"Why do you say that? It seems like it was going well for Billy and Clare, what happened after that"? asked Sarita.
"Yes, it seems like the money helped things go Billy's way," said Shanta.
"It surely seemed like that until Karl and Dolly found out about the feelings between Clare and Billy," said Gilly, "Then everything started to take a turn for the worse."
"What happened?" said Shanta,"I cannot sleep tonight until I know."
"Ok, I shall quickly finish the story. It is getting late," said Gilly and continued,"Karl and Dolly found out about Clare and Billy when she returned home one day from her visit to Harold's nursing home. Dolly smelled a bit of male perfume on her. They confronted Clare and created a scene and drama.
They stopped sending Clare and prevented her from calling Billy. He tried to repeatedly call her and they asked him to stop calling after ignoring his calls, refusing to let him know how Clare was doing. They stopped sending her out for therapy sessions altogether, saying she was not feeling well and not up to it.
Harold's lawyer sent them a note enquiring about Clare's condition and asked for an independent counsellor to be appointed by the court to look into Clare's situation. Ken, who was Clare's therapist and counsellor, gave his testimony about Clare being happy to visit Harold and that a sudden denial would have an adverse impact on her psychologically.
An intervention order was obtained for Clare to be interviewed independently by her social welfare counselors without Karl and Dolly being present. They refused to let that happen saying that Clare was alright, in no immediate danger, that they had been very accommodating until now and that they feared her being kidnapped and spirited away like Harold was. A court date was set to hear the appeal by Karl and Dolly, but that was still a few weeks away. Billy meanwhile, wrote and approached Karl and Dolly with a proposal to settle things out of court by making Karl and Dolly a generous offer, so that Harold's few critical weeks were not lost. Billy remembered Karl's boast that he would be in a profitable business the next day if he was not tied down by the mortgage of his house. He offered to pay off the remaining mortgage of Karl and Dolly's house if only they let Clare free to visit Harold and to see and talk to Billy without any hindrance. Billy admitted that he had deep feelings for Clare and felt she too liked him, but not sure if she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. He just asked to be given a chance to speak to her and get to know her feelings, slowly and over time. He had wanted to propose to her without hurrying it. He wanted to give them both time to know each other, closely a bit longer. He would respect her decision, no matter what.
This came as an unexpected surprise to Karl and Dolly. They agreed to it, immediately as a first step, seeing that there was really no 'risk' to themselves. They withdrew their objections to Clare visiting Harold and Billy, but added a condition that they wanted to accompany her during her visits. Billy and Clare would be allowed some time to themselves in a separate room or a garden, but Clare was not to be allowed to spend nights with him. They still wanted to maintain a level of control over the whole situation. They figured that there was a lot more yet to be gained from the seemingly bottomless pockets of Billy.
In desperation, Billy and Harold agreed to their condition. Billy paid their mortgage money. Clare started to visit Harold and Billy again. Karl seemed in no hurry to start his own business. He seemed content to work his job, albeit a little less in overtime. Dolly too cut down her hours. They started to have some more comfort and leisure in their lives.
Soon the two weeks were up. Harold and Clare were both happy and used the time well. Billy and Clare too spent a bit more time together, just the two of them for a few hours in a room, or walking along the garden. Billy did not want to impose any stress of pressure.
Clare was quiet and intelligent. She was not very worldy wise, given that she spent a lot of her time on her own personal situation and physical issues. She had started to like Billy more and more. A lot had changed in her world in the short couple of weeks since Billy came back to visit them. She confided a lot in Ken, her coach and counsellor. He was privy to her feelings regarding Billy too. Harold too knew, but Clare did not want to burden him now with too many details of her situation. She wanted the time with him to be as pleasant and happy as possible. Harold seemed to have a strong faith in the ability, honesty and integrity of Billy. He seemed to believe that if she wanted it, Billy would make it all work out for the best and would be able to deal with any opposition, intelligently. Karl and Dolly always still had a negative put-down or something nasty to say about Billy. They constantly cautioned her against being "blinded by his money" and sometimes plainly suggested she not marry him.
"He seems to be buying his way and remember, even then let him know we don't come cheap!" they would often tell her. Clare kept quiet and did not disclose her feelings about Billy to them.
The two weeks went by quickly and Harold was flown over to the West and put up at another nursing home, near Billy's new company headquarters. There were weekends when Billy and Harold flew to other parts of the world that Billy wanted Harold to see. Clare flew over, accompanied by Karl and Dolly, to see them a couple of times. There were a few times when Clare did not come over to visit with Karl and Dolly citing some reasons. The months flew by and Karl had still not started his business. He had a few 'vacations' and holidays with his friends, Dolly's family and son - many of them piggy-backed onto the trips West with Clare.
Harold gradually got weaker and was then confined to his nursing home. His end was nearing. He devoted a great deal of his waking hours with Billy, working and guiding him through an important project for their company. That would ultimately pay-off in billions of dollars in revenue. Billy's company's stock rose even higher. His worth increased by almost a billion dollars, along with his company's valuation on the word that they were working on the project and technologies that Harold was guiding them.
For Billy, it was long hours working, travel and time spent with Harold. Harold had asked Clare how she felt about Billy, knowing that he wanted to marry her, would she accept him if he proposed? She had nodded her assent shyly.
Harold had only one last personal wish left now. If it were possible, he wanted to see Billy and Clare get married, knowing the feelings they had for each other.
He had confided it to one of his nurses. The word got around to Billy through others. Billy knew that Harold would never pressure him or have things hurried just to suit him. But it seemed right to ask Clare to marry him and if she said yes, to do it soon.
Billy planned to propose to Clare on her next visit.He did not let on to anyone. He wanted to surprise both Clare and Harold, by proposing at his bedside. But alas, it was not to be!" said Gilly with a sad sigh and expression.
Copyright (c) Kannan Narayanamurthy 2016
All rights reserved
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