Chapter Twenty-One
‘You’re what?’
‘Pregnant, up the duff, in the family way. You know, with child, that sort of thing. I could go on?’
Paddy sat braced, her eyes not leaving Hal’s incredulous face for a second.
‘Well congratulations, I suppose, but what’s this got to do with me? ’
Paddy watched as he stood up and walked over to the drinks table and poured a glass of water. She wasn’t quite sure what to say, the penny didn’t seem to have dropped and she wasn’t sure how to proceed as he continued on, refilling her glass of water.
‘I should have thought you’d want to get this silly marriage annulled as fast as possible. Duncan will obviously want to get married. Or are you both terribly modern?’
Paddy listened to his garbled ramblings and cut him off.
‘Duncan is my agent. The baby is yours.’
The silence extended and Hal picked up her glass of water and finished it in one go. Realising he had poured it for her, he got up and poured another glass. He stood and looked out the window and Paddy wished desperately that she could see his face.
‘I said—’
‘I heard what you said but it’s quite ridiculous. How can I possibly be the father? I’m engaged.’
Paddy tilted her head, rubbing away her unshed tears. ‘I’m not convinced being engaged is a very practical sort of contraception.’
Hal grimaced. ‘No, of course, that was a stupid thing to say. I meant to say we used contraception. I mean you are on the pill, aren’t you?’
Paddy pulled at a hang nail on her empty ring finger. What was the point of being on the pill? She so rarely had sex and wasn’t in a stable relationship. Why flood her body with unnecessary hormones? At least that had been what she had told herself. In hindsight it seemed like the most stupid decision of her life.
‘You are on the pill, surely?’
Paddy shook her head, not trusting her voice.
‘But condoms aren’t one hundred per cent effective. How incredibly irresponsible of you!’ His voice was now rising in disbelief.
‘Of me! Why didn’t you ask? Why is this my fault?’
‘Well, you’re the one who’s pregnant. And anyway,’ he said, something dawning on him, ‘how do you know it’s mine? We only slept together once and it was months ago. I can’t be the father.’
A wave of rage swept over her. She so rarely got angry; she knew he was unlikely to be thrilled by the news but this instant denial made her feel sick.
‘Of course you’re the sodding father. What sort of girl do you think I am? The only person I have had sex with in the past year is you. Do you think I sleep around or something?’
Paddy watched as he recoiled, and her temper ignited. Grabbing the plate of biscuits in front of her she threw them at him. Not waiting to see his reaction, she shoved her chair back and ran out of the room. She didn’t want to see Duncan or the solicitors; she was so ashamed and felt horribly rejected. Flinging open the front door she ran out onto the street.
‘Look out!’ a voice yelled above the noise of the traffic.
The next thing she knew she was wrapped up in Hal’s firm embrace. He had rushed out after her and pulled her back from the path of a furious cyclist. She’d been so upset by his taunts that the baby could be anyone’s that her vision was blinded by tears. She had tried to run across the road but hadn’t spotted the cyclist speeding in and out of the traffic.
Now, standing in the middle of a busy pavement, she stood shaking, as Hal wrapped his arms around her. The two stood silent, breathing heavily. The noise of the London traffic died away until all Paddy could hear was Hal’s heart beating rapidly. This was what she wanted. All that she wanted.
‘Come on,’ said Hal, his voice hoarse with emotion. ‘Let’s find somewhere to sit down and I’ll start by apologising for the umpteenth time.’
‘Henry! Henry! My god. Put that woman down!’
Paddy turned and looked at a beautiful blonde, dressed head to toe in this season’s fashions. She could have walked straight out of a display. Even her bag and shoes were this year’s model.
As the woman looked at Paddy she did a double take.
‘Oh. My. God! Henry, do you know who you just saved? This is Holly McDonald!’ Taking Hal’s pole-axed expression as ignorance, she laughed. ‘She was the model wearing the dress you were thinking of buying me the other day. You know in last month’s Vogue?’ Seeing that she was getting no response from Hal she turned to Paddy. ‘Oh wow, Holly, are you alright? This is my fiancé, Henry Ferguson; he just saved your life. This is incredible. Quick Henry, take a photo!’
Gushing, she thrust her phone at Henry urging him to take a photo of the pair of them. Snatching it out of his hand she looked at the photo he had taken and mocked him. ‘You’ve cut Holly out completely.’
Showing it to Holly, she laughed. ‘Honestly, men. He only has eyes for me, isn’t he terrible? Here, let’s have a selfie.’ And she flung her arm around Paddy squeezing up to her and snapping a few images as Paddy looked bleakly at Hal.
‘Perfect. Gosh, this is so exciting. We were just going to have lunch. Will you join us? Do say yes. You must be so shaken. Are you shaken? You look ever so pale. Henry, why are you just standing there? Hail a cab. No, do it properly. Honestly.’
The idea of spending another single second in this woman’s company filled Paddy with horror. What was Hal doing with such an awful person? Paddy was well used to her type. At fashion week, these women would sit on the front row and pay more attention to the clothes than the human. Even at parties they would be quick to point out that a model was just a working girl, whereas they could buy out the whole of Harrods with just the flick of their husband’s credit card. Never theirs. Obvs. Their smiles would flick on and off as they searched for a more important person to talk to. Always they would be scanning the crowd over your shoulder, looking for the next rung on the ladder. And Hal was marrying one of them.
A taxi pulled up alongside them.
‘I’m afraid I have another appointment,’ she interrupted the woman’s prattle and before either of them could react, Paddy jumped into the cab that Hal had hailed, telling the driver to leave immediately.
From the back of the cab she fired off a few apologetic texts to Duncan. She had to reassure him that she was absolutely fine but she wouldn’t be returning to the meeting and she wouldn’t be signing any paperwork. In turn he told her he had threatened the entire company if so much as a whisper of a meeting got out, their names would be mud. He would deal with the paperwork and leave it with him. His final text to her made her laugh, which, knowing Duncan, had been the intention.
-Btw – baby is going to be so beautiful. At least you screwed up with a total dreamboat!