered it just wasn’t possible
on her own, unless she had her very own chauffeur driven
limousine, or horse and carriage. She found herself laughing at
the very notion while arriving home. She soon relieved Mrs
Walsh of her youngest Anna. Anna was wailing at the top of her
lungs, for more food, sitting in her high chair at the end of the
table. Ella lifted Anna out of her highchair waving a big bag of
Haribos and gave Anna the biggest cuddle. Anna was quiet for
all of five seconds, while Ella blatantly ignored what the doctor
had warned her about Anna’s sugar intake and diet. Ella spread
five more sweets on the high chair and placed Anna back in
vowing herself not to give her anymore, not even surrendering
to her screams, it was simply a treat. It seemed to have the
desired effect while Ella thanked Mrs Walsh. Ella really
enjoyed rewarding Mrs Walsh for all her hard work and
babysitting duties, the look on Mrs Walsh face when she passed
her the tickets for her and Mr Walsh to go on a two month trip to
Italy, valid for three years was priceless. Mrs Walsh was
simply lost for words, knowing full well that Mr Walsh would
be ecstatic, since their retirement, they hardly ventured
anywhere, except to the coast occasionally, visiting their only
daughter, Edwina, who had just had twins. Money in the
Walsh’s household had become became sparse for them when
Mr Walsh, once retired, however the company decided to keep
him on a part time basis for a further seven years, as a full time
worker on the quiet until the recession.

“Ella
my dear you’ll be rewarded for your generosity my dear
one day. I hope you know that Mr Walsh and I consider you to
be our closest next to Edwina, we love you very much. As
much as I thank you for this wonderful opportunity, I’d like you
to spend your money on your closest family.”

Looking in to her eyes, Ella could feel all the concern of her
dearest closest neighbor, who had become a special part of her
family, her day to day life, her boys life’s, she was touched by
her comments so much so that she embraced Mrs Walsh tightly.
“You’re a big part of my family, you and Mr Walsh and I want
you to enjoy yourselves because you both deserve it, please
accept it as a thank you for all your help and support over the
years, and I don’t know where the boys and I would be without
you.”

“Well since you put it like that my dear how could I refuse, I
can’t wait to tell Mr Walsh, he will be overjoyed!”

With that there were no uncomfortable exchanges, the little gifts
Ella and the boys would buy Mrs Walsh she would accept.
That’s when Ella decided when they moved house that if Mr and
Mrs Walsh would accept, she would very much like them to go
with her.

Ella decided to book herself in for a beauty treatment. Looking
at herself in the mirror and barely recognising herself, her long
black hair was tied so tight in a knot at the back of her head that
only a few wisps had fallen astray. She thought it was time for a
reinvention of herself. No longer did she want to be the drab
boring Ella Pearson, thirty eight and counting, two point four
kids; frumpy clothes to hide the embarrassing tell tale signs of
the middle age spread on her thighs and midriff. She’d been so
engrossed in raising her children, keeping her part time job at
the wedding boutique, paying her bills, keeping up with the
mortgage payments, struggling and juggling her live around all
she found very little time for herself her recent appearance was
evidence of this,
how she had let herself go
!

Her once deep blue eyes looked tired, she always considered
these her best asset, so different from Destiny’s and Chases,
almost oriental to some extent, and she’d often joke with her
mother and ask if she’d been adopted? But she really didn’t feel
the need to complain as she had very few wrinkles in which she
was thankful for that the ageing process had been kind to her
considering her life was full of chaos. Cosmetic surgery was
something she thought she would never consider, due to the
cost, however she was now tempted with it and she could also
afford it. From her late teens to early twenties, before she fell
pregnant with Broody, she took great pride in her appearance,
always buying clothes from Tall Sally, to compliment her slim
six foot height, she was so blessed with height, thanks to her
father, not her mother who was a mere five feet four. Poor
Destiny followed in suit from her mother and always struggled
to get the right trouser lengths, unlike Chase who was also
blessed with the height gene from their father. Destiny always
complained about her height and over compensated by buying
five inch heels, because when they both hit the town centre at
night, she was on the same height level as Ella, providing Ella
she didn’t put heels on. However when it came to the looks
department Destiny had been more than blessed, with her
beautiful long blonde locks, high cheekbones, oval shaped face
that suited any hairstyle, big green eyes and big luscious full
lips. Destiny was the envy of many young women and even
herself to some extent, her soft angelic features made her look
somewhat childlike, she was always stopped and asked for I.D.
wherever they went, even at the age of twenty five, something
that used to really irritate her until her early thirties, when they
stopped asking, she realised the aging process was catching up
with her.

Ella recalled saying many times,
“Wow if someone asked me for
I.D Id either grab hold of them and give them a massive hug, or
even go as far as to kiss their frigging feet!”

Destiny would give Ella one of her weird and wonderful looks
and say “Get a grip, it’s really annoying!” It was only a few
years ago Destiny didn’t understand Ella’s opinion, now she
fully understood and when they got together each week, they
always howl about it, so much so that one of them would almost
urinate on the very spot.

Ella was grateful for her somewhat oriental looks, the opposite
of Destiny’s and Chases typical traditional English angelic
features, beautiful and stunning. Ella’s features were less
traditional more dark, sharp, and severe that she almost passed
for a person from a very far and exotic land, she prided herself
on this as it made her feel unique, special and individualistic as
people would enquire as to which part of the world she was
from, always guessing and getting it wrong. Ella loved to
dangle them along until the last minute when she would reveal
she was actually from England, then more questions would
follow regarding her parents if she was from a mixed race
couple, she would laugh this off introducing them to Destiny
informing them that she was indeed her sister and they both
shared the same parents. People often looked at them both in
disbelief, especially the men they met out on the town, they
were like a magnet wherever they went, attracting men wasn’t
something they intended to do really, they were just two girls
out to have fun and a good time, choosing to dance the night
away into the early hours was their favorite pastime, as well as
taking advantage on the triple for single drink offers, at every
opportunity they could until the end of the night when they were
so legless, they couldn’t even remember how they had got home,
at what time, just passing out either in bed or on the settee or
anything that looked remotely comfortable. Both girls simply
had no time for men, just a good time and a great night out
would keep them talking all week until they planned their next
night out.

Their notoriously drunken nights on the town is how Ella met
the father of her eldest Broody; She literally tripped and lost her
balance on her way to the bar and landed sideways into him,
knocking him down to the floor, unable to regain her balance,
she then accidently fell on top of him, the next thing she knew
Destiny was coming to her aid, grabbing her arm to pull her up
off the stranger while laughing hysterically at the same time and
asking if they were both okay. Ella couldn’t hide her
embarrassment, she soon got to her feet and so did the poor
stranger, he began rubbing the back of his trousers freeing them
from all the dirt of the floor. Ella found herself completely
embarrassed, red faced and could feel a stabbing pain in her left
ankle.