Sophie Kinsella
SHOPAHOLIC & BABY
The fifth book in the Shopaholic series
KENNETH PRENDERGAST
Prendergast de Witt Connell Financial Advisers
Forward House 394 High Holborn
London WC1V 7EX
Mrs R Brandon 37 Maida Vale Mansions Maida Vale
London NW6 0YF
30 July 2003
Dear Mrs. Brandon,
It was a great pleasure to meet you and Luke the other day, and I look forward to taking on the role as your family financial adviser.
I am in the process of setting up banking arrangements and a trust fund for your unborn child. In due course we can discuss what investments you and your husband might make in the baby’s name.
I look forward to getting to know you better over the coming months; please do not hesitate to contact me on any matter, no matter how small.
Yours sincerely,
Kenneth Prendergast
Family Investment Specialist
KENNETH PRENDERGAST
Prendergast de Witt Connell Financial Advisers
Forward House 394 High Holborn
London WC1V 7EX
Mrs R Brandon 37 Maida Vale Mansions Maida Vale
London NW6 0YF
1 August 2003
Dear Mrs. Brandon,
Thank you for your letter. In answer to your question, yes, there will be an overdraft facility on the baby’s bank account — although, naturally, I would not expect it to be used!
Yours sincerely,
Kenneth Prendergast
Family Investment Specialist
KENNETH PRENDERGAST
Prendergast de Witt Connell Financial Advisers
Forward House 394 High Holborn
London WC1V 7EX
Mrs R Brandon 37 Maida Vale Mansions Maida Vale
London NW6 0YF
7 August 2003
Dear Mrs. Brandon,
Thank you for your letter. I was intrigued to hear about the “psychic message” you recently received from your unborn child. However, I’m afraid it is impossible to access the overdraft facility at this stage. Even if, as you say, “the baby wishes it.”
Yours sincerely,
Kenneth Prendergast
Family Investment Specialist
ONE
OK. DON’T PANIC. Everything’s going to be fine. Of course it is.
Of course it is.
“If you could lift up your top, Mrs. Brandon?” The sonographer has a pleasant, professional air as she looks down at me. “I need to apply some jelly to your abdomen before we start the scan.”
“Absolutely!” I say without moving a muscle. “The thing is, I’m just a teeny bit…nervous.”
I’m lying on a bed at the Chelsea and Westminster hospital, tense with anticipation. Any minute now, Luke and I will see our baby on the screen for the first time since it was just a teeny blob. I still can’t quite believe it. In fact, I still haven’t quite got over the fact that I’m pregnant. In nineteen weeks’ time I, Becky Brandon, nee Bloomwood…am going to be a mother. A mother!
Luke’s my husband, by the way. We’ve been married for just over a year and this is a one hundred percent genuine honeymoon baby! We traveled loads on our honeymoon, but I’ve pretty much worked out that we conceived it when we were staying in this gorgeous resort in Sri Lanka, called Unawatuna, all orchids and bamboo trees and beautiful views.
Unawatuna Brandon.
Miss Unawatuna Orchid Bamboo-tree Brandon.
Hmm. I’m not sure what Mum would say.
“My wife had a slight accident in the early stages of pregnancy,” Luke explains from his seat beside the bed. “So she’s a little anxious.”
