Empire of Gold

‘Ahem,’ said Holly, pointing at a wheelchair.

Nan frowned. ‘Oh, all right. If you could take me for a roll!’

‘No problem, Nan,’ said Eddie. He glanced round as the door opened, expecting to see a doctor entering. ‘Maybe tomorrow . . . ’ He tailed off at the sight of the man who came into the room.

At first, Nina had no idea who the new arrival might be – until with a start she realised that his eyes were just like those of Eddie and Elizabeth. A relative. Beyond that, his appearance had more in common with her sister- in-law than her husband; he was taller than Eddie by at least four inches, face lean and tapered rather than square, lithe even through the inevitable spread of late middle age – she guessed him to be around sixty. Despite this, he was still clearly highly active, carrying himself almost with a swagger in his expensive smart-casual clothing.

‘Well, well,’ he said on seeing Eddie. ‘What a surprise!’ The wink he gave to Elizabeth showed it was nothing of the sort.

‘Yeah,’ Eddie replied, glaring at his sister.

‘So,’ said the man, ‘long time no see, Edward.’

The scathing reply Eddie wanted to give was tempered by the presence of his grandmother and niece. Instead, he said, ‘Yeah, it’s been a while. Twenty-two years.’

The uncomfortable pause that followed was ended when Holly skipped across the room to embrace the newcomer. ‘Hi, Grandad!’

‘Hiya, hiya!’ he replied. ‘How’s my favourite granddaughter?’

‘Your only granddaughter,’ she pointed out.

‘Well, that makes you even more special, doesn’t it?’ He kissed her cheek, then released her and regarded Nina. ‘And Holly’s told me a lot about you. You must be Nina.’

‘That’s right,’ Nina said. ‘So you must be . . . ’ She knew, but still nudged Eddie for a proper introduction.

Eddie’s contempt was barely concealed. ‘This is my – dad.’ The momentary pause, Nina realised, was to cover what had become almost a conditioned reflex; on the rare occasions when he mentioned his father, the younger Chase almost invariably preceded it with an insulting adjective.

‘Larry Chase,’ said the man in question, extending a hand. She shook it. ‘Great to meet such a big celebrity.’

‘I wouldn’t call myself that,’ she replied, extricating herself from his firm grip.

‘But you’re certainly famous. I don’t think anyone who saw the opening of the Sphinx on TV last year will forget you!’

Her cheeks prickled at the reminder of her unplanned global television appearance. ‘It’s an unfortunate by- product of the job.’

Larry smiled. ‘You’re being too modest.’ He turned to Nan. ‘So, how are you, Catherine?’

While he and Nan spoke, Eddie none too gently ushered Elizabeth into a corner. ‘Fucking hell, Lizzie!’ he hissed. ‘Why didn’t you tell me he was coming?’

‘Because if I had, you would have found some excuse to avoid him,’ she replied in an icy whisper.

‘Yeah, because I don’t want anything to bloody do with him!’

‘I told you in New York last year that it was time you tried to mend some bridges. And when you asked me for his phone number, I thought you were going to do that – but since it’s now eight months later and nothing’s happened, I decided to move things along.’

Eddie had asked for the telephone number, after witnessing another estranged father and son reconciling, but in the end his deep-rooted resentments had prevented him from making the call. ‘You should have minded your own fucking business.’

‘And you should grow up,’ she snapped. ‘Like you said, it’s been over twenty years since you last saw each other. Dad’s changed; it’s time you did too.’

‘Only thing that’s changed about him is that he’s got less hair and more gut.’

‘The same could be said about you. For God’s sake, Eddie, the least you can do is be civil. For Nan’s sake, if nothing else.’

He couldn’t offer a counter to that. Fuming, he turned away from his sister, to see Larry engaged in conversation with Nina once more. He quickly returned to them, interposing himself to give his father an overt cold shoulder.

But it was too late. ‘Larry’s invited us for dinner tonight,’ said Nina, narrowing her eyes in disapproval of his unsubtle blocking manoeuvre.

‘Yeah? Shame we can’t make it.’

‘I’ve accepted.’

His face darkened. ‘Oh, you have, have you?’

‘Yes, I have. For both of us.’ She leaned round him to address Larry. ‘It’ll be a pleasure.’

Larry smiled. ‘I’ll tell my wife to make something special. Look forward to seeing you. Both.’ He said goodbye to his other family members, apologising for having to return to work, then with a wave and a jingle of his expensive gold wristwatch he departed.

‘Ooh, that was an unexpected pleasure,’ said Nan. ‘Wasn’t it, Edward?’

‘Yeah, it was unexpected,’ he replied through his teeth.