He kissed her forehead again. “Hey, don’t worry about that, we’re going nowhere. Dr Goldman’s on his way over to take a look at you then we’re gonna spend the evening in bed watching old movies. How does that sound?”
She pulled away from him slightly, looking up at him. “That sounds perfect. Except that bit about the doctor. I don’t need a doctor, Michael, I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine, you passed out. You don’t pass out for no reason, honey. Let Dr Goldman check you out, ok? No arguments. Come on, into bed and I’ll go sort everything out downstairs.” He kissed her quickly, stroking her face gently. “I’ll be back as soon as I’ve got rid of everyone, ok?” And although he was smiling, inside he was worried. She looked pale and exhausted. Had he been working her too hard? She’d been going non-stop for so long now, maybe it was time they both took a break. When this movie was finished they were going on vacation - decision made.
India was too tired to argue, and as she got into their wonderfully comfortable bed she curled up, closed her eyes, and finally let that tiredness wash over her without fighting it. And she must have drifted off to sleep pretty quickly because the next thing she knew she was being woken by Dr Goldman.
“Where’s Michael?” she asked, pulling herself up into a sitting position, running a hand through her hair as she tried to get her head together. She could have slept for hours but she must have only been out for a few minutes, looking at the time.
Dr Goldman sat down on the edge of the bed, smiling at her. “He’s downstairs. I just want to run a few tests, India. See if we can find out what made you faint.”
“Everyone’s fussing over nothing,” she said, holding out her arm as Dr Goldman prepared to take some blood. “I’m fine.”
“You don’t faint for no reason,” he said, gently piercing her arm with the needle. “So, we’ll do a few tests and see if we can get to the bottom of it.”
“I’ve just been working too hard, that’s all. I haven’t had any real time off in a while.”
“Well, that may be the case, young lady, but we’ll just get these tests done and see for ourselves, ok?”
She looked at him and sighed. “Ok.” It was pointless arguing.
He smiled at her. “It won’t take long. I promise.”
Half an hour later and Dr Goldman returned with the results, sitting down on the edge of the bed, an expression on his face that India couldn’t really read. She looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to tell her that she’d been right, she was fine, she just needed a break.
“Is Michael still downstairs?”
“I wanted to talk to you by yourself first, India. People react differently to what I’m going to tell you, and maybe it’s something you need to take in on your own for a few minutes. We can get him in soon.”
“Is it serious?” She was starting to panic now but Dr Goldman smiled that Californian smile of his and she relaxed slightly.
In his early forties, and a very good friend of Reece’s, Dr Jacob Goldman was a handsome and extremely kind man who had looked after India’s health ever since her arrival in Los Angeles. She could go to him with anything and he’d always be there to help, she knew that. But, the most important thing was - as with most of the celebrity physicians in this town - he was discreet.
“No, it isn’t serious.”
She was still looking at him, still waiting for an answer. “Well? What’s wrong with me?”
He smiled. “You’re pregnant, India. You, young lady, are having a baby.”
CHAPTER 19
Charley opened her eyes and turned over in the huge king-size bed that took up a large part of the bedroom. Jimmy wasn’t there. A small wave of relief washed over her and she turned onto her back, closing her eyes for a second. She wouldn’t be spending the day alone, though. Jimmy never went anywhere without making sure she had her “babysitters”, as she liked to call them, hanging around. They’d be hovering outside the bedroom door right now, listening out to see if she used the ‘phone, which she never bothered doing anymore. What was the point when Jimmy had it bugged? They might think she was stupid but she wasn’t. Far from it.
She sat up and flung off the covers, getting up and going into the en-suite bathroom, stopping to look at herself in the mirror. She truly did look a shadow of her former self. Gone was the beautiful dark hair and the perfect complexion. Jimmy had made her go blonde and it didn’t suit her, and her once flawless skin was now dry and prone to breakouts, which she’d never suffered from before. She knew the drugs weren’t helping but she had to have something to get her through the day. Her whole body ached too, which she knew was because of yesterdays filming, a nightmare of a shoot where Jimmy had stood by and watched as she’d been made to have sex with ten men, one after the other, all for the camera, every second of it recorded. Her once illustrious porn career was now nothing but a sham.
She knew Jimmy got his kicks from making her do things he knew she hated. She didn’t even want to think about some of the things he’d made her do lately, all perfectly legal – just - but things Charley would never normally have considered doing when she’d started out in this business. She knew he got his biggest kicks out of watching her with women though, which was slightly ironic as Charley didn’t mind the girl-on-girl action quite so much. There was always a little bit of female solidarity during those shoots, and whatever they were told to do the majority of the girls she worked with respected their co-stars, which made those days fairly tolerable.
She finished brushing her teeth and dragged a brush through her longer - thanks to extensions - blonde hair. She wondered if India had got the letter. She was close to desperation now. She didn’t know how much more of this life she could take. Sometimes it felt as though she was living on auto-pilot as it was, but without help she had no idea where to turn or how to get out of this mess she was in. Jimmy was dangerous, and maybe it hadn’t been wise to drag India into this but what choice did she have? She didn’t know anyone else she could trust in this town. People were too afraid of Jimmy to do anything that might go against him. India had been her best friend once. Maybe she’d remember that, remember how much they’d used to care for one another and try and help her. If she didn’t then Charley was left with only one other option. And she hoped she’d never have to choose that route.
***
Michael sat up on the bed, dressed for work and almost ready to leave for the day’s location shoot, although he was reluctant to move anywhere in a hurry, with India sat between his open legs, dressed only in white knickers and one of his shirts, leaning back against him, he was perfectly happy right where he was.
He rested his hands gently on her still very flat stomach, his mouth nuzzling her neck. “If you’re coming with me, baby, you’re gonna have to get dressed. And I can’t believe I’m asking you to put clothes on when you look just incredible the way you are.”
She turned her head slightly and kissed his mouth quickly, smiling. They’d made love twice that morning and she didn’t want to let him go, she didn’t want to leave their perfect little world and go outside into reality. They’d only found out she was pregnant yesterday and since then it was almost like they’d been locked inside their own little bubble. The news was still sinking in and they hadn’t told anyone else yet, they hadn’t wanted to until they’d got used to the idea themselves. They’d tell Terry, of course, and Reece and Vince, and India couldn’t wait to tell Kenny. He’d freak at this one! India the tomboy settling down to become a mum! But, as far as announcing it to the world was concerned, it was far too early for that. They weren’t going to make any announcements and they’d make sure nothing was leaked out, either intentionally or unintentionally.
“Maybe another five minutes won’t hurt,” Michael smiled back, letting his hands wander down to her inner thighs. “They can’t really start without the director, can they?” He kissed her neck gently. “Or the leading lady.” He pushed the shirt down over her shoulder and kissed that too, his f
ingers gently stroking her thighs. “A leading lady whom the director is now going to have to keep a very close eye on.”
India closed her eyes as his mouth continued to kiss her shoulder, moving up to her neck. “You can’t be too obvious, Mikey, or people will start talking. We don’t want to give anyone any reason to put two and two together. Besides, it’s early days yet, I’m fine.”
“I can be discreet. Anyway, only a few days to go and we can finally take that much-needed vacation, huh?”
She smiled, turning her head to kiss him again. “I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to that. To get away for a bit ... just you and me.”
“And Junior,” he grinned.
She laughed. “Yeah. And Junior.”
“We’ll go away after Christmas, ok? A few days away from here to get our heads together.”
She turned round and sat astride him, slipping her arms round his neck.
“I’m scared, Michael. Being a mum ... it’s not something I ever really thought about. It’s a bit daunting.”
He slid his arms around her waist and kissed her nose. “I know, baby. I guess I’m a little scared too, but, you ... you’re gonna be a great mom. I know you are.”
She smiled and closed her eyes as he kissed her slowly, so slowly it brought her skin out in goosebumps, and she couldn’t see a time when he wouldn’t do this to her, when he couldn’t make her smile just by looking at her a certain way, when he couldn’t make her knees go weak just by touching her or her stomach flip over with a kiss.
“Come on then, daddy,” she said, climbing off the bed and running into the dressing room. “I guess we’d better get going. The sooner this movie wraps the sooner we can get away from here.”
Michael watched her run off to get ready, pushing himself up off the bed. He couldn’t agree with her more. The sooner he got this movie finished the sooner he could put the final part of his plan into action. And then India Steven really would finally be his.
***
Terry stood on the sidelines, watching his team of kids out on the soccer pitch. They’d come such a long way since he’d joined the school and he was so proud of them. He’d never thought he’d love anything as much as playing professionally but this job was a dream come true for him. He was really motivating these kids and they gave so much back in return. Although he was forever being asked to get autographs from India, Kenny, Michael and Reece, and a day never went by when he wasn’t being asked questions about what it was like being the brother of a famous actress. Little did any of them know that her movie star father was closer than anyone thought. And God knows what was going to happen when that little snippet of information got out.
The surreal events of yesterday were still very fresh in his mind but Terry knew that, for Reece, telling him hadn’t been the hard part. He still had that ahead of him. Telling India was the hurdle they had yet to get over and that wasn’t going to be easy.
Everyone had been summoned over to her and Michael’s tonight, for some reason, and Terry had no idea why. He’d spoken to Reece earlier and he had no idea either. It wasn’t a party, more just popping round for dinner, although popping round for dinner in this town usually consisted of a catered event with chefs being brought in and hired waiters roaming around the place. Even India loved the odd extravagance, but Terry was still far more comfortable with just a beer and a buffet.
He looked at his watch and blew his whistle, signalling to the kids to come and join him on the sidelines.
“Ok you lot, come on, over here!”
They all ran up to him, gathering round him, catching their breath as he threw bottles of water at them.
“That was good. Better than good, it was great! But, we need to keep up that level of commitment if we want to go far in this inter-schools tournament.”
“Do you think we can win this, coach?”
He smiled at them. “Win this? We can sail through it easy and leave the rest standing. If you keep playing like you did out there then we’ve got it in the bag already, but we’ve got to keep up the practise. I know it’s almost Christmas and everyone’s mind’s are on the holidays, but if we don’t put the work in we’ll fall behind because there are some tough teams out there, I know, I’ve been watching them. So, do we have a deal?”
They all shouted at once, high-five-ing him, and he laughed. “Now go get showered, go on. Get out of here.”
“Coach?”
He looked over as Nick, one of his star players, hung back for a second. He was one of the shyer students; great out there on the soccer pitch but quiet and reserved off it. Not your average American sports student. He very much fell into the stereotypical geek category.
“Yeah? Do you want something, Nick?””
“I know you must get asked this loads of times, coach, and you must get sick of it but ... your sister ...”
“What about her?” Terry asked, gathering up the stray soccer balls that were lying around, putting them back in the huge net.
“Could you get me a signed photo? Preferably one from her ‘Viper’ shoot?”
Terry looked at him, trying not to smile because this was the first student brave enough to ask him for one of those photographs.
“You’re pushing it, aren’t you?” Terry said, still trying hard not to smile. It was quite amusing really. They were at that age where India was probably all over their bedroom walls and – actually, he didn’t want to think about what else went on in their bedrooms where India and naked pictures were concerned.
Nick blushed and Terry couldn’t help it. He burst out laughing, and the relief on Nick’s face was evident.
“Sorry, coach, but they dared me to ask you. They said you wouldn’t mind. Would India mind?”
“No, I don’t think she’ll mind,” Terry laughed. “Now go on, get out of here. I’ll see what I can do, ok?”
Terry winked at him and Nick smiled, running off to join the others. This was what happened when you were the brother of one of Hollywood’s sexiest leading ladies and he was slowly getting used to it. Slowly.
Throwing the bag of soccer balls over his shoulder and picking up the odd discarded water bottle, he headed back to his office. He had a pile of paperwork and meetings to get through today and if he didn’t get everything done he’d never get to India’s on time tonight. He didn’t know what was going on but he had a feeling something was happening and he didn’t want to miss it. Whatever it was going to be.
***
“A baby? Shit, India, how’d you let that happen?”
“Well, I could explain it in detail, Kenny, but I thought even you would have realised how babies are made by now.”
India hadn’t been able to contain the news any longer. She’d been planning on telling everyone tonight when they came over for dinner but once Kenny, who was visiting her on the movie set, had sat down in her trailer she hadn’t been able to keep her mouth shut.
He looked at her, smiling a sarcastic smile. “Funny girl. I meant, it obviously wasn’t planned, was it?”
“How do you know? We could have been trying for ages.”
He looked at her again, raising one eyebrow, and she sat back against the sofa, sticking her tongue out at him. “Ok ... no, we didn’t plan it.”
“Are you happy about it?”
She smiled, absent-mindedly laying a hand on her stomach, rubbing it gently. “Yeah. I am.”
“And daddy-to-be?”
“He’s really excited, Kenny. You should see him ... actually, don’t say anything to him yet, ok? I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone before tonight and if he finds out I’ve told you first … just try and look surprised this evening, will you?”
She looked at him and they both burst out laughing. “Christ, I feel about twelve saying that,” she giggled, quickly looking out of the window to see if Michael was about, even though she knew he was busy. She’d spent most of the day just hanging about in the trailer as the majority of her final scenes were due to be filmed tom
orrow, and then that would be it, done.
Kenny looked around the large and modern trailer that India had to herself, every surface covered with vases of white roses, little cards attached to all of them.
“You opening a florists on the side or something?” he asked, standing up and going over to the fridge in the corner. “Jesus, India! You got no beer?”
“Yeah, ‘cos that’s just what a pregnant woman should be drinking.”
“And what about your guests?” he grinned, grabbing himself a can of soda and flinging himself back down beside her. “So, what’s with the flowers?”
She smiled, pulling her knees up and hugging them to her.
“Michael’s been sending them over at regular intervals. White roses are kind of our flower. It was the first one he ever gave me on the night we first ... the night we got together.”
Kenny looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “You’ve gone all weird on me, India.”
She laughed, throwing a cushion at him and he ducked out of the way, laughing too.
“You always seemed so anti-romance though. What’s happened to you?”
“Maybe it was because you haven’t got a romantic bone in your body, Kenny Ross.”
“Isn’t old man Walsh going a bit over the top though.”
“No, he isn’t. It’s lovely. He sends little notes with each one and they’re beautiful.”
“You really have gone all soppy on me. And who am I going to go surfing with now? You can’t get on a surfboard in your condition, can you?”
“I’m not ill you know. But yeah, you’ll have to find a new surfing buddy ‘til I’ve had Junior here. Then maybe Uncle Kenny can teach them to surf too.”
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.”
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