The next five years were very happy ones for Jamie and Michaela. For Jamie, it was the second time she had been in love, and this time there was no need for deception. Even though their working hours were so different, they loved their time together, and never more so than when they went away for holidays together for a fortnight twice a year. For Michaela, it was a very special time since she didn't have to 'crossdress as Michael, five days a week' as she put it, laughing.

At each hotel or bed and breakfast where they stayed while touring the countryside, they had a room with two single beds, and while they only slept in one, they took care to make the other bed look like it had been slept in. For Jamie, it was a chance to get out into the pure country air for a while. She loved her job singing at the Blue Note Club; besides singing with the house band, jazz royalty often visited, and sometimes she was invited to sing a bracket of songs with them, and that was very special. There was only one downside to the job, and that was working in a smoky atmosphere for eight hours a night.

Eve had settled in very well as Miss Wilshire's companion and couldn't be happier. From time to time Jamie and Michaela visited her there and they were always made very welcome. If Miss Wilshire noticed that Michaela bore a resemblance to the Michael who managed her financial affairs, she never said anything. Eve wanted to get divorced from Tommy but was afraid that this would mean revealing where she now lived. In the end, Tommy solved the problem for her, or perhaps it was solved for him. His gambling had driven him deeper and deeper into debt and he owed money to some very frightening people. One day his body was found floating in the Thames. A lot of alcohol was found in his bloodstream at the post mortem, and his liver wasn't in great shape.

The official finding was 'death by misadventure', meaning he had probably got drunk and fallen in the water, but Jamie couldn't help wondering if he had been pushed rather than fallen. Whatever the reason, Eve was now a widow and very happy to be so. She had little contact with her parents and none with Tommy's and that was the way she liked it, although as the years passed her relationship with her parents gradually improved.

Miss Wilshire did take up Jamie's invitation to visit the Blue Note Club on several occasions and sat there tapping her foot in time to the music while sipping a gin and tonic. When Jamie came to sit with her after performing a bracket of songs, she was complimented on her singing.

“You're our own Ella Fitzgerald, my dear,” said Miss Wilshire. “I had the pleasure of hearing her perform live once, and was even introduced to her. Believe me, you are a worthy successor.”

Jamie blushed at such extravagant praise, but secretly she was very pleased.

She still saw Frankie from time to time. Frankie was still working at Lewy's Club and Jamie couldn't help noticing that she seemed to be aging rather quickly. Frankie had confided in her that she was still very busy in the upstairs bedrooms, and Jamie wondered if it was starting to catch up with her. Jamie certainly didn't miss all that sex with countless men. She had a wonderful lover now and while they were still very active in bed together, it was 'making love', rather than having sex, and that was the way Jamie liked it.

Jamie and Michaela had a wonderful relationship. That's not to say that they didn't have occasional disagreements, they wouldn't have been human if they hadn't. Jamie felt that Michaela lacked ambition.

“You should be a senior manager by now,” she said to Michaela one day, and Michaela just smiled and said she was sure it would happen one day.

“Just before you retire?” asked Jamie.

There was another minor bone of contention. Jamie still wore the gold locket and chain that Sam had given her, almost every day. She saw Michaela looking at it one day and asked if she minded. Michaela, ever the diplomat said 'Of course she didn't' but this wasn't strictly true. She knew that Jamie genuinely loved her, and wondered why she insisted on wearing something that constantly reminded her of a failed and impossible relationship from years before. For one birthday, Michaela bought Jamie a wonderful gold bracelet. Jamie was overwhelmed by the gift and often wore it, but she still wore the locket too.

Eve's little boy James was growing up and spent a lot of time playing in the garden of the mansion. When his fifth birthday came around, Miss Wilshire suggested he invite his school friends to the house for a birthday party. It was a wonderfully warm summer's day and Miss Wilshire sat on the verandah, enjoying the noise of twenty excited children racing around the lawns. When Eve came out to see all was well, Miss Wilshire took her hand.

“Thank you, my dear. The sound of those children in the garden takes me back so many years. You've given me a gift that money couldn't buy. I'll remember this until the day I die.”

When Eve looked at her, Miss Wilshire laughed. “Don't worry my dear, I've still got a lot of living to do.”

There is a saying “Man proposes but God disposes”, and six months later, Eve went to Miss Wilshire's bedroom to give her her morning cup of tea, only to find that she had passed away during the night. It must have been peaceful as she still had a slight smile on her lips. Perhaps she was remembering the sound of the children in the garden.

When she had recovered sufficiently to talk coherently, Eve phoned Michael at work and he came around to the house immediately. Eve was still shaking and tears were running down her cheeks. She was genuinely fond of the old lady and it had been such a shock to find her dead when she had apparently been in good health. Michael took charge, phoning the doctor who said there had to be an inquest in the case of sudden unexpected death. A funeral director was contacted who took charge of all the necessary things that needed to be done.

Miss Wilshire's will was already with Michael's company and one of the partners was her executor. A couple of days later, Eve had another shock. Miss Wilshire had no living relatives and after some bequests to favourite charities, and a beautiful diamond ring each to Jamie and Michaela, the residue of the estate was divided in two with half each to Eve and Mrs Westmore. Eve was suddenly a very wealthy woman.

“There! You see? Good things do happen to good people sometimes,” said Jamie to Michaela.

Jamie attended the funeral with Michaela who was necessarily in Michael mode since that was how he had been dealing with everyone since Miss Wilshire's death. There were some people from Michael's firm and some from various charities that she had supported, but the number present barely added up to twenty.

The funeral was held in a Church of England, and there were an organist and a boy's choir from a local school. It seemed that Miss Wilshire was so impressed with Jamie's voice that she had requested her to sing “The Lord is my Shepherd” at the service. It was very different from the songs Jamie normally sang but she had persuaded a pianist at the club to rehearse it with her before the club opened on the day before the funeral.

“You sang that so well, darling,” whispered Michaela when she returned to her seat next to him in the pew.

“It seems a waste to have such a lovely service heard by so few people,” whispered Jamie back.

Miss Wilshire had attended the church, but very infrequently and the vicar had never met her, so he gleaned what he could of her life from Eve and more from Mrs Westmore who was as shocked as Eve when she learned of Miss Willshire's death. She managed to get someone to look after her brother for a couple of days and came to the funeral. The angelic voices of the young boys rose to the church rafters with one final hymn and it was all over.

There was a morning tea with plenty of sandwiches and cake in the parish hall after the service and the choir boys were invited to attend to their great delight. There was very little left after they had finished!

Another five years passed. After Miss Wilshire's mansion was sold, it was, alas, demolished to make way for a small estate of townhouses. In memory of the family, the road that circled the estate was called 'Wilshire Boulevard', and off it ran three small courts name 'Agnes', 'Eve' and 'Edna'.

“I never thought I'd get a road named after me,” said Eve during one of her visits to Jamie and Michaela. She now lived in a house near to her parents which she had bought outright with still plenty of money left in the bank and managed by Michael.

Jamie still enjoyed singing at the club but was finding that she was getting slightly short of breath towards the end of a bracket of songs. 'I must be getting old,' she said to herself. Then one day partway through a song she had a tremendous coughing fit and had to abandon the song and leave the stage. The band, being professionals, completed the song without her.

Ronnie came around to see her in her dressing room and ask if she was alright.

“Yes thank you, Ronnie, I think I might be coming down with flu,” Jamie replied. Ronnie suggested she see a doctor and take a few days off.

It was the following evening when Michaela came home from work and she was very excited.

“Jamie, I've had the most tremendous offer, but it comes with a problem. I was called into a meeting of the Board today. After years of discussion, they have decided to open a branch in Edinburgh, and they've asked me to manage it. This would be a big step up for me but I asked them for a day to consider it because I wanted to know how you would feel about it?”

Jamie smiled. “But of course you must take it, darling. This is the big promotion you've been waiting years for.”

“But what about you, about us?” said Michaela.

“Well I'm sure there are jazz clubs in Edinburgh, it's not all bagpipes there. I'll get a reference from Ronnie, check out what's up there and see if there's an opening for an experienced woman singer who knows all the standards,” said Jamie.

“I'm sorry,” said Michaela. “In the excitement of my offer, I forgot to ask you, what did the doctor say about your coughing fit and shortness of breath?”

“It's nothing serious, just a slight infection. I'll be fine in a few days. Now promise you'll accept that job tomorrow. When will you have to go up there?”

“In a week, they said. I know it's a bit of a rush, but now they've finally made the decision, they want to get things up and running as soon as possible and there's a lot to do starting up a branch from scratch.”

“I know you'll be a great success,” said Jamie. The truth was, she hadn't been to the doctor yet. She was feeling a bit better, and she didn't want anything to stop Michaela from accepting the position she so richly deserved.

The following day, Jamie did go to her doctor, who knew all about her background. Before going, she removed her attached breast forms and instead put some forms into her bra to give it shape. The doctor gave her a thorough examination and after listening to her lungs, said that she would send Jamie for a chest x-ray and a CT scan.

“Is it a chest infection, doctor?” said Jamie.

“Perhaps, but I'd like to be certain before putting you on antibiotics. After you've had the tests done, come back and see me.”

Jamie should have had the tests done the following day, but she had a sneaking suspicion that perhaps it was more than a chest infection. Besides, she was feeling better, so she waited until Michaela had left for Edinburgh before attending the Radiology Clinic. The first night after Michaela left, she had another coughing fit and this time she brought up blood. At the clinic, she did her best to get information from the technicians but was unsuccessful. All they would say is that she should go back to see her doctor for the results as soon as possible.

To be continued: The worst of times.