Free The Affair by Bunty Avieson

ask where her mother had got the money, how she had managed to save it. She was too shocked. Jake Lambert had always been careful with his money. As a security guard at the Royal Bank he worked hard to put Nina and her brother Larry through school and university. He disliked spending money and most evenings retreated to his shed with the latest do-it-yourself magazine to build furniture for their home. On weekends he gave his time as a volunteer firefighter and park ranger. Dorothea was kept busy with the house and the children and in her spare time was a devoted member of the Quilters’ Guild.
    Nina had always believed her parents’ marriage was unshakeable and her father in control of the family finances. In an instant her mother had blown away both assumptions.
    ‘Don’t look so horrified, honey. I stayed, didn’t I? And all the time I could have gone. I guess in a funny kind of way that’s how I could stay, through the really tough times, knowing I had that money. It was my insurance. I think there can be nothing worse than feeling trapped. No matter how bad things were I always knew at the back of my mindthat I could go and take you kids with me and we would be okay. Of course, I never did. Your father can be a bear with a sore head at the best of times but I kind of got used to him.’ Dorothea spoke with a smile of such complicity that Nina wasn’t sure how to respond. She felt she was getting a glimpse into a private adult world where her parents were different people. It both confused and touched her. She didn’t trust herself to speak. There was a huge and painful lump in her throat.
    ‘No matter how good things are between you and James now, promise me that this stays just between you and me. It’s our little secret. Your father never knew and there is no reason why James should ever know. But if ever things get so bad you want to come home, you will know you can.’
    Then it was time to go. She and James were flying to Australia the next day from Vancouver. She wondered if his parents would be as accepting as hers had been at the news of their sudden marriage. She was so very proud and grateful to her mother for trying valiantly to appear happy for her daughter, even though it meant losing her to a foreign country at the other end of the earth. Dorothea Lambert was used to loss and hardship and she was a stoic woman. She hugged her daughter to her, tears in her eyes and a loving smile lighting up her weatherbeaten face.
    Nina remembered it all. The intensity, the mad impetuousness. She stared out the window. She wasn’t seeing the harbour with the Saturdaymorning boats leaving for the races. She was seeing a fit and wiry, neat grey-haired woman with big soft eyes and a heavily lined face, standing by the gate waving her goodbye. And she was remembering that mad, passionate ardent lover. Where had he gone?

CHAPTER 5
Saturday, 19 January 1991
    Felix was already in his office when James arrived just before ten.
    ‘You look how I feel,’ said Felix.
    James tried to smile. It didn’t work. He sat down heavily in the chair opposite Felix. James was still numb. The sharp shock of last night’s revelations had passed, leaving a creeping acceptance. It was like a wave of dread had encompassed his whole being, swallowing him up so that he felt he was looking at the world from the end of a long tunnel.
    ‘How did this happen?’ he asked.
    Felix sighed. What could he say? It shouldn’t have happened. It was never supposed to happen. He was having trouble coming to terms with it himself. Lloyd’s of London, the world insurance giant that insured everything from ships to rockstars’ lips, was facing a staggering five billion dollar debt.
    The name Lloyd’s was synonymous with prestige and privilege. Those lucky enough to be invited to become an investor and join the exclusive club-like organisation had the potential to make handsome profits. It was like a 300-year-old gentlemen’s money-making