by H. M. Irwing
I went to where the celebratory champagne flutes were located and picked up a stem to taste. The frisky bubbles merrily tickled my lips as I took a sip. But I needed more than a sip to wash down the flutter of anxiety at the pit of my stomach.
"Maybe you shouldn't do that," Richard said nodding towards the champagne recalling that time I got drunk on it. I recalled it too. Vividly.
"I just want you to know I would never intentionally hurt you. I'm doing this because Jake and I feel it’s best for you. You are and always will be our best friend." I no longer had a conflict in my feeling for Richard. He will always mean a lot to me. But my heart now wholly belonged to Jake. Still, deciding on this particular action had caused me a great deal of anxiety. This, what it would do to Richard, more than anything else worried me.
At his confused look, I said to Barry," Let's do this. Get it over with." I wanted to be done with it before I could change my mind.
Barry who had his attention trained on me only nodded and called attention to the room. When the room quietened and gave him their ears, Barry said," We have done some remarkable work here in this past few days in securing this deal. However, it all would never have been possible without the aid of our generous benefactor. The benefactor who purchased the debt outright off Sadiq and spared us a world of difficulty. And that too only with a minimal clause in the terms, for Richard to resign as the CEO and take a well-deserved break.”
There was a polite titter of laughter at that. I refused to look at Richard unable to bare it if he looked disappointed but Barry wasn’t finished so I tuned back into what he was saying,” I am now able to disclose the name of this white knight rescuer. I feel it’s best to give the credit where it’s due. I will reveal the identity of the white knight that bailed out the group of companies belonging to both the Neels and the Reeves. Through the sudden good fortune that was bestowed on her, please meet your new benefactor and white knight, Lucy Little."
The silence in the room was deafening.
White knight is the financial term used to describe the rescuer of companies in financial distress. Investors that take on high risk companies and pump in the cash needed to bail it out of trouble. It seemed odd that I would end up being Richard's saviour. His very own white knight. But then turnabout was fair play. He helped saved my sister. It was only right that I returned the favour. Still I hadn’t wanted to just hand him back the company and then watch helplessly as he allowed it to sweep back into his life taking over every aspect of it like before. I wanted more for Richard. So much more. I wanted him to be happy. And running the family business was not the way to go about it.
“But how?” Mr Neel’s startled query demanded to be answered. I didn’t want to answer but he was going to be my father-in-law so I did.
“My gandma left me some old certificate of ownership. A certificate that we had always though was dud because of the brokerage firm that went bust selling it. It was an investment the shares of a company. A magazine publisher that was launched in the 1930s. A magazine named Fortune. This magazine later got taken over by the New York Times. It seemed that after all this time the certificates had some value after all. A value that only grew and increased in worth over time. I simply cashed out that certificate and used the proceeds to bail out the us all out of trouble.”
I turned back then to face Richard. “I just want you to be happy,” I said earnestly to him.
Ignoring the shocked looks about us I turned to Jake and he leaned down to drop a kiss onto my forehead. He had a question in his eyes. I nodded my head. Yes, it was time to leave. We turned to leave the room. To leave the quiet room and all its shell shocked occupants behind.
"Soooo…,” said Jake after a while. No doubt trying to prompt me out of my own solemn thoughts. “Where do you want to go for our honeymoon?"
"You're incorrigible!"
"Just think babe. There will be just you and I," Jake smiled down at me. “ Hopefully, on some white sandy beach with nothing but the cool waters, the hot sun and the warm sand to coat our skin.” He grinned down at me wickedly. I grinned back happily. For him I could even do a nudist beach if that’s what rocked his world. But then again, we could achieve the same results in our own private bit of beach.
"Only you and I," I said.
I smiled up happily at him.
