Addicted To Greed (15 page)
Authors: Catherine Putsche
Ella vowed years ago in her late teens that if she ever won the
lottery of inherited a load of cash that she wouldn’t let it change
her, she would still work for a living, carry on as normal forget
it, insistent on investing it to make her more money for her
future and retirement, so she could enjoy it in her mature years,
setting up trust funds for any children she may have had, a very
wise teenage notion that she was proud of until she grew up and
entered the real world. Here she was outside Strut & Brothers
she found herself with a sudden attack of the good old
butterflies.
The first thing she noticed when she entered Strut & Brothers
was the wall to wall oak wood paneling and floors, the light
scent of lemon polish, it was like walking into another century,
the desk clerks behind the reception were all smartly dressed in
navy tailored suits. The women were wearing pretty embodied
white neck ties, whilst the men were wearing crisp conventional
thick white ties. What struck Ella as truly fascinating was that
all the staff seemed to have identical perfect smiles; the
whiteness of their teeth matched their uniform whites; if she
didn’t know better she´d have thought she was entering a very
exclusive cosmetic dentistry practice for the rich and famous.
Ella sat down on the oversized leather chesterfield, she became
aware she was over twenty minutes early and to detract attention
away from herself, she quickly grabbed a copy of Country &
Life magazine and placed it directly in front of her eyes to look
busy in the event she wouldn’t be asked any awkward questions.
She sat waiting nervously for Anthony Wallace, willing him to
be early and not punctual, hoping he wouldn’t pick up on her
nervousness and lack of experience in the property sector. She
thought burying her head in the oversized magazine seemed to
work so far as nobody approached her for at least five minutes.
The next time she was brave enough to peer over the top of the
magazine to her surprise Anthony slowly approached her, with
an extremely tall striking young man. Ella’s heart skipped a
beat,
C’mon Ella, get a grip
she kept telling herself,
pull your
sorry self together, for Christ’s sake, it’s your money these real
estate agents want not your intellect!
Anthony made the introductions in a formal manner. Ella shyly
shook Frank Chapman’s hand and felt a sudden surge of
chemistry between them, their eyes locked for what felt a
moment too long. Ella noticed Franks eyes were large, dark,
and mysterious as if reading her every thoughts,
could he read
her mind?
What she was thinking? She soon looked away
embarrassed, hoping she was just imagining it.
Anthony and Ella followed Frank to his office. Ella
she couldn’t
help checking out Franks walk and comparing their height
distance, she figured that he must have been a little over three
inches taller than her.
Frank dressed in the traditional navy and white like the rest of
the staff, he wore a light green tailored Boss suit; Ella thought
the suit must have been tailor made due to his giant height. She
also noticed he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring,
could he be gay,
or an eligible bachelor? Or could it be he was divorced?
She
tried to gage his age, maybe early thirties to mid thirties. So
many questions were racing through her head, she couldn’t keep
up with them, was she going crazy? One minute she was
fighting her nerves on her lack of intellect on real estate,
worrying how she’d come across and the next she was checking
this guys’ stats out. She wondered if Anthony had already
informed Frank of her inheritance and all the details, she hoped
not and knowing Anthony like she did her guesses was he
hadn’t. She had to remind herself that Anthony only came along
in honor of her father and she quite liked the thought of Anthony
showing protectiveness towards her, she found this very
comforting.
As all three of them entered the elevator Ella noticed the interior
was the same wall to wall dark wood paneling, with large tinted
mirrors towards the rear end. She caught Frank staring at her,
with a look of amusement and then he turned away while
pressing number ten. Ella couldn’t help turning her head towards
the floor as she witnessed him blushing just as she was. She’d
never met a guy who’d blushed before and thought it to be a
really cute trait,
maybe he was after all the shy type
? This
revelation alone was making her feel more attracted to him, and
she couldn’t help but smile.
Franks office was very much the same décor as downstairs,
large, impressive, with several attractive personal assistants
based outside. Ella took the scene in her stride and noticed in
his office there was a mixture of old and new as she could see
that Frank added his own personal taste, the art hanging on the
walls didn’t fit into the ageing of the building, it was of an
abstract form, mass waves of bright colours stood out from the
canvasses, some placed in a series, some free hanging all
different shapes and sizes.
Frank noticed that Ella couldn’t take her eyes off the wall pieces
the way she was admiring each and every piece and was keen to
break the silence.
“This is my favorite piece it’s called Time Travel, by my brother
Joseph, he’s extremely talented, he painted all the pieces you see
hanging here, he’s currently holding an exhibition Vernissage in
France.”
“Wow
, I love the use of all the bright colours. I’ve always been
a fan of abstract art. My late father had a few original paintings
from Jackson Pollock that he left to my brother and me in his
will you know!”
“It was Jackson Pollock that inspired my brother
from a very
young age, he found his talent for abstract at the early age of
seven when he threw paint all over his bedroom walls, much to
our mothers despair, she decided to buy him his first real
canvass to practice on and to this day he’s never stopped
experimenting with colour.”
like to see more!”
Anthony began to cough lightly in the background. Ella had
almost forgotten about Anthony’s presence, too absorbed in her
conversation with Frank. She politely excused herself and made
her way to the seat next to Anthony. However Frank wasn’t
finished.
“My brother Josephs due back in the UK in several weeks; I
Pens borough if you like?”
“That’d be great; I’d love to go thanks!”
Frank sensed Anthony was keen to move the meeting along.
Ella also noticed and smiled,
was this another one of Anthony’s
protective traits?
“Now Mrs Pearson, it’s the subject of real estate, Mr
Wallace
has informed me that you’re looking for a property away from
the suburbs of Pens borough and you would like to look at
property further afield, such as Pens borough Land,
Benningrough or Lytton On vale. I have a number of properties
in these areas that I’ve had the honour of putting together before
our meeting here today.”
“Oh please, let’s get the formalities out of the way, I’m
more
comfortable with Ella if you don’t mind, addressing me by my
surname gives me the creeps!”
Frank buzzed in one of his attractive assistants from outside, and
instructed her to setup the overhead projector. Ella noticed a tall
slender woman knock and enter dressed in the same outfits as
those downstairs, carrying a tray of delicate antique china,
followed by another woman dressed in the same attire carrying
large sliver flasks of refreshments, coffee, tea, and an array of
savories and sweets. The assistant gently placed them down on
the table behind them, where there was a huge projector setup.
Ella’s
appetite had far from deserted her at this point; however
she opted for the coffee, not to be impolite. Anthony gracefully
filled his plate as did Frank. Once relaxed Frank instructed his
assistant to start the slide show, it came with its own
commentary, first it started with a little introduction from the
chairman at Strut & Brothers, which went completely over
Ella’s head. Anthony took a pen and pad out of his briefcase to
make notes. Ella sat back in amazement at the houses that Frank
had to offer, the first house was a delightful period mansion
situated in the heart of the sought after Buckinghamshire hamlet
of White leaf. The large standalone house appeared to be
surrounded with several acres of natural beauty and it boasted a
reception hall, cloakroom, drawing room, family room, dining
room, kitchen breakfast room, study, conservatory, utility room,
master bedroom with en suite bath shower room, with four
further bedrooms, home office, bedroom six, family bath shower
room, with a generously size outdoor swimming pool. But the
best part of this magnificent house was it housed an extra
cottage, with four bedrooms and its own private garden, it had
been used for the all housekeeping staff and it was recently
renovated to a high specification. Apparently the current owner
had his own daughter and family live within the delightful
cottage. Ella immediately thought of Mr and Mrs Walsh, it
would be ideal for them, plenty of room for their daughter and
grandchild when visiting. The other properties all boasted the
same impressive space, some were modern, some period what
appealed to her the most was the first mansion house and when
the slideshow stopped her mind was made up, she wouldn’t
settle anything but the first property.
directly at Frank unable to contain her sudden excitement.
“The asking price
is 3.5 million, however the owner Lord
Rickety, is a fair man and he is prepared to negotiate. At the
moment he’s residing in the south of France in his own chateau
and as far as I am aware he plans on staying there with no future
plans to come back to England. That’s why he appointed Strut
& Brothers to sell Highwood House for the asking price, or the
nearest we could get to the asking price!”
“When can I arrange a viewing?
This property is the house of
my dreams, excuse my expression please gentlemen, but I really
must have this house it’s perfect for me and my boys!”
Anthony rose from his chair lightly patting
Ella’s shoulders as if
to assure her that if that’s what her heart desires, then he will
negotiate with Strut & Brothers on her behalf. Frank began
looking in his diary.
“We’ve
only one more family interested in this property and
viewing times are weekly at 18.00 hours, however I can make
the exception to show you around Highwood House this
morning as my next appointment isn’t due until 1 pm? That is of
course if this is convenient to you Ella?”
With that Frank and Anthony began nodding in agreement with
a friendly handshake. It was agreed that Frank would drive Ella
out to Buckinghamshire and Anthony would be available in the
late afternoon to discuss and arrange the paperwork and Ella’s
offer if she was interested. Anthony asked Ella to call him after
the viewing; she nodded in approval when Anthony departed
from the office giving her a friendly
Ella suddenly found herself alone with Frank, he excused
himself while making some phone calls, she helped herself to
more coffee, pretending not to overhear, his telephone
conversations she couldn’t help eavesdropping in the hope that
she would hear or catch something out about his personal life
that may give her a hint of his relationship status. However she
was sadly disappointed when she realised that he was only
talking business and remained professional throughout his
several calls.
The drive to Highwood House took several hours; they seemed
to hit many traffic jams, making small talk on the way, listening
to the radio discovering they were both fans of Fleetwood Mac.
Frank mentioned that he had been to see them twice live over in
America when he lived there with his younger brother. Ella
informed him she had seen them once with at Queens Hall in
Dewsbury and they were amazing. They both agreed that they
were legendary and timeless, unlike the trash that was going
around the charts in the nineties. Ella thought it was amazing in
a couple of hours drive you can find out about each other, they
both liked the same music, they both had a passion for modern
art, however behind his professional exterior they never
broached the subject of relationships. Ella knew she would kick
herself later for backing off the subject, however as much as her
curiosity got the better of her she just simply couldn’t. It was
easy to make conversation with Frank and she wondered if he
spoke to all his clients the same way? She had many questions
going around in her head about him; however she agreed to
herself she would keep them property focused so he could see
she was very interested in buying Harwood House. She couldn’t
help thinking what his commission was though, she had to tell
myself to stop as she knew her luck with men was terrible or
should she say terminal. She should really give them up not just
for lent but a lifetime, the boys didn’t need any further
complications in their lives and she certainly wouldn’t involve
them in her love life, that was her own affair, always had been.
The boys both grew up with no real father figure, with the
exception of James, Anna’s dad and Chase her younger brother,
who was adorable, dependable and reliable. The boys loved
their uncle so dearly it was a bond that would be unbreakable,
even if she did meet another man, with the exception of James
she vowed that she would date outside her family network for at
least a year before she would ever think about introducing them
to the boys and little Anna. Anna’s dad James was the only
male her boys ever met as he stayed over on weekends
occasionally, they had both first met at a parents evening in
primary school. James was a single dad with one boy the same
age as Broody. James wife up and left with the P.E Teacher of
the primary school, it was such a scandal at the time because the
P.E teacher was married to the English teacher. Ella
remembered the outrage with the teachers and parents, and was
proud not to get involved in even at the PTA classes where it
was frequently gossiped about in James and the English
teacher’s absence. Ella hadn’t met James before this but heard a
lot of stories, but just dismissed the rumors as she wasn’t one for
getting into idle gossip, hell it often made her wonder what the
PTA said behind her back, two boys to two different fathers, not
married and so on? She had no time for this old fashioned tittle
tattle and wouldn’t dream of putting her pennies worth into
talking about someone who is not there to defend themselves,
but she knew the types that were doing it your typical bored at
home housewife, with their husbands at work, children at
school, they had nothing better to do with their time except to
bake for the school fete, attend a few charity meetings each
week, compare the achievements of their children, and their
husbands jobs, salaries, home improvements and their next
holiday!
dull dull dull
Sprang to mind when she picked the boys
up from school, those women all seemed to huddle together with
their noses in the air and to her amazement they all wore the
same shade of pale pink lipstick. Ella had to laugh at these
simpletons,
was that all their life’s consisted of?
Ella unlike
other parents who waited daily to pick their children up from
school, were often juggling around jobs, hoping to spend
precious time with their children before they went to their next
shift. After their initial meeting she and James often met up at
the weekends and took the kids out for lunch and activities, it
was lucky that they all got along; otherwise it would have been
hell, three energetic boys, with a load of energy to burn. It
wasn’t love for Ella with James but it was a very close
companionship, where they often offloaded their worries,
concerns and hopes for the boys. Ella felt a strong sorrow for
what happened to James, although he carried the weight of what
happened on his shoulders, he carried it well and she admired
him for this. James family supported him all they could
especially his mother and father who doted on their only
grandson, however they were elderly and his father fell ill with
Alzheimer’s, and as his father’s condition began to deteriorate
his mother became his father’s full-time career resulting in all
her free time she´d usually spend with her precious grandson
dissolved into monthly visits and James had to reduce his hours
at the printers to part time. At this point Ella and James decided
that they would both be there to look after the boys in the other
ones absence working out their weekly rotas with one another.
The boys loved it as James house was what they called
“COOL!” and they all got to hang out as boys. It soon became a
routine they all got used to for the next couple of years and it
was great that Ella could get childcare to work more hours at the
boutique, likewise James got more hours at the printers. James
was great with the boys, a natural with maternal instinct. One
night when they were working out rotas for the week ahead, they
managed to get the boys all cozy in the living room with
popcorn and a power ranger movie. James went out to his car
and brought back with him some champagne he´d got at work
from a colleague he had won some bet with.