Midnight

For personal reasons, I'll be taking a short break. Expect the next chapter in the New Year - VirtualAtheist

CHAPTER NINE

The results of the board of enquiry were confidential, so of course Paula knew all about it within half an hour via the Nags Network. She pulled me to one side that afternoon and told me that it was all around the university. Professor Deaks was a complete dickhead with his PC head jammed up his PC arse, and that I was Miss Usiku Wa Manane Mwenye, but everyone should just call me Manni. Her smile could only be described as evil when she told me that everyone on campus also knew that they should never,

ever

call me Midnight... Unless their name was Dr Nathan Smethwick.

I thought that was the end of our problems with Professor Dick... Sorry, Professor Deaks... But I was wrong. My first clue was that my permission to use the University computer network was cancelled. The network administrators had been informed that as I wasn't a university employee, I shouldn't be allowed on the system.

That took a couple of days to sort out and made life, if not impossible, then at least awkward.

Nathan had to show the network administrators his contract which stated quite clearly that he was a contractor with the necessary computer privileges, not an employee either and that his contract covered all employees of Smethwick Palaeontology Services.

Guess where their information came from. That's right... Professor Deaks.

Then I discovered my technical library access had been revoked and my door card for the Earth Science labs had been deactivated by security. Why? Security had been informed that I shouldn't have access because I wasn't an accredited member of the teaching or research staff. Again, another couple of days to sort that out.

Guess where their information came from. Yep... Professor Deaks.

Dr Murtaugh received a summons from The Dean to explain why I, untrained in any of the Earth Sciences as I was, had been allowed unrestricted access to The Drydenthorpe dig site. I don't know what was said in that meeting exactly, but Paula told me there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. And at one point, Dr Murtaugh reminded the Dean quite forcefully that 'there wouldn't jolly well be a Drydenthorpe dig site, if it wasn't for young Manni and I'll be buggered if I keep her out of there!'

I love that old man.

Nothing more was said about it, but guess who'd been bending the Dean's ear... Of course... Professor Fucking Deaks!

For someone who claimed to be my self­appointed protector, he had a fucking funny way of going about it.

Then it all came out.

It seemed that Nathan had reason to throw an incompetent Archaeology student off the site down at Cheddar, the year before. The great­nephew of a certain Professor Deaks, so he decided to make Nathan's life difficult. And Nathan's habit of calling me Midnight was just the ticket... Or at least that's what Professor Dickhead had thought. When I scuppered his plans and he couldn't hurt Nathan, he went for the next best thing... Me. It didn't help that I'd made him look foolish in front of the whole campus either.

The eventual upshot was that a member of the faculty was asked to resign. But it wasn't my Nathan!

Anyway, life went on... Without Professor Deaks.

By this time, Nathan's responsibilities at Cheddar Gorge had been passed on to someone else, and the Drydenthorpe dig site was ticking over nicely. Also, I had a quiet window before my degree studies began... Yes. I had decided to go for it. Anyway, Nathan had received an email from his mother wanting him to come for a visit and also to attend some sort of party she was hosting.

He said, "Midnight, do you fancy spending a week at Radleigh?"

"Where's that?"

"Royal Buckinghamshire."

"Why? What's there?"

"My mother."

I grinned, "So we're at the 'meeting the parents' stage are we?"

He didn't smile back, but replied, "I suppose. I'm in two minds about it actually."

Suspiciously, I asked, "Why? We're not having shame issues again are we?"

This time, he did laugh, "If you must know... Yes we are," seeing the expression on my face, he hurried on, "Not of you. Of her. Mum can be... difficult and I'm not sure it would be easy on you."

I considered his words carefully, before I answered, "I'm part of your life Nathan, and so is your mum, so we'll have to meet sooner or later. Besides, how difficult could it be?"

The silent look he threw me sent a cold shiver down my spine... And not in a good way.

Anyway, we packed a couple of suitcases and set off on the Friday morning. The journey to Royal Buckinghamshire was uneventful. I found myself looking forward to meeting his mother but at the same time, nervous. I knew very little about his family. In fact other than their names and the fact that Hattie ran her own company, I knew nothing.

So I did the simple thing. As we were travelling, I asked Nathan about his family. Forewarned is forearmed, after all.

To be honest, it was like getting blood out of a stone. I eventually dragged out of him that his twin sister, Philippa was a failed fashion designer, now a freelance writer who spent her time travelling the world and following the fashion shows. She would be at Radleigh for our visit as she apparently wanted to meet me. I'll be honest, I couldn't understand why someone like that would have any interest in me, but I didn't say anything. Although it occurred to me, that Nathan must have told his family about me, even as he had totally failed to tell me about them. Made me a bit tetchy if you must know.

Then he told me about his mother.

Hattie Harper had met and married her husband, Richard Smethwick at university. She was studying for a degree in business, whilst he was studying law. Hattie graduated first, so started working for a company in London and supported him until he finished his degree and went to work for a prestigious old law firm in the City. He made very good money and so did she. But instead living the high life as many of their friends had done, they invested wisely, more by her skill and knowledge than his.

It seemed that she had a nose for a good deal. So as well as stock market investments, she was always on the look out for a good prospect. A clothes shop looked like it would take off if it had a cash injection to expand, she'd invest. Someone had an idea for a better mousetrap, she'd help them form a company. Property became vacant in what she thought was an up and coming area, she'd buy it.

Hattie formed her company Harper­Smethwick Holdings (Holdings) Ltd and ended up with all ten fingers in a wide variety of pies. She gave it that name as she thought a double barrelled name gave the company a certain gravitas.

She even owned 55% of a sex supermarket in Bristol. Hattie didn't care what the business was, her only concern was that it was profitable.

Whilst both of them were very busy, they still found time to create and raise twins, Nathan and Phillipa. Nathan was the first to agree that his early childhood was a very happy time, both parents doted on them and they wanted for nothing.

Sadly, Richard was killed in a car crash when Nathan and Phillipa were ten years old... And that was then Hattie changed. Always the hard nosed business woman, the loving mother seemed to disappear. She became colder and family seemed to take something of a back seat to her business. She went into overdrive and turned Harper­Smethwick into a financial powerhouse.

Then, she relocated to Radleigh and became something of a Matriarch of the social scene. Not that there was any impropriety. After Richard died, she had absolutely no interest in replacing him with another man. Hattie lived for her business, and only her business.

Nathan sighed, "Don't get me wrong. We wanted for nothing materially, I mean me and Phillipa had our educations paid for and we still get an allowance. But ever since Dad died, she changed... And not for the better."

He fell into silence. I rubbed his arm and said, "I'm sure it'll be fine. And even if it isn't, it's only a week."

Nathan was noncommittal, "We'll see."

I dug out my iPhone and searched for Radleigh, Royal Buckinghamshire on Google Maps... Nothing... "Ah well," I thought to myself, "This Radleigh place must be either really small or really boring."

Eventually, I saw the sign for Radleigh.

My first surprise was that it wasn't for a village, it was mounted on a stone pillar that held one half of the large, iron gates at the entrance of a long gravelled drive. We travelled along the drive that followed a sweeping curve and was lined with Poplar trees.

My second surprise was the size of the fucking mansion that appeared in front of me!

The drive terminated in a circle around a statue of a winged cherub. Not my cup of tea, but there you go. Nathan pulled up in front of the large double front door, where we were met by a middle-aged man with pepper and salt hair, dressed in a dark suit.

The house was a surprisingly modern looking building and not the country house you might have expected in such a setting. It was an 'F' shape with the main entrance on the inside corner of the building. I discovered later that it had a master bedroom suite and a further eight bedrooms, all of them, except one were doubles with en­suite facilities and decorated differently. The exception was the Green Room, which was single at the rear of the house.

The house was brick­built, but covered in a stone facing that gave it a rather rustic feel and the windows were large, plate glass rectangles that would maximise the light inside.

Nathan smiled, "Mr Jenkins, how are you?"

"Can't complain, Sir. Shall I attend to your luggage?"

He held out his hand for the car keys, which Nathan handed over, asking, "Which room has she put us in?"

The older man looked uncomfortable as he replied, "Mrs Smethwick has put you in the red suite Sir, and your companion," he nodded towards me politely with a small smile, "Miss M... Mo... Mowenny?"

I smiled back, "Mwenye. Please... Call me Manni."

"My apologies, Miss Mwenye. You've been placed in the green room."

Nathan scowled and said, "Mr Jenkins, please put all our luggage in the red suite... I'll speak to Mother."

"As you wish, Sir."

Opening the back of the car, Mr Jenkins began unloading and paused briefly to say, "It's good to have you back, Sir."

Nathan grabbed my hand and led me through the front doors into the entrance hall. The place was immaculate and airy. With high ceilings and the large windows, the room looked twice as big as it actually was. All of the woodwork was a brilliant, white gloss and the walls were a neutral calico or natural hessian. The colors in the decor were added with the detail, a few paintings of very realistic looking butterflies adorned the walls and one or two vases filled with fresh flowers sat on stands on either side of the staircase.

"Wow!" I said in awe, "Your mother lives here? Looks like her company pays well."

Nathan seemed less than impressed, but then, he'd seen it before, "I preferred the old house. I've got no good memories of this place."

I looked around some more and then said slyly, "At least someone here knows where the hoover's kept."

He grinned and then squeezed my hand, "Come on. Let's find her."

Nathan led me through a highly polished door off to the right and into a large open plan area that housed a dining suite that could seat six people, beyond which was a lounge area with a huge fireplace that should have seemed out of place in such a modern design, but wasn't. Clearly a fortune had been spent on architects and designers. At the far end a set of large glass doors led out on to a vast patio area on which stood several sun chairs and side tables. Stone steps led down to a huge expanse of well maintained lawns.

As we entered the room, Nathan's female clone came bounding up to us from where she had been sprawled on one of the sofas, "Nathan!" she squealed and hugged him. Then she turrned to me and crushed my ribs as well, "And you must be Manni. We've heard so much about you."

Once I was able to breathe again, I replied, "And I'm guessing you must be Philippa," I gave Nathan a hard look as I continued, "About whom I know absolutely nothing except your name."

Nathan had the decency to blush, as Philippa giggled, "That's our Nathan. Sooner get blood from a stone than get information out of him."

"Hey!" he exclaimed, "I'm not that bad!"

Philippa rolled her eyes, "Of course not."

Then she grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the nearest sofa. As we sat down, she said, "You must both be thirsty after the drive. Coffee?"

"Oh yes please," I smiled.

Philippa pressed the button on an intercom unit that sat on the oak coffee table in front of the sofa and said, "Mrs Jenkins, would you be a Dear and bring coffee for three to the lounge, please?"

A tinny voice replied,"Of course, Miss. It'll be five minutes."

"Thank you."

Then she turned to me and started talking and talking aaand talking. For twins, the difference between them was striking. Don't get me wrong, to look at them, it was obvious that they were twins, the only physical differences between them were gender, length of hair (Philippa's blonde locks were shoulder length) and eye colour. Where Nathan had his fucking beautiful blue eyes, hers were a colour somewhere between hazel and brown. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying she looked like a man... I mean... She was clearly the rather pretty female version of Nathan... Or he was the handsome male version of her... Bollocks! I know what I mean.

Philippa's monologue ­ and it

was

a monologue ­ was interrupted briefly when a rather dumpy middle­aged woman entered the room pushing a small trolley holding a large pot of filter coffee, a small stack of cucumber sandwiches and a pile of fancy pastries with the associated crockery into the room. She quickly and efficiently unloaded it all on to the coffee table.

Nathan reached out and grabbed a couple of the sandwiches, "Thank you, you're a diamond."

Philippa smiled at the older woman as she poured out three coffees, "Yes. What would we do without you and Mr Jenkins. I'm sure the house would crumble into ruins."

Mrs Jenkins grinned, "I'm sure you'd survive, my Dears."

Then the door opened again and another older woman entered the room followed by a much younger woman dressed in a rather smart two piece business suit.

The older woman was dressed rather more casually, but her outfit was clearly expensive and of top quality. She was talking rapidly to the younger woman, who was taking notes, "I want you to talk to the accountants and see what's going on with Brown and Co. Last quarter's numbers were way down on what they should be."

"Yes, Mrs Smethwick."

"And while I think of it. Can you get young Marlene to see what's happened to my gown for the do. It should have been here yesterday."

"Of course, I'll speak to her this afternoon."

They interrupted their conversation when the older of the two spotted the food and drink, she smiled at Mrs Jenkins, "Two more cups please, Mrs Jenkins, we're taking a break."

Mrs Jenkins nodded and bustled away, to arrive back moments later with the necessary extras, then retired back to her kitchen.

Nathan stood up and gave the older woman a hug, "Hello Mum," he nodded at the younger woman, "Georgie."

The assistant smiled at him and then poured out two cups of coffee. She handed one to Nathan's mother, took the other for herself and retired to the other side of the room where she engaged in a quiet talk on her mobile phone.

Nathan's mother said, "Nathan! It's been too long. You should visit more often."

He smiled, rather grimly I thought, and replied, "Sorry. I've been rather busy. We had rather a good find in Yorkshire, thanks to Midnight," he indicated at me with a wave of his hand, "Sorry, I should introduce you. Mum this is Manni... Midnight, this is my mother."

I stood up and held out my hand, "Pleased to meet you, Mrs Smethwick."

She looked at me, the smile faded from her face and the temperature dropped to sub fucking zero! She took my hand in hers for the briefest of touches and replied, "Ah yes. Your secretary."

I saw a tic of annoyance travel along Nathan's jawline, "No. Midnight's my partner as well as my executive assistant."

"Of course. My mistake."

I'll be honest, she had a way of making me feel two inches tall and that first meeting was the longest, most painful thirty minutes of my life so far. Don't get me wrong, Nathan's mother wasn't overtly rude, but it was obvious that she didn't like me at all. She was coldly polite, but every time she looked at me, I could feel the icy daggers shredding me to pieces and I found myself talking very little. Especially because her responses to me usually contained a litte barb of spite. I think Philippa picked up on them too, but Nathan didn't. What can I say? It's a woman thing.

Eventually, Mrs Smethwick... She hadn't invited me to call her Hattie, finished her snack and led her assistant back to her offices at the other end of the house.

Nathan smiled, "I think that went quite well."

I sighed heavily and ran my fingers through my hair, "You fucking think so?"

He looked puzzled, "What?"

Philippa grinned, "Nathan, I love you dearly. But you're a bloody idiot! The only thing that stopped Mum from crucifying Manni was the fact that there were witnesses."

I said quietly, "Maybe bringing me here was a mistake."

Nathan sat down next to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, "She just takes a little time to get used to new people, that's all. I'm sure it'll be fine."

Not convinced, I replied, "We'll see."

The rest of the afternoon was spent in a somewhat lighter mood and the chat soon came round to Philippa. She was a freelance fashion writer and lived the jet set lifestyle, following fashion shows around the world. She wrote for various magazines, Vogue, Tatler and whatnot, but also ran her own blog, sharing gossip and news from the world of the fashionistas. Currently single, but not actively looking, she was between shows and had a couple of weeks before she had to be in Milan.

I'll be honest here, it was exhausting just listening to her talk about her lifestyle, I mean I thought that me and Nathan were always busy, but she knocked our workload into a cocked hat! And the word garrulous doesn't even come close to describing how she could dominate a conversation.

Always funny and interesting, never boring, but fuck! Not only could she talk the back legs off a donkey, she could persuade it to go for a walk afterwards.

Anyway, dinner time arrived and Nathan's mother reappeared. We sat around the table as Mrs Jenkins served our food and then disappeared. I have to say, WOW! If I lived at Radleigh, I'd be the size of a house within a fortnight.

But delicious as the food was, the conversation that surrounded it was less that tasty. Nathan's mother didn't miss a single opportunity to remind me that she thought I was beneath them, I was not their sort of people and I was very much less than welcome... Couched in the politest of terms, naturally.

As soon as the meal was over, Mrs Smethwick excused herself, claiming fatigue and retired to bed, leaving us three at the dining table. Nathan grinned, "Well Midnight, at least you're still alive."

We returned to the lounge area, Nathan and I sat on one of the sofas whilst Philippa snuggled into an armchair. I snuck my hand into his and sank back into the soft comfort of the sofa. I was somewhat miffed, "She really doesn't like me. What did I do to piss her off?"

Before Nathan could respond, Philippa jumped in, "Simple. You're seeing Nathan and she didn't choose you."