He gave a slow smile.
‘Now that I’m over the initial shock, I feel…’ He paused in contemplation.
‘What?’ asked Jasmine, closely assessing his face.
‘Bloody brilliant,’ he beamed.
That had pretty much been the reaction from everyone.
‘Oh, my God, twins!’ exclaimed Jasmine’s mum.
Robin laughed. ‘That’s exactly what Jasmine said.’
‘Like mother, like daughter,’ replied Jasmine’s dad.
‘Do you know what they are? Girls or boys?’ asked her mum.
‘Or both?’ chipped in dad.
Jasmine shook her head at all the questions and the excitement oozing from her parents.
‘No, we don’t know,’ Robin told them in a composed tone, hoping it would take effect.
‘Come on, let’s all have a sit down and a cup of tea,’ said Jasmine’s dad, wisely detecting the need for calmness.
‘And that’s exactly what the nurse said.’ Jasmine chuckled.
Later in the early evening, after they’d visited Robin’s parents with the good news, Jasmine called next door. Out of all their friends, Jasmine wanted Bunty to be the first to know about the twins.
‘Oh darling, that’s wonderful news!’ she cried. ‘No wonder you’ve been suffering, with double the amount going on in there.’ She pointed towards Jasmine’s stomach.
‘Hmm, one thing’s for sure, I’m going to be huge come your wedding.’
Bunty threw her head back and chortled.
‘You’ll look positively glowing, darling.’
‘Not sure I’ll be dancing barefoot in the sand, under the stars for too long though,’ replied Jasmine.
Felix was on the train to London. He didn’t have a meeting, but did intend to see Jennifer at some point and, more importantly, act on her advice. He was making a special trip to confront Mel Nichols. Felix needed to know if it was him who had leaked information and he wanted to see for himself the man’s reaction when challenged. More than anything, Felix wanted closure. Once he ascertained that Mel was undoubtedly the culprit, he knew never to work with the likes of him again, if he wanted to keep his private life private.
Not that he envisaged any further scandal in his personal life. Quite the opposite, in fact. Living with Emma was the complete antithesis to life with Anika. Emma was supportive and happy in her own skin, she didn’t see Felix as competition like Anika had, always comparing herself to him and his success. If Felix was getting plenty of media attention, Anika sulked, which was ironic, considering the amount she’d created for him. Another startling contrast was Emma’s total trust in him. She never showed any signs of insecurity or jealousy. He remembered how Anika used to watch his films and plague him for days about his women co-stars. The love scenes particularly brought out the worst in her. No, with Emma, he unquestionably had found his soul mate.
Felix’s mother had been thrilled to hear of his relationship with Emma, having already predicted it. She, like Jennifer, had told him to ‘oust the rat’ when learning about Mel’s betrayal too.
So, here he was, about to disembark the train at Euston station. After jostling through the crowds to the taxi rank, he was soon climbing into the back of one and gave directions to the studios. He knew Mel was about to start auditions for another drama so would be there. Arriving, Felix walked up the steps into the brick building. Mel’s office was on the ground floor and he strode with determination to the door marked ‘Melvin Nichols – Casting Director’ and knocked loudly.
‘Enter!’ called a voice.
Felix inhaled deeply and marched in. Mel was sat behind a large desk and looked surprised to see him.
‘Felix, what brings you here?’
‘I’m going to ask you something, Mel, and I want the honest truth,’ said Felix, eyes blazing.
Mel shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
‘Did you, or did you not, give information about me to Selina McKenna?’
