A brick dislodged and she caught it as it was about to fall at her feet. “Look, I found this ages ago when it was loose and nearly dropped on my foot. We can put it here. No-one will ever find it.” She waved the precious piece of paper at her brother. “What do you think?”
“Perfect,” he replied. “Just do it, Delia, and let’s get out of here. I’m desperate to get a shower and away from the smell of horses.”
Delia looked at him with contempt. He had just given her the best possible present he could but there was no getting away from it, he was a terrible wimp. She folded the paper carefully and pushed it as far back as she possibly could into the recess from where she had removed the brick. Then she pushed the brick back in and stood back to examine it.
“No-one would notice it was loose, would they?” she asked worriedly.
“It looks absolutely fine to me. Come on, let’s go,” said Richard impatiently.
Delia’s smile was wide and her eyes shone. She skipped towards him, throwing her arms around him in a completely unexpected gesture of affection. “Thank you so much, Richard. This means everything to me. I am so happy I could explode.”
Richard hugged her back and smiled too. “Actually, so am I. We finally have what we wanted. You have your blasted estate to look forward to and I have freedom from your never-ending persecution. Please, God, we can now live in peace.”
They smiled broadly at each other and in complete harmony for the first time since they were tiny children, linked arms and walked happily back to the Hall, blissfully unaware that what they had just done would cause the most awful trauma for the whole family in just a few short years.
CHAPTER 3 JUNE 1964
Simon Parfitt was desperate. He had just received a final warning from Michael, his pompous, mean-spirited, recently acquired step-father and now Simon needed money and somewhere to live – urgently.
“You’re nothing but a parasite,” Michael, the smart and dapper Merchant Banker, dressed in a Savile Row pinstripe suit with a crisp white shirt and black and white striped tie and highly polished Gucci shoes, had snarled half an hour ago. He was a head taller than Simon and cut an imposing figure as he drew his left hand with its wide gold wedding band through his short dark hair, strode over to the music cabinet in the corner of Simon’s bedroom and whirled the volume button of the stereo angrily down to zero. He wagged his finger at Simon.
“Your mother has spoilt you beyond belief but now I’m part of the family things are going to take a different turn. At twenty-three years old it’s high time you had a job and stood on your own two feet. I will simply not allow your mother to bail you out yet again.”
Simon, lying on his bed, dressed only in his pyjama bottoms had opened his mouth in protest but Michael raised a hand to silence him.
“No! I’ve spent the past year watching you abuse your mother’s good nature. No more, Simon. I’ve business in Singapore and I’m taking her with me. We will be away for approximately two months and by the time we return I want you to have found a job and removed yourself and your belongings out of this flat. Do I make myself clear?”
Simon was stunned. Pampered and protected by his mother, Katherine, since the time he was placed in her arms in the maternity hospital, he had wanted for nothing. His father had left home when Simon was five years old, jealous of his wife’s affection for his son and unable to compete. Katherine, financially secure with a generous allowance from him and a flourishing business empire in the beauty industry with a string of Pampered People salons across London and with plans to expand further afield, then indulged her handsome son with his mischievous sparkling dark eyes, crazy sense of humour and flippant attitude. She virtually allowed him to rule her life and personal bank account. Luckily for Katherine, her astute accountant kept a firm eye on her business accounts!
Academically, Simon was bright, and Katherine had been extremely proud of her son when he went up to Oxford but simply shrugged her shoulders and said it must have been a terrible mistake when he was sent down a year later for having created chaos and jealousy by having affairs with not only one, but three tutors’ wives, causing one of the tutors to have a heart attack when he confronted Simon. Since then Simon had idled his life away, abhorring the idea of working for a living while his mother was able to provide him with not only life’s essentials but also many of the luxuries. Convinced that the only worthwhile reason for his existence was to have a good time and possessing an animal magnetism which drew women to his side with little effort on his part, life was a continual round of pleasure. Then, unfortunately, Michael had entered Katherine’s orbit around eighteen months ago, she became a giddy young girl again and fell heavily in love and suddenly Simon was no longer the centre of her universe. His life began to change drastically once the pair married two months ago and now it was obvious Michael was really going to make life very difficult.
He marched out of Simon’s bedroom and slammed the door of the flat behind him, leaving Simon alone in the flat, Katherine having left earlier to drive to one of her salons in Wimbledon where there was a new Manageress to help settle in. Typical of Michael to wait until she was out of the way before he had laid down the law to Simon. He did consider appealing to his mother but knew it would do no
