A Face To Die For (39 page)

Oliver was patience itself throughout all this and she couldn't have wished for a more doting and concerned partner. Our illicit night together, although not forgotten, was never a barrier between us. The horror of all that had happened since had certainly had a neutralizing effect on us. In the past we'd so often openly flirted, now it never occurred.

Overseeing Kate's recovery was a serious business for both of us. Nothing must impede its progress or detract from its importance. An unspoken agreement had taken place between Oliver and me that nothing more between us must take place again. Presumably he'd felt some guilt and remorse too.

He would talk endlessly to me about Kate on the phone though and his deep concern for her gradually helped me too.

'I've been trying today to encourage her to consider another career completely, when she's over all this,' he said, one Saturday evening after visiting her.

I sensed he wanted my agreement.

'Why not?' I replied. 'She could set up her own modelling school, or an agency, open a fashion boutique ... anything like that, especially with all her inside knowledge.' I agreed to talk it over with her myself when I visited her the next day.

Oliver and I had never once discussed Kate's drug habit. He'd known nothing about it until it came to light during her earlier hospital treatment. Because she had been under such intensive care in those first weeks they had been quick to detect her dependency and so a successful detox programme had been actioned. In fact, much of her hallucinating and terror seizures had been due to her drug withdrawal.

'Did
you
know anything about her addiction, Annabel?' Oliver finally asked me one day.

I felt embarrassed to admit I had. 'Yes, I did - up to a point. Although I'd had no idea it had taken quite such a hold over her, until we went to Holland, to the health clinic.'

'I wish I'd known. I was so delighted she was eating better after that trip too. It seems I was blind to so much. To think she was slowly getting hooked out of her tiny mind and I hadn't a clue! She was clever though, covering her tracks.'

'Oliver, loads of models do drugs, some to a lesser degree than others. Mostly they smoke grass and stiff coke, but heroin has started to become a big thing with those who can afford it. It’s possible she was even using that. You remember Daniel who worked for me?'

'Yeah. Kate liked him. Did
he
get her started on it then?'

I nodded. 'Yes, I even got persuaded to try it myself. But thank God I didn't get hooked.’

'Bastards like him should be strung up! Anyway, he got banged up in the end. Best place for him. I remember Luigi once remarking to me how he wished he could think of a way to free you of him. Y’know, it might even have been Luigi who tipped off the drug squad?'

'I didn't think of that! But we'll never know now, will we?' The thought of Luigi again sent an icy stab through my heart. It twisted inside me then slowly dissipated, leaving the old familiar dull ache. Dear God, will this ever stop?

One evening after work, I called to see Kate. I hadn't seen her or Oliver for a couple of weeks. She was now home again, just making occasional visits to the clinic. The grafts had taken and her skin was healing well. Less work had been needed on her face than originally thought and her right eye, although marginally affected by a small scar and an indentation to the side, had cleared up well. In time she was assured that clever makeup would camouflage most of it anyway. It was most encouraging.

She was also plumper and had lost her gaunt, emaciated look at last. Dressed in a burgundy, high-necked cashmere jumper over black velvet trousers, she looked quite radiant. Her dark hair had regained its shine and it had been cut in a flattering new layered, shorter style. Feathered over the sides of her scarred cheeks, it framing her face beautifully.

As we settled down with a bottle of white Cabernet to chat, she grinned across at me.

'I've something to tell you, but I promised to wait until Oliver gets in.' She smiled over the rim of her wine glass and I detected a twinkle in her eyes.

'Something exciting?'

'Sort of. You'll be surprised. But I must wait. If I say anymore, it'll spoil it.' Laughing, she curled herself up in her corner of the huge leather sofa.

I couldn't believe this change in her. It was wonderful. This news, whatever it was, must certainly be good news. Maybe Oliver had persuaded her to start up a small modelling school after all? Although, the last time we'd discussed the possibility, she'd not shown much interest.

When Oliver arrived twenty minutes later, he came straight across to kiss Kate and to hug me. 'Have you said anything yet?' he asked Kate, pouring himself a glass of the wine.

'No, I was waiting for you, darling.' She flashed him a secret smile. 'OK then!' They both looked like a couple of happy kids. 'One, two, three! We're having a baby!'

'What!' I gasped. 'But how? I mean, I know
how
, but you didn't think you could, did you?'

'I know, and it's taken me the best part of a week for it to sink in, hasn't it Oliver?'

Oliver nodded, with a self-satisfied grin. 'Not exactly keen initially, were you, my love? But, thank God, the hormones kicked in to change your mind.'

I was overjoyed for them. It couldn't have happened at a better time. No wonder she was looking so well and happy.

'It's fantastic news! I'm delighted. When's it due?'

'Difficult to be too exact, not having proper periods and all that, but they reckon I'm probably about three and a half months, so it's due sometime in March, I think. Oliver reckons it must've happened just before you and I left for Italy, Annabel.'

'So, it could be an Aries then,' I laughed. 'You'll have to watch out, Aries children are very dominant you know. My sister was one.'

'Hey, watch it, Annabel,' Oliver protested, giving me a tiny dig in the arm. I'm an Aries. Nothing wrong with us rams.'

'Well, let's hope it's a girl then!' I laughed, recalling what a true ram Oliver could be.

'Whatever it is, it'll be gorgeous!' said Kate.

With a proud grin, Oliver turned to me. 'You'll agree to be a Godparent, I hope? We'd like that very much, wouldn't we darling?'

Kate nodded, smiling.

'I'd love to. Thanks. '

Instantly, a brief sense of sadness swept over me, knowing that I could only ever be a godparent and never a
real
parent. But I was still pleased to be wanted again, even in that capacity.

I simply couldn't believe the change in Kate. It was as if a miracle had happened. She'd been so thin and unfit before and I knew she'd had no proper periods for years.

A week later, Kate was rushed into hospital with a threatened miscarriage, once more causing her happy mental state to collapse into deep depression.

CHAPTER 29

The days passed and Kate didn't miscarry, although irregular blood spotting continued to cause concern throughout the next two months. The problem, a hormonal imbalance, was eventually corrected with medication. Rest and careful monitoring were also still essential for the remainder of her confinement.

One Saturday morning I was shopping in Harvey Nichols, when Oliver spied me across the makeup counters. He was ordering something for Kate before driving down to Hampshire later to pick up his son Luke for the weekend. Over a coffee he expressed how worried he was about Kate.

'The pregnancy is completely sapping her strength and the baby's drawing unmercifully on whatever it needs. Her body's been deprived for so long, that her system is having a hell of a job coping. We should never have risked her getting pregnant.'

He looked haggard and drew anxiously on his cigarette. 'Of course she'd always thought it unlikely she could conceive and stopped taking the pill ages ago. I feel awful about that now. I should have been more responsible.' He flicked the cigarette pack over and over on the table. 'I should give up these damn things too. Kate has, but I'm careful not to smoke when she's about. She's banned it anywhere near her, insisting it's as bad as smoking herself.'

'So she's taking her pregnancy
that
seriously is she?'

Having been so involved with sorting out Luigi's estate I hadn’t seen much of Kate or Oliver recently.

'Oh yes! The bedrest plus all the care she has to take has made her more so than ever. She has become the archetypal pregnant mum; determined to do
everything
right. Shame it's come a bit late. According to the doctors, all those years dieting, of denying herself proper nourishment - plus the drug addiction, has had a terrible affect on her internal organs. Her kidneys and liver are really struggling. She's very anaemic too.'

'It must be worrying…'

'Yeah. I hate to say it, but in some ways I wish she'd never got pregnant, or at least had it terminated in the early stages. But she'd already had an abortion before, in her teens, and couldn't face another.'

'I see,' I said, fully empathising with Kate's choice to keep the baby. I knew I wouldn't have been able to face a second termination either. Just the idea made me feel quite sick. 'She'll be fine in the end, Oliver. You'll see.'

'I do hope so.'

I eyed the kiddie's jigsaw sticking out of the Harrods bag beside him. 'Are you collecting your son this weekend?'

'Yeah, I haven't seen him for ages with all Kate's problems.' A pensive expression clouded his face.

'So Luke will soon have a baby half brother or sister. How do you think he'll react? Do you foresee any problems?'

'Hope not. It's hard enough as it is, ensuring the little fellow enjoys our access time together.' He looked at me solemnly. 'I'm a fully-fledged member of the divorced father's club at the zoo now, y’know? It's poignant really, us men out for the day with our estranged children giving each other knowing nods as if to say, "Here we go again!"’

He smiled but I felt sad for him. The situation couldn't be easy. I'd known Oliver for quite a few years now but he'd never once talked like this. It was touching.

'So, how about you, Annabel? You're looking heaps better than the last time I saw you.'

'I am thanks, though I've had to return to Italy twice to sort out a few things there, which I find so painful. I really adore the place, especially Tuscany, but it holds such sad memories for me now.' I poured us both another half cup of coffee.

'Of course it does. So you'll have inherited everything then? Sorry, that sounds rude but I assume you must be Luigi's main beneficiary? Has it been very complicated?' He lit another cigarette.

'Actually, no, I haven't inherited it all. And yes, it has been quite complicated. The fact that all his companies are in Italy for one thing and he always kept his business affairs very much apart from our personal life, so I knew very little about them. The shoe and glass factories are the only businesses I have inherited outright but I've appointed others to manage them. I can't possibly do it from here, and nor do I want the involvement. Then there has been the disposal of his various properties. The only one I want to keep for myself is the Tuscany villa. I want my share in the yacht to be transferred to his sister, Maria. Everything else is to be disposed of by the family lawyer.'

'Is that wise? Can you be sure they won't rip you off?'

'Oh yes, it’ll be fine. He's an old family friend. Anyway, I honestly can't be bothered with the worry of it all.'

'So I suppose you now must be worth a pretty packet?'

'Well ... yes, I suppose I am now quite comfortably off. In fact I could easily retire tomorrow,' I quipped, attempting to make light of it. 'But I'd willingly give
all
of it up for things to be the way they were.'

'I know. We all would,' sighed Oliver. 'In fact the only good thing to have come out of all this… is Kate coming to terms with life and kicking the drugs. I just pray everything will now go all right with the baby's birth.'

I agreed, and soon he went off to collect his son.

*

A decision was finally made to sign up nineteen-year-old Holly Roberts to take over from Kate as the new face of
Silk Wrappings
. She would also model for Kate's swimwear collection. A raven haired, green-eyed beauty, she was a lot like a young Kate in appearance and was already causing quite a stir in the business.

Worried about discussing it with Kate, I waited until the first photos for the Christmas perfume advertising campaign were ready for release in November before doing so. They were fabulous shots and I hoped that when she saw them she'd agree I'd chosen a good substitute. I prayed it wouldn't cause her to get too emotional now her own modelling career was over.