The Touch Ch. 23

"To cut a long story short, your grandfather was forced to help your mother out secretly in order to keep the peace with his own wife, and part of that was that he promised her that he would make sure that both you and Emma would have the funding to pursue securely, whatever future you choose for yourselves."

"I knew nothing of any of this."

"No, even your mother was not aware of what he had planned. Basically he left a sum of money for each of his grandchildren in a trust fund that I administer with the instructions that I was to release the funds in a manner that I thought fit at the time that I believed you to be ready to receive it."

"Wow, I had no idea!" I really was totally surprised and had to concentrate hard to stop myself blurting out the obvious question, of how much and when.

"I think the time is now right for you to receive the bulk of your trust. You are legally of age; your Aunt Maggie has assured me that that you are one of the most sensible and steady men that she knows and this is reflected by her wanting you to be a director of her company. In the light of this I have decided that you should receive a lump sum straight away and a draw down income from the balance if you choose to go to university, if you don't then we can discuss that part again at some future date."

I couldn't resist any longer. "How much are we talking about?"

When he told me I was totally floored, absolutely struck dumb. It wasn't a massive fortune, I was not going to an overnight millionaire or anything near that, but to me it was a huge sum. It took me no more than thirty seconds to decide what I wanted to do next.

"If I wanted to invest most of it in the Garden Centre, how would I do that?"

"It was my guess that you might choose to do something like that which is why I wanted to have this talk before we all meet to discuss the business changes. You will need to discuss it with Maggie of course, but I don't believe that she will object. Was there anything else that you wanted to ask?"

"What about Emma and Mum?"

"Well, firstly, your sister cannot receive any part of her sum until she is eighteen, after that I am going to suggest that she receives an income if she chooses to go to university although I see no reason why she cannot receive some of the capital on her birthday." He held up a cautionary finger, "This is of course in confidence you must not discuss this until I her spoken to her as well."

I nodded my agreement, "and Mum and Maggie.... Do they get anything?"

"Your aunt and mother both received their share of your grandfather's estate when your grandmother died." He anticipated my next question, "If you are thinking about gifting money to your mother or paying off the balance of the mortgage on her house, then that is your choice, but my advice is to wait until her divorce is final, just to be safe."

He passed me the portfolio containing the details of the bequest and then suggested that I find Maggie and have a quick discussion with her before the meeting about the business. I found Maggie in the kitchen preparing lunch and asked her to walk with me in the garden. I don't know if she already knew or had guessed but she just hugged me tightly and gave me one of her big radiant smiles. When I asked her if she would let me put the money into the business she put her arms around my waist and looked up into my eyes.

"I can't think of anybody I would rather be in partnership with," she said seriously, then kissed me lightly on the lips. "I was beginning to think that I was going to have to fuck you to get my hands on your money." She laughed.

"OK so you are getting my money, when do I get my...........?"

"One thing at a time, my lad" she chuckled. I was already pretty euphoric before, now her NOT saying never, was making me feel randy as well, even if she was only joking. "Come on we had better go in, I've got to finish getting lunch ready." We walked back to the house arms around each other's waists.

Gwen met us at the kitchen door, "What are you two up to now?"

"Your son has been trying to buy his way into my bed," Maggie chuckled, then turned to me, "You had better take your mother for a walk now and give her the news."

Maggie and Gwen produced a huge, first class traditional Sunday lunch, roast beef, Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes, honey glazed parsnips, with sprouts, cauliflower and broad beans, all from our own farm shop, washed down with a couple of bottles of claret. We all consumed to excess and then finished off with rhubarb crumble or roly-poly pudding and custard.

After Emma and I had cleared the lunch things and made coffees we all sat around the table and listened to Uncle Arthur explaining the changes that would take place when the garden centre became a limited company. Maggie, Gwen and myself would be full voting shareholders and Emma and the twins would be non-executive shareholders with a stake in the ownership of the company but immediate involvement in the day to day running of the business. The only other point of business was that Maggie wanted to change the name of the company from De Vere Nurseries to De Vere and Riley Ltd., but both Gwen and I insisted that it should remain virtually unchanged and we all finally agreed on simply 'De Vere Garden Centre Ltd.' Uncle Arthur told us that he would get in touch with Georgia Craven, the senior partner for the company solicitors and set all the legal actions in motion.

The most amusing thing was that Aunt Laura became really confused, lost the plot and kept looking at Maggie and Gwen and asking me, "So which one of them is your mother and which one is your wife, I can never remember?"

She was definitely getting more and more dotty as she got older and after asking for the fifth or sixth time, Uncle Arthur said to her in kindly humour, "They are both his wives, my dearest, he is a bigamist you know!" She didn't ask again but I noticed her studying the three of us intently for the rest of the day, until something else caught her attention.

Easter Monday was a bank holiday but Gwen had to go into work at the hospital and Maggie was driving Uncle Arthur and Aunt Laura back to London. They had driven down in their own car but Uncle Arthur had given his driver the rest of the weekend off as Maggie had offered to take them home.

It was my turn to check the greenhouses and do any watering necessary and as the weather was not cold but was persistently drizzly I decided to spend the day clearing up some of the debris from Saturday and after seeing Maggie and the 'oldies' off, went down to the garden centre and changed into my working gear and a waterproof coat. I hadn't asked or expected her to work, but after a while Emma came down, changed and waded into help me, straightening up the displays, picking up rubbish from the centre and the back field and clearing the marquee for collection by the hire firm on Wednesday.

The real surprise was when we went into the restaurant to start tidying up and discovered that Grace and probably Suzan had been in on the Sunday and all the flotsam and jetsam was bagged up ready for disposal, the tables back in their places all wiped down and polished and the floor swept. I suggested to Emma that she should discover who came in and arrange for them to be paid and additionally get a bouquet of flowers from Maggie and me. We really did have a terrific, hardworking and loyal team.

We finally packed up about six o'clock. Maggie was not yet home and so I locked up both the garden centre and her house and then we drove home. Overall the weekend had been a big success and full of surprises, but then surprises were going to turn out to be the norm for the next few weeks.

Addendum

To the reader

A sincere thank you to all the readers who continue to post comments and send e-mails your encouragement is greatly appreciated. I am sorry if new chapters take a little time to appear, I shall try to continue posting them every few days.

I have received almost 100 enquiries about locations and places mentioned in The Touch. All are real places and businesses etc. described as they were in 1988, or the year in which the chapter is set. If I mention a pub or hotel or restaurant then it was there at the time and the menu was as described, concerts, gigs and sports events were also real.
Many of the places mentioned have disappeared and most will have changed over 20+ years but some may still be found. I am amazed that some British readers have actually made special visits to some of the locations mentioned; I will need to try for a commission from Wiltshire Tourist Board. You can look, but you will NOT find the Garden Centre, or Maggie's house if they actually exist then the real location has been kept secret.