Chapter 11 #3
While her age and the euphemisms for ‘plump’ varied from paper to paper, the story was almost identical in them all.
They said that Tina and Will had had a blazing row on the day his father died, several hinting that Tina’s attendance at a 2Tone concert was the cause of the quarrel.
The tone of some of the articles was slyly censorious on this point.
One noted that ‘Just hours after Will learned of his father’s death, Tina was spotted partying with the Cassidy brothers at a 2Tone concert in Florence’s Mandela Forum’, while another commented that she had ‘left Will to grieve alone in the €6 million Tuscan mansion’, insinuating that it was her fault he had turned elsewhere for consolation.
But the sly digs at Tina didn’t make Kate feel any better about her part in the affair – especially not when it came to the bit where Tina had returned early from the concert to find Kate giving him a blow job.
‘Oh God, I can never go out again!’ she wailed, as she waded through one paper after another. Whether it was just a slow news day or because Tina was such a favourite with the gutter press, the story had been prominently splashed in every one of the tabloids.
‘Look on the bright side,’ Freddie said. ‘At least now you won’t have to break the news to Brian.’
‘Unfortunately, it’s not even good for that. Brian lives in a bubble as far as this sort of thing is concerned. Wait – I haven’t seen that one.’ She pointed to the paper Ken had pushed to the bottom of the pile.
‘I’m afraid you made its front page.’ Ken said, and reluctantly handed it over.
Kate gasped. Under the headline there was a large picture of a distraught Tina driving away from the villa and a smaller inset of Kate, which she recognised as having been taken a couple of years ago at one of Lorcan’s opening nights. ‘Oh no!’ she wailed.
The article was by far the most damning piece, portraying Kate as a conniving sexual predator, just waiting to pounce as soon as Tina’s back was turned.
Kate knew that Tina was the darling of this particular paper, having a close relationship with the editor, so it was hardly surprising, but that didn’t make it any easier to take.
‘Well, so much for keeping a low profile,’ she said on the verge of tears.
‘It’s just a load of old rubbish,’ Ken said. ‘Don’t pay any attention.’
* * *
That was easier said than done. It wasn’t long before the phone was ringing. Her mother was the first. ‘I’ve just seen the papers, darling. Marvellous news about you and Will!’ she trilled.
‘Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it marvellous, Mum.’
‘Your father and I are just off to England for Philip’s funeral,’ Grace continued, ‘but I couldn’t go without ringing to tell you how delighted I am.’
Kate could hardly believe her ears. ‘Have you actually read the papers?’
‘Of course,’ Grace said breezily. ‘Like I said, it’s great news.
I really couldn’t be happier for you.’ There was a momentary pause.
‘I suppose this means it’s off with the Tree-hugger?
’ her mother asked tentatively. ‘You know, I didn’t like to say anything before, but I never thought he was right for you, sweetheart. ’
‘You hid that well, Mum.’
‘And I never thought Tina was good enough for Will either,’ Grace rushed on.
Kate was torn between extreme irritation and gratitude. Her mother was infuriating, but she couldn’t help feeling touched that she didn’t automatically take it as read that Will was out of her league, as she knew many would – Rachel, for instance.
‘Well, I’ll be seeing Will later on. I’ll give him your love, shall I?’
‘Please don’t say anything, Mum.’
‘Better yet, why don’t you come with us?’
‘I don’t think that’s a good idea.’
‘Well, I suppose you’re right – it would probably be best to wait until all this blows over.’
‘Mum, have you actually seen what they wrote about me?’ she asked in exasperation.
‘You mean the way they keep getting your age wrong? I know it’s annoying, darling, and it’s a shame they printed that awful picture of you before you’d lost all the weight.’
‘No, I don’t mean that. I mean the things they said about me. They made me sound like a conniving bitch—’
‘Or a man-eating slut,’ Grace conceded.
‘I can’t ever go out in public again!’ Kate whined.
‘Oh, don’t be silly, darling,’ Grace said. ‘It’ll be forgotten in no time. Besides, you know what they say – there’s no such thing as bad publicity.’
‘Mum!’ Kate groaned in exasperation. ‘That may be true for people who want publicity in the first place. I don’t.’
‘Nonsense, darling! Everyone wants publicity nowadays. It’s the latest thing.’
‘Well, I don’t. What would I do with it?’
* * *
Of course, Conor had the answer to that one. ‘The public aren’t all going to be on Tina’s side by any means,’ he told her. ‘Everyone loves to see someone like her get her comeuppance – especially other women. There’ll be a backlash and you can use it to your advantage, if you play it right.’
‘But I don’t want to be on a reality-TV show.’
‘It doesn’t have to be that.’
‘Or do a kiss and tell,’ she said flatly, ‘or endorse a range of kinky underwear for fat girls, or write a sex column or have my own cookery show on TV.’
‘Well, there are plenty of other things you can do,’ Conor continued, undaunted. ‘You really should get a publicist…’
Kate sighed, hardly listening any more. At least she didn’t have to worry about her family feeling she’d shamed them, she thought wryly. They seemed to regard it as the next best thing to winning the lottery.
Later in the day, she was surprised to get a phone call from Louise. ‘Kate, I’m sorry about all this hassle you’ve been getting in the press,’ she said. ‘I know how miserable it must be for you.’
Kate was momentarily taken aback by Louise’s apparent omniscience, but then she realised that of course she would be aware of anything in the media concerning Will.
‘I wish I could say it’ll get better, but I don’t think it’ll go away for a while yet, not with Tina involved. She’s sure to milk it for all it’s worth. You know she’s a client of Dev Tennant?’
‘Yes, I know,’ Kate sighed. Dev Tennant was the most powerful publicist in Britain, revered and reviled in equal measure for his Machiavellian ability to manipulate the media and public opinion.
‘We haven’t made Will aware of any of this stuff yet,’ Louise was telling her. ‘Obviously it’s not such a big story in England, so he’s not likely to see it. And even if any of the English tabloids pick it up, I’m sure Antonia Bell would never get them.’
‘No, I don’t imagine she would.’
‘Anyway, look, if you want any help with the media, I can put you in touch with our PR.’
‘I don’t want to do anything to add fuel to the fire. I just want it all to go away.’
* * *
But Louise was right – it got worse. The story continued to run over the next couple of days, fuelled by Tina’s friends popping up to have their say.
Every member of her coterie who had stayed at the villa was tracked down to comment on the story.
Their impressions of Kate were far from flattering, dismissing her as someone they had barely noticed and expressing astonishment that Will had even been aware of her.
They put down his lapse to derangement caused by grief over his father’s death and characterised Kate as a big, awkward girl, hopelessly out of her depth in the glamorous world at the villa where she had been surrounded by celebrities.
Just when it looked as if the story was fizzling out, Tina rekindled it by breaking her silence, ‘speaking of her heartache for the first time’ in an ‘exclusive’ interview in her pet tabloid, which was promptly picked up by all the others.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and Tina had more fury than most. She played her wronged-woman role to the hilt.
But what really tore Kate apart was what she said about Will.
She told the interviewer how later that night, after Kate had left, Will had stayed up for hours telling her he still loved her and pleading with her to give him a second chance.
Tina said she had believed him when he said that his dalliance with Kate had meant nothing, but she didn’t know if she could forgive him, and she needed time apart to think things over.
The next few days were a feeding frenzy for the press, and Kate couldn’t go outside the door without being snapped by paparazzi and hounded by reporters.
Will rang her mobile several times, but she didn’t pick up.
Reading how he felt in the papers was bad enough.
She didn’t need to hear him spell it out to her.
It was no consolation that the backlash against Tina had started, as Conor predicted.
Rival tabloids took sides, one even conducting a poll, which came out sixty-forty in favour of Kate.
Columnists used the story to fuel a debate about ‘curvy’ girls versus ‘stick insects’, holding up Kate as a kind of heroine to ‘real’ women.
They ran pictures of Kate and Tina, side by side, inviting their readers to decide whose figure was preferable.
Tina’s favourite tabloid retaliated with a dazzlingly beautiful picture of Tina juxtaposed with one of Kate looking like a sleep-deprived, mentally subnormal bag lady while she bawled out a photographer who had been chasing her the previous day.
Beside her, Tina was a creature from a different species, ethereally beautiful, cool and elegant.
The implication was clear: no man worthy of the name would choose Kate when they could have this.
Nonetheless, she had her admirers and all sorts of offers flooded in – everything from modelling lingerie for ‘bigger’ girls to taking part in the inevitable reality-TV show.
She even received a couple of marriage proposals from lonely men who had seen her picture in the paper and liked the look of her.
Every day brought a new batch of offers, from the mundane to the truly bizarre.
She refused them all, despite Conor’s protests.
‘There’s a lot of goodwill towards you at the moment,’ he advised. ‘You should use it to your advantage.’
‘I don’t want to be some kind of plump-girl icon.’
‘It won’t last for ever, you know,’ he admonished.
‘Promise?’