No Matter What (33 page)

He smiled.
 
“Great.
 
A project to look forward to.
 
Teaching mini Walsh to be cool.”

“Are you saying Michael isn’t cool?”

He smiled at her again.
 
“Did I say that?”

She couldn’t help smiling back.
 
“You’re so pushing your luck today, Kenny.”

He leaned over the side of the sofa and retrieved the cushion she’d thrown at him earlier, placing it behind her back, gently kissing her cheek.

“There you go, babe.
 
See, I’m not all bad.”

She stuck her tongue out at him again and kicked him playfully.

“Fuck!
 
I still can’t believe you’re having a baby,
India
.
 
You always told me you didn’t want kids.”

“I didn’t want a lot of things before me and Michael.”

Kenny looked at her.
 
She’d grown up so much since they’d first met, turned into one of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen, and there was still that little piece of him, that part of his heart that wished, more than anything, that they were still together.
 
How different would things have been if they were?
 
But it was pointless going there.
 
Whether he liked it or not Michael had changed her to some extent, and Kenny almost felt like it was going to be an uphill struggle to keep her in his life from now on.

“Actually, there was something else I wanted to talk to you about, Kenny.”

He looked up.
 
“Oh yeah?
 
I think I’ve had enough surprises for one day.”

She pulled out the letter from Charley and handed it to him.

“Is this from who I think it’s from?”
 
He opened it slowly and started to read through it.
 
“Jesus ... you’ve got to ignore this
 
India
.
 
Really.
 
This is not a good idea, especially now.
 
You don’t need this.
 
And what’s Michael gonna say if he sees it?
 
Because I’m assuming he doesn’t know?”

She shook her head.
 
“No.
 
He has no idea.”

He handed it back to her.
 
“Throw it away.”

“I can’t do that, Kenny.”

“Throw it away,
India
.
 
Michael is gonna freak, and I have to say I’d be on his side with this one.
 
Don’t put yourself through it.
 
Just leave it.
 
Please.”

 
“I can’t just leave it, Kenny.
 
Not after this.
 
I can’t settle knowing she’s out there and we’re doing nothing to help.”

He sighed, sitting back, closing his eyes for a second.
 
“So, what are you planning on doing then?”

“I don’t know.”
 
She folded the letter back up and stood up, slipping it back into her bag.
 
“I was kind of hoping
you
could help me on that one.”

He leaned forward.
 
“Do you know where she is?”

India
shook her head.
 
“No idea.
 
She didn’t say in the letter ... why didn’t she say, Kenny?”

“Probably because she knows as well as we do how dangerous Jimmy Cash can be.”

“But what was the point in writing to me and telling me all of that and then not telling me where she is?
 
Jesus!”

“Do you see what’s happening here,
India
?”
 
Kenny stood up, walking over to her.
 
“You’re getting yourself totally stressed out, and if that man out there finds out what’s going on it’s all going to be over anyway because
he
isn’t going to let you do
anything
that puts any pressure on you or that baby.
 
Do you hear me?
 
If you want to help Charley – and God knows why I’m letting you get involved in this but you’re obviously not going to let it go – then you have to stay calm.
 
Ok?”

She nodded.
 
“Ok.”

Kenny looked at her.
 
Despite his misgivings about all of this, he knew that if he didn’t try to help her then she’d only go off and do something on her own and he couldn’t let that happen.
 
She was pregnant now, his beautiful best friend was having her own baby and it was taking some getting used to.
 
He hadn’t thought this thing with her and Michael would move along quite so fast but now it obviously had and he was just going to have to deal with it.

She looked up at him with eyes that were desperately asking him to understand why she couldn’t leave this alone and he pulled her into his arms and held her tight, stroking her back gently, kissing her forehead.
 
“It’ll be ok, babe.
 
It’ll be ok, we’ll find her.
 
She’s almost definitely still in
L.A.
, it’s where Jimmy mostly works out of, that I do know.
 
So we’ll find her.”

She pulled away from him slightly and smiled.
 
“Thanks, Kenny.
 
I didn’t want to do this on my own, but I would have done, if I’d had to.”

“I know.
 
That’s the only reason I’m getting involved.
 
I know how stubborn you can be once you get your teeth into something.
 
You’re like a dog with a fucking bone, you just won’t let it go.”

She smiled again, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge.
 
“That’s just me Kenny.
 
That’s how I am.”

He couldn’t help smiling back.
 
“Yeah, I’m aware of that.
 
I’m still not happy about it, and I’m definitely not happy about lying to Michael because if he finds out he’s gonna come gunning for me, but if it makes you happy ...”

“It does.”
 
She stood on tip-toes, kissing him quickly.
 
“Now get out of here, I’m due back out there in a few minutes.
 
And remember, look surprised tonight, ok?”

“Ok.”
 
He kissed her back, giving her one last hug.
 
“You are such hard work, do you know that?”

“Yeah.
 
But you love me anyway.”

He smiled, walking over to the trailer door.
 
“Yeah.
 
Always babe.
 
Always.”

***

Michael knew without a shadow of a doubt that
India
would have told Kenny about the baby already.
 
He knew he’d visited her on set that afternoon, knew he’d been in her trailer with her, and he felt a stab of jealousy pierce his chest at the thought of him in there with her.

He knew India didn’t love Kenny in that way anymore, the rational part of him knew that side of things was over and their relationship seemed to work much better as just friends, but that didn’t stop him from feeling unsettled at the thought of them together.
 
They’d always be close; he couldn’t stop that, not without it upsetting
India
, which is why he knew she’d already told him.
 
She wouldn’t have been able to keep it quiet.
 
But that didn’t actually bother Michael.
 
No, that wasn’t a problem at all.
 
Knowing that
India
was now expecting his, Michael Walsh’s, baby might just make Kenny think more than twice about ever going there again with her.
 
Those doors were now well and truly closed.
 
She was having
his
baby.
 
And every time he thought about that he couldn’t stop smiling.
 

He looked in the mirror, fastening his belt and pushing a hand through his hair. Tonight they were telling those closest to them that they were about to become parents, and being able to say it out loud, to actually say the words – that India was making him a father – was going to make it all the more real.
 
He was determined to look after her, to make sure she wanted for nothing during this pregnancy.
 
She was going to have the best care possible.
 
Nothing was going to hurt her or upset her, he’d see to that.
 
And when the time came that it eventually became public knowledge then he’d protect her, he’d see to it that things didn’t get too much for her.
 
She and that baby were his life now, and nobody was going to get in the way.

He smiled as she walked up behind him, looking stunning in a simple black strapless dress and high, strappy heels, her hair loose and tousled around her shoulders, black leather cuff bracelets round each wrist, a nod to the rock-chick still inside her.
 
She put her arms round his waist and snuggled up against him.

“You look amazing.”
 
He never tired of saying that because it was always true.

He turned round and took her in his arms, holding her loosely as he kissed her quickly.
 

“Shall we go tell them then?” she smiled.

He nodded, that overwhelming feeling of just wanting to be alone with her taking him over again.
 
They hadn’t had more than a few hours on their own in the past few months, what with the movie and other work commitments, and he just wanted to get away; away from everyone else and concentrate totally on themselves.
 
He was thinking of
New York
.
 
He had an apartment over there which meant they could have some privacy, be completely alone, because there was something else he badly needed to do and he couldn’t do it here, he didn’t
want
to do it here.

India
straightened the collar of his open-necked shirt and kissed him again, taking his hand.
 
“Come on then.
 
Let’s go see their faces when they hear
this
piece of news.”

***

“Any closer to letting me know when you’re gonna tell her, Reece?” Terry asked, helping himself to another beer from the fridge in
India
’s huge kitchen.
 
Much to his relief, tonight really was just an informal evening for family and friends.
 
Only himself, Kenny, Reece and Vince – over from Vegas for a few days – were here.
 
No hired waiters, no catered event.
 
Dinner was being prepared by
India
’s personal chef and, as far as Terry could make out, he was the only member of staff around tonight.
 
He much preferred it this way.
 
It made everything seem more real, more normal.
 
Or as normal as it could be anymore.

“I don’t think tonight’s the best time, do you?” Reece replied, leaning back against the island in the middle of the kitchen.

“Why not?
 
I’d say it was the perfect time.”

“We don’t know what’s going on yet, do we?
 
We don’t know what they’re gonna tell us, and whatever it is it might mean tonight is not the night to tell
India
that I’m her father.
 
Besides, I want to tell her on my own, just me and her.
 
Surely you can understand that?”

Terry threw him a look and Reece sighed.

“I said I’d do it when the time was right, Terry, and I mean that.
 
Don’t push me.”

“She needs to know, Reece.”

“Christ, do you not think I know that.
 
Do you not think it’s the only thing on my mind every day?
 
Do you not think it’s all I can concentrate on at the minute?”

Terry held up his hands.
 
“Ok, ok, I’ll shut up.”

“Thank you.”
 
Reece looked up as Michael and
India
walked into the room.
 
She looked incredibly happy, her whole face lighting up as she looked at Michael,
 
whispering something in his ear and he nodded, squeezing her waist.
 
Whatever they were about to tell them it was obviously good news, which was a relief.

“What do you reckon all this is about then?” Terry asked.

“No idea, to be honest,” Reece replied.

“You don’t think they’re getting married do you?”

Reece looked at him.
 
“Would you have a problem with that?”

Terry shrugged.
 
“Suppose not.
 
It’s just that, after Kenny, I would have thought she’d shy away from that for a while.”