My Freedom Millions

'Angela, Angela. I told you that he was an Escort, he is most unlikely to ring you. What he has done though is hopefully given you the taste, for the finer things in life that you now afford. Restaurants, casinos, champagne and maybe sex even.'

She groaned. 'You don't think he will ring me. Will you give me his number?'

I smiled. 'No, but I did bring some coffee and some fresh milk. I didn't think you had any.'

'By the way,' I said. 'It is nine o'clock on a Monday shouldn't you be in the office?'

She went pale. 'Ohhh no. I must go and get dressed. I am going to be so late.'

'Don't worry,' I said. 'I will ring them. I will tell them that you are sick and will hopefully be back towards the end of the week. You go and take that grubby dressing gown off, throw it away and put some clothes on. Then you and I can go shopping if you would like. I have the whole day at your disposal.'

I rang Simon & Briggs and spoke to their HR Department. 'Good morning, I am ringing on behalf of Miss Angela Prendergast. She had a small seizure in the early hours. She will be fine in due course, but will not be able to come back to work for a couple of days at least. ...Yes...I will get her to call you later.... Thank you.'

She emerged from the bathroom looking brighter, clean even, as I poured the coffee into a pair of mugs that I had cleaned myself. She loaded it with a couple of teaspoons of sugar.

'What did you say?'

'I didn't lie. I told them that you had a small seizure in the early hours. I suspect that you did. They asked you to ring in when you were feeling better.'

She smiled, embarrassed. 'Thank you for that, and the coffee.'

'We have a few simple things to sort out for the Lottery Company and then I am going to make some suggestions about how you carry on for the next few months. Firstly, quiet cheque handover or glitzy with publicity? Obviously the company would prefer the publicity, so to make it easier they will pay all your expenses for the announcement and a small party, up to fifty people. Food, drink, champagne and everything. The newspapers will make a big fuss of you. You will be in all the papers. It might be fun. On the other hand, you will get a lot of begging letters. They will come the minute anyone hears about the win.'

'Mmm,'she said. 'A free party, that sounds nice, but I am afraid I wouldn't know fifty people to invite.'

'Don't forget,' I reminded her, 'With all this money you can afford as many parties as you like. Things have changed for you now.'

She nodded. 'That's right. You are so sensible. I will do it quietly and just take the cheque.'

'I anticipated that.' I reached into my pocket. 'Here it is.'

'Wow.' She gingerly picked it up and read it slowly. 'Andover Letham & White. Private Bankers. Please Pay Miss Angela Prendergast Seventeen Million, Four Hundred And Ninety-Eight Thousand, Two Hundred And Twelve Pounds.' The way she said it sounded like the words all had capital letters.

'Right that's it. If you don't need me any more, I can be out of your hair and you can go shopping, just after you have deposited the cheque at the bank. A word of advice, see the Manager and ask for discretion. That way the Bank Clerk may not ring the papers! On the other hand, if you do want help there are a couple of ways we can do it. From my company's point of view I can help you, completely free of charge, until the end of the week. Shopping, look at an apartment, handle any letters that do come in, any problems that you have. That does not include ringing James for you.'

She looked a little crestfallen.

'Or by the end of the week, if you like what I can do for you, I can work part-time on your behalf. I am expensive, but I have handled a couple of clients before, who have all been happy with my services. I can even get you a couple of references if necessary. I can talk to financial advisers, investment analysts, and know people, all expensive of course, who can make life very easy, and be very discreet about it. They know what I do and who I am working for, but know that their discretion means repeat business. I can explain more during the week if you like. Let me know by Friday at the latest, when I will tell you what it will cost. Today however we just need to go to the bank, I would suggest a private Bank I know, then I suggest lunch and a bit of shopping. Now I just have to tell you one thing from James.'

Angela

I awoke to the sound of the door bell next morning. It was Gary. He really was working overtime on my behalf. I ignored all his questions about the previous evening. None of his business. He was good enough to smoothly ring my company and tell them that I was ill and made me a lovely cup of coffee I had decisions to make he explained. Did I want the cheque quietly or with publicity. They would prefer the publicity and would throw a big party, newspapers everything. I thought about it and decided against it.

I didn't know enough people to have a big party.

'Look at me,' I said, now dressed in an old tracksuit and t-shirt. 'I will take the cheque quietly please. No publicity.'

He rummaged in his pocket and gave me the cheque.

'I anticipated your answer,' he said. 'Here it is.'

My eyes and then heart started doing back-flips. I had never seen a cheque so large, and it was mine.

'I will set up a new bank account for you with a Private Bank so that you are assured of secrecy,' he said. 'Changing the subject, how was James.'

I told him how much in love I was, and that I thought James was probably in love with me too.

'I told you not to fall in love. I spoke to him this morning, he will not be ringing you.'

This shattered my fragile ego but was reassured when Gary told me that he really enjoyed my company but that he intended to stay happily married.

'He did say though that you needed to lose some serious weight.'

I knew I did. This was true. 'Anyway,' he said, 'First things first, it is nearly eleven so put something presentable on and we will go to a Bank I know in the City and pay your cheque in.'

For a little fat guy he sure knew his way around. The taxi dropped us outside Andover, Letham & White where the doorman both opened the door for us and said 'Good morning Mr Ayres. Do you have an appointment sir?'

'I am afraid not William. Would you find out if either Mr. Letham or Mr. White is free to meet with us please.'

'Of course. Mr Ayres, if you wouldn't mind waiting here in the reception area for a few moments. Can I get you coffee?'

'Thanks no, we are fine.'

We had hardly sat down when a charming young lady smiled at us and said, 'Mr Ayres, nice to see you again sir. Would you both come this way please. Mr Letham is in his office.'

She briefly tapped on the door and opened it without waiting. A tall immaculately dressed gentleman got to his feet and came out from behind the table to meet us.

'Mr Ayres, lovely to see you again. May I ask, is this young lady one of your lucky clients?'

'She is indeed, Mr Letham, may I introduce you to Miss Angela Prendergast who would like to open an account with you.'

'Miss Prendergast, I am delighted to meet you and may I say how delighted I am that you have been the recipient of such good fortune. I say fortune of course in the knowledge of both meanings of the word. Such a lovely language English.'

I laughed. 'It is indeed. I was lucky enough to study it at university and even now my career is involved very closely with the written and spoken word, so I do appreciate your puns. I say my career, while I should possibly be saying my old career in the publisher's office. I haven't been back to work since I met Gary here so I rather suspect that they will want me gone anyway soon. And yes please. I would like to open an account with you and deposit the proceeds of this delightful cheque.'

I handed over the cheque. I felt it was safe to let it out of my hands.

'My dear,' said Mr Ayres, 'indeed, such good fortune.'

He tinkled a little bell on his desk and his Secretary appeared at the door. 'Susan, would you ask Mr Bowmore to drop whatever he is doing and bring all the papers he needs to be signed to open an account for Miss Prendergast here. And bring us a bottle of the Pol Roger and three glasses. Miss Prendergast,you will take a glass with me to celebrate this momentous day?'

'Thank you, I will of course. While I wouldn't normally drink before midday, this is somewhat of a special day and it is after midday of course in Epernay where that particular champagne is bottled I believe.'

I could see that this rather threw both of them, but I wasn't about to admit that the only reason I knew was that I had been proofreading a book for work which was a really bad 'roman-a-clef' but set in Epernay.

Gary

I had been very pleasantly surprised by Angela's ready acceptance by the Bank. Jonathon Letham was as urbane and obsequious as usual. But even with his old-fashioned views on young women with money, particularly unearned money, I could see that he was warming to Angela. She has a natural charm, I just need to do something about her appearance.

I was a silent observer as Jonathon and Angela exchanged small talk. They were quickly joined by his Mr Bowmore who speedily filled in all the necessary forms. He explained the costs that would be charged if the account dropped below £250,000 but was at pains to point out that, provided she left this 'small' amount of money in her account, all regular transactions would be free of charge. She would also get a free safe deposit box in the vault. Should the bank eventually do investments on her behalf she would be explained the costs at the time. They took her fingerprints electronically, for the safety deposit box, and amusedly told her not to lose her fingers. We all laughed although I had heard the joke before. Within ten minutes Mr Bowmore was back with a cheque book and a couple of credit cards, one of which did not carry the banks prestigious name but nonetheless gave full access to her money. He explained that it was a lot more discrete when spending smallish sums.

We were away before one o'clock so I had Susan book us a table at a good City restaurant nearby.

Over our next glass of bubbly, I felt it was time to agree a list of things to do.

'Thank you for inviting me to lunch,' I started.

She looked a little puzzled, 'Did I?'

'No,' I said, 'but that was my way of telling you that we are now spending your 'buck' as they say. My company is happy for me to spend this week with you, for free and my personal travelling expenses will be paid by them but dining costs and so on, are down to you. I know you can afford to buy me lunch, but you will have noticed that I did order two glasses of Pol Roger rather than Prosecco. If you are going to be careful with your money you need to let me know so that I can change my normal style.'

'Carry on as you are Gary. I am rather enjoying this so far. I guess one day I may have to be careful but I must have a few months before that needs to happen.'

'Super, I will wait for you to tell me to ease back. Now, let us make some lists of what we need to do and in what order. What is most important to you? You need a new apartment or even a house. You need an Investment Advisor. You need to visit your office and resign or maybe ask for a month's leave. I guess you can afford it if they tell you it will have to be unpaid.'

We both laughed.

'You need to go shopping, for clothes, I can introduce you to a couple of ladies I know and possibly furniture, depending upon the accommodation you get. Do you need a car, can you drive? A holiday, somewhere exotic possibly, and ..... may I be rude ....'

I waited until I got a nod to continue, but just after receiving it she quickly added, 'I have to lose weight? Right.'

'Of course not.'

She frowned.

'You don't have to, but do you want to? I have been very impressed with how easily you have accepted the changes that need to be made. I suspect with a bit of assistance, inside you there is a small thin woman trying to get out. Someone who can date and meet nice young men. However, you do have enough money to hire escorts on a regular basis to fill the gap in your love life if that is what you want, so No, you don't have to lose weight.....but...'

Angela

While he talked about the small thin woman inside me trying to get out, I started a new daydream, I was modelling underwear in front of a film crew. My co-actor had just put his hand on my buttock. His hand covered it. I quickly realised that was a dream.

'I do want to. I really do. The only regret in my life is that Mama died before she had a chance to be able to spend my money with me. I have so many regrets about what I have done with my life so far and what I have not done. Will you help me. I know now that I will need you, and not just for this week. Can I book you for a month at least.'

He nodded, and said, 'Sorry to keep bringing things back to a business relationship but we do need to keep it that way. I will give you an invoice for a month of my time tomorrow. Write me a cheque and I am all yours. I have the right to tell you what I honestly think, and what I honestly think is good for you. If I am too honest, or you do not like the way I speak to you, you do not have to give me any notice to sack me, but no refunds.'

'Agreed. I know you think I am an idiot but I have been thinking of all those things you mentioned. Firstly, I need to go into the office and resign. I will tell them I came into a bit of money from an Aunt's will and need to go up north to inherit her house. Secondly, I am going to book myself into a London Hotel with a Spa for at least a fortnight to start losing weight. I guess there must be places like that. I know that Champneys and places like that are mainly out of town but I need you to take me out to visit apartments, my new Financial Advisers and some shops, so a London Spa will be better. I will go to the office. Will you take me up there in a taxi and wait while I go in, and then I need you to introduce me to a shopper that will help me buy just enough clothes, of this size, to let me check in at a hotel and go out from time to time. I could not even go to a decent B&B in most of the clothes I own. That's Tuesday and Wednesday. When we go to look at apartments and things you must be strict and not take me for lunch or dinner, just coffee perhaps. This is important to me. I cannot drive, yet, so no car. It is on my list of things to do, but it can wait. I will start my spa visit Saturday, and book two weeks to start with. That leaves Thursday and Friday for anything that you think I need to do in a hurry. You can start looking for the Spa Hotel, then apartments, I don't care where, somewhere reasonably smart, not Chelsea or Knightsbridge. Then you need to find me a financial advisor, I guess you know one already, so maybe Thursday or Friday if you like. How's that? Questions answered?'

He shocked me.

He leaned over and kissed me on the cheek.

'Perfect.'

Gary

I know I had only known her for a few days but she was beginning to come out of her shell. The dreamer, the overweight, lazy, drab, embarrassing, I would even say unclean, person that I met on Sunday was now making decisions, knew what her priorities were, and had a definite twinkle in her eye.

I arranged for the Financial Consultants to meet with her Thursday and found a nice Hotel Spa and booked her the week. I gave her a modern mobile phone so we could keep in touch and showed her how to do the basics.

The office was easy. I just waited outside in the taxi, on the end of the phone, just in case she panicked or they started to ask questions that they didn't want to answer. She couldn't have been that good at her job as the taxi didn't have to wait more than ten minutes.

I arranged to meet her Wednesday when we can go and look at half a dozen Apartments. She had decided she wanted to stay in London which is all she really knew. The Estate Agents were sending me half a dozen a day. Some were easy to weed out, and a few phone conversations with the agents weeded out most of the others. By Tuesday I had five I thought worth viewing, two in Marylebone, two in St John's Wood, and one in Kensington, just in case she had changed her mind about living near Harrods. Two were to buy, three of them would give six month lets, two of which could be purchased at the end of the six months.

Wednesday I took her shopping. I knew a couple of the specialist 'Sales Ladies' at smart department stores. We spent a few hours with each. Both knew that she was just shopping for her week in a spa and showed her appropriate clothing. All of it was suitable if she lost a few kilos. More than that and we would be back again. Track suits, a few casual clothes, underwear, trainers. She would be wearing a dressing gown most of the time.

Thursday I took her to the Financial Adviser. She was astute enough to meet, take down all their information but declining to sign up with them until she had made her own enquiries. Underwear and trainers followed Friday. In the afternoon I asked her to show me anything she wanted to keep from her old flat. I was going to get the house clearance people to take everything else. There was not much she wanted.

She went off Saturday in the taxi with just a small cabin bag.

I told her to wear her tracksuits for the Wednesday apartment visits.

She was glowing when I picked her up in a taxi on Wednesday afternoon. Her hair was newly blonde but only just shoulder-length. It was no longer tangled and greasy with a lack of attention. She had lost six pounds already, was ravenously hungry, but was happy like a duck in water. She had swum twice a day and had appointments with a personal trainer every morning. Veronica, the trainer, had become a soul-mate. They had apparently laughed their way through the two-hour session on each of the three mornings.

'It is definitely getting tougher though.'

In the afternoons she had had massages, skin treatments and make-up lessons. She said she would need a new suitcase just to bring her makeup home.

Angela

When Gary picked me up Wednesday afternoon, I could see in his eyes the difference already. I imagined myself strolling down through the Old Port in St Tropez with Brigitte Bardot. We were fighting off the men inviting us for dinner. And more?

I never used to look at myself in the mirror, not even to brush my hair. It was not a pretty sight. Now I seemed to spend half my day in front of one. The hairdressers, the gym, the spa, and there must have been half a dozen in my rooms, two or three in the bathroom, three in the bedroom, including the big one in the walk-in wardrobe, and a big one in the lounge area. I could not have avoided them if I had tried.

I had lost some weight, I was wearing a nice track-suit that was already maybe a little on the large size and my mousy hair was not too vibrantly golden. People looked at me differently from the way they did before.

I was excited to look at the flats. Gary had said that he had a selection of ones to buy or rent, mainly furnished, one unfurnished. There were plenty of others, at least temporarily discarded, if I wanted to see more.

We looked at five. I am not kidding you I would never have dreamed, in my wildest moments, of ever entering one of them, let alone living in one. We sat in a wine bar later, I had a tomato juice -- how about that! I must have been paying because Gary had his usual glass of champagne. One day I must ask him if I get to see the expenses I am paying for him.

It was a bit like that tele program, we looked at each one and discussed their pros and cons. Had I got it down to a maybe? There certainly was no definite, but maybe that was because I had never seen anything like any of them before.