Chapter Twenty-Four
Ana sat on the couch with her coffee watching the unfolding chaos in her home. Now she was Leader of the Opposition big changes had to happen. Currently there were all sorts of professionals around her home, some changing the windows out for bulletproof glass, others putting security cameras around the property and there were even people down at the gates putting in state-of-the-art security measures there. All of this was because she was now considered a high-profile target.
"You're remarkably calm." Rosin said quietly as Ana continued to just watch the guys doing the French doors.
"No point stressing out about it." Ana shrugged, though inside she was screaming at the invasion of her home. Ana hadn't signed up for any of this, she hadn't put herself forward for leader but felt as though she'd had no other option. Then she'd run an honest campaign, one where she spoke about what she would do if she became leader, but she hadn't expected to win it either.
"Are you ready to start making the choices for the shadow cabinet?" Rosin asked, she was there to do a job, Ana didn't have time on her side here and with her insisting she didn't want a property in London to work from it meant anyone who she wanted on her team would have to travel for an hour to Chesham to be appointed. The press was already gathered at the gate waiting to see who would be entering the property, it was all huge news.
"I don't see why we can't keep who we already have, for now, we're less than three months away from a general election." Ana sighed and scratched at her eyebrow this all felt like a waste of valuable time and resources.
"Now's the time to show what you will do if you win the GE." Rosin explained. "Pick them as though you were making a Government. It could earn you some votes."
Ana sighed and reached for the papers on the tables that Rosin and Emily had so kindly prepared for her to make it easier. It didn't make it easier though, some people were about to lose their shadow cabinet positions and others were about to gain them and the decisions were all coming down to Ana.
"Well I want Sara Cooper for Wales." Ana started, that was one she knew for certain, Sara had been a leadership candidate till she dropped out, she was older and far more skilled than Ana and it was important to her to surround herself with people who had the proper experience.
"Ok." Rosin said popping the name down on her legal pad. "It's a good choice, she has cabinet experience and is a Welsh MP."
Ana nodded, that is exactly why she chose her, she wanted people with real-world experience as well as Governmental and political experience. That was her priority.
"Have we got anyone who has ever been a teacher?" Ana asked as she scanned down the names and bios of the elected members of her party.
"Uh… I think Christina Morris." Rosin said and Ana found the name on the list, yes a former secondary school maths teacher who became a head, she was ideal.
"Christina Morris for Education." Ana stated. "Oh and I want to keep Lucy Roberts on as Foreign Secretary, her father was in the military and she speaks multiple languages. She's the ideal person. Now do we have any doctors or nurses?"
"Uh well, we have a couple… Ila Khatri, she's been in politics a few years but was a doctor before that."
"Ila it is." Ana nodded. "Have her down for Health. Now, chancellor, I haven't got a clue."
"Oh what about Talal Nassar, he's got an accounting degree from Harvard and a business degree from Cambridge. Worked as an international trade negotiator for a shipping company before being elected."
"Wouldn't that make him better for foreign secretary?" Ana didn't know what she was doing at all.
"He'd be good for both." Rosin replied.
"Ok let's have him as Chancellor, see how he gets on and then if it doesn't work we can have a re-shuffle. So we need Defence now. Who have we got with military links?"
Rosin and Ana sat for a good couple of hours going through the individual profiles of the MPs until they were happy they had a high-quality team for the shadow government. Ana had more women than men and a great mix of cultures. It was probably the most mixed shadow cabinet to have ever existed. Ana had ensured every position was filled by people who had experience, she didn't want lifetime politicians running departments that they had no idea what they were about and the importance of their role. By putting a Doctor in charge of health and a Teacher in charge of education it allowed them to pull on their real-world experience. They decided to have a break for some lunch, Rosin and Kate now having to ask all the MPs to take a trip to Chesham so they could be formally appointed and those meetings would take place here later.
"How's everything going?" Christian asked as Ana joined him and Gail in the kitchen.
"Hmm." Ana sighed as he took his hands to her shoulders, she was so tense and he could imagine that what she was going through was stressful.
"We've had a bit of an issue." Christian said knowing he had to bring it up with Ana even though he didn't want to.
"What's that?" Ana asked awkwardly, she didn't need any more stress.
"They wanted the code to the playroom to do the window."
"Oh please tell me you refused." Ana gasped, she couldn't imagine these builders parading through their private space, it would be the front page of every tabloid by morning.
"I did, told them the room is on the third floor and they don't need to touch it. They're not happy but I told them the only way they were accessing that room was if they broke the door down and then I'd take them to court." Christian chuckled as the relief washed over Ana's face. Gail chuckled, she wasn't even aware of what was in that room even though she'd signed documents when she came to work for the pair swearing her to secrecy. "Maybe when everyone's gone we need to get in there tonight." Christian whispered.
"Yes please." Ana replied turning to look at him with a desperate grin on her face. Christian kissed her head and smiled, a good scene would do them both some good and allow them to keep their problems for a couple of hours.
A cough from the door had Ana and Christian turning to see who was bothering them now. They were surprised to see an ever-stoic Taylor standing there with another guy behind him, a younger man with dark hair and piercing blue eyes.
"Ana, Christian. I'd like to introduce you both to Luke Sawyer, he will be joining me as Ana's protective detail." Taylor explained. Ana sighed while Christian immediately went over to shake the man's hand and size him up. This was her reality now and while Christian wanted to make sure that whoever was charged with guarding his girlfriend was the right person for the job he was also relieved to know Taylor would no longer be doing the job alone.
"Nice to meet you." Ana said being polite with Luke even though she didn't want him there. Adjusting to having Taylor around all the time had been tough, having the pair of them made her feel even more like a prisoner.
"If it's ok with you Ana, I'm going to show him around." Taylor said. Ana nodded, it was a big house and it was important that Luke knew the house and grounds like the back of his hand.
"Lunch is ready." Gail said from the breakfast island. "Where do you want to eat?"
"Have they done the garden room?" Ana asked. Christian nodded, that room had an entire wall of glass and it had been the first place they'd put in the new bulletproof stuff. "Garden room then please Gail." Ana replied. "Do you think it's too early for a glass of wine?" Ana chuckled, she wanted to try and relax before the new shadow cabinet started turning up to find out what job she was offering them.
"It's never too early for wine." Christian replied going over and grabbing a bottle from the wine fridge.
They were left in peace in the garden room with the warm baguettes that Gail had made for them. Ana was grateful, she knew things were going to be crazy and every moment she could have with Christian where it was just the two of them she was going to grab with both hands.
"We are going to have to think about getting a new apartment in London." Ana said as she and Christian ate.
"I know." He replied, it had crossed his mind too that now she was Leader the demand on her in the City was going to be much greater than what it had been and the commute just wouldn't be realistic anymore.
"Would you like to look for somewhere?" Ana asked, knowing Christian would enjoy that.
"Sure." He smiled. "Ana…" He started but cut himself off.
"What?" She frowned, worrying that he wasn't happy about something.
"We're… we're a forever thing aren't we?" He asked and she smiled, she remembered the conversation they had before about them being a long-term thing.
"Yeah we're a forever thing." Ana said taking his hand across the table. "Do you… have you been questioning that?"
"No." Christian shook his head. "I just wanted to make sure we were still on the same page now that your life has taken another turn."
"Christian." She placed her food down so she could take Christian's hand in both of hers. "This life I have, is because of you." She smiled. "I was blind till I met you, you opened my eyes to real life something you'd had to live and I had no ideas or experience about. Doing any of this without you is just not an option for me. I love you, with all my heart. I need you by my side."
"I love you too Ana." Christian replied softly, he was beaming at her, he loved it when she opened up to him because she could be so closed off at times. "You would have seen it. You have such a big heart, you would care too much for people to have been blind."
Ana smiled and gave Christian's hand another squeeze before going back to her food, needing to eat before her cabinet started to arrive.
"So, an apartment, anything specific you're wanting?" Christian asked, knowing she was giving him full control but wanting her input.
"Nope, something simple that we can live in during the week that we want to come home from on the weekends." Ana replied, she also was aware that it would be paid for by the taxpayers and so she didn't want anything too expensive either because she didn't want to be using public money to fund a second home, just somewhere to lay her head in the City when she needed to.
"Ana, sorry to disturb. I've had a message from Phillip, apologises he can't be with us today but is suggesting that under the circumstances of the layout of the property you should make a small paddock close to the door for the press so they can get the usual pictures of cabinet members arriving or they will only get pictures of cars." Kate said from the door, having disturbed Ana's lunch with good reason because this was important.
"What does Rosin and Emily think?" Ana asked, knowing they'd have already had an opinion on it.
"It makes sense, with your crazy long driveway they're only going to get pictures of cars, that's not going to sell newspapers." Kate explained, they'd discussed it at length because they didn't think Ana would be happy having the press so close to the house but it was necessary.
"Ok, fine get Taylor and Luke to figure out the logistics of it and ask Gail if she'll make them some tea, coffee and sandwiches. May as well welcome them to our humble abode." Ana teased, she was making light of it because if she didn't she'd crack, this was too much for her but she had to pull her big girl knickers on and get on with it.
"Thanks Ana." Kate said before hurrying off to get the job done.
"That ok with you?" Ana asked turning to Christian, he should have had an opinion too but she didn't think to ask him for it when Kate was there.
"Of course, I think the tea, coffee and sandwiches are a nice touch." He laughed, it was typical Ana, welcoming the press like that.
"Well we're a few miles away from anywhere for them to get any food, they've been here since first thing this morning waiting and I guess I've kept them waiting long enough they deserve to be fed and watered." She teased, it was also her way of trying to keep the press on side. If she appeared friendly and welcoming maybe they wouldn't be so hard on her as they could be on leaders.
After Ana was informed that the first car was making its way up the driveway she joined Rosin in the living room where each cabinet minister would be brought through to be offered their jobs. A few of them had apparently been quite surprised to have been requested up to Chesham so Ana hoped she wasn't going to get anyone rejecting the job because then it would be back to the drawing board and she didn't want to have to do that.
"Will you be happy to make a statement to the press after the appointments?" Rosin asked. Ana nodded, she'd expected that to be a part of the deal. "I'll ask Phillip to throw something together." She said before turning to her iPad to let Phillip know they needed a statement.
It took over four hours to get through everyone. It was hell. Ana was exhausted by the time everyone had been appointed and she'd shaken hands and air-kissed cheeks like her life depended on it. The best part of it had been the amount of them who asked if she was planning on calling a vote of no confidence in the PM. It hadn't even crossed Ana's mind until today but she just reminded everyone they were only a few weeks away from a general election anyway which seemed to satisfy everyone who asked. Thankfully, no one rejected her offer either which was a plus and by the time everyone had gone she was ready to make her press statement and send everyone home so she could have some alone time with Christian before the real chaos began. In less than two weeks' time she would be in Parliament as Leader of the Opposition and the whole country would be watching her every bloody move.
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen I'd like to thank you all for your patience today it has been very much appreciated." Ana smiled as she stood outside her front door. This was her last job of the day so she could do this and close the door from the world.
"I have appointed the most dynamic Shadow Cabinet. I appointed each person based on their skills and experiences outside the walls of Westminster. It's a young and ethnically diverse cabinet with women making up more than fifty percent, unheard of in Westminster before now. We have a teacher as Education Minister, a doctor as Health Minister and a Barrister as Justice Minister and so many more amazing and talented individuals making up our team. I look forward to working with each and every one of them over the coming weeks, holding the Government to account for their misgivings over the last decade before we enter the general election. Thank you so much again for coming and have a safe journey home." Ana gave everyone a polite nod and smile before returning to the house, glad that the day was now over with.
"I don't tell you often enough how proud I am of you." Christian said as he put an arm around Ana's shoulders.
"Often enough." Ana replied. "I know you mean it when you say it." She blushed as she peeked up at him through her long eyelashes.
"Always." He said before kissing her head. "Now let's get rid of everyone, I'm going to be keeping you busy tonight." He gave her such a wicked grin her core clenched deep and wetness pooled between her legs. Oh yes, it was her and Christian tonight.