Alex shrugged. ‘You might want to think it over before you do anything.’
Nick looked at the photo again. He had a feeling. He didn’t reckon a DNA test would change the fact that was staring him in the face. And Fran said she needed him to make contact urgently. There wasn’t time to go looking for a legal expert. He could do that later if necessary.
‘Listen. Can you keep this to yourself? Just until I’ve had a chance to find out what it’s all about? Don’t say anything to Mum. There’ll only be fallout and histrionics.’
Alex nodded solemnly. ‘You want me to keep it a secret from Maggie?’
‘I wouldn’t ask you to, normally. But it’s my secret, not yours, and as you pointed out I might not be the dad at all.’
‘Fair enough. There’s no sense in getting everyone excited about the idea of a new family member until you know if it’s true.’
‘Right.’
‘Let me see the photo again.’ Alex took the phone from his brother’s hand and studied it carefully. ‘I’ve got a feeling you’re a dad though.’
‘Same.’
‘Let me know as soon as you get the test result. You don’t need me to tell you to be careful how you handle this. The press getting hold of it could give you a lot of grief. I can think of one or two journalists who’d have a field day with a piece on Nick Wells abandoning a baby at birth and refusing to acknowledge that she’s his!’
‘That’s not how it is.’
‘It doesn’t matter. You know that.’
Nick had to physically hold back from face-palming. His reputation in the press was mud. He’d been making a real effort to change. He was tired of the love-rat image which had followed him around for the last ten years. He hadn’t minded when they were acting in hit TV show Mercy of the Vampires in LA. In fact he’d thrived on it – part of the hype that went with heading up the cast with his brother.
‘If it’s true it’s personal. Not for public consumption.’
‘You may not have a choice. You need to tread carefully. Fran didn’t want anything from you for eleven years? And suddenly now she does?’
Coming back into the apartment Maggie made a beeline for the gift basket. She untied the ribbon, and rustled the cellophane wrapping in a flurry of anticipation revealing soft toys and an array of cute presents. ‘This is gorgeous Nick. Thank you.’
‘I have a confession,’ he said, ‘I had a personal shopper pick stuff out. I don’t know the first thing about babies.’
‘Join the club. Funnily enough not many of us do until we have one of our own.’
Alex threw a look of love towards his wife. ‘In our case two.’
Injured by Fran’s email Nick bit back his emotions and buried his fear.
One month later in Cornwall
W hat in the world have we here? It’s Sleeping Beauty himself.
Layla set down her paint pots and brushes and stared at the sight of a half-naked hot man asleep on the sofa. He shouldn’t be there, but she wasn’t complaining. The sight of Nick Wells’ broad bare chest, golden-tanned and muscle-sculpted, would brighten up anybody’s morning. And if anybody’s morning needed brightening, it was hers.
She was quite sure she’d never fantasized about the actor – she wasn’t even a fan of vampire dramas. But if she did fantasize about him, which of course, she didn’t, it wouldn’t be about watching him sleep. She bit her lip, looking on dreamily. Because actually he looked beautiful – like a living, breathing statue of an ancient god in a fabulous museum of art.
Ophelia, the stray dog Maggie adopted on that day in November when Alex had come to Porthkara to propose, had trotted good-naturedly in at Layla’s heels. She sat, head tipped to one side, looking disapprovingly at the sleeping male vision. One arm thrown over his head, it obscured half his face. The line of his lips drew her eyes. A shimmer of unexpected, inappropriate and highly inconvenient awareness hit Layla full force. Ophelia switched her focus from Nick to Layla as if she knew.
‘Don’t look at me like that,’ she told her in a whisper. What with everything that was going on in her best friend’s life she’d happily offered to take care of the dog, but Maggie hadn’t mentioned a thing about Nick. What was he doing in Porthkara when Alex was in London anyway?
She checked her mobile phone. No new texts. Hardly surprising given the signal was so patchy.
The landline gave a shrill ring and she dived to pick up quickly before it could do it again and disturb Nick. She glanced over at him. Luckily he was dead to the world.
‘Hello?’ She answered in a barely-there whisper and tiptoed towards the kitchen. Still fast asleep Nick stirred and rolled over on the sofa revealing a horrendous bruise around the eye that had been hidden by his arm before.
Crikey!
Tail wagging Ophelia followed her. Ear to the phone Layla closed the door noiselessly and leant her back against it.
‘Layla? Is that you?’ Maggie’s voice on the phone made her want to cry. ‘I’m so sorry about Joe. You must be devastated. What was he thinking? He must be out of his mind. Are you okay?’
‘I’ve been better.’ Her heart sank. Maggie had seen the photos on Joe’s timeline. She hadn’t talked to her mum yet and the thought of facing Joe’s parents made her ill. But if Maggie had seen the pictures, so had everyone else.
‘Would you like me to come to Porthkara?’
She ached to tell her best friend, ‘Yes, come right away, I need you’ but it wouldn’t be fair and anyway it wouldn’t change anything, she’d have to face Joe’s big reveal on her own.
‘No, it’s okay. Look, there’s something you don’t know. Joe and me, we were finished a while ago. So technically he hasn’t done anything wrong.’
‘Flip Layla. I can’t believe you’ve been keeping something like that to yourself. You two have been through a bad patch, but it’s no excuse for what he’s done.’
‘It’s more than a bad patch. It’s over. I’m just sorry I didn’t tell anyone.’
‘I wish you’d told me. Why didn’t you?’
Layla’s back slid down the door and she sat on the kitchen floor feeling crumpled and unsure. ‘I didn’t know how to. And you had so much great stuff happening I didn’t want to spoil things.’ She closed her eyes fighting back tears, finally admitting, ‘I was in denial. I guess maybe I thought we could fix it. I was waiting for him to come home.’
‘He shouldn’t have gone in the first place. I can’t believe how selfish he’s been. He should have come home months ago. And now this? I’d like to give him a piece of my mind. Are you sure you don’t want me to come down there?’
‘I’ll be fine. Honest. You mustn’t worry. How are the babies?’ Layla changed the subject, holding back from opening up and confessing that she felt like she was living in a bad dream, multi-tasking like a crazy person, and wishing the ground would open up and swallow her whole. ‘I’m making a start on their room today.’
‘Beautiful. And exhausting. I’d no idea how full on twins would be.’
‘On the subject of twins … What exactly is Nick doing here?’
‘He’s arrived already?