No Matter What (90 page)

Charley felt like she was living a dream, so different was her life now to how it had been before.
 
And to be here, in
L.A.
, at a real movie premiere with a man she was crazy about was the perfect end to a perfect week.
 

Her home was now
Las Vegas
.
 
She lived with Vince in either his private apartment within the Maine Resort Hotel or in the huge, gated house he owned close to the Southern Highlands golf course, but they also spent a lot of time here in L.A. due to Vince’s business interests in the movie industry, which meant she’d been able to spend a lot of time with India while she’d been pregnant.

Having her friend back in her life was the icing on the proverbial cake for Charley, especially at a time like this, with
India
expecting her first baby.
 
They’d had a lot of catching up to do and, over these past few months, that’s exactly what they’d done.
 
They’d hung out – sometimes with Bobby whom Charley just adored – and sometimes with Michael and Vince, but when they were on their own, that’s when it had started to feel like old times.
 
They’d sat and watched movies from the eighties or danced around and sang along to their favourite old songs, just like they’d used to do all those years ago.
 
They’d had fun, and fun was what Charley had needed.

They’d had one such evening just a few nights ago when they’d watched one of Michael’s really early movies from the eighties, eating popcorn and giggling like schoolgirls over how young he’d looked, and Charley still couldn’t believe that her friend was married to and having the baby of someone as famous as Michael Walsh. Watching them at home together, they looked just like any other ordinary couple, despite the complicated route they’d taken to get where they were now.
 

And then there was Kenny.
 
Charley still found it hard to understand just what it was that he and
India
had together.
 
Vince called it ‘complicated’ but she’d already worked that one out for herself.

She held tightly onto Vince’s hand as they walked up the red carpet to the theatre.
 
This week really had been one of the best and she was still re-living it over in her head, even now, as she took in the events going on around her.
 
Because she and Vince had just had an event of their own and she couldn’t wait to tell everyone, especially
India
.
 
She just hoped they’d be as happy as she was when she told them that she and Vince had just got married.

***

The post-premiere party was busy and noisy and everybody wanted to talk to
India
.
 
She’d been off the scene for a while and people were obviously curious as to how things were going and she was fine about chatting away to those people that she knew, although Michael would have preferred to skip most of the party and get her back home.
 
She may think she was invincible but she still needed to rest.

“You doing ok?” Kenny asked, finally managing to get
India
by herself.

She looked up at him and smiled.
 
“I’m doing fine thanks, Kenny.
 
You decided to come tonight then?”

He shrugged.
 
“Didn’t have anything else planned, and I’m glad I did.
 
That movie was pretty good.
 
Michael’s done a great job.”

“Yeah, he has.
 
Anyone who can make Layla Boyd look like an accomplished actress deserves every accolade going in my opinion.”

Kenny couldn’t help smiling.
 
He’d never heard her be quite so bitchy, it wasn’t like her.
 
She looked at him again, sensing what he was thinking.

“Say anything about my hormones and I’ll hurt you.
 
I’m not joking.”

He held up his hands and laughed.
 
“I’m saying nothing.”

“I just don’t like her, ok?”

“I’d gathered that.”
 
Kenny looked over at Layla as she flirted shamelessly with every male in the room.
 
She was far too obvious for Kenny.
 
Not his type at all.

“Oooh ... now that was a hard kick!
 
That one hurt!”

Kenny swung back round to look at
India
as she suddenly clutched her bump.
 
“Are you alright?”

She laughed, stroking her bump.
 
“I’m fine.
 
Junior just seems to be extremely active tonight, that’s all.
 
I reckon he thinks he’s missing out on something ... whoa, there he goes again ...”

“Can I, you know, feel that?
 
Can I feel him kicking?”

Kenny had also been told the baby was a boy.
 
He was one of the few who’d been let in on that piece of information.
 
One of the few who could be trusted to keep it quiet.

India
smiled again.
 
“Of course you can.
 
Here, give me your hand.”
 
She took his hand and placed it on her bump.
 
“He’ll probably not do it now ... no, there he goes.”

Kenny couldn’t help smiling as he felt the kick against his hand followed straightaway by another, much harder one.

“Oh, he knows you’re there,”
India
laughed.
 
“He’s showing off now.”

Kenny looked at her, his hand still on her bump as their eyes met.
 
“
India
...”

“Are you ok?” Michael asked, arriving back at
India
’s side, sliding his arm around her waist and Kenny pulled his hand away, any hope of talking to her now gone with the appearance of her over-protective husband.
 
He’d got the message loud and clear.

“I’m fine.
 
I was just letting Kenny feel Junior here.
 
He’s kicking the hell out of me tonight.”

Michael looked up and smiled at Kenny, but as far as Kenny was concerned that smile never reached the eyes.

“Good to see you here tonight, Kenny.
 
Glad you could make it.”

Not an ounce of sincerity in that sentence
, Kenny thought, shoving his hands in his pockets.
 
But he smiled back anyway.

“Great movie, Michael.
 
Really great.”
 
And he actually meant that.
 
The movie
was
good.
 
It was very good.

“Thank you.”

“Right, well, I’ll leave you to it.”
 
He could tell when he’d outstayed his welcome.
 
“You take care,
India
.”

India
watched him leave then looked at Michael.
 
“I wish you’d be nicer to him sometimes.”

Michael said nothing, just put his hand on
India
’s cheek and kissed her slowly.

“Come on.
 
You should be sitting down.
 
You’ve been on your feet for far too long.”

“I’ve been sat down for almost two hours, will you quit fussing.
 
I’m fine.”

“You
think
you’re fine but your body needs rest,
India
.”

“I didn’t hear you say anything about needing rest when you wanted sex.”

“That was hours ago.”
 
He put his hands on her bump and kissed her again. “I’m worried, ok?
 
Can you just humour me?
 
Can you just let me be the nagging, prospective father?”

“Do I have to?”

He smiled, stroking her bump gently, feeling their baby boy move around inside her.
 
“Yeah.
 
You do.”

She looked up at him and smiled too.
 
He’d got her again, she was under his spell and falling fast and all she wanted to do was be with him.
 
So maybe he was right.
 
Maybe they
should
call it a night and head back home.
 
She certainly wouldn’t say to an early night.
 

She closed her eyes as he kissed her again and she lost herself in that kiss, loving him so, so much, she just couldn’t explain.
 
She’d never be able to explain.
 
Yeah, it was definitely time to go home.
 

But suddenly she felt something she hadn’t felt before, something she knew wasn’t just a kick, this was different, and it stopped her in her tracks.
 
She pulled away from Michael and put one hand on her bump, still holding onto his hand with the other.

“Baby?
 
What is it?
 
What’s wrong?”
 
Michael was starting to panic now because she wasn’t saying anything; she was just taking continuous deep breaths.

“It’s ok ... it’s ok ... I think ...”
 
She squeezed Michael’s hand tight, very tight, as their baby gave another hard kick followed by the one sign they hadn’t expected to see for at least another couple of weeks.
 
And it had to happen in the middle of
Hollywood
.
 
Her waters had just broken.

CHAPTER 45

India
looked up at her husband, still clinging onto his hand.
 
“Michael?
 
Did you see that?”

Michael couldn’t move.
 
It was finally happening, their baby was coming and he suddenly realised just how unprepared he was for this.
 
All he could focus on was the fact his wife’s waters had just broken in the middle of a
Hollywood
post-premiere party and the place was teeming with press and the media and the arrival of their baby was now going to be front page news.
 
They could hardly avoid it, could they?
 

“I saw it, honey, but it’s ok, it’s alright.”

“Is it?
 
He’s early, Michael, he shouldn’t be coming yet, he’s early.”

Michael put his arm around her, steadying her, kissing her forehead as he tried to get his head around just what was happening here whilst comforting his wife, who’d apparently just gone into labour at one of the most public events there could possibly be.
 
They hadn’t expected this to happen just yet but maybe they should have been more prepared.
 
They
had
been warned.
 

“Dr Goldman told us he could arrive any time now, baby, remember?
 
He’s going to be just fine.
 
And if he
is
on his way then he’s only a couple of weeks early, it’s nothing to worry about.”

Reece and Martha, obviously having seen what had happened, came rushing over, and all Reece wanted to do was put his arm around his daughter but she wouldn’t let go of Michael.

She looked up at him, her eyes wide with just a little bit of fear, and that only made Reece want to hold her all the more.
 
“Dad?”

“It’s alright, sweetheart, we’re here, we’re all here ... Martha, can you go and sort out the press?
 
We’ll have to say something; it’s obvious what’s happening here.”

“Sure I can.
 
You stay strong
India
, honey, it’s gonna be fine.”

India
looked at Michael again and he squeezed her hand, giving her a reassuring smile, which was quite hard to pull off considering how nervous he felt.
 

“Can someone get Bobby?”
India
asked, her tone one of almost panic now. “He’ll sort everything out.
 
He’ll know what to do ... where is he?
 
Where’s Bobby?”

“Ok, ok, we’ll find him, baby, we’ll find him.”

Michael looked at Reece, who in turn was grateful for the arrival of Vince and Charley, who’d realised something was going on and ran over.

“What’s happened?” Charley asked.

“Her water’s have broken,” Michael replied.
 
“Vince, can you go and find Bobby?
 
Please?
 
Martha’s dealing with the media that are here but if you can get Bobby he can contact our press officers and we can get this whole thing under control.
 
They need to know about this.”

“Sure, no problem.”

“We need to get her out of here,” Reece said.
 
“Maybe we should get her straight to the hospital.”