The Guestbook (22 page)

Authors: Holly Martin

BOOK: The Guestbook

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I don’t think it was a case of ‘why did I finally want to be with Annie’, it was more a case of ‘why I wasn’t with her before, why did I fight it for so long’. It wasn’t that I was worried what people thought. The only person I was worried about was Nick and if he could see us what he would think. And I suppose it seemed twisted somehow that he had died and I should benefit from it. But in that time when I thought Annie was dead, that was the lowest point of my life. I know I shouldn’t say that when my brother had died, and I loved Nick so much, but Annie… god the thought of losing her… that was heart breaking. To think about life without her was not a life I wanted to live. And then it finally struck me. That’s what I was doing refusing to be with her. What kind of life was I living denying the thing I wanted most when it was mine for the taking. The will, ha, Nick’s foolish sentimental will, was the cherry on the cake, but not the reason. It was nice to know I had his blessing, but I would have been with her anyway regardless of that. I love her, always have.

And because I’m a sexual Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Yes, that too!

Yes what Judy Fisher wrote all those months ago was true, every single word. Well apart from Olly hitting me. I can only presume the groans, thuds, screams and the glass breaking that she heard was us having sex again. Yes we did row that morning but not about being together, that was a done deal. Olly wanted to end it publicly with Vivienne and I wouldn’t let him. I didn’t want her to look like an idiot in front of the world’s press or for her and Darcy’s relationship to become widely known until Vivienne was ready. So we agreed to continue our relationship in secret until the time was right for Olly to ‘dump’ Vivienne. Every week he would come to stay in Willow Cottage on the pretext of writing his autobiography. In reality, we would spend the week in bed together, talking, laughing, making plans and making love. No one knew, though looking back at the messages we left in this book during that time, we weren’t exactly subtle.

Then came the weekend of Jessica Axe. A last minute booking, she phoned and arrived an hour later. Finding out her husband was having an affair was bad enough, but being played by her husband and his best friend was even worse. Knowing that Ryan slept with her purely to help his mate out was hugely depressing and humiliating and it pushed her over the edge. She attacked Anthony. She didn’t kill him like she thought she had. She had knocked him unconscious and … well not to go into too much detail, but I doubt he’ll be having sex ever again, not since she chopped off his most important part.

I knew something was wrong when I phoned the police. They told me that she could be very dangerous. They told me she had attacked her husband, but they didn’t go into specifics. They kept asking where she was, but of course I didn’t tell them, how could I with Jessica sitting next to me glaring at me. I just thought she was very scared and perhaps he had attacked her. When she made me stay in the house so I wouldn’t phone the police back and tell them where she was, well that was a little scary, but I didn’t think for one minute it was going to turn into a full blown hostage situation.

Olly turning up and texting me what he wanted to do to me only made things worse. Publicly he was still very attached to Vivienne so Jessica saw Vivienne as the poor scorned fiancé and me as the cheating whore. The police turned up, the paparazzi turned up, though quite how they found out I’ll never know.

I could see she was getting scared and the looks she was giving me was of pure hatred. I told her I felt sick and eventually she untied me to take me to the toilet. I fought her, grabbed a frying pan and smacked her over the head with it. She hit the floor like a sack of potatoes and I ran outside, straight into the arms of Olly.

Of course he kissed me, passionately, not caring who saw. Unfortunately, the world’s press was there and captured it on film for everyone to see. The newspapers were filled with it the next day. And the world waited to see what Vivienne’s reaction would be. Olly and Vivienne had planned a big ‘break up’ for the following week and so it seemed we had accidentally brought that ‘break up’ forward. We expected her to stick to the script and fall in to the loving, caring arms of her best friend Darcy and then for her to come out officially a few months later. Although Olly was never supposed to come out of his ‘relationship’ with Vivienne as the bad guy, we had all gotten what we wanted out of it. Me and Olly could now be together publicly and Vivienne could now be with Darcy. The press hounded us for days and poor Olly got a right bashing in the papers.

Then Vivienne gave an exclusive interview, promising to give her full reaction to Olly’s betrayal. Instead, as the interview went out live, Vivienne confessed to everything, that the whole relationship was a sham, that she had persuaded Olly to be her ‘fiancé’, that she had been too scared to come out and declare her love for Darcy to the British press, but now she wasn’t going to hide it any longer. She actually made Olly out to be quite the hero and that he had been forced to keep his relationship with me quiet for months. The press followed us around for a few days and left us alone after that.

Until we got married. They were very interested in that.

And what of Jessica Axe? Well she was arrested for her assault on her husband and kidnapping me but thankfully it was clear the woman was very unhinged and she is now getting some much needed counselling and therapy. Many of her friends and family vouched for her that she was normally a very sane, very together kind of person. The court case is due for next year. I am not pressing charges for her kidnap and assault on me. I’m sure we’ve all had moments when you want to wrap your hands round someone’s throat and shake the life out of them. I remember one such moment when my now husband phoned me in Wales to tell me my cottage had burnt down. Finding out he had lied to me after a seven hour drive back from Wales resulted in many such ‘how do I kill him’ fantasies. Many of us have the good sense not to act on these fantasies, Jessica Axe lost her good sense that weekend and I hope the judge recognises that and doesn’t punish her for a moment of madness.

You’re too soft. I personally would like her thrown in jail for the rest of her life.

Olly!

The woman nearly killed my wife, I’m not going to forgive that so easily.

So yes, now I’m married and I couldn’t be happier. Our first anniversary will be New Year’s Day.

And like Hetty, we have done a bit of travelling too. We actually met up with her and William in Chicago and they stayed with us for a while in New York. But getting pregnant put a temporary stop on our travels and we came back to Olly’s flat in London instead.

So now I’m fat. I swear if I give birth to a baby cow next week I won’t be at all surprised.

I bloody well will be. The scan showed no signs of udders or horns.

And you’re not fat, you’re the most beautiful woman in the world. Always have been, always will be.

Still not sexy enough to be in one of your books though eh?

What Fat Annie Butterworth, not a chance.

Ow!

You know I love you, now there’s more of you to love.

The baby was supposed to be here by now; we booked this weekend thinking that we could bring our child to meet all our family and friends. If the baby does not arrive this weekend, I’m being induced on Tuesday.

I wouldn’t actually mind if I had the baby here, it seems fitting somehow.

We are not having our baby in this cottage, we are having him in hospital where there are doctors and medicines and machines to help if anything goes wrong.

Nothing will go wrong. And who says the baby will be a he?

We have tried everything to bring on the labour. I’ve had spicy curries, long walks, hot baths and we even had sex which was the funniest experience I’ve ever had, we couldn’t stop laughing throughout. But to no avail. The baby seems quite content to stay in there, where it’s warm.

I’m going to bed now, need to conserve my energy for when we have sex again tomorrow.

Really?

Oh yes, I’m actually feeling very horny.

Oh ok then if I must.

Like it’s a hardship for you. You were the one that suggested sex might be the answer.

Purely to get the baby to come, it was completely altruistic.

Yeah right. Come upstairs and rub my back, it’s starting to ache again. Maybe this is it!!!!

We are not having our baby here

Saturday:

Shit, shit, shit!

THE END

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CARINA™

ISBN: 978 1 472 09096 6

The Guestbook

Published in Great Britain 2014

by Carina, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited, Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

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