Educating Danielle

Part Twelve

by Karen E. Lea

Chapter Fifty Four

Next morning we had breakfast, during which I made arrangements for them to visit the accountant, once that had been done, to open a bank account, using his advice.

Sam was waiting for me when I arrived, he followed me upstairs and I sat at my desk and read the contract, “Sam, Sam, Sam, where’s the domestic/worldwide clause and payment terms?”

“Well….we thought, you know, she’s getting good money.”

“Well we don’t sign.” I said tossing the paper to him.

“Come on, be reasonable.”

I waved him goodbye, he sullenly picked up the contract, “Alright, see you soon.”

The contracts arrived from Spencers; I checked them and sent them to the solicitor.

Sam arrived back, I read the contract again, then compared the second copy. They were alike.

“Ready to sign?” Sam said pulling a pen from his pocket.

“Not so fast, my solicitor will have a read first.”

“You don’t trust me?”

Now that was a radical thought, Sam and trust in the same sentence. “Frankly...no.”

“I’ll drop it off for you.”

“I’ll take care of it, thanks.”

“When will you sign?”

“When Dan says it’s okay.”

“How long?”

“Next month or so.” Sam visibly paled. “Cheer up, just joking. You got to relax more.”

“How can I, dealing with you.”

“Talk to you in a day or so.”

The day passed quickly, Kelly picked up more and more, nearly making me redundant. While I was thinking about it, she was doing it. Rhonda rang mid morning, New York was ecstatic over the photos taken last Thursday and authorised the campaign on the spot.

Arriving home, Danielle greeted me at the door; she now was a company owner, Starry eyed Promotions P/L. The bank account was now in motion and should be ready tomorrow. Because she was now self employed, I told her to arrange insurance and super for herself.

The next couple of days went quickly between the studio and helping Laura and Danielle with details for her new employment. I paid the money I owed to Danielle’s bank account, while at home; they started to clean up the front house. The furniture was given away to charity. They vacuumed, washed and scrubbed till it looked brand new. I told Laura her first assignment in her new job, was to go to the real estate office and let them know, we need a new tenant.

Thursday night, we helped Danielle pack her bags for the two weeks at Kim’s. She had quite a collection of female clothing. We hung the good dresses in a carry bag and carefully folded the other clothes into a suitcase.

Laura told me about the reaction she received at the real estate agent office. The manager was quite frosty towards Laura, till she explained she was marrying the landlord and now would be the contact for all the properties. I already knew this; they rang me to check all was above board.

Next morning we had breakfast and put the suitcases in the Rover. Danielle did her makeup, finished dressing in a tight mid thigh red skirt and a black scoop neck top. The hint of cleavage was now very real and she was very proud of it.

“When we get a spare minute, I think you should see a doctor.”

“Why daddy, I’m not sick.”

“It just might be a good idea.” I said staring at her.

“What’s the matter?”

“I’m looking for a boy called Daniel.”

“He doesn’t live here anymore, I’m not sure he was ever here.” she said thoughtfully.

“Oh he was here, he’s my best friend.”

“Daddy.” she hugged me, “That’s so sweet.”

“I love you honey, but don’t forget Daniel, okay?”

“Okay daddy.”

“You know I just wish I met you and your mum earlier, I’ve missed so much, you growing up…”

“Stop it. I’ll live at home till I’m thirty to make it up.”

“That’ll be nice….”

Laura came looking for us, “What are you two up to?”

“Talking.” I replied.

“Probably plotting something,” she retorted.

“Not today.” Danielle answered.

“So you admit that you do plot.”

“We were having a mother/daughter/father/son talk.” I said.

We kissed Laura goodbye and Danielle promised she would be good. Laura looked sad and when I asked why, she said, “This is the first time we have been apart.”

We walked in to the studio at eight thirty. Already there were two phone messages waiting for me, one from the solicitor and the other from Moira. I rang the solicitor and he confirmed that both contracts were ready to sign. We came to an agreement on time for this afternoon. Next I rang Moira, who was ecstatic it was about to happen at last. Even though it was short notice, she said they would be there.

“When I spoke to Sam he whooped and hollered like a mad man.

“I’ll book the driving lesson now.”

“She’s not available for the next two weeks, she’s going away to a friend’s house.” After a pouty session from Sam, we agreed on Saturday week, assuming that was okay with the people she was staying with.

Meantime, Danielle was helping Kelly, filing and tidying up. In between phone calls I was showing Kelly my job. She was interested in booking the jobs in for the studio and the logistics of making every thing run smooth for John and the girls downstairs. Another couple of weeks I would be redundant. The thought intrigued me.

The next phone call was from Rhonda, “we have to talk” was her opening line, no hello.

“Shoot.”

“New York were so impressed with that photo, they want to use it globally for the product launch, then we read your contract, it can only be used domestically?”

“Yes. All my contracts have that clause unless it’s negotiated out.”

“What’s it going to cost to release it for worldwide?”

I wanted to be facetious and say lots, but instead, “Make an offer.”

“Well New York want this, you open the bidding.”

I thought for a minute, “Five hundred thousand dollars plus GST.”

There was a moment’s silence, “that’s a bit more than I thought, I’ll run it past them.”

“Ring me back.” I said and hung up. Bugger them, that’s the going price for pulling rabbits out of hats before Easter.

The phone didn’t stop the rest of the morning. Sam rang back, driving lesson, eight thirty, thirteenth of April. He gave me the address. Rhonda rang back with a counter offer, which I rejected. Moira rang to confirm the catalogue shoot in a fortnight. Rhonda rang with another offer, rejected again.

Sam rang again to tell me about the driving lessons. “You’ve already told me.”

He had lost the plot and freely admitted so.

We had lunch and then headed for the solicitors office in the city. I walked hand in hand with Danielle from the parking station. Upon arriving I introduced Danielle to Dan. Sam arrived early and we quickly dealt with the signing, he looked very pleased with himself as he left.

We had a coffee while we waited for Moira. She arrived at two fifteen on the dot with a huge entourage. Abe had come, a photographer and five others from the marketing department. They came with their own solicitors, who went in to a huddle with Dan. When they acknowledged everything was ready, the circus began.

Abe, Moira and Danielle sat at a table and signed the contracts as photos were taken. I then signed the important bits on Danielle’s behalf. Then a group photo was taken. Abe and Moira took us aside and promised that they would look after Danielle, besides all the contracted stuff. Danielle hugged them both and I shook hands. We said goodbye and went our separate ways.

Chapter Fifty-Five

We were soon on our way to Kim’s. As we pulled up under the portico, a butler greeted us, “Welcome Mister Williams, Miss Williams, this way please.”

A valet opened the back of the Rover and took the suitcases inside. The chauffeur took the Rover to the garage. All this happened before we walked through the front door. We followed the butler into a ground floor room, where Kim greeted us.

“Jeff, Danielle, welcome darlings…….my you look stunning young lady.”

“Thank you.”

“Please sit down. Well. I have the fullest two weeks of engagements for you; we will have an absolute ball. Tennis and French lessons every morning. Shopping, morning tea with my circle of friends, the theatre and the symphony. We will have a ball as I said.”

“Sounds wonderful.”

“Sounds great.” I echoed.

“Timmy has been running around in circles with excitement that you were coming here to stay. He’ll be here tomorrow. Are Laura and yourself available Saturday, day and night in a fortnight?” she asked turning to me.

“I think so, I’ll check with Laura…..”

“I’ll ring her tomorrow with the details, I’d like you both to stay the night. I’m having a garden party, very important people will be here and Danielle’s coming out.”

She must have seen the look on my face, “Not that sort of coming out silly, coming out in to society, although I am tempted to ask her to prove what you told me.”

We all laughed.

The butler entered with a tea tray and set it down. Kim served. I told her about the driving lessons for the video and she said they would be there. Kim asked about our wedding plans. We really didn’t have any, because we were so busy. We had discussed maybe in the New Year and had promised a bridesmaid position to Danielle. Danielle beamed at this prospect.

Kim tut tutted, “I’ll put my thinking cap on for you.” She turned to Danielle and started to quiz her in French. Eventually Kim said, “Very good.”

“I still don’t know how she knows French.” I said.

“Silly daddy, French cassettes from the library.”

“After this fortnight, every body will think she was born in Paris.”

We talked of other things and after half an hour I rose to leave, I hugged and kissed Danielle, then Kim.

“She’ll be safe.” Kim said.

“I know, we’ll miss her, that’s all.”

We walked to the front door; the butler held it open and the Rover pulled up as I walked outside, all without Kim saying a word. Saying goodbye, I drove home to Laura.

About an hour later, I drove up the driveway, hit the button for the garage door and parked next to the Golf. Closing the door, I entered the house, but Laura was nowhere in sight. Only the indirect lighting was on in the house. I called her name. No answer. I walked down the hall to the bedrooms. Our door was shut. Knocking, then opening. I found Laura sitting on the end of the bed wearing a red teddy barely containing her breasts. Four-inch heels, makeup and Karen’s blonde wig completed her look. She smiled and rose from the bed and met me in the centre of the room. Without a word she unbuttoned my shirt and removed it, then my pants. She led me to the bed in my red satin panties.

One hour later, we lay in each other’s arms, “Hungry?” I asked.

“Hmmm.”

“Chinese?”

“That would be nice.”

We showered together, dressed and walked to the restaurant for dinner.

งงง

Meanwhile Danielle had had dinner with the Carringtons. A totally new experience was being waited on, food bought to the table, drinks poured, dishes cleared away, the things that Danielle always did at home were taken care of here.

She had started to miss Jeff and her mum already. It had been a big day and she was quite tired. An hour after the meal, she excused herself and went to the bedroom to get ready for bed.

She removed her makeup, undressed and had a quick shower, soaping her new sensitive budding breasts; she had been showering twice a day just for the pleasure of soap and water on them. Patting herself dry, she looked at herself in the mirror, the budding breasts, the slim tummy, then her penis. Pushing it between her legs and admiring the difference, she thought back to the photo shoot with Kelly. She smiled at the thought of what was whispered to her. Then what Kelly did in the wardrobe room, her first orgasm.

She shook her head, breaking the reverie. She padded in to the bedroom, and dressed into a baby doll and matching panties. With her hair brushed, she turned out the light and slipped in to bed, falling straight to sleep.

งงง

The next morning we slept late, had a breakfast of toast and coffee. I helped Laura make salads for lunch. She had eight girls from work coming for lunch. We showered and dressed at eleven thirty; I then walked down to the front house to water the plants we had planted.

I entered through the back gate, then through the house checking everything was okay. I watered the plants, which were coming along nicely. Two cars pulled up, they seemed to be lost. It looked like Laura’s guests had arrived. They milled around looking and pointing at house numbers. A tall older woman took charge; she decided I was a starting point as I was standing in number fifteen.

“Excuse me. We’re looking for fifteen a?” she called out.

Purposely my house number was hard to identify, I pointed at the driveway next to the house, “You must be looking for Laura, if you wait a minute…”

“That’s none of your business thank you.”

“No trouble.” I said turning the hose off.

“We’re quite capable of finding the house now thank you.” She said sweeping up the drive with the others in tow.

One of the girls in the group looked at me and I winked. I recognised Emma from Laura’s description. She stifled a giggle as she followed the others.

Racing through the house, locking doors as I went. I knew they would have to buzz Laura to open the gate. Through the back gate, through the garage and in to the kitchen. Laura looked up at me.

“They’re here, I just opened the gate for them. What’s the matter with you?”

“We open the front door together.” I said panting as the doorbell gonged.

“What are you up to?”

“Nothing.”

The doorbell gonged again as we walked to the front door. I opened it and there was a gasp from the women, except Emma who burst out laughing. The older woman was lost for words.

“Hi I’m Jeff. Welcome to our home.”

“But… you….were….?”

“We own that one too, come in, make yourselves at home.”

Laura swamped me with names; I said hello to them all, then made myself useful by pouring wine for them all and handing around nibbles. They found my ‘Wall of Fame’ and were looking at each photo and calling out the name. They were doing pretty well till they came to Danielle. I should have removed it. A few names were thrown around. They looked at me for a clue.

“She’s new.” I answered, “Some of the photos were taken before they were famous.”

“She looks very beautiful, lovely bone structure, reminds me of someone.” Someone noted.

“What’s her name?” another asked.

I was really wishing the photo wasn’t there now. “Umm…Danielle…. Williams.”

“She’s up and coming in the modelling world?” Emma asked.

“Yes.” Nobody picked up on the name and they moved on to look at the rest. I circulated with wine bottle and answered questions, luckily no questions relating to Danielle looking like Laura or the surname.

Laura was in the kitchen, when the phone rang. Laura had her hands full and asked Faye to answer it.

“Hello?” She asked. There was a pause, “I’m sorry, I thought you said Lady Carrington.”

You could have heard a pin drop. After another pause, “Laura, Lady Carrington would like a word.” The look on her face was priceless.

Laura wiped her hands and took the phone. “Hi Kim.” The conversation lasted about three minutes and there was silence the whole time, the conversation ended with Laura saying, “Thanks Kim, see you in a fortnight.”

“Sorry, I was suppose to tell you about that.” I called out.

The girls were absolutely agog. “How long have you known Lady Carrington?” Faye asked.

“Um…. a couple of months.”

“You never told us.”

“I didn’t think anyone would believe me.”

“Can we ask what happens in a fortnight?” Faye asked.

“I guess it’s no secret, we’re going to a garden party at Kim’s mansion on the harbour.”

“That’s it?”

“Pretty much.”

“There’s more?”

“We’re staying the night as house guests.”

All the girls spoke at once; I beat a hasty retreat to the patio to start the barbeque. Busying myself with the cooking duties, a young girl came out to talk to me. She was seventeen, eighteen, attractive voluptuous girl. I asked her name and if she was enjoying herself. “Victoria.” she nodded.

She was very shy, reminded me of Daniel when we first met. After some small talk she started to relax. She asked about my job and makeup, I noticed she wasn’t wearing any. “What do you use now?” I asked.

“Nothing. My mum wouldn’t let me use it, but now I’m working I would like some help.”

“After lunch, I’ll give you a lesson.”

After thanking me, she helped me with the cooking. After checking with Laura that every thing was ready, Victoria and I bought the cooked meat to the table and we all sat to eat.

We were finishing off coffee and dessert, when somebody mentioned they couldn’t wait for Laura to come back to work. Someone else seconded the idea. It apparently had been quite difficult with the boss’s daughter doing Laura’s job. She never could be found when needed, always out having a cigarette, when things went wrong, she told her father what a bunch of useless people she had under her.

Michelle must have picked up on Laura’s body language, “Laura. You are coming back aren’t you?”

“Well. Yes and no.”

“What’s yes and no?”

“Please don’t say anything to Mister Faraday, but I will be coming back, only to give my notice, I have a new job working from home for Jeff.”

“Oh no.” they chorused.

“What’s the job?” Victoria asked.

“Um……Property manager. I’m sorry girls; I couldn’t say anything without jeopardising my long service leave. Please don’t mention any of this.” The girls all looked at each other. “I’m really sorry to disappoint you all, but all the angst I’ve taken off that man over the years, I jumped at the chance.”

The girls discussed this disappointing news amongst themselves, all understanding Laura’s decision. I refilled coffee cups and topped up drinks. Subject change, teenage boys, a woman spoke of her fourteen year olds moodiness. This was agreed to be hormones.

Another woman spoke, “My sister came home the other day from work an hour early, and you’ll never guess what she found?”

Every one shook their heads.

“Her fifteen old son was dressed in her clothes, makeup, high heels, short cocktail dress. She is beside herself, doesn’t know what to do.”

Laura and I traded glances.

“The thing is, she said he looked so good, so convincing, she didn’t realise it was him at first.”

“What did she do?” Victoria asked.

“She was so shocked, she doesn’t know what to do. He burst into tears. They had a talk and she’s confused. She doesn’t dare tell his father, he would not understand.” She took a sip of her wine and continued, “Jeff, have you come across anything like this, I thought I would ask, because of your job.”

I felt sorry for the boy, I wished that I could talk to him, but outing myself at the table wasn’t an option. I thought for a minute, “I have. If you get her to ring me one night, I’ll talk to her and the son if she wants and put them in touch with someone.”

“Thank you.” She replied as I handed her a business card.

“Laura, speaking of sons, where’s Daniel, I was hoping to meet him at long last.” Faye asked.

“Oh…. he’s with friends for the holidays.” Laura answered.

“Come on Victoria,” I said standing, “Makeup lesson.”

She followed me to the bedroom and I sat her at the vanity. I moisturised her neck and face, then raced out to the Rover for a makeup case.

I told her I would do half of her face and she would do the other half. I tested foundation colour, then applied it to half her face. She then did the other half. We worked our way through eyeliner, mascara, eye shadow, blush and lipstick. I explained as we went that less is more.

She couldn’t believe the out come and was very pleased with the result. I put all the cosmetics in a bag and gave it to her as a present. “Let’s go and show you off.”

Amid a lot of oohs and ahhs, I made another pot of coffee. Their zest for conversation had not waned as I served the coffee and cake.

At four o’ clock they stood to go and we walked them to their cars, and after saying goodbye, they drove off. We walked back up to the house and cleaned up.

While Laura washed, she said, “What did you think of Margaret’s nephew? Surprised?”

“Not really. I think the incidence of transvestism is much higher than the official figures. The internet sort of answers that.”

“You’d think she would’ve noticed before now.”

“We’re very careful people. But then you do get caught, as he found out. My mum did when I was fifteen.”

“What did you say?”

“Not much you can say standing in bra, panties and pantyhose. She was shocked, went down the backyard and watered the garden while I changed.”

“Did she say anything?”

“Eventually, half an hour later. I tried to explain. Trouble was, I didn’t know what I was trying to explain. No internet then.”

“I always knew Daniel was doing it. I could’ve caught him anytime. He was always happy on school holidays.” Laura mused.

“What gave him away?”

“Misplaced clothes and my makeup bill would go through the roof. The last few years has been like having an unofficial teenage daughter. A woman commented at work once about her daughter always in her things. My problem was my son.”

We kept cleaning, “You know, once I had the thought to buy some things of his own, bring it out in to the open.”

“What stopped you?”

“Don’t know.”

“He would have been ecstatic, once he got over the shock.”

“Yea. I guess.”

We decided to go out to a movie and have a snack afterwards. We arrived home at ten thirty and fell in to bed.

We slept in the next morning, once we were up; we showered together, and then dressed. While Laura made breakfast, I walked down to the street to get our Sunday papers.

Back in the kitchen, I sat at the table and unwrapped the plastic they had been delivered in. I turned the Telegraph over and started reading from the back page, the gossip page and then turned to the society page. “Holy cow.”

“What’s the matter?”

“Come look at this.”

“What?” she said wiping her hands.

“Our daughter maintaining a low profile.” I said pointing at a photograph. In the top right hand corner was a photograph of Lord and Lady Carrington and Danielle. The caption read, ‘Lord and Lady Carrington at the Symphony last night with their beautiful and charming house guest, Miss Danielle Williams’.

“Oh my.” Laura said after reading the caption.

I grabbed the Herald and fumbled for the supplement that had the society pages. Sure enough, a similar photo with a similar caption. We looked at each other, “I’ve created a monster.” I said.

We finished breakfast, then sat in the study and I took Laura through her new job. For the next two hours, I showed her all the procedures, where every thing was and the contacts.

Laura thought she had the gist of it, so we called it a day and went out for lunch. An enjoyable afternoon in the city ended our weekend.

The next week went quickly. Rhonda made two more offers which were rejected, which seem to upset her. My reasoning was, that they were good photos, capturing the moment and I wanted good money for them.

Tuesday, she rang to say they were sending a contract over for perusal and they had agreed on the price.

Wednesday evening, we went to a new makeup range launch. Laura was overwhelmed by the glitz, but it was an enjoyable evening.

Thursday morning, the contract for the tampon shoot turned up in the snail mail, which was unusual. Grabbing a coffee, I sat down to read. After two paragraphs, I choked on my coffee. No wonder they were trying to drive the price down. It read; the agreed price is five hundred and fifty thousand dollars per image including GST. They wanted all the images from the shoot. I bought the file up on the computer, ten images. I leant back in my chair and closed my eyes.

Kelly broke my reverie and took care of the contract to the solicitor. The money would certainly be put to good use, give everybody a bonus, especially Kelly and Danielle. John could get that new camera he’s been on about.

That reminded me of something. I called Kelly in to my office. I told her what a great job she was doing and that I was raising her pay now instead of waiting the three months. “Twenty one dollars an hour sound okay, I’ll back date it, I meant to have it in this weeks pay.”

She stood there with her mouth open, “Thank…. you.” she stammered finally.

“I appreciate all your work, you can virtually stand in for me now, I can even think about a holiday this year.” I said giving her a hug.

งงง

Laura was really getting in to her new job. Just not having anyone breathing down her neck waiting for something to go wrong was a plus. Jeff had given carte blanche within reason, to tidy it up. He was sure he was being touched by some of the agents, but hadn’t had time to chase it up.

At the beginning of the week she had started at the beginning of the financial year and was working through all the statements. She had found some anomalies and had made some notes to chase it up.

She stopped for some lunch and watched ‘Days of our lives’. One o clock, she sat down at the desk and picked up the folder for the Starburst premises. She didn’t think it was really necessary, that Jeff would have it under control, being his work premises. But she decided she had to be thorough and systematic with every thing. The statement checked out till December, no payment. Same with January, February and March. The April statement hadn’t arrived yet. She couldn’t imagine him not paying the rent to himself, unless…

She was getting ahead of herself; there could be a logical explanation, although nothing came to mind. She double-checked the statement, same finding.

Laura wanted to look in to this without alerting Jeff, not yet anyway, she could be way off beam on this. She dialled Starburst; if Jeff answered she would hang up.

She waited, on the third ring, “Good afternoon, Starburst, Kelly speaking.”

Laura sighed relief, “Hi Kelly, I’m Laura Marsden, I look after the books for the owner of the Starburst premises.”

“Oh, you do the books for Jeff, you must be Danielle’s mum.”

“Yes…I am. How?”

“Oh, Jeff told me about it. He’s a way cool boss and you’re one lucky lady, by the way, congratulations on your engagement.”

“Thank you, I’ve heard a lot about you too.”

“All good I hope.” Kelly giggled.

“Well Danielle talks about you a lot.”

“He’s a good girl.”

“He sure is. Listen, can I run something past you?”

“Sure.”

Laura told Kelly all the details she knew. Kelly promised to look in to it and ring back.

งงง

Friday, I signed the contract for the tampon images. Sam rang to confirm the driving lessons the next day.

“Don’t trust me.” I asked.

“Just checking.”

I’ll be glad to see the back of Sam and the video.

End of Part 12 (to be continued)

This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

since 07/22/04