Chapter Three
Nick woke up and looked at the ceiling. It had been two months since she had last seen any of her sisters and she missed them. Paddy and Eleanor seemed to be constantly ill at the moment. Ari was tied up with the family, Aster was abroad somewhere, and Clem was miles away in Scotland. Every time any of them had tried to meet up, one of the others had had to cancel. Nick had been planning to come and see Leo and Will in their school play, but then an oil tanker had crashed into a major harbour wall and the world held its breath to see what would happen to the oil price. It definitely wasn’t a day to be sitting in a school hall watching a bunch of six-year-olds re-enact the discovery of the North Pole. Stretching, she got up and walked across the polished wood floor and showered. This wasn’t how she wanted to spend today and for the first time in a very long time, she felt flat.
Heading to the wardrobe, she opened the right-hand door and pulled out a hanger at random. This side of the wardrobe was workwear. Furthest to the right were the most formal outfits, clothes for presentations and meetings, the left-hand side had the more casual office wear. Had she opened the left-hand door, she’d have revealed her non-work gear: some jeans, the odd polo dress and at the far end a few fancy frocks for special occasions. Looking back over the past few months, Nick wondered if she shouldn’t check the outfits for cobwebs.
Of course today she could walk into the office starkers. She could tell everyone it was her birthday suit. Smiling to herself, she pulled on one of her more relaxed work outfits instead. It was going to be a busy day at work and the stock markets didn’t care about birthdays. In a defiant gesture, she grabbed a red singlet from the casual side of the wardrobe and wore it under her white blouse, which she left unbuttoned.
Grinning to herself, she headed off to work.
***
Pushing back from her desk, Nick poured a glass of water and looked out the window. There were so many people milling around down there. Her offices were in one of the smaller towers in Canary Wharf. Wherever she looked were gleaming buildings of steel and glass, new cathedrals to the new religion. In the distance she could see parks and trees and on the horizon the rolling hills. She didn’t have any views of the Thames; those offices were on the other side of the tower block. That would have been far beyond her price bracket. In fact, this set of offices were also beyond her price bracket, but Daisy had said she knew the developers and they owed her a favour.
Nick did feel a little surge of pride whenever she invited clients here and could see they were clearly impressed. Deep in her heart, though, she’d much rather be back in the City. Those who worked in Canary Wharf viewed it as the new focus of the British financial market, and it certainly looked good. But anyone who knew anything believed that the British financial soul resided in a small square mile in the heart of London. Locals knew that London, the huge sprawling capital, was a town; the City itself was the small area around the Bank of England and St Paul’s Cathedral. Nick loved it there. She would far rather be a little mouse running along the stone pavements and worn, sooty brickwork than a bird looking out over the wider horizon.
Laughing at her fanciful notions, she decided to get back to work. She needed to keep an eye on the bigger picture and understand the tiny micro-movements that could destabilise entire economies, and she wasn’t going to do it with her head against a window.
***
Daisy leant in around the door smiling. ‘I’m heading home now unless you need anything?’
Nick looked at her watch in surprise. She had got engrossed in an overseas news story and had lost track of time.
‘No, I’m grand. I probably won’t be long behind you.’
‘Good call. Any plans for this evening or the weekend?’
No one in the office knew it was Nick’s birthday; she liked to keep her personal life out of the office. She didn’t object to the others bringing in cakes and celebrating but it didn’t suit her.
‘Catching up with friends this evening, then tomorrow I’m going to see how far I can cycle in a day.’
Daisy groaned as if that sounded awful. ‘Rather you than me. Me and the girls are heading into town tonight. Maxine is flying to Berlin tomorrow so we’re giving her a proper send-off. Then tomorrow I shall lie on the sofa all day regretting tonight and on Sunday, Jamie and I are going over to his folks’, where no doubt I’ll have to listen once more about how they used to own half of Kent, how children are such a blessing, and hear news of how successful their daughter is.’
Nick laughed. ‘Sounds like fun. Try not to kill her. I couldn’t run this office without you. Plus I don’t think prison scrubs would suit you.’
***
With Daisy gone Nick started to make notes about next week’s focus and set up some alerts in various news outlets. She always liked to keep abreast of world affairs and had a few markers in place that she felt would be good barometers for the feel of the market. Sometimes people did things that felt slightly out of place and Nick liked to examine them until she figured out the underlying cause. Most times it was just down to simple human capriciousness but sometimes it was driven by intent. On those occasions Nick could make a killing anticipating which way the stock market would react, either moving money in or out.
As she pushed back from her desk, she stretched and then surprised herself by sighing. Admittedly today hadn’t gone as planned but it couldn’t be helped. Being an adult was about facing things, being excited or upset was for children. Wasting her time sighing about a miserable birthday was silly. But still she couldn’t help but feel sad.
She switched off the computer, pulled her waste bin from underneath her desk and put it to one side for the cleaner. Then she left her office and headed into the team’s workspace and started to put out all their bins as well. As a teenager cleaning offices on a night shift, she remembered with surprise the first time she cleaned an office where someone had done the same kindness for her. That simple act saved her time and also made her feel part of the team – someone ‘saw’ her. Now every night she did the same thing for her contractors. She could have asked her staff to do this, but it was a little ritual that she liked to do herself.
As she passed Gyeong’s desk she saw the bin was already to one side, Gyeong had been doing this since her first week of employment. That simple act, unasked for, had earnt Gyeong a small pay rise. When she questioned Nick about the pay rise, Nick told her what it was for. Nick was amused to watch as the rest of the team asked Gyeong why she put out her waste basket and she explained. Some followed her example for a week or two and then forgot, others didn’t bother. Nick noticed that Gyeong didn’t mention that she had received a pay bump to anyone. Nick hadn’t told her to keep it confidential, but it amused her that she had. Well, everyone had to have an edge. In fact, thinking about it, Gyeong was nearly as private as Nick was. When she had started working for Nick her CV had been alarmingly vague, but Nick needed staff and the woman proved her worth quickly. That said, Nick knew nothing about her history or her social life, and the fact that occasionally she could spot a trend in a new market was almost suspicious. But that was what she was paid for.
As she rode down the lift with the other commuters Nick smiled to herself. All these hundreds of lives, all ebbing and flowing, like little shoals of fish in the mighty Thames. She watched as some women swapped high heels for trainers, but she was already in flats. At five foot ten, she had no need for added height, plus they were uncomfortable and rubbish to run in. She laughed to herself, remembering Clem sprinting after a night bus once in her high heels, throwing chips at it and swearing like a sailor. She hadn’t caught the bus and Ari had made her pick up all the chips. Well, Clem may live and die in her high heels, but Nick preferred more sensible footwear.
As she started to walk the short distance home, she dialled Paddy.
‘Hey, Nick!’ Hal’s face greeted her cheerily. She loved her brother-in-law but the fact that he had answered her twin’s phone probably meant she was asleep.
‘Happy birthday! Let me go get Paddy.’
‘Don’t wake her if she’s asleep.’
‘Are you mad? It would be more than my life’s worth – you two have been missing each other’s calls all day. I know how much she wants to talk to you. Hang on now.’
Nick waved briefly at the concierge as she entered the building and climbed up to the second floor. As she entered her flat she waited as she heard Hal gently whisper to Paddy and her sister’s groggy reply.
‘Happy birthday, Fartface!’
‘Happy birthday, Ugly. Asleep before six? You are old!’
‘Hang on, let me go into another room so I don’t swear at you in front of Eleanor.’
‘Is she asleep as well? Where are you?’
‘We’re down at Cockleshells. We came down last night so I could wake up here. I went for a swim whilst Hal looked after Elly then we all went out for a sail, followed by a beach picnic on a cove you can only get to by boat, so we had the place all to ourselves. Then we came back here and whilst Hal cooked supper it looks like me and Elly fell asleep. ’
‘Oh God, that sounds perfect,’ sighed Nick wistfully.
‘Almost. I just kept missing you. Where are you, is that your new place?’
Nick had been in the flat for almost a year but none of the sisters had visited it. It was a one-bed and whilst Canary Wharf was a great location for work it wasn’t great for rendezvous. When they came to London, everyone headed to the Belgravia property instead.
‘Yep, back home now. And yes, sorry I kept missing you. I had loads of meetings today. And then your phone kept going out of signal, although now I understand why.’ Nick paused and sighed. ‘I’ve missed you too.’
‘Next year let’s have a joint party and invite everyone? Have you heard from Aster today?’
‘No, I got a card and a text message. I’m not convinced she’s in Europe anymore though. I think she might be somewhere in Asia.’
‘Aster in Asia. What will the stock markets make of that?’
‘No idea but if the news starts reporting insurrections or land wars, at least it will confirm her location.’
Both girls laughed at the idea of their little sister wandering the globe putting things right as she saw fit. As they had both spoken to Ari and Clem they discussed their lives as well and agreed that all seemed to be very well in the family.
‘Actually, there was another reason I wanted to talk to you.’
‘Beyond telling me I’m the prettier twin?’ laughed Nick.
‘Yes, silly, you know that already.’ Which made Nick laugh again. They weren’t identical twins – Paddy had been a catwalk model, a regular on the cover of Vogue and Vanity Fair , but she still maintained that Nick was prettier. ‘No, what I wanted to tell you was why I’ve been so ill recently.’
‘Are you okay?’ asked Nick anxiously.
‘Yes, of course I’m okay. Don’t butt in. I just wanted to share this with you first. I’m pregnant.’
Nick looked at her sister’s shining face and tried to fight down her concern.
‘That’s brilliant news! But isn’t it a bit soon? Eleanor’s only seven months old.’
Paddy bit her lip and looked momentarily worried. ‘It is a little early but we’ll manage. This little one is due around Christmas.’
Nick wanted to swear at Hal but guessing her thoughts Paddy cut her off.
‘And there’s no point in having a go at Hal. We were having fun and I honestly didn’t think I could get pregnant again so soon, so I hadn’t bothered with any protection.’
‘Really Paddy! You can’t just keep getting pregnant accidentally.’ She took a deep breath and smiled at her sister. ‘You’ll have to put Hal back on the phone so that I can threaten him to take good care of you.’
‘He doesn’t know yet.’
‘What? Why?’ Nick was instantly alert to a problem. Hal doted on Paddy, and Paddy worshipped the ground he and Eleanor walked on.
‘You know.’
Nick chuckled. ‘Twin Thing. I know.’
Any big problem or momentous piece of news they always shared with each other first. Even when they were squabbling or not talking to each other, as was often the case growing up. But when something major happened, Twin Thing came into play.
‘Well, go and tell him now. And happy birthday. I love you.’
‘I love you too. Wait, you haven’t told me your plans for the evening. How are you celebrating?’
‘Later. Go talk to your husband. I won’t be responsible for a single second of delay. Love you.’
Laughing, Paddy hung up first and the flat fell back into silence.
Nick switched on the speakers and put on some Vivaldi. The bright happy tones matched her sister’s mood. Despite her own misgivings, Paddy did seem very happy but two babies a year apart sounded like quite the challenge. Deciding there was nothing she could do about it she wandered into the kitchen and chopped some veg for a quick prawn stir-fry. Next she changed into her running gear and headed back outside. This was a routine that she liked on a Friday night. During the week she often worked late into the evening and could only fit a run in during her lunch hour. On Fridays she would leave around five, head home, prepare her food, then run, come home, shower, eat and relax.
Tonight she ran with Vivaldi and she smiled as she thought of her sisters, and of Aster starting a small land war in Asia. And she was going to be an aunt again. What a fabulous present.
Back in the flat, she showered, then changed into the pjs she had already laid out. The stir-fry hissed and spat, and she wondered about having a glass of wine. Mr Fanshawe, the family solicitor, had sent her a bottle of red as a present and whilst Nick didn’t know the first thing about wine she knew that it would be a good one. However, if she was cycling tomorrow, she wanted a clear head so ran the tap instead and settled down to an evening playing cards online with a bunch of strangers.
As birthdays went, this one was pants.