Flint and Ana exchanged a look. He had a point.
‘So, what happened to you and Bee?’ asked Ana, ‘Why did you split up?’
Ed grimaced momentarily and he dabbed at his mouth with his napkin. ‘Ah,’ he said, ‘now there’s a story. Another beer, anyone?’
26
January 2000
Bee let the ring on her wedding finger glint and glitter in the muted light. She smiled. It was very traditional, classic, not what she’d have chosen, but still stunningly beautiful. And at least it was platinum, not gold. She hated gold.
‘Hi.’ Ed came back from the toilet and slid into his seat. Bee smiled at him. It was incredible, she thought to herself, how when she’d first gone out with Ed – to this exact same restaurant, actually – she’d thought he was vile, a puny little coke-sniffing media-weasel. The idea of having sex with him had made her feel quite queasy, in fact. Having dinner with him was just something that had to be done to ensure that he never spilled the beans to anyone about Zander. But he’d grown on her imperceptibly during the course of that first evening. She’d gone from finding him smug, arrogant and bland to seeing him as a sweet, confused, kind-hearted man who wasn’t really very happy. Someone who just wanted to be loved. Unconditionally. Someone who didn’t know how to show his vulnerability. Someone just like her, in fact.
By the time they’d checked into a hotel, drunk another bottle of champagne and fallen noisily and clumsily intobed with each other, she’d been more than happy with the situation. And when, after their next meeting, he’d told her he loved her and wanted to leave his wife for her, rather than running a mile in the other direction like she usually did when men told her they loved her, she’d actually found it quite sweet.
As the months went by she’d found herself anticipating his phonecalls and his visits with more and more enthusiasm. And then, at some vague point, she’d fallen in love with him. She’d fallen in love with a short, bald, married man. Funny old world.
And now, here they were, nearly three years later, engaged and about to go public. They’d just had their first proper holiday together. To Goa. It had been the most amazing two weeks of her life, two weeks of normality, of feeling like a real person, and two weeks in which it became obvious to Bee that she needed this man in her life. Properly. Not part-time.
So when Ed handed her the ring, nervously and uncertainly, at the airport on their way out, she’d grabbed it with both hands and grinned from ear to ear. Marrying Ed had suddenly gone from being an utterly ludicrous concept to seeming like the best idea in the world. He was going to leave his wife, the moment they got home, leave her. He’d had enough. Tina was a wonderful person, as he kept telling Bee, but her desire for a baby had destroyed their relationship. She’d had three courses of fertility treatment in the last year, despite the fact that the gynaecologist had told her she only had a one-in-a-thousand chance of ever conceiving and carrying a child. Now she was talking about finding a surrogate mother.
Ed couldn’t stomach the thought – his baby, in another woman’s womb. Not to mention all the potential emotional anguish and pain. And what if the mother changed her mind, kept the baby – it would destroy Tina completely. And without the incessant obsession with reproduction, the doctor’s appointments, the thermometers, the test-tubes, the tears and the never-ending waiting as Tina’s periods became the focus of their lives, there was nothing left … absolutely nothing.
Ed had convinced himself – and Bee, who’d never been happy with the idea of Ed leaving Tina – that it was in Tina’s best interests for him to leave. She’d be happier without him. She was only thirty, she had plenty of time to meet someone who might be prepared to do the surrogate thing or go through the treatments all over again. So he was going to leave her. The minute he got back from Goa. And tonight was going to be their first meeting as legitimate lovers, a celebration of their freedom.
The champagne that Bee had ordered while Ed was in the toilet arrived. He looked at it strangely. ‘Did you order that?’ he said.
Bee beamed at him and nodded.
He sighed and rubbed his face into his hands. ‘I wish you hadn’t, Bee,’ he said.
Bee felt her stomach clench itself up into a knot.
‘There’s something I need to tell you.’ Ed crossed his arms in front of him and stared at Bee. ‘Everything’s changed,’ he said, simply.
Bee stopped breathing momentarily, felt herself begin to panic. She forced a tight smile. ‘And what exactly does that mean, Mr Tewkesbury?’
‘Tina’s pregnant.’
Bee smirked. ‘Oh,’ she said, ‘don’t be daft.’
‘I’m not being daft, Bee. It’s true. She’s pregnant.’
‘But – how? It’s been months since your last treatment.’
‘I know.’
‘So – how?’
Ed dropped his eyes to the tablecloth.
Bee raised hers to the ceiling.
Stupid question.
‘She’s having triplets.’
‘But, that’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard.’