If the Shoe Fits (10 page)

When Teddy returned from his holiday, there was even more good news. He'd somehow stumbled upon a good investment, and his initial £50,000 had quadrupled. This led to, after a gentle prodding from Eleanor, several weekend breaks for Teddy, and it was on one of these breaks that Christie had suddenly appeared. At the time, she seemed nice enough, though Eleanor had never truly warmed to her. Teddy was dazzled by her though, and coupled with his increasing feelings of loneliness since his wife had passed away; he was ripe for the picking.

Christie wasted no time in getting him down the altar, and it was only after the honeymoon period had passed that Teddy began to realize who he had married. It started with little things; an extra bit of housekeeping one week, a new coat the next. Soon it became more excessive, culminating in a demand for designer labels and expensive dinner parties almost on a weekly basis.

Teddy, being so generously natured, gave in to Christie's demands without a murmur, but Eleanor soon put a stop to it. It took some wrangling, but after offering her £300 a month for the rest of her life, as well as £20,000 up front, Christie agreed to a divorce. Teddy was unhappy at the idea of divorce on principle, but even he had seen that things couldn't go on the way they were.

To Eleanor's mind, Christie had done very well. With no children involved, and having taken no assets with her into the marriage, the settlement was more than generous. To Teddy's benefit, aside from the initial £20,000 payout, he would be far better off. Christie was getting through far more than three hundred pounds every month by that point.

In truth, Teddy's initial good fortune with investments had continued, and he could afford the increase that Christie was asking for, but Eleanor wasn't prepared to let her father be fleeced by that woman any more than he already had been, solicitor or no solicitor.

By the time Eleanor arrived at her father's house, she was fired up and ready for battle. She knew that Teddy would probably agree to Christie's demands just for a quiet life. She squared her shoulders as she rang the doorbell, and hoped her father would see sense.

Teddy opened the door and grinned with pleasure at the sight of his daughter. He was a handsome man in his sixties, with graying dark hair and a moustache reminiscent of Clark Gable. His twinkling blue eyes crinkled merrily as he gazed at his only child.

“Ellie, what a lovely surprise! If I'd have known you were coming, I'd have gone to the market and got some of those custard tarts that you like.”

“Hi, Dad,” said Eleanor warmly, pausing to kiss his cheek as she entered the house. Teddy ushered her towards the kitchen and put a fresh kettle of water on to boil.

“What brings you here, love? Everything all right?”

“I'm fine, Dad. Work's busy as usual, but still fun. I even tried my hand at modeling this morning.”

“Oh, is that why you're all spruced up? You don't need all that, love. I've always said my girl was a beauty,” said Teddy fondly, winking at her. Eleanor patted her hair and grinned, deciding to leave out the tiny detail that she'd been modeling underwear. Like divorce, scantily-clad models were something that made her father uncomfortable.

Teddy made a pot of tea and added a plate of biscuits to the tray he'd prepared. He carried the tray into the living room, while Eleanor grabbed a couple of plates and followed him. They munched a few biscuits and sipped at their tea for a few minutes in companionable silence. Finally, Eleanor broached the subject that she had come to discuss.

“Have you had any mail in the last few days?”

“Yes, a few bits and pieces. Mostly bills, I think, though I haven't opened them yet. Why? Have you not been getting your post? I'd have a word with the Post Office if I were you.”

“No, I'm getting my mail just fine. It's just that I think you may have received something from Christie, but not realized.”

“Oh,” said Teddy in surprise. “Hang on a moment, I'll just check.”

Teddy went over to the mantelpiece and picked up the pile of letters that were stacked neatly behind a picture of Eleanor as a child. He flicked through them all and selected three that he didn't recognize.

“The rest are circulars,” he said quietly. “One of these could be the one you're talking about, though.”

The first was an invitation to a school reunion, which raised a smile on Teddy's crinkled face, while the second was a letter from the council detailing the forthcoming road works that would be happening around the corner. The third, however, was the letter that Eleanor had been talking about. Teddy put his reading glasses on to read it closely, and folded it up when he was finished.

“I don't mind raising the monthly payments, Ellie. If it will keep Christie happy, then it's the right thing to do. I treated her rather shabbily, when all's said and done.”

“You did
not
treat her shabbily, Dad. She's the one who treated
you
shabbily.”

“She's a nice girl at heart, Ellie.”

“Dad, you're a wonderful man, and far too generous. I know you don't feel as strongly about Christie as I do, but you need to face facts. She a money-grasping witch, and she only married you because she could see you had plenty of money.”

“I know she can be a bit extravagant, but she looked after me when we were together. It was wrong of me to divorce her so soon after we'd married. I should have given her more of a chance.”

“Don't be silly, Dad. If you'd have stayed married to her, she would have bled you dry by now. You have to stop feeling guilty about it.”

“I suppose so, love, but it goes against my nature to hold on to a grudge. Christie's not all bad, you know. And she's a fine looking woman, too.”

Eleanor bit her lip. In truth, Christie had taken good care of her father during their brief marriage. She'd cooked for him every day, made sure he was well groomed, and made him go out a lot more, instead of mooching around the house every day. Still, Eleanor couldn't help but feel that Christie had only done all of these things in order to charm her father into parting with more of his money. Teddy would never see it that way, of course.

“You don't still wish you were married to her, do you?”

“Not really, if I'm going to be truthful. I just wish that I hadn't married her in the first place, and then I wouldn't be in this mess.”

“I know,” said Eleanor quietly, leaning over to pat her father on the hand. “But don't let your guilt make you do something that you'll regret later. If you give in to her demands now, she'll just keep doing it. You need to stop this once and for all.”

“You're right,” sighed Teddy. “I know you're right.”

“Great,” said Eleanor brightly. “All we need to do is put our heads together and come up with a good plan. You'll need to contact your solicitor, too, because Christie's will try to run rings around us if we turn up by ourselves.”

“Us?”

“Of course ‘us'! You didn't think I'd let you do this on your own, did you?”

Teddy smiled at Eleanor's scandalized tone of voice.

“You're a good girl, Ellie Gibson.”

“Only because I have such a great dad,” she replied. “Now, let's have a look at these demands properly. Then we can see exactly what we're up against.”

• • •

Eleanor ended up staying the night at her dad's house, and had to get up extra early the following morning so that she could return home for a change of clothes before she started work. Between them, Eleanor and her father had worked out exactly what they wanted to say at the proposed meeting with Christie's solicitor, and all Teddy had to do was run it by his own solicitor to make sure that it was done properly.

Eleanor was convinced that Christie would drop her request as soon as she realized that Teddy's solicitor wasn't a soft touch. Up until now, Christie had only dealt with Teddy, which was partly why she had gotten away with so much. Mr. Tandy, Teddy's solicitor, would soon give her short shrift. Teddy had always balked at the idea of passing the responsibility over to somebody else, but Eleanor had convinced him that in this case, it was absolutely imperative that they had back-up.

When she arrived back at Jewel Street, Muse was not impressed. Eleanor quickly explained what had happened, and promised to spend extra time working on her lessons all over the weekend. By the time Eleanor had showered and changed, Muse was still miffed, but significantly less so than before.

“Straight home from work, please!” demanded the cat as Eleanor grabbed her bag. “It's a week until the Big Day, and you've already wasted far too much time as it is!”

Rolling her eyes, Eleanor nodded her agreement and almost ran from the house in her haste to escape a further scolding. Honestly, that cat was becoming more and more of a slave-driver with each passing day.

• • •

Eleanor walked into work and was greeted immediately with a salivating Derek. No sooner than Eleanor had passed through the main entrance, she was being hugged by the dratted man.

“Eleanor, well done! I've seen the pictures, and you look ravishing in them! I always knew you were a looker!”

Eleanor inwardly cringed as she saw the lust in her work colleague's eyes. Derek had been a mostly avoidable pain up until now, but it looked like he was about to up his game.

“Er, how did you see these pictures, Derek?” she asked as she removed herself from his rather sweaty embrace.

“Jake's been raving about them since he got here. Half the staff has seen them.”

“Bugger,” muttered Eleanor crossly. “I'll bloody kill him.”

“Don't get into a snit, honey, you look stunning in them. I never knew you had such a lovely pair of — ”

“Thank you, Derek, I think I get the idea. You'll have to excuse me, I need to go and murder somebody.”

“Oh sure, sure,” said Derek, talking to Eleanor's boobs. “Lunch later?”

Not on your life, you dirty lecher.

• • •

“What the hell are you playing at!” demanded Eleanor as she stormed into Jake's office.

Jake looked up from his desk and, seeing the scowl on Eleanor's face, looked at her with confusion.

“What's up, sweetie?”

“Don't you ‘sweetie' me, Jake Morrison! You're in big trouble.”

“Why? What did I do?”

“Two words: ‘photos' and ‘Derek'.”

“Oops.”

Eleanor glared at Jake and flopped down on her chair.

“You seemed fine with it yesterday. You even said I could use the face shots.”

“I know I did, but that was before I realized that Derek was going to turn into an octopus as soon as he saw the pictures. You could have warned me you were going to show everyone today. I thought I'd have time to prepare myself.”

“Darling, these pictures are going to be seen by half of Britain in a few weeks.”

“I know that. But I don't work with half of Britain, do I? There's a big difference, you know.”

“I'm sorry, sweetie. I should have told you. I guess I was just over-excited. The photos are wonderful, you know. Some of my best work.”

Eleanor simmered down, somewhat mollified at Jake's words. Of course, he was probably exaggerating a little bit, but it was nice all the same.

• • •

A guilty Jake meant that Eleanor had a really good day at work. He did all of the coffee runs and also brought her a huge tub of Ben & Jerry's to dive into after lunch. Consequently, Eleanor spent the latter part of the day with her feet up, and her taste buds being tickled by double-chocolate chip ice cream.

“You can show the rest of the staff tomorrow, if you like,” she remarked as they were leaving for the day.

“I can't,” said Jake. “It's Saturday, remember? You need to go shopping for a fabulous dress tomorrow. And even if we did have to work, I wouldn't need to show the rest of the staff anyway.”

“Why not? I rather like it when you feel guilty about something.”

“Because they'd have all seen it by now, anyway. I'm pretty sure the news has spread that you're Cardiff Mode's latest glamour girl.”

“I hardly think I'm the latest glamour girl, Jake. It was a one-time deal only. Never, ever, will I pose in front of a camera again.”

“I thought you'd gotten past all this,” chided Jake.

“I have,” said Eleanor. “But that doesn't mean I'll be doing it again. Once was enough, believe me.”

Jake gave her a serious look and gripped her hand, squeezing it gently.

“I haven't thanked you properly for doing this for me, Ella. I've been so busy putting the portfolio together that I haven't really had a chance.”

“Well, I would say that it was no problem, but we'd both know that I would be lying,” snorted Eleanor. “But seriously, even though it's not something I'd be happy to do again, I'm glad I was able to help.”

Jake hugged her briefly and grinned.

“So, about this dress … ”

Eleanor rolled her eyes.

“Honestly, you'd think it was you who was going to be wearing this bloody dress, the way you keep harping on about it.”

“Be serious for a minute, Ella, please,” pleaded Jake. “Now, as I was saying, about this dress … I've decided that I am going to take you shopping tomorrow and buy you the most gorgeous dress imaginable.”

“I can buy my own dress, Jake; don't be silly.”

“No, I absolutely insist. Call it a ‘thank you' for helping me out this week. When I submit my portfolio, I'm going to get the fattest commission I've had all year. I figure the least I can do is get you a little something in return for you helping me out.”

Eleanor protested against this idea, but Jake wouldn't hear of it. The “little something” turned out to be more of an “extravagant something” in the end, which Jake paid an extortionate amount of cash for. Eleanor was still admonishing him for the purchase when they got back to her house, with Jake waving her protests away airily.