Page 91 of The Uprising
Cara and George sat at their solicitor’s desk in his Aldgate office.
The door opened, and he said, ‘Thank you for waiting. I’ve got the contract, please read it over and sign here. The painting was released in your name, so we only need your signature,’ he said, indicating the space for George to sign.
‘So much for women’s rights,’ said Cara, rolling her eyes.
‘No such thing in Victorian times, where did we go wrong?’ George replied.
Cara play-punched his arm, ‘What’s the old saying? “What’s yours is mine and what’s mine is mine”,’ she smiled sweetly and batted her eyelashes at him.
‘Everything I have is yours; it’s not worth anything without you, anyway,’ he said, suddenly serious.
‘How gallant,’ observed the solicitor, dryly. ‘I assure you that’s not the attitude most of my clients adopt. Mind you; I’d be out of a job if they did.’
‘Thank you for organising this so quickly. I meant to ask before; who is the buyer?’ said Cara while George reviewed the contract.
‘I’m afraid one of the terms of the quick cash sale is that I don’t reveal the name of the buyer; the purchase is to remain completely confidential.’
‘Isn’t that rather clandestine?’ Cara asked.
‘A little unusual, but not altogether uncommon. There can be all manner of reasons for a collector not revealing their identity. There are many art collectors who opt to keep their acquisitions private.’
‘Okay, well that’s their prerogative, I suppose,’ said Cara. ‘As long as they’re paying the agreed twenty-five million, we have no need to know.’
‘It’s extraordinary really, isn’t it?’ remarked George.
‘What?’ she asked, tilting her head closer to his as the solicitor rose from his chair again and busied himself copying the signed document.
‘That anyone would pay so much money for a painting.’
‘When you put it like that, it is, yes. I’m glad they did though,’ she said.
They finished up their business and left the solicitor’s office with a copy of the contract tucked inside George’s vegan leather satchel that Cara had bought for him recently.
She broke into an excited skip on the pavement outside the office. ‘I love it when you carry that man-bag. It’s so sexy.’
‘You really can be very silly, you know,’ he said smiling at her infectious mood. ‘Women’s rights have come so far, and all we get is a man-bag. You could at least let me enjoy the small victory without making me feel like such a cock.’
They strode along the pavement, hand-in hand. ‘You did it! Twenty-five million pounds courtesy of Victoriana. I can hardly believe we pulled it off. I’m so excited I could burst.’
George pulled on her hand, so she swung towards him and then he caught her in his arms. ‘Me too. There’s no-one in the world with whom I would rather buy a house.’
‘Don’t you mean a stately home? Or a hotel, actually?’
They were high on life and almost flew down the street.
‘I feel like the luckiest woman in the world. Not only do I get to be with the love of my life, or I should say,lives, but we will now get to live at Willow Manor. I know it’s a huge undertaking, but I couldn’t be more thrilled.’
‘It is incredible. If I was a religious man, I would say we’re blessed.’
‘We’re blessed by time,’ said Cara, her heart full.
‘Kate was asking some questions on the phone. We’re going to have to come up with some kind of cover story about the vault and the painting. I hate deceiving her, but I don’t want her thinking we’ve cheated her out of the family spoils.’
‘Kate trusts you implicitly,’ she said.
‘Which makes keeping the truth from her, all the more difficult, but we can’t tell her what really happened. She’ll think we’re deranged.’
‘It’ll be okay. She’s terrific; we’re fortunate to have her.’
