Chapter 12: CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 12

“COME and sit here, Gill dear,” Gertie patted the side of the bed and turned to address Barrington, who was already walking forward, “do you have both the documents ready, Barrington?”

“Both, Gertie?” he asked and, on her nod, continued, “of course,” handing them over to Gertie.

“Are these the pre-nups to sign?” Gill asked.

“No, of course not, dear ... we don’t, well we haven’t so far, gone down that distasteful route. If you feel it necessary or events warrant, you could of course opt for that. But I don’t think you will need to. Barrington’s daughter Caroline was originally earmarked to look after your legal matters in future, only she is presently on holiday in Africa with her family. Now, circumstances have changed suddenly so we have rather been caught on the hop. Caroline is good, brilliant in fact, she has a young family and is about your age, maybe a couple of years younger, so I think you both should develop a rapport quite quickly.”

“Ahem, if I may be so bold?” Barrington asked, pausing until Gertie nodded, “I have spoken to Caroline this morning and she is available to return at any time if need be, but I assured her that I would make myself completely available to you in the interim. Your secretary at the bank, Kelly, has been given all Caroline’s contact details and has booked appointments for her to see you immediately upon her return. Kelly is currently organising the moving of your office into Gerry’s old office, while he is moving into the office next door for convenience. And Caroline, who has given me three delightful grandchildren, is about eighteen months your junior.” 

“All right,” Gill said, “reaching for the folder Gertie offered, “but I like to thoroughly read all the documents before I sign them.”

“Of course you must, my dear,” Gertie said soothingly, “but these two papers are only single-sided pages.” She paused while Gill opened the folder, “That first sheet is a form of proxy so you can vote for the 13% of Standhope Winter Bank shares currently registered in my name. That is just in case there remains any attempt to takeover or merge the company at the board meeting on Wednesday, but we don’t think that will happen now, after Jake’s sterling efforts in South America. You will of course be voted in as joint chief executive with Gerry at that board meeting. Gerry will stay on at the bank, on a part-time basis, ready to take over during your honeymoon and if ... if you fall pregnant, for example. You do want a child with Jake don’t you, my dear?”

“Er, yes, a couple, if possible, he’s such a sweet man, our children would be ... well, amazing. But, what’s this about being joint CEO? I’ve only been a department manager at the bank for three months or so.”

“Gill, even I know that you virtually ran that department for two years prior to taking over as department head. No, you have impressed and been tracked throughout your career and earmarked as a future leader of the bank, and not just because Jake has been fond of you for all these years. This is a family decision, which he has deliberately kept out of. I thought he avoided the discussions because he was generally disinterested in the bank, despite his success as a businessman in every other field he has entered. Once he brought you into his life, my dear, the reasons for his reticence became all too apparent, as did by implication his true opinion of your worth, confident that you would be regarded as outstanding without any influence at all on his part. So, this sheet has already been witnessed by both Michael and Barrington, will you sign the proxy?”

“Yes, of course, this is quite the most straightforward and agreeable document I’ve ever signed,” she scribed her signature, noticing as she held the paper with her left hand how brightly the blue diamond shone, “it is just that all this is just so much, almost too much, all at once. And this ring, it is so lovely and, being engaged to the man of my dreams, I am almost at a loss for words.”

Gertie patted her hand, “That ring was my first engagement ring, too. It is 1.44 carats, one of the deepest blue diamonds ever found and absolutely flawless. It was purchased in its raw state in the 1880s and studied for many months by the jeweller commissioned for the work before the stone was cut and polished. You are its fifth recipient in the family.”

“Gosh!”

“This will all seem a bit overwhelming for a couple of weeks, dear, while we get you up to speed. Belinda will help you, but remember that you never have to tackle anything alone. We are a family and we can and do rally round to help. Jake is all about family. It will get a whole lot easier, dear, believe me. All this wealth and power are merely minor distractions that have to be attended to from time to time, but most of it runs like a well-oiled machine. You can call on a range of resources that can give you the help and advice you need and rely on to carry out your instructions discretely and to the letter. Leaving you able to concentrate on fulfilling your life in happiness with Jake and your immediate family.”

Gill smiled her thanks, and Barrington took the proxy from her to put in his bag.“I will be at the board meeting with you on Wednesday, ma’am,” Barrington said, “just in an advisory capacity. I expect it to only last five minutes or so for your appointment to your new position to be made, now that Jake has secured Winstone’s. My partner, Jamieson, is waiting for him to, shall we say, smooth over any ruffled feathers at Winstone’s.”

Gill looked at the other form, again a very simple one, but this was showing the transfer of ownership of the shares of Standhope Winter & Company Merchant Bank in the name of Gertrude Elizabeth Albury, formerly Gertrude Elizabeth Standhope, to Gillian Louise Moorhouse.

‘Standhope,’ Gill thought, ‘of course! It all started to make sense! Gertie, Jake, Gerry, they were all descended from the founders of the bank. Standhope Winter was their, now her, family business.’ 

She looked up at Gertie.“What’s this mean, Gertie?”

“I think you better call me Gran from now, dear, Jake always does,” she smiled.

“OK, er, Gran, but what is this?”

“This was my total shareholding in the bank, dear, I have no further use for it. After all, I was only keeping it until I could pass it onto you.”

“But, I’m only engaged. I’m not married to Jake yet, not even set a date. How can you —”

“Oh! You are not thinking of jilting my lovely grandson at the altar, are you Gill?”

Despite the words, Gertie was smiling broadly, the words gently mocking.

“No, of course not, I love him.” Gill said.

She did, of course she did. Her career, the wealth, the power, none of it mattered a jot when looked at from the viewpoint of perpetual financial security. All that really mattered was love and family.

“Of course you love Jake and he loves you. In time, of course, you will pass this share ownership on to the bride or groom of the progenitor of the next generation. That may be Jake and yours future natural son or daughter or, if you are not blessed in that direction, then it might be Jenny or Clay’s future spouse.”

Gill nodded her understanding; family really meant the complete family.

“You and Jake will have to decide the who and the when, but hopefully not for another forty years or so. But these shares, and other holdings which will eventually pass to you in my will, means that you will receive a regular income that is separate from your bank salary that you can save, spend, give away. You will never have to rely on handouts from your husband, such unbalanced marriage partnerships went out with the Victorians. This type of arrangement, making the spouse individually wealthy is an act of faith, of trust. It has worked perfectly in the family for well over a hundred years. A marriage of equals is by far a much stronger unit than one of master and slave, or husband and poor second-class wife. It was explained to me many years ago both by my husband’s grandmother, and my dear friend Evie, that the gift of great wealth gave the spouse a degree of independence and equality that would otherwise cause tension in an unequal marriage. It means that if Jake ever became unreasonable or abusive, you would have sufficient resource to tell him to stuff it in his pipe and smoke it!”

Gill and Gertie laughed, and she signed the form without further hesitation and handed it to Barrington who, with the slightest of smiles, slipped it into his briefcase.

“I’ll pop this along to the registrars now and get the paperwork moving, we should have written confirmation of the legal transfer by the middle of next week at the latest. Er ... would you like to know the valuation of the shares now, ma’am?”

“No, I really don’t think so, Mr Barrington, the bank is a private not a public company, which means I cannot sell them to anyone without the approval of the majority of shareholders and, as I am unlikely to ever realise their value, I suppose I do not really need to know.”

“Oh, go on Gill,” Gertie gently nudged her, winking, “Barrington is absolutely meticulous in these matters, so I bet he’s dying to tell you how much you are worth.”

“Go on then, Barrington,” Gill smiled, “tell me, pray, what are these bank shares worth?”

Barrington smiled, “Thank you ma’am. Can I first just say that our firm are at your disposal at any time, our fees reasonable, considering our infinite level of service, and in any case paid for out of a central trust fund, so there is never any need on your part to hesitate. We have worked with your family since the Germans invaded Paris ...” He chuckled, enjoying a private joke, “not 1940 of course, but the previous time in 1870, so you can be sure you are our top priority at all times. This folder, which I will leave with you, was prepared by Jamieson on Jake’s instructions. It sets out in detail all the holdings in his personal name, and in the possession of the various family trusts, which you both now control. There’s quite a lot to read through, although the South American portfolio will need rebuilding once Winstone’s is on a firm footing again. Fortunately, you own the local airport and have a stranglehold over the Andes ski resort, so it should return to the fold soon.

“This single sheet here sets out your personal holdings. The shares your new grandmother has generously signed over to you are 13,000 six-penny shares, issued in 1863. Nominally this is worth £325, but the last estimation of their value from the latest set of accounts was rather conservatively put at 280 million —”

Gill gasped. Gertie gripped her hand. “It’s only numbers, dear, only numbers. You deal in numbers all the time at work, these just happen to be ... your numbers. Please go on, Barrington.”

“Thank you, Gertie. Ma’am, in line with family policy of maintaining a growing reinvestment in the bank’s reserves, you will be required to draw only 25% of your annual dividend, which last year amounted to 2.4 million.”

“Oh, £600,000 is a tidy chunk of change,” Gill joked, to offset the rising queasiness in her stomach at the very thought of so much money, more than three times her current salary, “I could buy that frock I saw in Miss Selfridges last week —”

“Ma’am, the 2.4 million is the 25% of your dividend. Your bank salary as CEO will be shared with Gerry, for the time being. He has agreed to draw £400,000, leaving you with £800,000, he hopes that will be acceptable.”

“Yes, yes, that is more than generous, but this quick promotion, won’t that put everyone’s back up?”

“With 13% of the equity, Gill, believe me, no one is going to be affronted by you running the bank,” Gertie answered, “besides, you are extremely well respected by all at Standhope Winter. I am sure you will be the only one with any doubts, and Gerry will be there part of the time if you have any questions, or Jake will always be willing to offer advice at the end of the line.”

“But what about your dividend, Gran, losing all that income?”

“It just means I can finally start to draw my pension. I assure you that I won’t be going short, my dear, I will still be able to spoil my adopted grandchildren whenever I want to.”

“But I’m just an ordinary girl, from Pinner, my parents lived in a semi-detached, not a luxury penthouse.”

“That brings me to my next point —”

“Gertie,” Barrington interjected, “if you have finished with me, I’ll get off. Miss Moorhouse, do call me if you need anything, day or night, Kelly already has my numbers.”

Gill held out her hand, “Thank you Mr Barrington, if we are going to be working together, please call me Gill.”

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He shook her hand and smiled, “Thank you, Miss Gill, it has been a joy to meet you.... Before Jamieson was up to speed, I used to look after Mr Jake’s interests. I believe he is a remarkable young man and I wish you every happiness for the future. All our futures are in your capable hands and we are delighted to be at your beck and call at all times so that this happy relationship can endure and prosper.”

Gill nodded. As he left, Sir Michael, who had just answered a call on his mobile, stirred and moved towards the door, saying, “I’ll pop back to see you later, ma’am, and Miss Moorhouse, I will have someone contact your office for you, Jennifer and Clayton to come in for a full check up.” He left, closing the door behind him.

Gertie turned to Gill, “Barrington’s firm is only the second law firm we have dealt with, the first when the bank was founded in 1820, lasted fifty years until a catastrophic falling out let Barrington’s great grandfather in. The reason for the split is lost in the mists of time but that old law firm subsequently vanished without trace. Barrington & Co has an acute sense of history. Ninety-five per cent of Barrington’s business is with the family, their advice is totally reliable, their response and discretion absolutely impeccable.”

“I see. What was your next point, Gran?”

“We are a private family, Gill, we keep under the radar as much as possible. Our public life restricted to certain commitments which Jake will soon inform you of. I am afraid that once married you will have to undertake most of those that I have performed for the last sixty years.”

“I understand,” Gill said, realising that her new grandmother was probably suffering from failing health.

“No, I don’t think you do, exactly. We are a family business, and Jake has injected his father’s Nicholls’ family into the business in a unique and dynamic way, revitalising the overall business in new directions. Just after Waterloo, following a nomadic existence in war-torn Europe, the first of four Jacob Weinsteins set up Weinstein Merchant Bank, mostly dealing with immigrant textile businesses in the East End of London, later investing heavily in Lancashire. It evolved into the materials supply business too, heavily into growing cotton.”

“Weinstein’s?”

“The name was changed in 1914, dear, following a lot of anti-German feeling, even though the family had been English for nearly a century. Standhope Weinstein became Standhope Winter and Weinstein’s Orient became Winstone’s.”

“Where did Standhope come in and who were Weinstein’s Orient?”

“In the 1840s the firm expanded, inviting Lord Standhope in as a junior partner. Lord Standhope brought with him a substantial landholding in the southern United States in exchange for heavy financial investment, changing the name to Weinstein & Co. By the 1860s the two families had begun to intermarry, so the bank became Standhope Weinstein. The second Jacob set up Weinstein’s Orient in Istanbul to exploit cotton growing, first in Egypt and later in India, using the Suez Canal for shipping home. When the Ottoman Empire declared war in 1914, Orient moved to London. Both banks changed names for the same reason. They have always been separate businesses, but they were mostly owned by the same people, all of them family.”

“Which is why Jake had shares in Winstone’s?”

“Yes, dear. That folder you have lists Jake’s personal holdings, which will become both yours when you marry. But that is a drop in the ocean. Most of the family holdings, like Jake’s apartment building, for example —”

“The whole building?”

“Yes, the whole building. That is held by a family trust. The family designed and built it in about 1927, I think. Yours and Jake’s apartment was valued for insurance purposes last year at £16.3 million, which is for rebuilding your floor and replacing all your contents. That, and all the costs associated with it are all held in trust. The trusts are private companies that pay proper taxes, as they should, but are not subjected to death duties, so the assets remain in the control of the family. There are lots of trust funds and provisions which are set up for every eventuality, such as my retirement, and your retirement, other funds for your children, your future children, and their future children. Gill, you will never ever have to worry about putting food on the table. Woman didn’t have careers in my day so I devoted myself to charitable work, much of it spent in this hospital, which the family built in the 1860s. You are more than capable of running the bank and, like Gerry, when you feel you have run your course, or want to do something else, paid or unpaid, full-time or part-time, you have the freedom to do whatever you want.”

“This seems so bizarre. I have worked at the bank for 12 years, yet someone like Christina, who has been there a week, has more idea of what is going –”

“That, my dear, is because Chrissie is family, on your fiancé’s paternal side, as you are family now. It is all a question of bringing you up to speed. Has Belinda been in touch yet?”

“I’m seeing her this week.”

“Good, she will concentrate on your role outside the immediate family and the business. She’ll cover the necessary etiquette, introduce you to the people you need to know, how to handle the press, etcetera. Now, how do you feel about private education?”

“I am all in favour but Wayne said —”

“Forget Wayne Jarvis. Forget him for now anyway. He’ll do his penance in Turkey and the Middle East, and be kept on a very short leash for about two years, three if he misbehaves again. Then he’ll be brought back here to work in the business, somewhere to be decided. He will not be a CEO again; he was only temporarily over-promoted in order to catch him red handed. Sales and entertaining clients seem to be his natural forte, with little or no access to pots of cash. Now, back to private education. So, if Jennifer and Clayton have home tutoring as soon as possible to bring them up to scratch, you’d have no objections for them to go to Roedean and Charterhouse respectively in the autumn term?”

“No, of course not, that would be a dream come true.”

“Excellent, the tutors have already been secured and one of the apartments on your ground floor will be converted into classrooms this week, ready for next Monday start. Now, Cheryl and her baby, you’ve never actually met them, have you?”

“Wait, schoolroom in the building?”

“It will be convenient for you all around. Besides it is time Jake lost this urge to be a recluse living in a mausoleum, and filled that lovely building full of families again. You will have to give him a shake from time to time, remind him of his responsibilities. He may be a brilliant businessman, but he’s not always to be allowed to be the boss, not when he gets home anyway. Now, Cheryl and the baby?”

“No, I haven’t met her, Gran. I suppose I blamed her and the baby for ending my marriage.”

“I know dear, that’s easily understood, but you need to look at the bigger picture now. Wealth and position brings with it ... certain responsibilities. After all, what is done is done, but are you absolutely certain you know exactly who the seducer was and who the victims are, and I mean all the victims?”

“This is a little like your second husband and his other family isn’t it? You were determined to have a tolerable relationship with the other woman and continue a close one with the children, don’t you, Gran?”

Gertie smiled, nodded and patted her hand again, “I do and it’s for the best, dear.”

“And I suppose this means that you’ve met Cheryl?”

“Indeed, I had lunch with her round her place last week, I don’t like going out evenings any more and so we timed our meeting during the baby’s afternoon sleep time, although I managed to play with him for a bit while Cheryl got the little mite’s milk ready. The baby’s quite bonny. He’s half-brother to your children, remember, and, on the face of it Cheryl looks like she’s a good mother, having to cope on her own much of the time.”

“I’ll arrange to see her soon, Gran,” Gill sighed.

“Your secretary Kelly has her mobile number and will arrange a mutually convenient time.”

“Mmm, Kelly seems to have some questions coming from me when I get back.”

“Oh, Kelly’s completely on your side, dear. I think she’s loyal to you and a treasure. If she wasn’t so supportive or wasn’t up to the task of being the CEO’s PA she wouldn’t be the one moving your stuff to your new office.”

“So, she sent me down to the print room so that the three of us would be there at the same time. Of course, she said Jake hadn’t taken his coat off so I had to hurry, but his coat was on the back of his chair.”

“Timing was essential my dear. Kelly never walked past the print room, I rang her just before Michael rang Gerry. Now, back to business. Did you know that Cheryl was the most promising intern of the group that Winstone’s took on last year?”

“No, I didn’t. Mmm, so what you’re hinting at is that once her baby can be left with a childminder, Cheryl could begin the bank’s trainee programme, starting at say, two short days a week, nine ’til three to fit in with the baby’s needs and go on from there?”

“Gill, dear, as soon as I met you I recognised you were the ideal woman for Jake, and a future matriarch for the family, the whole family, once I’ve gone.”

“Well, don’t go too soon, Gran, I need you and you’ll be sorely missed, by me, and by us all.”

“Thank you, dear. I assure you that I intend to be around for quite a while.”

Sir Michael knocked on the door of the side ward and entered, addressing Gill, “Your driver is here, ma’am”.

“Thank you, Michael,” Gertie said, “I think we’re all finished here. I’ll see you at the weekend, Gill.”

“I don’t suppose you will still be here by visiting time tomorrow, Gran?”

“No, dear, I’m just staying overnight for Jake’s benefit really, then I’ll go home for breakfast. Please come to dinner at my London house on Saturday evening, so we can all sit down in a civilised environment and talk seriously about arranging the wedding.”

“All right, Gran, I can see where Jake gets his delicious deviousness from. You are both remarkable people. Any more surprises for me before I go?”

“Not from me, dear, but sit down with Jake tonight, I’m sure he’ll fill in all the gaps.”

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