The Rock'n'Roll Romance Box Set (Pam Howes Rock'n'Roll Romance Series) (135 page)

 
 
‘I’m
sure he does,’ Livvy said. ‘I just worry about her getting into a situation
with him that she can’t handle. Jamie’s very mature for his age and he’s got
such a reputation.’

  
‘She’ll be fine. She knows when to say no. Now let’s go indoors and find
a space for Roy Jnr’s new things. You should be happy for Courtney, that she’s
settled and made some good friends.’

  
‘You’re right.’ Livvy gave Harley a hug.

  
They took the bags indoors where Roy
greeted them with a smile.

  
‘You two have been busy,’ he said as they dumped their shopping on the
floor.

  
‘It’s all for Roy Jnr,’ Harley announced.

  
‘Good. So, you’ve had a nice day then?’

  
‘We’ve had a
very
nice day,
thanks,’ Livvy replied. ‘It was good to get out of the house. What about you?
How did Sammy take the news?’

  
‘Okay, I guess. She was a bit tearful when I told her we’re having a
boy. It brought back memories of her being pregnant with Nick.’

  
He took a deep breath and Livvy saw that his eyes were red, he’d been
crying.

  
‘She’s putting Jasmine House on the market. It’s the end of an era,’ he
finished quietly.

  
‘Dad.’ Harley ran to him and flung her arms around his neck. ‘Don’t be
sad, please. There’s enough going on without you breaking down. We need you to
be strong for us.
’

  
‘And I will be, Princess.’ He stroked her back gently. ‘I’ve never let
you down and I don’t intend to start now.’ He smiled at Livvy who was looking
tearful too. ‘Where’s my other girl? I thought you were picking her up from
school?’

  
Livvy yanked off her red curly wig and tossed it onto the sofa. ‘She’s
having dinner at Jamie’s.’

  
‘I see. Right, well, let’s hope his parents are home then.’

  
‘Roy, don’t. I’m worried to
death as it is.’

  
‘She’ll be fine,’ Harley said. ‘I’ll come to Jamie’s with you later,
Dad. We have to collect her at nine-thirty.’

  
‘Okay, if you’re not too tired. Shall we make something to eat then?’ Roy
looked hopefully in the fridge. ‘We need to get our act together, Livvy and do
some serious grocery shopping. This fridge is almost empty and I, for one, am
starving. We’ve no beer in the house, no single malt. Sod all, in fact!’

  
‘Let’s order a curry,’ Livvy suggested. ‘Saves cooking and clearing up.
Anyway, I’m too tired for all of that. I feel like I’ve walked my legs off at The
Trafford Centre. By the way, we’ve ordered a pram; cot and high chair.
Selfridges will deliver next week.’

  
‘Okay! You girls can choose some paint and we’ll get the chap who
decorates Jasmine House to give the small room a wallop. Feels real now, doesn’t
it? Now that we’re getting his room ready.’

  
Roy Jnr gave a hefty kick of approval and Livvy grinned. ‘Ouch! Little
monkey. He says yes, get a move on.’

  
Roy smiled and ran his hands
over her bump. ‘Have you got footballers feet, son? We’ll get you trained,
signed up by Man U, then your old dad can put down his guitar and retire.’

***

Courtney’s eyes sparkled as she
joined Harley in the back of the car.

  
‘Alright, Courtney?’ Roy
greeted her.

  
‘Fine, thank you, Roy,’ she
replied with a grin.

 
 
‘Well?’ Harley whispered.

  
‘I had a great time,’ Courtney whispered back, ‘Tell you all about it
later.’

  
Harley grinned as Roy caught
her eye in the mirror. ‘There’s a lot of whispering and giggling going on.’

  
‘Nothing for your ears, Dad,’ Harley said.

  
He shook his head with mock disapproval. It was good to see the girls
enjoying themselves after the traumas of the last few months. No kids should
have to go through what these two had endured recently, he thought as he put
his foot down. They deserved some normality for a change.

***

Courtney brushed her mass of
tumbling blonde curls as Harley, tucked up in bed, stared enviously at her.

  
‘I wish I still had my hair,’ she sighed wistfully, rubbing her hand
over her bristly scalp.

  
Courtney smiled. ‘It’s growing back, Harley. You can see it coming
through already. Your hair’s lovely and grows so quickly that it’ll be down
your back again in no time
and
it’s straight. I hate having curls.’

  
‘I’d settle for curls at the moment,’ Harley said. ‘So come on, now
we’re on our own, tell me all. What’s he like to snog properly and did you …?’

  
Courtney blushed prettily and grinned. She bounced onto the end of
Harley’s bed, her eyes twinkling. ‘He’s a brilliant kisser,’ she sighed
dreamily.

  
‘Tongues?’

  
‘Oh yeah!’

  
‘And?’

  
Courtney twiddled a curl and rolled her eyes. ‘We were, you know, making
out and I wanted to, but Jamie said I’m too young and we should wait until I’m
sixteen.’

  
‘Wow! That doesn’t sound like the Jamie Donahue I know. Age has never
stopped him. Maybe he’s changed.’

  
‘I was relieved,’ Courtney admitted. ‘I’d like to wait, too. But I like
him so much and he told me he’s never felt so close to any of the girls he’s
had before, and I really need to feel as though I belong to someone.’

  
Harley frowned. ‘You belong to us, we’re a family now.’

  
‘Well you’ve got Jack, and Mom has Roy.’

  
‘And you have Jamie - eating out of your hand by the sound of it. Don’t
rush things. He’s obviously got some respect for you, which is more than he had
for ’Tasha. How’s she taking you two being an item?’

  
‘She’s sulking. Texts him all the time, but he ignores them. She gives
me the evil eye each time I walk past. She’s told everyone that now my Dad’s
dead I’m a spoilt little rich girl and Jamie only wants me ‘cos I’ve got
money.’

  
‘Jealous cow!’ Harley retorted. ‘Jamie’s family are jewellers. They’re
absolutely minted. He’ll be rolling in it himself one day. ’Tasha’s a bitch.
You should ignore her.’

  
‘I try. I’ll be glad when you can come back to school.’

  
‘So will I,’ Harley said. ‘Maybe next week but one I might go back
part-time.’

  
‘That would be great,’ Courtney said. ‘Jack really misses you. Jamie has
a mixing desk in his bedroom and he plays keyboards and guitar. We sang together
and he said I sound like Mom. He says we should form a band with you, Jack and
Nathan. What do you think?’

  
‘It’s a brilliant idea. Jack plays bass and Nathan sings well and plays
lead guitar. We’d need to find a drummer.’

  
‘Well maybe we can get together at the weekend at Jamie’s place and have
a jam session,’ Courtney suggested. ‘That’s if you feel up to it, of course.’

  
‘I should be okay. Next week I have my last chemo. I’ll be out of action
for a few days, but do you know, I actually feel as though I’m winning. If I
do
need a transplant in the future, then I’m in with a good chance now, thanks to
Roy Jnr.’

  
‘Well if
he
isn’t a match, they can always have another,’
Courtney said. She plumped up her pillows and slid under the duvet.

  
‘Oh God, don’t encourage them. We’ll end up with a houseful of screaming
brats!’ Harley laughed.

***

Roy
frowned as Livvy dropped the phone onto its cradle and turned slowly to face
him. ‘Something wrong?’

  
‘That was Sean Grogan,’ she said. ‘Liam’s arrived in work with a copy of
The Daily Mirror.’

  
‘And?’

  
‘The headline says,
“SECOND CHILD FOR
LIVVY GRANT AND ROY
CANTELLO
”,
and then there’s a report about us and the girls and Danny.’ Her eyes filled
with tears as Roy strode across the
room and took her in his arms.
 

  
‘Someone’s blabbed. They’ll be like fucking vultures out there now. I
wonder who it is? No one close to us, I’m sure. What name did you give to the
salesperson at Selfridges the other day?’
   

  
‘Mrs McVey, of course,’ she said. ‘I always do. I’ve kept my bump under
such restrictive clothing on the rare times I’ve left the house that no one
could possibly tell. Even at the antenatal clinic I’m known as Mrs McVey and I
always wear a disguise there too. Do you think it might be Sammy?’

  
‘Absolutely not,’ he said. ‘Sammy hates the press more than I do. I’ll
nip to the village store and grab a few papers. We can see exactly what’s been
said and then we can act on it.’

  
Roy was back within minutes,
dropping an armful of dailies onto the kitchen table. ‘The Mirror’s the main
culprit, given that we’re plastered across the front page. But there’s
something in all of them. I’ve nearly mown down a handful of bloody
photographers out on the lane.’

  
Livvy picked up The Daily Mirror and stared at the front page. Two
separate publicity photos of her and Roy had been cleverly spliced to look as
though they were smiling into each other’s eyes. She read aloud:
   

  
“In spite of the recent death of her property tycoon husband Daniel
McVey, who perished in the terrorist attack on The World Trade Centre, singer
Livvy Grant remains in
England
with her lover, Raider front man, Roy Cantello. The couple are believed to be
living in a
Cheshire
village with their sixteen-year-old daughter Harley, who is undergoing
treatment for leukemia, and Miss Grant’s fifteen-year-old daughter Courtney,
from her marriage to Mr McVey. It has been confirmed by a source known to the
family that the couple are expecting a second child.”

  
‘What source known to the family?’ Livvy frowned.

  
‘Christ knows,’ Roy replied.
‘We need to air our side of the story by giving an interview. I’ll call
The Raiders
manager. Frank’ll sort it.
The sooner we do something, the better.’

  
‘Do we have to?’ Livvy sighed wearily. ‘They haven’t really said
anything that isn’t true, have they?’

  
‘No, but tomorrow there’ll be all sorts of made-up tales to contend
with. I’d rather get this out of the way while Harley’s in hospital for the
next few days. She’ll need peace and quiet when she comes home. You’re almost a
recluse. We have to do it, Liv. This can’t go on. I want our lives back. We
don’t have to prove anything to anyone, but if we don’t get rid of those
fucking guys on the lane soon I might just end up killing one of them!

  
‘It’s difficult enough coping with things on a day-to-day basis, without
all this crap in the papers. I’ve only seen Ed a couple of times in weeks. I
haven’t written a song for months. I’m losing my creativity stuck in here all
day. I need some space to call my own, a studio and music room. We need to look
for a house to buy soon. I’ll get us a big place where we can spread out a bit
more.’

***

Livvy stared at Roy
as though seeing him properly for the first time in weeks. He looked gaunt and
ill and she felt guilty for not noticing that he was suffering too. It had all
been about her and the girls recently, them leaning heavily on Roy
for support, but who was supporting him? Like he said, he’d hardly seen Eddie
and if there was one person Roy
could depend on it was his best friend. They hadn’t even made love since
Danny’s death and that was her fault too. Every night Roy
reached for her and she’d seen the disappointment in his eyes when she’d told
him she wasn’t feeling up to it. He hadn’t said anything, but she could sense
the frustration in him and knew she needed to rectify that particular situation
very soon or he’d be running back to Sammy. The thought put the fear of God
into her.

  
‘I didn’t realise you were feeling so hemmed in. I’m sorry. I’ve taken
away all your freedom and I didn’t mean to do that. I’ve become too dependent
on you. I’ll give you space, if that’s what you want. I might take a trip up to
Glasgow at the weekend to see my
parents and Sheena and Gerry. I’ll take Courtney too. I’d like to take Harley, but
she really needs to rest when she comes home.’

  
‘Why don’t you wait until she feels up to travelling and then all three
of you can go?’ Roy suggested.

  
‘Okay. I’ll speak with the girls when Harley comes home. What about you?
What will you do while we’re away?’

  
‘Spend some time with Jason and Jules. I’ve got all my stuff to pack at
Jasmine House, too. I’m also going to get to grips with my career. We still
have to plan
The Raiders
final album
and farewell tour. Everything’s been on hold since Harley was diagnosed. It’s
time to dust it all off again. Phil, Carl and Tim have voiced their concerns to
Ed.’

  
Livvy was silent for a long moment. ‘You’re right, Roy.
Let’s look to the future. I’ll speak to Hank tonight; tell him I’m pregnant and
that as soon as I’ve given birth he can come over and we can begin working on
some new songs for
Juice
. It’s time I
stood on my own two feet again, instead of expecting you to prop me up all the
time.’