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Sam and Jolie’s home was inside the Town Circle and only a few minutes’ walk from Whitewood House. The party had been due to start at seven but at seven forty, Nicholas still wasn’t ready.
‘What are you doing in there, Nick? We’re going to be late,’ Freya called to him.
She stood outside the bathroom door, dressed in a blue surgeon’s outfit complete with head scarf.
‘I don’t know whether I can actually allow you to see this, let alone half the town,’ he called back.
‘Get out here, Matron. My blood pressure is rising,’ she teased, laughing.
‘Just give me another five. I’m coming to terms with it.’
‘OK… oh, that’s the phone now. If it’s for you, I’ll tell them you’re just slipping your petticoat on.’
‘You will not! Freya!’ Nicholas shouted.
She went into their bedroom and picked up the phone from the nightstand.
‘Hello.’
‘Hello, this is Mrs P calling,’ Emma’s voice said.
‘Em, what time is it over there? I was going to ring but I didn’t want to wake up Melly.’
‘You don’t want to know what time it is but I’m awake, just. I thought I’d ring and find out what happened today. Was it Jonny?’
‘Hang on.’ She stood up and closed the bedroom door.
‘Freya?’
‘I’m here, but so is Nick. I haven’t told him about Jonny yet,’ she whispered.
‘You mean it was him. My God,’ Emma stated.
‘Yes it was him and Em, you should see him. You would hardly recognise him. He’s been completely swallowed up by commerce and industry,’ Freya told her.
‘He’s in business? What sort of business? What did he look like? Last time I saw him, he was really skinny and had shoulder-length hair.’
‘Still skinny but very different hair. Have you heard of the Recuperation Inns? They’re a big chain of hotels over here.’
‘No, but go on.’
‘Well, Jonny owns them. Them and countless other investments from what I can make out. He’s practically as wealthy as my father,’ Freya informed her.
‘I don’t believe it! Jonny Sanders the millionaire?! That is just so hard to imagine.’
‘I barely recognised him. He has a goatee and his hair is short and he was wearing a Versace suit. Versace!’
‘And what did he want? Did he just want to catch up or did he want you to take some photographs?’
‘Well, yes, he did want my services, but there was more to it than that. He’s bought a huge plot of land about twenty miles from here. He says he’s going to develop it into a village for my Every Day project. It’s going to be a proper community where people can be given a fresh start in life with training and tuition. There’d be jobs and a school,’ she started to explain.
‘That sounds fantastic but what would make him want to do that? And how did he know about your charity? I thought it was all still under wraps.’
‘He made a bid for the site at Chesterville. Then he dug around.’
‘And did you discuss what happened before? About him taking the money from your father?’
‘Yes, funnily enough, it did come up. He claims my father had nothing to do with it. He says it was all too much for him, the commitment, meeting my parents and realising just what that entailed. He said it was his decision and he chickened out of telling me the truth, so he made up the story about my father paying him off.’
