Chapter Thirty Five

"I want this sorted Tony, I can't have her dropping in on my life making demands. What can I do?"

Tony leaned forward across the dining table, "I've told her to keep her distance, we're waiting on her agreeing to supervised contacts with Melody. Hopefully if she's seeing her in some capacity she'll calm down a bit. Otherwise all we can do is slap a restraining order on her. If you want it to get that messy."

Theo ran his hand through his hair, "I don't want to start that, but she was bloody horrible to Nina, I'm just glad that she stayed after Sadie left, gave me a chance to explain."

"So things are going well there? You're getting back on it?"

Theo hated that his friend could cheapen what was so special between him and Nina, but then Tony was a player, the love 'em and leave 'em type, and he thought staying with a woman till the morning quantified a serious affair. What he had with Nina was so much more special he thought wistfully.

"Wow, it MUST be good, you look like you're having a wet dream just sat there, like a teenager."

He gave him a scowl, then stood to retrieve a couple of beers from the fridge, he DID feel like a teenager when she was around, that was for sure, but Tony didn't need to know that, even if he was both his best friend and his brief.

"It's cool, ok. She's cool, and I don't want that psycho ruining things for me, isn't it enough that she took so much from me?"

Despite having a good lawyer, Sadie had rinsed him in the divorce, getting their home and a more than generous amount of money monthly for their daughter. Tony was in the process of renegotiating that at the moment, as now that Theo had Melody, he didn't have the same obligation to his ex wife. Financially or otherwise.

"Once a week in a contact centre, maybe a Saturday morning? You drop Melody there and she's supervised for a couple of hours with Sadie, one screw up and she's gone. Does that sound ok?" Tony pushed his plate away, no remnants of the lasagne he'd enjoyed earlier left, and opened up his briefcase, pulling out some papers.

Theo reached for the plate, and handed Tony a beer as he loaded the dishwasher.

"Food was good mate; you're a great chef you know."

Theo rolled his eyes, "if it's more than toast of baked beans you're useless. So you're easy to impress!"

Instead he dropped his eyes to the paperwork Tony had handed him.

"Can you agree to that?"

Theo shrugged, "none of it is overly convenient, not really. I mean Saturdays I go see my grandfather; I don't want to scupper that. Can't she be made to meet my demands?"

Tony nodded, "but you've got to get her to the contact centre...hang around."

"I'll deal with it. Try and sort it for maybe five on a Wednesday. Nothing happens then. But it can't be for long as Melody needs her bed by half past seven."

Sighing Tony leaned back in the chair and reached for his beer, "I'll do what I can, but you will have to meet her halfway. If you block things the courts will start favouring her, ok?"

Theo wanted to punch a wall, his hatred of his ex-wife was insurmountable, he wanted to hurt her for the way she'd hurt him, and Melody, and now Nina. She was a bitch.

"Go with the restraining order. I can't see her again; I'm scared of what I might do."

Nina sat in Larry's office in the heart of London City and awaited the arrival of her brother and step mother. There was no way she was taking them on without witness, and her late father's lawyer was furious at their continued blatant disregard for what was right. Nina wasn't scared of them, but she knew that tying them up legally was far more important. Today she could...and would officially evict them.

Once that was done, she didn't know what she'd do with the house. It was worth a lot of money, and now had a hefty amount outstanding against the mortgage. It was Theo that had made her consider what she wanted to do with the house. He'd asked her if she missed London, and she didn't, not really. But it made sense to think about her work, her social life...she spent a lot of time on the train between Brighton and the city, maybe it was time to work out whether she could keep her family home, she kind of knew that her father would want that.

The house itself was a large bay fronted home with a huge basement and attic, making it four storeys of large and airy rooms. It was far too big for her to live in alone, but it was a place for the future maybe...if she ever had her own family.

She was deep in thought when the office door swung open and Larry's secretary showed the bastard brother and the ice queen in to the office.

James was puce, anger bouncing off him and waves, and he immediately launched at her, "You bitch...you think that you're special, that you are the golden girl! You are not selling that house...over my dead body."

Larry gave a dry laugh, "not so much dead as imprisoned James. You have no legal right over the house anymore; you've spent you shares..." As James snarled he stared at him, not perturbed, "do I need to call security?"

Imelda slid into a seat opposite him and tried a different plan of attack, "do you want to see us homeless Mr Stonewell? Jack would never have wanted that."

Her purring voice wasn't having the desired effect on the old man, but regardless, Nina wasn't letting this get out of hand.

"Frankly Imelda that is bullshit, he must be rolling in his grave at the thought of you two both screwing each other and spending two thirds of the fortune that he spent his life building. You have both spent that, in its entirety. Larry here is too nice and professional to tell you that, but I can. I own everything in that house, and whilst you're here I have instructed a team to change the locks. Legally the home is mine, and you will be escorted in for an hour each to empty your bedrooms. THAT is what you're driven us to. Ok?"

It was like lighting the fuse to a box of fireworks, but that wasn't as satisfying as it should have been. James was angry, but Imelda was stunned, reality finally sinking in.

"Where will we go?"

Nina shrugged, "hell? I really don't care, neither of you have cared about me for years, so why should I care about you for a minute more." Neither spoke for a moment, so she sighed, "I've booked the next two nights in the Regency Hotel." When Imelda's eyes lit up she laughed, "not the one on Mayfair, a bed and breakfast in Portobello. It's enough to give you time to work out what you want to do."

Larry was smiling at her, and she felt good, she wasn't gloating, they'd had ample warnings, but they'd just been rude, abrasive and selfish, now, they were on their own. Imelda would move on, she was still a good looking woman, there were men out there who'd want her...but James...he had so much less to offer.

They'd changed from angry and aggressive to silently stunned, and with a small sigh, she stood up.

"Good luck in whatever you do."

It wasn't a brilliant feeling, leaving the building, the new keys to the house in her hand, but she only had to think back to that fateful day when she was only a teenager to realise that the two had been nothing but hostile towards her.

Later that day, back in Brighton, Nina walked into the cliff top rehabilitation centre that Mansell had been in for the last week. It was a step towards the home, but he was a long way from regaining his mojo. As Nina sat beside him, smiled at him, she suddenly wondered if he ever would. He looked...terrified, and defeated. She hated that.

"Hey old man! How is it?"

He mustered a smile, "fed up Nina, want to go home."

His speech was still a little slurred, and everything looked like an effort, so she took his hand and gave it a squeeze, "and they all want you back. ALL the ladies are asking after you."

That made him roll his eyes, "sorry."

She shook her head, "I'm not criticising, I think you're coping brilliantly with being stuck in here."

They settled into a comfortable conversation, about football, the weather, to what guest beers were at his favourite pub. But when it came time to leave she was shocked to see Mansell look so upset.

"I want to go home...wherever that is." Was all he'd say when she expressed her concern.

Out on the street she felt sick with concern, so she pulled out her phone and called Theo. He answered after a few rings, the noise of a busy building site making it hard to hear him. So she dropped on to a bench.

"Hey Theo?"

"Sorry babe, it's SO noisy here...hang on." After a few seconds the background noise eased a little, and Theo's voice sounded a little more relaxed too. "You ok? It's not like you to call. Is something wrong?"

She sighed, "I've just been to see Mansell. He's ok." She added quickly, suddenly aware she might make him worry needlessly. "It's just he's low. He doesn't think he's ever going to get out of the hospital."

Theo sighed, "he's not been himself, but we hoped it was just the residual him actually accepting having a stroke. You think it's more?"

She sighed, "he mentioned Hélène. Wants to see her again, after all that's happened it seems he hoped he'd spend a lot more time with her."

"Ah," Theo sounded frustrated. "I wondered when this would happen. Before his stroke he Skyped her every day. Maybe I'll call her, see if she'll visit."

"Is there no way you or Daniel could look after him? I mean he found being alone difficult."

He groaned, "there's no room in the flat with me and Melody...but Daniel's house..."

There was silence for a moment, he was obviously thinking, so she added, "I was thinking that maybe if you got him some care...you know someone helping out, then they could look after Melody a little too...it might make your life a little easier?"

He didn't sound enthralled by that idea, but for Nina, her heart broke at how sad Mansell was.

"Well I've got to go, Lilah's home and I have to collect her at the station, call me, let me know what you do about Hélène."

"I...er..."

She smiled, "you don't owe me answers, explanations or agreements, honestly. I'm just throwing a few suggestions, I'm concerned...about Mansell...and you." She added and it was met by an emotional groan.

"How do you do it? Unwind me with a couple of words?" He gave a self deprecating laugh, "I'll speak to Daniel, ok?"

Two hours later Lilah emerged from the station in a blast of colour, she looked refreshed, radiant, and like 'old' Lilah for a change. They hugged in the station car park, and Nina couldn't believe how much she'd missed her friend. Once they'd driven home and sat with pizza and a bottle of wine, Lilah smiled.

"God I've missed you, here...everything..."

Nina chuckled, "mutual. This house is like a morgue without you."

"It's been like a morgue WITH me the last few weeks."

Nina shook her head vehemently, "no, don't say that."

Lilah reached out a hand and covered hers with it, "I've been a selfish cow..." As Nina made to protest again she shook her head, "I told my parents, what happened, and we talked...a lot. I have two choices, go to the police, and make a case against him. Or...just get on with things. The last thing I want is to be hauled through court, everyone knowing my business. I believe in karma. He'll get justice in some way...just not that way. Do you understand that?"

"I hate the thought that he's walking around scot free, but I'm more concerned with you, I want to see you get back into things, I don't want him to take Lilah away."

Lilah grinned, "I hate him, I hate what happened, but I'm going to get counselling, I'm going to get on with. I don't want to lose Lilah either."

She raised her glass, "I've got a modelling shoot in Cyprus in a week, I've got parents who accept EVERYTHING I throw at them, the GREATEST friend a girl could ask for, and I live in a really cool house in a really cool town. What have I got to be sad about? Honestly."

There was no immediate answer to that, but Nina knew that nothing was ever that straight forward.

Nina had a lot of late night calls with Theo, but other than that they weren't able to catch up. She took advantage of Lilah being home to finish a few sets of rings. Amelia was still drumming up regular trade and she had to keep on top of things.

She'd had a lot of calls from her brother, but she hadn't spoken to him. Partly because she'd given him enough over the years, time and opportunity, she wasn't about to give him any more...but also a huge part of her knew that she was likely to give in, back down. Because deep inside she hated that she was causing them chaos, despite all that they'd done.

She was meeting with Larry and a financial advisor to discuss the house, as in her mind it still felt like home...and that had been both surprising and thought provoking. She didn't want to tie herself with a huge financial commitment to the house, but seeing how distressed Mansell was over not being home...she couldn't discard it so easily.

Nina drove her to the airport and they had a tearful goodbye, over the last week, outside of their work, they'd done very little but watch movies, eat popcorn, drink wine, and talk...lots and lots of that. If there had been the slightest chink in their friendship before there was no weakness now, they had never been more honest, or more open. Lilah had started to talk about what happened with Mark. Not the graphic details, but the time frame, where they were...Nina had reluctantly at first shared with her friend the safer details of her times with Theo. Lilah in typical fashion gushed enthusiastically about that her happiness for Nina total.

"Now don't have TOO much fun in the sun, young lady!" Nina held her tightly, she was still worried about her friend, but she'd seen the old Lilah a lot over the last few days, and that made her so happy.

Lilah laughed, "and don't you overdose on sex, you hear ME?"

That made Nina chuckle, it had been a week since she'd seen Theo, and whilst they talked ALL the time on the phone, she was missing his physical presence in a lot of ways.

Theo caught Melody mid sprint and scooped her up into his arms. This was the second supervised visit between her and her mother, he'd succumbed, after negotiations with his lawyer Tony and hers, and now she saw Melody for an hour at a time, AFTER passing a drugs test. It cost a lot of money, which she didn't have, but he didn't care. He was using the old adage give her enough rope and she'll hang herself. Knowing that Sadie was never going to commit to anything long term, but if he stored enough evidence there was no way he'd lose his daughter again.

"Shall we go to McDonald's for tea?" he asked as she lifted her head from his neck, and nodded enthusiastically.

"Happy Meal!"

He nodded, "of course!"

They were sat in the window, him drinking coffee, her eating her fries, watching the darkening evening world go by when his phone rang. He glanced at the screen to see Daniel's name and smiled, "hi Dan."

"Hi Uncle Yaniel!" Melody mispronounced from beside him in the direction of the phone, which caused Daniel to giggle.

"Someone sounds chirpy, she have a good visit?"

"Seems that Sadie can be amazing in small portions. That's no surprise."

Daniel sighed, "still finding it hard?"

"Can just do without it, that's all. What happened with Mansell?"

His brother had gone down to the coast to try to deal with the issues that Nina had highlighted. Theo was grateful for that; he had SO much on at the moment and it meant everything to share the load with his brother.

"He is up for moving to London. I asked if he wants to move into my house. His face...it lit up Theo, like you wouldn't believe. I've never felt like such a bastard for moving him out to the coast."

"But if we swap homes are you going to be ok?"

Daniel laughed, "you're apartment is on the bloody doorstep for all my work, and I get to visit all of you in one hit...probably the greatest idea you had young brother."

Theo leaned back, Daniel lived in Mansell's other London home, a town house in Chelsea, when Mansell had moved to the home in Brighton he'd bequeathed them both the properties, the recently divorced Theo wasn't enjoying life and he took the smaller apartment with no fuss, but now they were about to swap so that they could organise care for both their grandfather and Melody. Nina was right, it made sense, and with a bit of luck would see Theo have some spare time to spend with her, because he was yearning for her, heart, body and soul.