The Photographer's Wife (50 page)
Read The Photographer's Wife Online
Authors: Nick Alexander
“Just
try
to be logical here, OK? I know it’s hard but try, just for me. How can you even
imagine
that Barb would go for that?”
“She
might
,” Diane says, apparently in all seriousness.
“What, like, ‘Hi sweetheart. I got my girlfriend knocked up. Any chance you could bring up her kid?’ Something like that?”
“She needn’t even know it’s yours.”
“Of course she’d bloody know it was mine.”
“We could say I’ve got a boyfriend. Think about it. I get a boyfriend, I get pregnant, I tell Barbara. I could get Richard to pretend he’s the father or something.”
“What, your friend from college?”
“Yes.”
“But he’s… you know… one of them, isn’t he?”
“Barbara doesn’t know that.”
“Just stop, Diane. Please stop,” Tony says. “You’re driving me barmy here.”
“I could convince her. I know I could. She really likes me. And she
loves
kids.”
Tony stands now and shakes his head. “I’m off,” he says. He holds out one hand. “We’ll talk about this later but right now give me my shoe. Because if I have to leave barefoot, I swear you’ll never see me again. And I really mean that, Diane.”
She fidgets to one side and removes the shoe from beneath the cushion. For a moment she holds it out of Tony’s grasp. “Just think, Tony,” she says again. “Barbara gets the baby she wants and we get to carry on like nothing’s happened. It’s perfect. For everyone.”
Tony lurches now and snatches the shoe from Diane’s hand. “Like nothing happened?” he says. “Just get rid of the thing, Diane. I’ll pay. But that’s the only way here. You’re gonna have to get rid of it.”
“I’m sorry,” Diane says. “But that’s my child you’re talking about. And it’s your child too. It’s
our
child. It’s half you and half me. Just think about that. Just think about what that means. There’s just no way, Tony. There’s just no way I could
ever
do that.”
THE END
A note from the author
Dear Reader.
I do hope you enjoyed reading The Photographer’s Wife.
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A sequel to The Half-Life of Hannah by Nick Alexander
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Legal Notice
Text Copyright © Nick Alexander, 2014.
This edition Copyright © BIGfib Books, 2014.
Cover photo Copyright © Sam Javanrouh Photography, 2014.
The characters and situations in this book are entirely imaginary and bear no relation to any real person or actual happenings. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers and/or authors.
While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher assumes no responsibilities for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of information contained herein.
Table of Contents
1950 - Eastbourne, East Sussex.
1951 - Eastbourne, East Sussex.
2012 - Eastbourne, East Sussex.
1951 - Eastbourne, East Sussex.
1951 - Eastbourne, East Sussex.
2012 - Eastbourne, East Sussex.
2012 - Trafalgar Square, London.
2012 - Eastbourne, East Sussex.
2012 - Eastbourne, East Sussex.
2013 - Eastbourne, East Sussex.
Postscript. 1968 - Lambeth, London.