No Matter What (131 page)

“No, my proper name.”

“What is
wrong
with you?” she laughed.

“Just say it,” he said, laughing too, playing with her fingers, stroking them gently.

“Joseph.
 
There, I’ve said it.
 
Joseph.”

He leaned forward and kissed her slowly, smiling at her.
 
“I think I fell in love with you the second you opened your mouth.”

“You’re so romantic.
 
At least you didn’t say my legs.”

He finally threw the covers off and got out of bed and she couldn’t help but look at his incredible body, watching as he started to pull clothes out of the wardrobe, looking for something to wear.
 
She was one hell of a lucky woman.
 

“Yeah, well, that too, it has to be said.”
 
 
He smiled at her, and she threw a pillow at him.

“Just get some clothes on, will you?
 
As much as it pains me to say that.”

They were due at a photographic studio in London’s Soho to do a publicity shoot for ‘Covert One’, and when that was over they had to go to another studio in North London to do an interview and another photo shoot for a magazine before pre-recording a TV interview for breakfast television and then, finally, it would be India’s interview that evening, live on TV.
 
It was going to be one hectic and exhausting day but at least she’d have JJ with her.
 
Just being able to grab little kisses and hold his hand when she felt like it could get her through anything.
 
It was like being sixteen again, being with JJ, and she loved every second of it.
 
She loved
him.

She went over to him, putting her arms around him from behind, snuggling up against his back.
 
“I love you, Joe.”

He turned around and pulled her close, kissing first her forehead, then her nose, then her mouth.
 
“I love you too, beautiful.”

“No matter what?”

He looked at her, trying to work out where that question had come from and why she suddenly seemed to exude a vulnerability he hadn’t seen from her before.

“Hey ... of course I love you ... no matter what,” he said, touching her face with the palm of his hand, looking deep into her eyes.
 
“Is everything ok?”

She smiled, not really wanting to say anything else.
 
She’d just needed to hear him say that, because she had no idea what lay around the corner - she’d certainly learnt
that
over the years - and the only thing she wanted to know was that he loved her.

“Everything’s fine.
 
Come on, the car’s going to be here any minute and we really need to get moving.”

He watched her as she went over to the mirror, watched as she ran her fingers through her hair again, quickly brushing some bronzer over her cheeks, little things she did every day and he could watch her do them over and over again and not get bored.
 
But, for some reason, today there was something different about her.
 
She seemed scared of something and there seemed to be a part of her that was elsewhere.
 
Was there something on her mind?
 
Something she wasn’t telling him?
 
Maybe he wasn’t on the right track at all, maybe he was over-thinking things, but he knew her now.
 
He knew when she wasn’t totally focused.

He went over to her, leaning over to kiss the back of her neck.
 
“You’d tell me if something was on your mind, wouldn’t you?”
 

She looked at him.
 
“Of course I would.
 
I don’t want there to be any secrets, Joe.”

And telling him that was probably her first mistake, on a day that was only going to get harder.
 
She just had no idea how much.

***

Michael couldn’t be bothered to unpack.
 
He had other things to be getting on with and unpacking a case that was only going to be packed again in a day or so was something that didn’t even register on the scale of important things to do.

He had meetings to go to, paperwork to sort out and what felt like a hundred telephone calls to make.
 
One of them, he supposed, would have to be to Layla, although he couldn’t seem to get hold of her at all at the minute.
 
Not even on her cell ‘phone.

He sat down on the bed and took his ‘phone out of his pocket, punching in Reece’s number.
 
He wanted to speak to his son.
 
More than anything right now he needed to hear that little boy’s voice because he missed him like crazy.
 
For the past couple of weeks he’d had neither of his parent’s at home – Michael had been in
Canada
for a few weeks and
India
in
Australia
, although he’d had no idea why she’d chosen now to take a vacation when she was so close to starting work on a new movie.
 
She’d known he wouldn’t be around for Ethan either, but he supposed she’d had her reasons.

“Reece?
 
Hi, it’s Michael.”

“Michael, how are you?”

“I’m fine.
 
I’m just fine.
 
Listen, is Ethan there?
 
I thought if I called him early I might catch him before he went out, I know he’s got soccer practice this morning.”

“Yeah, sure.
 
No problem.
 
He’s just having his breakfast ... Ethan, it’s your dad.”

“Is ... is everything ok by the way?
 
Is
India
... is she alright?”

Reece knew that India still hadn’t told Michael about her marrying JJ and for some reason Ethan had also managed to keep his mum’s secret just that – a secret. Although how much longer that would last was another matter, and Reece wasn’t altogether sure it was fair on Ethan to keep asking him to do it.

“She’s fine, Michael … oh, here’s Ethan.
 
I’ll talk to you soon, ok?”

“Ok ... hey, Ethan!
 
You ok, kiddo?”

“I’m good, daddy.
 
I’ve got soccer practise today and mommy says I’m just as good as Uncle Terry was when he played.”

Michael smiled.
 
India
had always wanted Ethan to know about Terry and it certainly seemed as though he’d inherited his late uncle’s athletic talents.
 
He was a star player on the Under-eight’s junior soccer team and he had a good goal scoring record already.

“Is your mommy ok?” Michael asked, knowing it was wrong of him to try and get information out of a six year old but what else could he do when his mom wouldn’t even look at him?

“I miss her, daddy.
 
But granddad and grandma are taking me and Ellie on an aeroplane all the way to
England
soon to see her and JJ.
 
JJ’s my new step-daddy, did you know that?”

Michael felt his stomach turn over and Reece looked up at his grandson.
 
India
should have let Michael know what was going on, she really should have done that, because God knows what was going to happen now.

“Ethan, sweetheart, when you … when you say JJ’s your new step-daddy, what do you ... what do you mean?”

“Mommy and JJ got married.
 
I wasn’t supposed to tell you until she said I could but ...”

Ethan looked over at his granddad.
 
Reece just nodded and mouthed “
it’s ok
.” What was the point in lying any longer?
 
The secret was out now.

“When ... when did they get married, Ethan?
 
Baby, when did they get married?”

Reece came over and took the ‘phone from his grandson.
 
It was time for him to take control of this one.

“They got married eighteen days ago, Michael,” Reece said, indicating to Martha - who’d just come into the room - to take Ethan upstairs.

“Eighteen days ago?
 
But ... but there was nothing ... there was no ... I ... I had no idea they’d even got engaged.”
 
He felt sick, he felt physically sick.
 
This had come out of nowhere, right out of left-field and he just hadn’t expected it at all.

“Nobody knows, Michael, except the few people who were invited to the wedding.
 
Look, they wanted it all kept extremely secret, I have no idea why, that’s just the way they wanted it and that’s how it’s been.
 
As far as I’m aware they’re going to make some kind of announcement during
India
’s TV interview in
London
tonight.”

Michael didn’t know what to say.
 
This news had hit him like a bolt out of the blue, he just hadn’t seen it coming and it had shook him badly.

“Michael?”

“Yeah ... yeah, I’m here I’m just ... I’m just a bit taken aback.
 
I really had no idea things were that serious between them.”
 
 
But in his own mind he knew that was a lie.
 
He should have known from the second he’d seen them in that club in
Las Vegas
.
 
He should have seen it coming the day she gave birth to JJ’s baby.
 
All signs he’d just pushed to the back of his mind and refused to acknowledge.

“Listen, I’m sorry, ok?
 
For what it’s worth I didn’t agree with her keeping it from you.
 
I thought you should know.
 
Making Ethan keep that secret wasn’t fair on him.”

“No ... look, I ... I’ve got to go.
 
Tell Ethan I’ll talk to him soon.”

He ended the call and threw his ‘phone down on the bed, staring straight ahead.
 
So, she’d married JJ Foster.
 
Another speed bump he hadn’t seen coming.
 

He got up and went over to the small mini-bar in the corner of the room, taking out a small bottle of whisky.
 
He needed something to take the edge off the pain he was feeling.
 
He needed something to dull the ache because he felt as though someone had just stamped on his heart and left him for dead.

He knocked back the whisky straight from the bottle and closed his eyes as the strong dark liquid burned his throat, instantly sending a warm rush through him.
 
It wasn’t enough to numb him completely but it was going to have to do.
 
A lot of things still had to be done today and he needed a clear head.
 
This latest bit of news was going to have to be something he dealt with later, and it
would
be dealt with.
 
No matter how he was feeling now or how painful the thought of her married to another man was for him, it would be dealt with.
 
Because, in reality, it was just another hurdle, another obstacle, and Michael Walsh had overcome many of those in his life.
 
This one was just going to be that little bit harder to get over than the rest.

***

Kenny looked in the mirror.
 
Forty-five years old and still undeniably handsome.
 
But still ten years older than
India
’s new husband and he didn’t know why, but that really bothered him.

He hadn’t seen her since she’d left for
Australia
.
 
He hadn’t even spoken to her on the ‘phone and he’d missed her.
 
He’d really missed her.
 
But now he was here in Britain, just days away from starting work on their new movie, he was going to be seeing a lot of her, and maybe now they’d finally get the chance to do the catching up they both badly needed to do.

He’d spent a lot of time with Ellie while her mommy and daddy had been away though, and that baby girl was just the most beautiful thing he’d seen.
 
So much like her father, and with both JJ’s and
India
’s genes she could only grow up to be a stunner.
 
Kenny loved her so much.
 
His baby Goddaughter, someone that meant his connection with
India
would always be there.
 
Always.
 
He’d make sure of that.

He splashed cold water over his face and grabbed a towel to dry himself, walking back into the bedroom and sitting down on the edge of the bed.
 
Flicking the TV on he grabbed the magazine that was lying on the table beside him, throwing the towel aside.
 
It was a TV listings magazine and on the cover was a photograph of
India
and JJ as their ‘Covert One’ characters.
 
The new season had just started airing in the
U.K.
and he knew both her and JJ were doing a lot of promotional work for it today, before she did her big interview that evening, and Kenny was going to the studio to support her.
 
She hadn’t done a live interview like this for some time and he wanted to make sure she was ok because she’d be nervous, he had no doubt about that.
 
More so because he was sure that, just as he’d done, she would have watched some of the presenter’s past interviews, and he certainly made sure no stone was left unturned.
 
She was going to be laying her life wide open on national television and that was going to be hard.