“My father has been arrested and my mother continues to defend him and the police are aware that I have removed Pippa from the family home and I have a legal team dealing with residency and restraining orders today, so as soon as they are available I will bring them in and you can act accordingly.” She sounded much calmer than she felt, not that she really knew how she was feeling with her mind still whirring and her emotions shifting from one extreme to the other.
“You are a very good girl, Natasha, always were, and I am glad Philippa has you. It’s just a shame you didn’t have someone when you were here,” he said sadly.
“I’m fine,” she protested, forcing back unwelcome tears. “And I have people now; I have friends and Dan and Philippa and a boyfriend, fiancé person,” she said to her own if not Mr Mason’s surprise.
****
She had just arrived at her grandmother’s house when her phone rang with an unknown number.
“Hello, Miss Winters?”
“Yes,” she replied nervously, hoping not to hear Liam’s voice at the other end of the line.
“My name is Jerome Stewart and I represent Wakeman, Stewart and Styler. Mr Maybury has retained us to deal with your legal requirements regarding your safety and that of your siblings.”
“He said you’d be calling.”
“I need to take some details to get the ball rolling and then we have a meeting arranged with Mr Maybury at four this afternoon which you will need to attend. I have called the police and they will attend our offices after our meeting to take all of your statements where you will have representation. Your P.R. team have been briefed on the current and any anticipated situation so I think we are on schedule, any questions?”
She took a deep breath. This guy would be right up Jim’s street, reeling off details, facts and questions that left little room for debate.
“What do you mean, a meeting with Mr Maybury?”
“Virtually, Miss Winters. He won’t actually be here as he was still in L.A. when I spoke to him about an hour ago.”
He still wasn’t sleeping.
“Let me take your address.”
He gave her the address and established the details of her dad, Liam, Pippa, Dan and her then gave her a direct number for him. “That’s us done for now then, Miss Winters, and I will see you at four o’clock. It may be wise to bring your brother and sister with you,” he said then hung up.
Tasha explained everything to her grandmother whose reaction took her by surprise.
“I am so sorry, Natasha. We have let you down badly. We should have intervened sooner and saved you all from that man and your stupid mother.”
“Grandma, it wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t know what was going on and it’s being sorted now.” She squeezed her Grandma’s hand, knowing she still didn’t know everything she’d endured and for that she was grateful.
“I like the sound of this man you’re seeing, even if he is older and American,” she said with a small frown creasing her brow, making Tasha smile.
“He is a good, kind and generous man and I don’t care if he’s older or American,” Tasha laughed.
“When will I meet him?” asked Celia Winters, smiling at her oldest grandchild.
“He is fighting every urge not to fly straight over, but I don’t want him to see me like this, plus this is a mess, a dirty, ugly mess. I would really like to take some control before I see him and I think he’ll be calmer when things are sorted legally. So, the end of next week or if you want to come to this meeting this afternoon, he will be present via a screen.”
Her grandmother nodded. “I will come. I think your grandfather and I should take some of the responsibility with you and from you. We’ll meet you there, won’t we, Paul?”
Her grandfather looked over the top of his newspaper and smiled. “Of course we will. We talked into the night about this, Nat, and we have to accept some responsibility for thinking that by paying your school fees, having you to stay some weekends and picking up the tab for your hobbies was enough. We should have done more, but we thought he would have an advantage over us if we wanted greater control in your lives. He would have wanted financial recompense and we couldn’t give him that. We worked hard and built up a business and we couldn’t just hand it over to him. He ruined your mother’s life, but we wouldn’t allow him to ruin ours and we thought if we educated you kids then we could stop him from ruining your lives too,” he said sadly.
“And you did,” replied Tasha tearfully. “You gave me the opportunities and the education to get out from his grasp, you and Gerry. Gerry gave me introductions and a home and you gave me my education and the opportunities that gave me the confidence to take a few risks and give acting a go, which has made me money, given me limited fame and it’s trappings and it has allowed me to meet good people and put me in the position to take control of this situation.” Tasha was already making her way over to hug her grandfather.
“We will be there, Nat.” He kissed her on the cheek and stroked her hair. “You are a very beautiful girl, inside and out.”
“What do we do about Mum? Jim reckons if she won’t help herself then we can’t force her and should cut her loose.”
“How very American,” said Paul with an arched brow. “It was the hardest thing we ever did,cutting her loosein the first place, but if she won’t make a statement after what he did last night and with all of this help available, I am inclined to agree with your Jim.”
Tasha left her grandparent’s home, sent the parcel to Jim containing her school uniform and a couple of extra items and was now in a furniture shop looking for a bed for Dan when she received another text from Liam.
