Eternally North (42 page)

On seeing us on the
couch, heads bent together, my legs spread over his, she walked over
and grabbed my left hand from Tudor’s arm and inspected my ring
finger before looking up and barking the question. "When you
said Natasha was permanent, just how permanent is she? You haven't
proposed or anything stupid like that have you? Because I need to
know if you have, I don't do surprises."

Tudor looked at her
menacingly. "No, we are not engaged, but she is special to me
and I don't intend to let her go. Marrying her wouldn't be stupid,
Kate;
not
being with her would be stupid. Just leave it
alone."

Kate tilted her chin.
"Well okay. Not as permanent yet as I thought. At least that
gives me something to work with," she muttered, not quite as
under her breath as I would have liked and walked to the other side
of the room waiting for our cue.

I looked to Tudor, who
was biting his lip in embarrassment. "That woman is without
doubt the scariest person I have ever met." I whispered, so she
couldn’t hear me.

He ticked his head to
the side knowingly. "Yeah, but the best at what she does."

I smiled, fully
believing that no-one in Hollywood could stop that freight train from
barrelling through.

"Right, you two.
It’s time to move those saccharine-sweet hinies!" Kate
interrupted again, and then peered at my backside sceptically. “Or
is yours full-sugar?” she asked and laughed hysterically to
herself.

Why I ought to…
cower in the corner. Jesus, grow a pair would you, Tash?!

Tudor laughed at my
glowering face and seductively squeezed my ‘full-sugar’ arse in
both hands and licked his lips, his brows dancing suggestively.

I took a calming breath
and took my curvy-arse-loving man’s hand. He leaned down and
whispered, "If you get nervous just look at me, okay? I'll
protect you. You look beautiful, by the way."

I tried to smile but
grimaced instead, my nerves were beginning to take over. Tudor pulled
me to his chest laying his chin on my head. "We had to do this
eventually, gorgeous. We couldn't live in our private little bubble
forever, not with what I do for a living."

I squeezed my arms
around his back. "I know. But I loved being in that little
bubble of love. It was cosy and only made for two. I like having you
all to myself. I don't know how to be with you in any other way, how
to share you with the world."

"You will always
have me to yourself, gorgeous. The real world knows a fictional man,
only you get the hundred per cent real me – fucked-up dad and all.
We will figure it out as we go along. You and me forever. Yes?"

I nodded, filled to the
brim with love and pecked a quick kiss on his stubbly cheek.

I beamed from ear to
ear as we walked out of the dressing room and we stood patiently in
front of the closed doors that led to the massive conference room
holding the eager horde of journalists and photographers.

The noise was deafening
and scary, so I took his advice and looked up at my gorgeous
boyfriend. He was so yummy in his black jeans; tight, long white
T-shirt with a deep V-neck; tattoos on display and, you guessed it,
grey beanie hat, but then, he always looked gorgeous to me. Well, me
and
the world’s entire female population.

My name is Natasha
and I am a total Tudor Chick!

A knock on the door
signalled that we were good to go, and as if someone had flicked a
switch, Tudor’s stance suddenly changed, and I noticed that he had
taken on the persona of Tudor North – actor. He looked completely
calm and confident, one hundred per cent movie-star.

Tudor glanced down at
me and winked, squeezing my hand as the doors began to open. Flashing
lights blinded me, my ears were deafened by the thunder of questions
being fired in our direction, and I began to shake with nerves.

My eyes roved over all
of the unfamiliar faces glaring at me in scrutiny. My chest grew
tight, and I began to feel like I couldn’t breathe, but then I saw
a frantically waving hand trying to catch my attention. Standing just
to the right of the hungry mob was my fabulous fairy, blowing me a
kiss to show his support, wearing a red sequinned blazer that, when
pulled apart, revealed a hand-made T-shirt that read,
‘Tash and
Tudor forever!’
in purple italic script. Next to him was Tate,
who was clapping enthusiastically in his red dickey bow and tailored
black suit, as Tudor and I stood proudly on show for the first time
as a couple. I burst into laughter at the sight, my inability to
breathe forgotten, and I nudged Tudor, pointing in the direction of
the cutie twosome.

He let out an amused
snort, turned to me and asked, "Ready for this, Sunshine?"

I looked up at my
stunning boyfriend – my lover, my soul mate, my Tudor – and any
remaining nerves stilled.

I smiled confidently
and replied, "For you, babes, I’m always ready," and
giggled when he waggled his brows suggestively in response. With one
final deep breath he leaned down and kissed me softly on my lips,
pulled back to face the crowd and we walked forward hand-in-hand,
into the throng of media vultures, declaring our love to the world,
for everyone and their mothers to see.

Together.

The
End

Eternally North: In His World

Coming
soon…

There are many people I
have to thank for helping me achieve this dream. Firstly, a huge
whopping ‘ta, so much!’ to my mam, dad and the rest of the clan
(Yep, that includes you Sam, Marc and my awesome niece and three
super-cute nephews) for housing me while I put most of this novel
together.

Mam, thank you for
reading every single draft, amendment and version of this book. You
have supported me from the beginning and shown your unwavering
commitment, even going so far to choose the actor who should someday
play Tudor North on the big screen – dream big or go home!

Dad, although not your
genre – as it doesn’t include a warp drive, fluent Klingon or an
alternate universe – thank you for supporting this venture…
especially financially. But what’s new, eh? I will still say
though, that you have no-one to blame but yourself, it was your own
fault for saying’ yes’ when I demanded that, “I want a pony!”
all of those years ago!

To my husband, thank
you for once again flipping my life (and career) on its head. If you
hadn’t dragged me away from Italy to Canada (reluctantly) at the
very last minute, this book would probably never have happened. Love
you lots!

My biggest thanks
though,
has
to go to my fabulous editors, Rachel and Kia –
The Genius Smoggie Sisters
.

Rachel, you will never
know just how much I appreciate you and all your support. Right from
the drunken reveal in the Italian restaurant in London of, “This
Geordie RomCom I’ve been writing”, you have pushed me to keep
going and sacrificed
way
too much of your free time to help me
achieve this dream (sorry, Matt!). You have not only been an
amazeballs editor, beta reader and Tink enthusiast, but also a
one-in-a-million friend who, even though separated by a few
countries, was my shoulder to cry on (literally) through a very tough
and emotionally turbulent year. I will never be more thankful for the
day that I started playing the cello (even though it affected our
street-cred somewhat) and met you at aged nine in Junior Orchestra.
If you think about it, our writing partnership started all those
years ago too in History class with, ‘La Buche’ – only this
time we say words like,
vadge
! Love you lots chuck, and
remember, ‘negativity gives you wrinkles.’ Mwah!

Kia, thank you for
being roped in at last minute, you truly were a fairy godmother (like
Tink!). You offered sound advice and guidance even though your girls
were ill and putting you through the wringer. You went boot-camp on
my arse and helped whip this novel into shape. Plus, now you have a
new-found love for transitive verbs and subordinate clauses!

Ed, my cover designer,
thank you for taking an incredibly vague idea and turning into a
beautiful work of art. You are fabulous!

Lastly, thank you to my
readers. It is a very scary yet exciting process writing a book and
releasing into the big wide world. It is because of you guys that I
get to take the fantasies from my weird little head and put them onto
the page to come to life and entertain you. I love you to the moon
and back.

To me, music is
everything. End of story.

For as long as I can
remember music has been in my life – cue flashbacks of my father in
his study shaking the foundations of the house with
Led Zeppelin
IV
; my Nanna getting drunk dancing to
Tina Turner
; my
mother cleaning the house from top to bottom to
Mike and The
Mechanics
, pressing my ear to my sisters bedroom wall to listen
as she sang along to
New Kids On The Block 'You got the right
stuff!'
Or me and my amazing bridesmaids entertaining my wedding
guests with our surprise choreographed rendition of
Lady Gaga's
'Bad Romance'
, it went down a storm –there's video footage!

Music is so important
in my life, if I had a choice my life would
be
a musical –
the ups, the downs, all in dramatic song (obviously I would be on
lead vocals – no lip syncing for this gal!).

I have many fond
memories in my life evoked by writing this book; all are integrated
with music – from the time I bought my very first record (yes
record – sheesh, I'm getting
that
old!)
'The Bart Man' by
Bart Simpson
(I was about six, so don't judge me!) to when I
begged my mother to enrol me in theatre (performing arts) school. Mam
did; not realising she was signing up to be subjected to a plethora
of Andrew Lloyd Webber re-enactments from me in front of the TV –
holding a hairbrush as a microphone. To this day when my parents hear
the opening bars of Starlight Express they head for the hills! At
least they have the comfort of knowing that it is now my husband's
pleasure to watch those Tony Award-worthy performances, especially
when he is engrossed in watching his beloved rugby!

I digress.

What I'm trying to say
is that writing this book would not have happened without music.
While planning out plots and picturing characters (
Yum-Yum, Tudor
North
), I had four playlists, four
very long
playlists –
each helped me to express different emotions. Obviously I cannot
mention them all here, but certain songs insinuated themselves in my
head and either helped me write a particular paragraph or inspired
the overall vision of a scene – like a movie – in my mind.
Mid-sentence, a song would float effortlessly onto the pages of the
text like it always belonged there – I didn't pick it, it picked
me. Perhaps Tink's
Gods of Glitter
intervened and gave me a
guiding manicured hand?

The Playlist below is
but a small sample of the mountain of music that inspired me. Now,
you may shout out,
'what the hell?'
when you see some of my
choices, but to me music is personal and subjective and it is how I
felt or imagined the chapter. Just to note, there were a few
bands/singers that if possible, I would have included their entire
works i.e.
Newton Faulkner
,
Cheryl Cole
,
Lady Gaga
,
Nicki Minaj
and a new British Indie band,
Fears
. I have
included a select few from each of my favourites, ones that suit the
overall book – but just take my advice and listen to all their
songs – you will not regret it!

So here you are, the
(incredibly shortened) playlist for 'Eternally North'.

Enjoy folks and get dancing!

Stuttering – Fefe Dobson

I Want To Break Free – Queen

Calgary – Fears

Call Me Maybe – Carly Rae Jepson

Collide – Leona Lewis; Avicii

Beneath Your Beautiful – Labrinth ft Emeli Sande

Love Killer – Cheryl

Easy To Break – Fears

I'm Not Your Hero – Tegan and Sara

Explosions – Ellie Goulding

Learn To Love Again – Lawson

For You – Angus & Julia Stone

Like The Sun – Ryandan

Perfect For Me – Ron Pope

Fall Down (ft Miley Cyrus) – Wil.I.Am

Dream Catch Me – Newton Faulkner

Anthems:

Tink's Anthems –

Gloria Gaynor – I Am What I Am/

Lady Gaga – Boys, Boys, Boys

Tash's Anthems –

Spice Girls – Spice Up Your Life/

The Rocky Horror Picture Show – Don't Dream It, Be It

Tash's Anthem for Tudor – Sinitta – So Macho

Tink's Anthem for Pookie – DJ Antoine – Ma Chérie

Tillie Cole is a
Northern girl through and through. She originates from a place called
Teesside on that little but awesomely sunny (
okay I exaggerate
)
Isle called Great Britain. She was brought up surrounded by her
mother – a farmer's daughter, her crazy Scottish father, a savagely
sarcastic sister and a multitude of rescue animals and horses.