Hold the Dream. Barbara Taylor Bradford
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know you will, dear.’ Emma returned her smile, delighted to finally witness Emily’s eagerness and her excitement. Not that she had had any doubts about her offer being accepted. Emily was far too clever to thwart her, or to pass up the opportunity to head a division. Besides, Emily loved a challenge. This last thought prompted Emma to add, ‘I’m quite certain you’ll enjoy this new venture as much as you did your sojourn in Paris last year. It’s going to be equally as challenging, and ultimately very rewarding.’
‘Yes, I know it will be.’ With a sudden flush of embarrassment, Emily recalled her outburst of earlier. Looking extremely shame-faced, she apologized, ‘I’m sorry I behaved in such a childish way, when you said I couldn’t go back to Paris, Grandy. It was ridiculous of me to act like that.’
‘I understand. You were disappointed. In any case, you’ll be going to Paris quite a lot for Genret, and travelling all over the world on your buying trips. That’s certainly something to look forward to, Emily.’
‘Oh it is, Grandy. And thank you for your faith in me, and for this wonderful opportunity.’ Emily jumped up and hugged Emma tightly. With a happy little laugh, she said, ‘Oh Grandy, you’re such an inspiration! You make everything seem possible – and attainable. And exciting as well. Do you know what? I feel like rushing down to the Genret offices in Leeds right now, and getting stuck into the work with Len immediately.’
‘Len and Genret have managed to exist without you until now, Emily, so I think they’ll survive for another few days,’ Emma replied, her mouth twitching with hidden laughter. ‘In the meantime, I have a much better idea. I think you should come downstairs with me, and have lunch instead. I don’t know about you, but I’m famished.’
Emma sat at the table in her splendidly-appointed Adam dining room, sipping a cup of coffee after lunch, smiling and nodding occasionally, enjoying Emily’s natural joie de vivre and bubbling enthusiasm for everything. Earlier, when they had been eating, Emily had bombarded her with questions about Genret. Each one had been probing and not without a certain shrewdness, and this had pleased Emma.
Now, the twenty-two-year-old was entertaining her with titbits of gossip about the family, and, as usual, Emma found her pithy comments hilarious. Robin and Kit were most often the butts of her barbed wit, and she had already managed to get in a few sharp digs about her uncles.
But here her sarcasm stopped, for she never made astringent or unkind remarks about anyone else. Although Emily tended to be something of a chatterbox, she was not malicious, nor was she a talebearer intent on stirring up trouble. In point of fact, she was anything but this, and Emma was well aware that her granddaughter’s predilection for chattering was harmless enough, especially since she knew herself to be the girl’s only confidante. To Emma’s considerable relief, Emily was not only discreet but extremely close-mouthed with everyone else in the family, and even Paula and Alexander, with whom she was on very intimate terms, were no exceptions to this rule.
Unexpectedly, Emily veered away from her discourse on the family, and launched into glowing descriptions of the outfits she had chosen for the fifteen-year-old twins to wear the next day. Recently Emily had elected to play a motherly big-sister role with Amanda and Francesca, and Emma had assigned to her the task of selecting their clothes and looking after similar details.
But it was not very long before Emma found her attention straying, her mind forever preoccupied with business, and specifically Paula’s meeting with the Crosses. She could not help speculating on the outcome, wondering how Paula had fared. If the negotiations had gone well she was facing a fair amount of work. Not that this troubled Emma unduly. She had always thrived on honest-to-goodness toil, and still did, and Paula had laid out foolproof plans for the takeover.
Emma and Paula wanted Aire Communications for its three most important assets: its magazine division, its local radio stations, its huge, modern building on the Headrow. Following Paula’s advice, she fully intended to make Aire Communications a subsidiary of the Yorkshire Consolidated Newspaper Company. Once she had relocated the entire staff of Aire in the offices of the Yorkshire Morning Gazette, her newspaper headquartered in Leeds, she would sell the Aire Communications building. This would enable her to cut down on Aire’s staggering overheads, and at the same time she would cleverly recoup part of the purchase price, possibly a good half of her two-million-pound investment. Yes, that building’s worth at least a million, Emma reflected, whatever Jonathan says to the contrary. She would have to have a little talk with her grandson tomorrow, a very serious talk. He was dragging his feet with his second evaluation of Aire’s prime bit of real estate. She had asked him for it days ago and he had not yet responded. Once again she wondered why, and her mouth tightened.
‘Grandy, you’re not listening to me!’ Emily shook her arm impatiently.
‘Oh sorry, dear. You were saying you’d chosen navy-blue dresses and coats for the twins. I’m sure they’re very smart, you have such good – ’
‘Goodness, Gran, that was five minutes ago,’ Emily interjected. ‘I was already on to another subject. Aunt Edwina to be precise.’
‘Now why on earth is she suddenly so interesting to you?’
‘She’s not really. I think she’s an old sourpuss and a crashing bore,’ Emily said in her typical blunt fashion. ‘However, I’m positive we’re going to be in for a rocky ride with her this weekend. I bet she’s going to give us all an earful.’
‘What about?’ Emma asked, sounding slightly baffled.
‘The divorce,’ Emily said succinctly.
This reply brought Emma upright in her chair, and she stared hard at Emily. ‘So, you’ve heard about that, have you?’ Surprise immediately gave way to humour, and Emma chuckled and shook her head. ‘Is there anything you don’t know about this family of ours?’
‘Not much,’ said Emily, grinning at her. ‘But I don’t pry, Gran. You know that. Everyone just tells me things automatically. It must be my sympathetic nature.’ Her grin widened. ‘And then I tell you. Never secrets, though. I don’t break a confidence. Ever.’
‘I should hope not, dear. Remember what I’ve always said … a still tongue and a wise head. Anyway, who mentioned Anthony’s divorce?’
‘Jim. He came to see me last weekend. He wanted my opinion about something, my advice really. He brought up the divorce in passing. It was Aunt Edwina who told him. Apparently she’s terribly upset … scandal touching the sacred name of the Dunvales and all that silly nonsense. As if anybody cares about divorce these days. But she’ll harp on about it for the next few days, you mark my words.’
‘I doubt it, since Anthony will be here himself. In fact, he’s already here.’
‘In this house?’ It was Emily’s turn to be astonished.
‘No. He’s staying with your Uncle Randolph up at Middleham. Actually, he’s going to be there for the next week.’ A wicked gleam entered Emma’s eyes, and she could not resist teasing, ‘Obviously there are some things you don’t know, Emily. Our young earl is staying with the Hartes because he’s courting Sally. Very seriously courting her.’ Emma was unable to hold back a laugh as she observed the expression on Emily’s face.
Emily was so dumbfounded by this piece of news her jaw had dropped. But it took less than a second for her to recover, and she retorted, ‘And I bet Aunt Edwina doesn’t know either! Otherwise she would have scuttled that relationship ages ago. And she’ll still try.’
‘She can do nothing,’ Emma snapped, her face hardening. ‘Anthony is not only of age, he’s thirty-three. He doesn’t have to answer to his mother, or anyone else for that matter, and I told him so last night. He has my blessing. Frankly, I’m glad he’s going to marry Sally. She’s a fine girl and quite lovely, and it’s a perfect match in my opinion.’
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