No Matter What (94 page)

India
looked up from opening the crate of champagne.
 
“Who?”

“Kenny.”

She turned her attention back to the bottles of champagne, lifting one out and looking at it.
 
“Don’t start, Michael, please.”
 
She was tiring of the rapidly deteriorating relationship between her husband and her best friend but she couldn’t really do anything about it, not anymore.
 
It was a waste of time trying.
 
She just didn’t realise the real reasons as to why it was getting worse as time went on.
 
She thought it was complicated as it was, but she really had no idea of the half of it.

“I’m not starting,
India
, I’m just asking.”

“He’s my friend, Michael, and he’s Vince and Charley’s friend too.
 
I think it’s only right he’s here.
 
Just try and be civil to him, please.
 
For everyone’s sake. This is Vince and Charley’s day.”

He held a hand up in surrender.
 
“Ok, ok.
 
For you, alright?
 
I’ll do it for you.”

She walked over to him, half smiling.
 
“That’ll do.
 
I suppose.”
 
She took Ethan from him and kissed her husband slowly.
 
“I love you, you know that don’t you?”

He nodded, reaching out to gently touch her cheek.
 
“Yeah.
 
I know that, and I love you too.”

She smiled at him again.
 
“I’m going to put this one down for a little nap before it all gets started.”

Michael watched her leave, loving her more with every day that went by yet feeling as though he was losing his grip on her at the same time.
 
He couldn’t tell her why he felt uncomfortable having Kenny around, he couldn’t tell her he knew about their night in Vegas and the fact he was terrified that one day Kenny may question Ethan’s paternity.
 
He didn’t know if Kenny had even thought about it, he didn’t know what was going on in his head or even if Kenny had any idea about the fact there was a small chance he could be Ethan’s father.
 
Things had been fine so far but Michael wasn’t sure how long he could live with the uncertainty.
 
It was like a ticking time bomb and he had no idea when or if it would ever go off.
 
So he’d had to take matters into his own hands.

He’d had a DNA test done.
 
It had been easy to sort out, with
India
out filming most days and him looking after Ethan, and in his office was the envelope that contained the result.
 
It’d been couriered over to him not ten minutes ago but for some reason he couldn’t bring himself to open it just yet.
 
He was nervous.
 
Afraid even.
 
Scared of what might be in there.
 
Any time now he’d find out the truth, and what happened if the answer was the one he didn’t want to see?
 
That was something Michael had had to think about.
 
He’d had to have a plan; he’d had to know exactly what to do before this all blew up in their faces.
 
Kenny Ross was not going to take his family away from him.
 
Whatever the result of this DNA test, Michael was going to have to confront Kenny.
 
He had to understand the situation here.
 
He had to understand who was going to win this battle, once and for all.
 
Because Michael Walsh had no intention of losing.

***

“Jesus, Bobby, what
do
you look like?”
India
couldn’t help laughing as she bumped into Bobby on the landing.
 
He’d obviously come straight from a night out, or at least she hoped that was his excuse because he was decked out in the most hideous brightly coloured shirt wearing a large sombrero and carrying a cocktail that looked like every colour of the rainbow in a glass with the obligatory parasol stuck in the top. All he needed was a piñata under his arm and he’d be screaming stereotypical tourist in
Mexico
.

Bobby looked at her, pulling a face.
 
“Miguel says I look great.”

“Miguel?”
India
asked, raising an eyebrow.

“The extremely cute cocktail waiter you’ve had setting things up downstairs for the past two days?”
 
He looked at her with an expression that said she should know exactly who Miguel was.

She thought about it for a second.
 
They’d had heaven knows how many people running around the place setting things up and sorting things out.
 
But not that many cute ones.

“Oh ...
that
Miguel.
 
Dark brown hair and a killer smile with the ability to mix a fantastic Long Island Iced Tea?”

Bobby sighed.
 
“Yes.
 
That
Miguel.
 
Well, I was helping him slice his limes yesterday and we just hit it off.
 
I think I may be in the throes of a little romance here, angel.”

“Damn!
 
Is he
gay
?
 
Me and Charley thought we’d found some decent eye candy there.
 
We spent a very pleasant hour last night getting him to talk dirty in Spanish then making him bend over frequently just so we could eye up his backside.
 
I could have sworn he was flirting with us.”

“Yes, well, you may be beautiful, princess, but some men just don’t get it.
 
And despite what I’ve tried to teach you your gaydar is so weak it’s practically pointless.”

“Bobby, take the sombrero off will you.
 
I can’t take you seriously.
 
And why the hell are you dressed like that anyway?”

“Miguel had a paella party at his apartment last night ... I’m telling you, angel, the way he controls his castanets could bring tears to a man’s eyes.”

“Ok, this is all getting a bit too surreal for me now.
 
I’m taking this little guy for a lie down.”

“Oh, give him to me for a cuddle first, will you?
 
He is my Godson after all.”

“Yeah, and I’ll be revoking that role if I ever see him in a shirt like that.”
 
India
handed him over to Bobby as Kenny walked up the stairs towards them.
 
In a white t-shirt and jeans, his hair slightly longer again, his tanned face covered in stubble, he looked heart-stoppingly handsome.
 
He was almost forty years old now and he still had it all.
 
He still had the ability to make
India
feel breathless, not to mention Bobby, although he was more obvious.

“Oh, would you look at that?” he sighed, a dreamy look taking over his face. “He’s like a vision of heaven, isn’t he?”

India
looked at Bobby, half smiling, trying not to laugh again at the sight of him in that shirt and sombrero with a cocktail in one hand and a baby in the other.
 
“What happened to Miguel?”

“Miguel is more than likely just a fantasy for a few days, angel.
 
Kenny Ross is a permanent reality.”

She couldn’t help laughing now, smiling at Kenny as he approached them.

“Hey there.
 
Everyone ok?” Kenny asked.

“Oh, I’m fine thanks, Kenny.”
 
She looked at Bobby again, still smiling.
 
“You alright there, Bobby?”

He threw her a look then smiled that smile he reserved especially for Kenny. “I’m just great, thank you.”
 
He handed Ethan back to
India
.
 
“Right, I’d better get this cocktail to Charley.
 
She said she wanted something to settle her nerves and this is one of Miguel’s specialities.”

“That thing’s almost fluorescent,”
India
laughed.
 
“What the hell’s in it?”

“You don’t want to know, princess, but Miguel says it works wonders.”

“At what?
 
Paint stripping?” Kenny said, as they watched Bobby flounce along the landing to the room Charley was using to get ready in.
 
“And who’s Miguel?”

“Don’t ask,”
India
smiled, as they walked along the hallway.

“I’m gutted.
 
I always thought
I
was the one.”

“Oh, you are, Kenny.
 
You absolutely still are,”
India
laughed, walking into Ethan’s large and airy nursery.
 
It was decorated in neutral yellow and it was a bright and beautiful room with cartoon characters on the walls, clouds and blue sky painted on the ceiling and cushions and soft toys scattered all over the place.

There was an adjoining door that led to another small suite of rooms that Emma used on the days when she stayed over, because she didn’t live-in permanently, but she was there whenever they needed her and they wanted her to have somewhere to call her own when she did stay over.

India
gently lay Ethan down in his cot, placing Thumper, his favourite cuddly rabbit, beside him, leaning over to kiss his tiny cheek.
 
Kenny looked at the undeniably gorgeous baby boy that lay there asleep, oblivious to the complicated world around him.

“He gets more beautiful every day.”

India
said nothing.
 
A sudden wave of nervousness had hit her and she walked away from the cot and over to the window, looking out at the spectacular view that stretched out ahead.

“Is he mine,
India
?”

And there it was.
 
The question she’d been dreading.
 
But it was a question she knew had been coming, she’d have been stupid to think it was never going to appear. She’d just been surprised he hadn’t asked it sooner, especially as they’d had so much time together promoting ‘The Wedding Convention’.
 
There’d been so many opportunities for him to say something then, so why hadn’t he?

But now it was out in the open she didn’t know what to do.
 
She should have been prepared for it, she should have worked out something to say but what
could
she say?
 
So, instead, she focused on the finishing touches being put to the wedding arch down below, the remaining chairs being put in their places and a marquee further up the garden being erected for the party afterwards.
 
She focused on anything other than what was happening in that room.

She could feel Kenny looking at her but she tried not to meet his eyes.
 
If she did that then they’d have to talk about this, and she wasn’t sure she was ready to do that.

“
India
?
 
Is he mine?”

“He looks like Michael.
 
Can’t you see that, Kenny?”

“To be fair, he doesn’t really look like anyone just yet, does he?”

India
turned round and faced him.
 
She couldn’t avoid this any longer.
 
It was childish to think she could just bury her head in the sand when this wasn’t going to go away.

“We slept together once during that time, Kenny.
 
Once.”

“And we didn’t use any protection.”

“We should have done.”

“What’s the point in going over that now?
 
We didn’t, the dates add up and he
could
be mine.”

“
He
has a name, Kenny.
 
Look, I was sleeping with Michael so much back then, any chance we got ... twice, three times a day when we were in the same city ...”

“I don’t want to know that,
India
.”

“Well you need to hear it because you need to know that the chance of Ethan being yours is so small it’s not even worth talking about.”

“But it’s a chance.
 
Isn’t it?”

She turned away again, folding her arms against herself and staring out at the garden again, wishing this wasn’t happening.
 
All she wanted was to be with her baby and her husband and know that this wasn’t a situation she had to deal with.

“You can’t run away from this,
India
.”

He touched her arm gently but she shook him off.

“Why now, Kenny?
 
Why choose to do this now?
 
Why not earlier?
 
Why not bring it up when we had all that time together doing publicity for the movie?
 
Why wait until now?”

“Because I wanted you to have some time with him.
 
I’m not that much of a bastard that I wanted to ruin those first few months with your baby.”