Billionaire on Board (25 page)

I could hardly see anything because my eyes were clouded by tears. 

"IT DOES NOT CHANGE THE WAY YOU LIVE OR THE PEOPLE YOU CHOOSE TO LIVE WITH!"
 

"NO, BUT IT WILL! DARLING, I HAD JACOB ON THE BOAT TO CALCULATE EXACTLY HOW I COULD PULL OUT WITHIN A YEAR, BECAUSE I REALLY DON'T WANT TO DO IT ANYMORE, I DON'T WANT THE LATE NIGHT BUSINESS CALLS AND I DON'T WANT THE FLIGHTS TO NEW YORK! YOU WERE PERFECTLY RIGHT, I ONLY WANT TO WORK ON BOATS AND PLAY POLO, BUT ABOVE ALL I WANT TO BE WITH YOU. I DROVE ALL THE WAY UP HERE IN THE BUG WITHOUT STOPPING BECAUSE THE JET IS STILL IN NEW YORK AND I HAVEN'T SLEPT IN FORTY-EIGHT HOURS! — BUTTERCUP, I CAN GIVE IT ALL AWAY IF YOU WANT, TO SAVE THE TURTLES OR THE WHALES OR THE VICTIMS OF BLIND PLASTIC SURGEONS OR TO LILLY AND NICKY, I DON'T CARE. I'LL SELL THE PLANE, I'LL SELL THE BUG, WE CAN JUST GET A HOUSE HERE AND GO TO PINK PEBBLE CAY OVER CHRISTMAS AND TO ZERMATT FOR THE REST OF THE TIME. I CAN SET UP A FUND AND WE CAN LIVE OF THE INTEREST OF THE INTEREST OF THE INTEREST OR WE SIMPLY BURN IT ALL, I REALLY DON'T CARE. WE WOULD NEVER HAVE TO GO ANYWHERE YOU DON'T WANT TO GO AND NEVER MEET PEOPLE YOU DON'T WANT TO MEET. PLEASE, JUDY, PLEASE, SAY YOU'LL TRY AGAIN WITH ME, PLEASE TAKE ME BACK!"

"Si! Si!" The Italians shouted at me. One of them, perhaps a retired English teacher, had taken on the role of interpreter.  A woman came running forward to our booth. 

"
Si, Si! Lo devi riprendere! È cosi bello! È cosi ricco! Non vedi che ti ama? Il povero ragazzo! Sei crudele!
- Yes! Yes! You have to take him back! He is so beautiful!  He is so rich! Don't you see how much he loves you? The poor boy! You are so cruel!" 

She even tried to hit me.

Heidi was side by side with Gertrude now. The Italians screamed, they shouted and they yelled.

"Si! Si! Lascialo a bordo!
- Yes, yes, let him come aboard!" 

"SILENZIO!!!"
I boomed and they shut up at last. 

"RYAN, DO YOU SWEAR YOU WILL NEVER DO ANYTHING PREMEDITATED AGAIN?"

"I SWEAR!"

"NEVER?"

"NEVER!"

"OKAY, YOU MAY COME ON BOARD — PUT THE GANGWAY ACROSS, ADOLF."

"FINALLY,"
Adolf complained across the speaker.
"WITH HIS CAR IN FRONT OF MY SHOP I WILL ATTRACT EITHER THE TAX COLLECTORS OR THE TV PEOPLE!"

But he did not have to put the gangway across because Ryan charged and jumped the gap between the ships and landed on Gertrude's deck amidst the Italians, who applauded and cried and patted his shoulders.

He stormed to the bow and plucked me from the cubicle. I was still completely blinded by tears.

"Oh God, I thought I'd lost you," he rasped and pulled me into his arms. 

"I love you," I whispered and his mouth came down on mine and he kissed me with uncontrolled passion.

The Italians shrieked as if we had won the football world cup for them. They would have let off fireworks if they had brought any.

After maybe half a minute Ryan let go of me.

"My darling Buttercup, there's one last question I have to ask of you." He went down on his knees. 

One of the Italian women fainted.

Ryan took my hands and he looked deep into my eyes.

"Judy, I have to ask you this…"

"Yes?" I breathed.

"Judy, my love, my darling, I will always love you, you're the only woman I could ever think of spending my life with…"

"Yes?"

"Judy… now you've so graciously taken me back…"

"Yes, Ryan?"

"Judy…"

"Yes?"

He took a deep breath. "May I keep Myrtle?"

Epilogue

He did propose to me, two and half years later, in a chairlift in Zermatt.

We had got our act together quite nicely and after some initial difficulties (my fear of flying chiefly among them - but I realised I liked it much better when I could lie in a bed during a flight and was not forced to sit in a narrow seat), we had grooved into a routine.

Ryan had spent a lot of time in Hamburg. He had bought a penthouse overlooking the port and after about six months I had decided I could dare to move into it. He still had to go to New York and Tokyo, but his trips became fewer and fewer. He and Gus had set up a company in which they wanted to transform old boats of all types into yachts. Hamburg had turned out to be a good base for such a company because the know-how and the infrastructure were already there. 

The first winter we went to Antigua for two months and cruised the Caribbean with Myrtle. We spent Ryan's birthday (28
^th
of February. Pisces. Would you have guessed???) in Zermatt. I had become Dr. Poppy Jude by then and as you can imagine, I still have not heard the last of it. We never went to any jet set events or parties anymore, apart from the occasional polo match. 

The next summer, over my birthday (7
^th
of June. Gemini. Yes, you would have guessed…) we took Myrtle to Norway and it was a fantastic experience to see the fjords whilst lounging in her jacuzzi. 

The second winter went much like the first, only we took Lilly and Nicky along, who had become the proud parents of a daughter named Mia. We flew to Argentina too. 

In our second summer, Myrtle took us and Tina to Croatia and Greece and we allowed us a little bit of Italy too, but we did not mingle too much with the yachting crowd. I also met Ryan's mother in Mallorca. 

The third winter began with Pink Pebble Cay again, this time with my parents and as always, we went to Zermatt, where the plot resumes.

So, there I sat, in a chairlift, on a sunny day, looking out across the Swiss alps and thinking I was getting hungry.

"Poppy Jude?" 

I turned around and looked at Ryan through my goggles. He even looked stunningly good in a bright orange helmet! 

"Yes, Ryan?"

He was trying to free his bindings from snow with his ski sticks. "Do you want to marry me?"

"What?"

"I said, do you want to marry me?"

At first I wanted to shout "DO YOU SEE THE FUCKING MATTERHORN?" which had turned into a running gag whenever one of us asked the other one a stupid question. But right now we both saw the fucking Matterhorn. It was hard to overlook.

I turned further around and my own helmet hit against the chairlift's bracket. "Ouch."

"Was that a yes or a no?"

"I can't believe it!" I tried to shove him with my gloved hand but he had seated himself on the far away edge and I could not reach him. "I can't believe it! Of all people, you sit here like a pasha and say it like this? Just like this? In a bloody chairlift?"

"Why not?"

"Because you're the master of premeditation! I thought you'd at least have it written in the sky or teach Mary Lou to say it!"

"I don't know, I looked around, saw the Matterhorn and I thought, why not ask? And anyway, you made me swear I would never do anything premeditated again."

"You're so damn certain I'm going to say yes, you don't even bother to think of anything remotely romantic! I can't believe it! You're such an asshole sometimes!"

"Come on, Dr. Poppy Jude, there's only three more pylons, you have to decide before we reach the top."

"I don't have to do anything! You can't even put a ring on my finger because I'm wearing gianormous gloves!"

"Judy, don't be ridiculous, I asked you a serious question, you could have the decency to say yes or no!"

"You're a pompous ass!"

The top station was looming in front of us, only one last pylon until we would have to open the bracket.

"Will you or won't you!" He poked my leg with his stick. Mine were on the wrong side, I could not get them across my legs to poke back.

The bracket went up.  He shouted at me. "Say it! Say it, Poppy Jude, say: "Yes, Ryan, I want to marry you."

"Alright, alright!" I bellowed. "Yes, Ryan, I want to marry you!"

"Thank God."

The moment my skis touched solid ground, the station's speakers went on, howling full blast
"Build me up… Buttercup"
and suddenly there were people all around us. People carrying balloons. White balloons, pink balloons, yellow balloons, blue balloons. 

There were my parents! There were Laetitia and Camille and Laurent! There was Tina! There was Gus! More and more people ran into the station, shrieking and clapping! Everybody we knew! It must have been over a hundred! There even were Christian and Corinna!

My glove was pulled from my hand. I looked up and saw Ryan with a familiar red box in his hand.

He pushed the ring onto my finger, loosened my bindings, took my helmet and my goggles off and kissed me.

"You're devious!" I shouted.

"Yes, yes, I know, you're going to see how devious I really am!"

He took me by the hand and led me out of the station. 

The Foundations were still at it, singing "Buttercup", when we stepped into the bright sunshine, but the music was drowned by another sound coming from uphill.  

There it was. The red helicopter of the Swiss mountain rangers.

"You won't get around it this time!" He dragged me along.

We ducked when we marched up to the helicopter's cabin. There were two pilots in it and another gentleman who was unknown to me.

"I am the mayor of Zermatt," he introduced himself. "And I have the honour of performing this wedding today." 

Ryan gave me a little push and up we went. Higher and higher. Our friends, who now turned out to be our wedding guests, were waving like crazy and grew smaller and smaller.

We flew towards the Matterhorn. I looked out of the window. I could see all the way towards the Mont Blanc and deep into Italy. 

Then we were above the mountain.

"I'm having a heart attack!" I yelled.

"You are supposed to say 'yes'!" Ryan shouted into my ear.

I looked at the mayor who looked at me in question. Had they started without me? 

"Yes!" I said and before I had even finished I was in my husband's arms.

"Where are the others going?" I screamed when we slowly went down again.

"To the hut over there, that's where the party is. We'll be taken down to the chalet tonight by a snow cat!"

We landed about a hundred yards from the hut. When we had alighted, the helicopter took off again to carry the mayor into the valley.

I swayed and Ryan caught me. "We went pretty high up, if you're feeling dizzy it's because—"

"I'm pregnant."

"What did you say?"

"I said, if I'm feeling dizzy it's because I'm pregnant. I found out this morning. I wanted to tell you tonight."

For the first time in my life, I saw my beautiful Ryan bereft of words, breath, thought and possibly even eyesight.

"You see, my love," I gently kissed him on the mouth. "You've finally given me something no money in the world can buy."

THE END

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my creative editors N.K. Boehlke, N. Mohr, C. Nolzen and E. Schueler for their continuous input and their eagle eyes. Also I would like to thank Wolfgang and Claudia for letting me stay in their beach house where I finished this novel. Thanks also to my parents, especially to my mother for being my most severe critic and my greatest fan.

LATER THIS YEAR: 

Laetitia Corvera-Fabergé has been clean for three years. She has dedicated herself to yoga and has even opened her own little studio "Inspire" in Venice Beach, while Jacob Weinberg takes care of her 7 billion dollars. She has taken on a new name and lives the simple life. 

But no amount of meditation has prepared her for Alexander Silverston, the self-made Californian millionaire and founder of Inspire Sportswear, who sues her over her Yoga studio's name. He's tall and blond and handsome as hell. Laetitia falls head over heels in love with him the first time she sees him. Enter Jacob Weinberg who informs Laetitia she's actually one of Inspire's co-owners. Without her, Alexander Silverston can forget his brand's oncoming launch at the stock market. 

What's a girl to do? 

She wants Alexander to fall in love with her —  but not for her fortune. For herself!