Guess Who I Pulled Last Night? (40 page)

Tom shook his head, taking off his own jacket.  “No, no
they’ll make us stay and tell them all the gossip, here wear this. 
They’ll look after your jacket once they realise that we’ve gone, trust me.”

“Okay I trust you, and I’m trusting you with more than just
my jacket, so be good.  Come on then let’s go, and see how good we can be
together.”  She took Tom’s hand and pulled him out of the car park, and
across the road.

“Is this how it’s always going to be then, you telling me
what to do all the time?”  He smiled and slapped her playfully on the
bottom.

“Of course, I am the eldest after all.”

Inside the pub, the rest of the birthday party were laughing
and joking, still knocking back the drinks, when suddenly Charlotte realised
that Bets and Tom was still missing.

“Where are they?” she asked, as she stood up and quickly
scanned the pub, but to no avail.  “Dave can you go and find them.” 
Suddenly, she was concerned.

“Don’t you dare,” warned Amanda.  “How are they
supposed to get together if we keep pestering them?”

“WHAT?” Kerry and Charlotte chimed in unison.

“I don’t know, call yourselves her best friend. It has been
brewing for weeks, why do you think that they’ve both been so miserable? 
It’s as plain as anything I could even see it coming at Christmas.” 
Amanda took another gulp of her drink, a superior look on her face. 
“Remind me never to come to either of you two when I’ve got a problem.”

Then like two little schoolgirls, Kerry and Charlotte huddled
together and giggled.

“Oh my God, Bets and Tom.”

“Come on let’s have your glasses please.”  The barman
chewed his gum disdainfully as he stood, arms crossed, waiting for Charlotte to
drain her glass.  Eventually, she did and placed it carefully into his
outstretched hand.

“There you go, bloody hell who died and made you God?” 
She asked, petulantly.

“I have got a home to go to as well, so if you don’t mind
can you do your talking while you do your walking?” the barman responded.

This amused everyone and they all burst out laughing, much
to the barman’s disgust.         

“Cornier than a box of cornflakes,” muttered Kerry, as they
all piled through the door.

They stood around putting on their jackets and generally checking
that they had everything, including Bets' jacket, before starting to meander
slowly down the road.

“Does anyone fancy a curry?”   Kelvin feeling
rather hungry hoped that someone would be willing to follow him to the local
curry house; there were nods of approval all round, except for Charlotte.

“No thanks, but you lot go.”

Amanda put a protective arm around her sister, worried that
she was suddenly feeling left out.

“Are you sure Charlotte, we can leave it and all come back
to your house if you prefer?” 

That was the last thing that she wanted.  “No, no, I’m
tired I didn’t sleep too much last night, you know what with…well you know?”

Amanda nodded.  “I know and it may not seem like it
now, but things will work out for you. I'm sure they will.”  She kissed
Charlotte on the cheek and brushed her hair from her eyes.  “I know that
I’m not Kerry or Bets, but I am always there for you, you do know that don’t
you?” she asked her younger sister.

“Of course I do silly, come on help me to get a taxi and
then go and get something to eat, and I’ll take Bets’ jacket, so I can get all
the gossip tomorrow!”

“That will be seven pounds, please love.”

As Charlotte handed over a note to the taxi driver, he
started to fish around in his pocket for change.

“It’s okay keep the change, night.”

“Oh thanks very much love, good night.”

She slammed the car door behind her and waited for him to
pull away before crossing the road, something her dad had always told her to
do.  “Then they don’t know where a young woman on her own lives” he would
say.  How they would know Charlotte lived alone she didn’t know, but it
was one of those little idiosyncrasies that she always followed.  Walking
with her head bowed, she didn’t notice the figure on the doorstep as she walked
up the path, and then as it spoke she almost had a heart attack.

“Howyer?”

Charlotte jumped a mile, screaming as she did.  
“Oh my God!”

Fighting for breath, her hand against her chest, Charlotte
opened her eyes to focus upon the figure.

“Niall,” she whispered through her hand that was now at her
mouth.  “W-w-what are you doing here?”

Niall stood up and moved slowly towards her, stopping a
couple of steps away, but not touching her.  Charlotte gasped as she
realised that he was still dressed in his wedding clothes, except the tails'
that had now been replaced with a denim jacket.

“Can I come in then, or did you want to stand out here and
talk?” he asked in a whisper.

She shook her head violently.  “No, no come in.”

As she opened the front door, she looked behind her quickly,
just to make sure that she wasn’t imagining him being there.  Charlotte
led Niall into the lounge and throwing hers, and Bets’ jackets down turned to
him.

“Do you want a drink?” she asked, still wondering whether
she was dreaming, and he was a figment of her imagination.

Niall shook his head, and taking her hand, pulled Charlotte
to him.  For what was a moment, but seemed like hours, they said nothing
but looked at each other, Niall rubbing his thumb gently on her cheek. 
Finally, he broke the silence.

“I’d better explain myself.  Can I sit down?”

“Sorry yes, please sit down.” Charlotte nodded and taking
his hand pulled him next to her on the sofa.

As Niall continued to gaze at her and hold her hand
Charlotte sat back on the sofa and pulled her legs under her, realising that
she was probably going to be listening for some time.

Niall shook his head.  “Well I guess I should start
with last night.”  He blew out a gasp of air, preparing to tell her his
tale.  “I decided that I couldn’t go through with it basically.  Ma
wasn’t happy and had been going on at me from the moment that she arrived and
saw how unhappy I was, neither were my two sisters who also came over, but most
of all I wasn’t happy.  So, we had a big family talk; Ma even got Francine
and Siobhan on the speaker phone from Ireland, Clara only escaped because she’s
doing a gap year on a sheep farm in Australia,” Niall smiled warmly bringing
Charlotte’s hand to his lips and kissing it.  “God I can’t believe I’m
here with you”

“I know,” whispered Charlotte.  “But carry on.”

 “Oh yes sorry.  Anyway after much talking and my
family stressing that they’d love me no matter what happened, I decided to tell
them about you.  The only reason I hadn't before was because I didn’t want
to complicate things.  To be honest, it was just too painful to talk
about; so I told them, and at that point Ma hit me across the head and told me
that I was an absolute edjeet.  She asked me how I could be so stupid in
this day and age to think that I had to marry someone, just because they were
pregnant, when the love of my life was someone else.  Then she said that
if God and The Pope didn’t forgive me, they were absolute edjeets too!”

Charlotte started to giggle, tears forming in her
eyes.  “I think I love your mother already, in fact, I think I’ve met her,
but I’ll tell you about that later.”

Niall looked perplexed but shrugged and carried on with his
story.  “So I decided that no matter what people thought about me
abandoning a baby, well I had to put a stop to it.  I’d fought against it
because I didn’t want to shame my ma, but like she said, I’m not my da and
there is nothing to stop me still being a father for the child and supporting
it.  So that’s when I decided to go and see Ingrid and call it off, a bit
late in the day I know, but I’d made my decision.  So at about ten o’clock
last night I went over there.”  As Niall paused to rub his eyes, Charlotte
noticed how thin and drawn he looked.

“But I saw you at the church,” she said questioningly.

Niall looked up suddenly, and he smiled tenderly at
Charlotte as he reached out for her hand.

“I knew that you would be there, I even looked for
you.  Huh, it’s a pity you didn’t stay a little longer.”  He gripped
her hand tighter.

“Why?”

“I’ll get to that in a minute,” he said smiling. 
“Anyway, I went over to Ingrid’s but just as I got there, I spotted someone
coming out of the front door, that someone being Grant of all people.  At
first, I thought that he must be doing some last minute usher duties, but I
didn’t know that snogging the face off the bride was one of them.”

Charlotte gasped, wondering why Grant hadn’t been sporting a
black eye when she had seen him, outside church earlier that day.

“So what did you do?” she asked, moving closer and stroking
Niall’s face.

“What any normal man would do who’d spotted his bride to be
kissing another man; I went home and didn’t do or say anything.” He paused,
waiting for Charlotte’s reaction, but she just nodded for him to
continue.  “I decided that if anyone was going to be made a fool of it
wasn’t going to be me, so I carried on as normal, as best I could.  I told
Ma and the girls about my plan, and they agreed that I should do it, well the
girls did, Ma thought that it was a bit harsh even though she didn’t like Ingrid;
however, by now I was determined. This morning came and I acted like every
other groom, chatting to guests, talking to Father Kelly and trying not to
punch Grant.  Relations between us weren’t particularly good anyway, you
know after our argument over you, so he probably didn’t notice that I wasn’t
speaking to him.”

Charlotte shook slightly as she recalled the way Niall had
treated her after Grant had lied to him, but it was all over now. She
hoped.  “So, what happened once Ingrid arrived?” she asked, quickly
pushing the memory from her mind.

“Well I dropped the bombshell. I didn’t let her go down the
aisle I thought about what my ma said, and realised that would be too harsh
even for her, dumping her in front of her family and friends.”

“Huh, I would say that is the least that she deserves.”

Niall kissed Charlotte gently on the palm of her hand again
and smiled, his eyes now glowing. He was so happy to be with her.

“Well I didn’t, I stopped the organist and went down to
where she was waiting and had it out with her.  She denied it at first,
she said that Grant had tried it on with her, but then he must have gotten wind
that something was going on and followed me down the aisle.  When he heard
what Ingrid said I think it hurt his pride, because he blurted out that they
were actually in love with each other.  She hit him with her bouquet,
while the flower girl decided to kick me in the shins, the little madam; so I
accidentally stood on her toe.  Ingrid’s father was standing there,
opening and closing his mouth like a fish, while all the time Father Kelly was
saying prayers of forgiveness.”

Charlotte suddenly started to giggle as she pictured the
scene; something that could only be described as a farce.

“Really though, it wasn’t funny,” Niall, nevertheless, laughed. 
“Her poor father was furious, mainly because of all the money that he’d spent,
but also because he can’t stand Grant.  Eventually, things calmed down a
bit, but she was mad as a hatter with Grant, accusing him of spoiling
everything that she’d planned for; you should have seen the looks that she kept
throwing him.  Anyway, I then told her that I would still support the baby
and be a father to it, if that was what she wanted.  Well, I thought that
her da was going to keel over, he went blue with rage. “What bloody baby?” he
asked.  Ingrid then went as white as her dress, then as red as her
flowers, and then purple I think.”

Charlotte looked perplexed.  “What, she hadn’t even
told her father that she was pregnant?” she asked.

“No, but it gets better.  She hadn’t told him because
she wasn’t even pregnant.”

Charlotte was red with rage, and looked like she was about
to explode. “WHAT! The bloody bitch, she nearly ruined your life, and mine for
that matter, for no reason.  God, why didn’t you punch her, never mind
Grant?”

“I felt like it, believe me.  Her father said that if
she was having a baby, then she couldn’t possibly be MD of the company, so she
would have to give it up, her work I mean.  Well, that was when she
admitted it, there was no baby.  She made it all up to get back at me for
falling in love with you.  She had realised that my feelings towards her
had changed and figured it out that it was since I’d met you.  When she
came to pick me up from your office just before Christmas and saw us together,
and then obviously Grant telling her what he knew confirmed everything to her,
so despite having an affair with Grant for the last six months…” 
Charlotte’s mouth dropped open.  “Yes I know,” nodded Niall, “well despite
being with him for the last six months, there was no way that she was going to
let you have me, or that she was going to be dumped by me.”

“I don’t understand, if Grant wanted her. Why did he lie to
you about me and him, and come to think of it, why did he come around here get
me drunk and subject me to a night of shit sex; he was seeing Ingrid
then?”  Charlotte shuddered as memories from that night came flooding
back.

Niall shrugged.  “Apparently Ingrid had mentioned that
she thought something was going on between us, so he’d come here over to try to
find out for certain.  But, Grant being Grant couldn’t resist making the
most of an opportunity and also where I’m concerned Grant is nothing but
competitive; what I have he wants.  Anyway when he reported back to her,
for some stupid reason only known to Grant, he told her what had gone on
between you both and so Ingrid was even angrier.  She hated you even more
for having both the men in her life. Grant hated you for whatever you said to
him that day, and they both hated me. That’s when they cooked their little plan
up; unbelievably, she forgave him for sleeping with you, but couldn’t forgive
me for not and trying to be honourable, maybe she really does love him?” Niall
shrugged.  “Grant’s little lie about you sleeping together was his ingenious
part of the plan and was a spur-of-the-moment thing when we argued, needless to
say Ingrid loved it because she knew how jealous and miserable it made
me.  So she encouraged me to get drunk on the night that I “got her
pregnant”; and when I called out your name while we were having sex it made her
even more determined to ruin me.”