‘Jed. I fail to understand you or your actions.’ Vanessa drew herself up to her full height. They were in the blue sitting room and had been arguing for an hour.
‘Well, not for the first time.’ Jed scowled.
She blew out a frustrated breath. ‘I don’t understand you. I never have.’ She deflated a little. ‘I only want you to be happy, darling.’
Jed shook his head slowly. ‘No, you want me to be happy doing what you think I ought to do. It’s not the same.’
‘Your father and I have given you every privilege,’ Vanessa snapped.
They’d been going round and round in circles. Jed shoved a frustrated hand through his hair and then winced as he’d used his injured arm.
‘Darling, do sit down. You’ve gone awfully pale.’
He sank onto the sofa. Arguing with his mother was taking it out of him. He almost preferred facing irate, gun-toting coffee growers, He was relieved when Vanessa sat next to him. At least he wouldn’t have her hovering over him, accusingly.
She put a tentative hand on her youngest son’s hand. ‘I only want you to be happy, Jeremy, I really do,’ she said, sounding more conciliatory. ‘Why did you have to go off to God knows where and get into so much trouble? Your poor arm.’
Jed thought for a second. ‘Ma, what did your parents think when you went to modelling school?’
Vanessa looked askance at the change of subject and then answered. ‘They thought I was mad.’ She laughed slightly.
‘Why?’
She sat back. ‘I expect they thought modelling wasn’t a suitable career for the likes of us. Or rather them.’ She touched off a flake of lipstick and concentrated on the stain of red on her fingertip. ‘They were the sort who believed in the class system, Jeremy.’ She corrected herself. ‘Actually, it wasn’t that. They didn’t think people like us should aim any higher than we were entitled to. That we shouldn’t stick our heads above the parapet.’ She made quotation marks with her fingers. ‘We were the sort who became bank clerks and secretaries.’
‘Can’t see you as a secretary, Ma.’
‘Quite.’
‘How did you persuade them to let you go? You were very young when you began, weren’t you?’
‘I used the example of Twiggy.’
‘Twiggy?’
‘Yes. She came from quite ordinary beginnings and became a global icon. I thought I could do the same. And was on my way until I fell in love with your father.’
‘You don’t regret marrying Dad?’
‘Of course not. He’s the love of my life. And he gave me you and Alexander.’ She patted his hand. ‘But that’s not what this is all about.’ She plucked a fleck of tinsel off his shirt. ‘We ought to get back to decorating the tree. This place really isn’t looking nearly Christmassy enough. We could have one in here too. Blue and silver to match the decor.’
‘Ma, it is what this is about, in a way,’ Jed said, in an attempt to stop her avoiding the subject. ‘If you’d become a secretary your parents would have been happy.’
‘Oh darling, they would have been ecstatic. Would have put all my grammar school education to good use. What’s your point, Jeremy?’
‘Don’t live your expectations through me.’ Vanessa chewed her lip and remained silent, so he continued. ‘Ma, I fully appreciate all you and Dad have done for me, I really do. Money is a huge luxury and it’s enabled me to do so much.’ He thought for a moment of how the lack of it had restricted Millie and what she’d hoped to do. He would have helped her, if she’d let him. ‘But I don’t want to end up being money’s slave. This last year has made me realise how powerful money is. What it can do when it’s used well instead of being frittered away. It can help rebuild a theatre roof, or provide windows in an art studio. Or provide an education for child workers. That’s the sort of life I want. To use my money to do good.’
‘Charity, you mean,’ his mother bit out.
‘If you like. I prefer the term investment.’
Vanessa looked around at the blue sitting room. She wasn’t ready to concede quite yet. ‘And just what is your brother thinking in taking this pile on? It’s going to eat cash.’
‘You could be right there. He knows what he’s doing, though.’
‘And he’s given up on a promising career in the city.’
‘A promising career that was destroying him.’
Vanessa humphed.
‘Mum, I think you should be proud of having raised two sons who have the confidence to take on the world and win it their way.’
‘With your father’s money.’
‘I can’t argue with that. You’ve both enabled us to be the men we are.’
‘Even if it’s not what I want for you both?’
‘Even that.’
Vanessa was silent again. She stroked the velvet on the arm of the sofa. ‘I’m not going to win this, am I?’
‘No, Ma. Although I don’t like to think of this as a battle.’ He reclaimed her hand and squeezed it. ‘And, as far as Alex’s hotel goes, at least it means you’ll have somewhere nice to stay when you come to see us.’