Devoted: The Blackwell Lessons Part 37

'Plenty. But I think the baby is sleeping now. And growing. I feel I'm getting bigger by the second. I'm enormous.' I put my hand over Marc's on my stomach.

'You look beautiful,' he says.

The baby kicks against our hands and we both laugh.

'Are you trying to tell Mummy and Daddy something?' I ask.

'For certain,' says Marc. 'Our baby is hearing Daddy trying to look after Mummy, and telling Mummy not to be so headstrong.' He puts an arm around my shoulder. 'Let's go to the party.'

'Thank you.'

'Baz will be there, I take it?'

'Of course. Is that a problem?'

'No problem.'

'Baz was saying something earlier,' I say. 'About you being a different person when you and he were friends.'

'I was a different person. Someone I'm glad you never met.'

'But I did meet that person,' I say. 'I met him when I started Ivy College. And I loved him.'

'No, you didn't meet him,' says Marc, his blue eyes clear and beautiful. 'I changed when I met you. And I don't ever want you to meet the man I was before. I was cold, angry and violent.'

'Violent?'

'Forget I said that.'

71.

When Marc and I arrive back on set, the party is all set up and everyone is drinking, eating and laughing.

Spanish music plays and a big paella steams in the corner by a stack of hay bales.

'I thought it was supposed to be medieval?' I say, as Nadia half fills my gla.s.s with red wine.

'Sorree,' she replies. 'I always bring a little Spanish. No matter what the theme. You sure you only want half a gla.s.s?'

'Half is plenty,' I say, rubbing my pregnant stomach.

'Marc?' Nadia waves the bottle at him.

'Not right now. Thank you.'

I feel someone tap my shoulder.

'Jen!' I shriek, seeing her behind me.

Her s.h.i.+ny blonde hair is straight and sleek as usual, and she's wearing a structured cream dress with black piping.

'Babes!' She throws her arms around me, then holds me back and stares. 'I can't believe it. You're even bigger than last week. How is that possible?'

'Babies have a habit of growing.'

'Yours certainly does. It's going to be huge.'

'G.o.d, don't say that. I'm worried enough about the birth as it is.'

'About that. I've been looking into this great hypnosis stuff. I'll tell you all about it.'

'Not before you say hi to your fiance,' says Leo, sidling up to us and putting an arm around Jen's shoulder. 'h.e.l.lo there beautiful.'

He pulls Jen to him and gives her a long, slow kiss.

From across the room, Sigourney shouts, 'Get a room!'

Jen frowns. 'Sigourney had better watch it.'

'Don't pay any attention,' says Leo. 'It's what she wants. Just ignore her. Come on. You need a gla.s.s of wine.'

'No. I need a bottle of wine. And even that might not calm me down.'

'Come on my beautiful bride-to-be,' says Leo. 'She's just not worth it.'

As the night wears on, Sigourney gets more and more drunk.

I can't help watching her. Nor can most of the room. She's a walking car crash.

First, she slurs her words. Then she shouts and sings. Finally, she throws her arms around the cameramen, telling them how s.e.xy they are much to Baz's annoyance.

When Sigourney starts slow dancing with a sound man, Baz comes storming over to us.

'I should just call it a day,' he says, downing beer from a metal tankard. 'I mean, how much can one man take? She's just not worth the aggro.'

'Then why don't you?' asks Marc. 'There are plenty more women out there.'

Baz sighs. 'Why do I always like the crazy ones?'

'She's nowhere near as crazy with you as she was with me,' says Leo. 'Maybe you guys can really make it work.'

'Blimey, how crazy was she with you then?' says Baz, watching Sigourney grope the sound man's behind.

'Totally crazy. Believe me, you don't want to know.'

'Lucky you've found me now,' says Jen with a winning smile. 'I'm totally sane.'

'I'll be the judge of that,' says Leo.

'Hey!' Jen swats his arm. 'I'm going for a makeup check, okay? You can talk about your ex-girlfriend while I'm gone, because I really do not want to know. Back in a sec.'

'Yeah right,' says Leo. 'You're doing your makeup? It won't be a sec. It'll be ten minutes.'

'You know me so well.'

'So what's happening with you and Sigourney now?' I ask Baz.

'I f.u.c.king love her, don't I?'

Marc raises an eyebrow. 'Then you're in trouble.'

'f.u.c.k off Marc. Who are you to judge Sigourney? You married a student from your university.'

'Sigourney's bad news. You know it. And I know it. And for the record, I never wanted anything to do with Sophia while she was my student. But what happened happened. And I spend every day feeling thankful that it did.'

'Lucky you,' Baz downs the rest of his pint and slams the tankard on a fold-out table. 'Mr Marc Blackwell, so holier than thou. You forget I know all about you. All about you. G.o.d help Sophia when she finds out the truth. What do you reckon Marc? How about I tell her right now?'

'I don't like where this conversation is headed,' says Marc.

'Does she know why she saw you on set a few months back? But you told her you weren't there?'

Marc's blue eyes darken. 'I'm warning you Baz. Say anything to upset my pregnant wife and you'll regret it.'

'Are you threatening me?'

'No.' Marc's eyes are cold and hard. 'I'm making a promise.'

72.

The look in Marc's eyes scares me, and I remember what Baz said before, about Marc being lethal. That's a pretty good description of the way he looks right now.

What is going on? What is Baz talking about? So Marc was on set?

'Hey.' Baz slaps Marc on the arm. 'Come on. This is stupid. What are we fighting for?'

'You tell me,' Marc growls.

'Look, Sigourney is driving me crazy. And the fact you banged her once ...' Baz shrugs his big shoulders. 'I can't stand it. Actually can't stand the thought of it. She's always b.l.o.o.d.y asking about you too. I don't know if it's just to mess with my head or what.'

'I'm telling you,' says Marc. 'The girl's bad news. Don't shoot the messenger.'

'You're right.' Baz spies a waiter with a tray of red wine. 'Have you got any beer mate?'

The waiter looks startled. 'Um ... beer?'

'Beer. You know. Brown stuff. Pint of.' Baz grabs his empty tankard and plonks it on the tray. 'There's a good lad.'

The waiter nods and hurries away.

'Look at her.' Baz nods at Sigourney, who's grinding her hips against a sound man and laughing. 'She's so f.u.c.king beautiful. Why does she have to be such a head case? Why can't I fall for a nice one?'

Marc's lips quirk into a tiny smile. 'That's just not you Baz. You need a fixer upper. Always have.'

Sigourney sees Baz watching her and saunters towards him, her slim hips swaying.

'Talking about me?' she slurs.

'Yep,' says Baz. 'So what you want to go home with the sound man? Because if you do, I'm telling you, it's over.'

'If you bothered to pay me attention, I wouldn't have to go find it elsewhere.'

'You want to find it elsewhere?' Baz growls.

'Oh, so you're jealous now?' Sigourney's eyes narrow. 'Too little, too late. I told you to pick me up this morning. But you were too busy.'

'Christ Sigourney my mum had a hospital appointment-'

'Whatever. There's always an excuse. Now when I was with Leo here ...' Sigourney walks up to Leo and slides her long fingers into his blond hair. 'He paid me attention.'

'Come on Sigourney.' Leo grabs her wrist. 'You're drunk. Haven't you made enough of a show already?'

'You want a show, Leo Falkirk? Because I can give you a show.'

'No thanks,' says Leo.

Sigourney's eyes narrow. 'Well screw you then!' She pushes him away.

'Hey!'

Jen appears from nowhere and slaps Sigourney hard round the face.

The slapping sound rings around the set, and everyone turns to stare.