Helen slipped on her sandals and walked outside to where her friends Sam, Tasha, Linda, Carly and Jenny were sitting. They were all over at Christian, Naomi, Ben and Heather's house for a barbecue. It was lunchtime and the sun was shining.
"We have to go soon," she called out to Paul as she joined her mates.
"I know," Paul shouted back. he was playing football on the grass with the other boys.
"Cheer up Helen," Linda told her.
"I'm dreading the test," Helen muttered. In just a couple of hours, she would know the father of her twin babies.
Heather joined the group, holding a tray of freshly-grilled food. "Help yourselves, girls," she said as she lay the tray on a table.
"Mmm, this looks yummy," Sam said, picking up a hot dog and taking a bite.
"Is Russell with you today?" Tasha asked her. "I haven't seen him,".
"Yeah," Sam replied. "He's around somewhere,".
"Is everything OK with you two?" Tasha quizzed. "He hasn't found out about what happened in New York has he?".
"No, and I don't want him to find out," Sam said quickly. "It was just a fling, what happened with Pete. I'll probably never see him again. What Russell doesn't know can't hurt him,".
Jenny sat smiling to herself. She remembered how Paul had promised her a night out. Helen didn't suspect a thing...
"Come on babe, let's make a move," Paul said as he walked up to Helen.
He spotted Jenny out of the corner of his eye and gave her a secret smile.
"This way please," Dr. Batney said as he led Paul and Helen down the hospital corridor and into a room.
Helen looked down at the ground when she entered, knowing Terence was already in there, sitting on a chair against the wall.
"Hello Helen," he said to her.
"Hi," Helen said back, not being able to look at him.
After the tests, Dr. Batney talked to all three of them together. "We'll look at the tests and tell you the result tomorrow," he told them.
"Tomorrow?!" Paul exclaimed. "But I want to know now!".
"I'm sorry...".
"Look, do you know who I am?!" Paul said, annoyed. He was too impatient to wait, he wanted the result straight away.
"OK, well I'll see what we can do," Dr. Batney agreed with a sigh.
They went into the hospital waiting room and sat in silence. When Paul got up to get a coffee, Terence spoke to Helen. "I've missed you Helen," he said with a sad look in his eyes.
"You have?" Helen didn't know what to say.
"I really love you," Terence said as his lip trembled. "Come back to me, I'll give you another chance,".
"No, I've got Paul now and I love him very much," Helen explained. She didn't like to see Terence so unhappy. "I'm sorry. Look, you'll find another girlfriend,".
Paul walked into the room with two coffees, handing one of them to Helen.
"Please?" Terence asked with a pleading look in his big brown eyes.
"No," Helen said firmly as she slipped an arm around Paul, the one she truly loved.
Back at the barbecue, everyone was having a good time. Since Marat was there with Tasha, he was challenging everyone at tennis. Obviously, he won by miles each time.
"Have you spoken to Shane recently?" Lucy asked Linda.
"Yep," Linda smiled. "He'll be in London next week so we're going to meet up,".
"That's great, he's an improvement over Colin any day!" Heather interrupted. She turned to Ben, who was by her side. "Come on, I'll give you a game of tennis,".
Heather and Ben stood opposite each other, separated by the tennis net. "I'm gonna win," Ben stated, bouncing the ball on the ground with his racquet.
"Don't be so sure!" Heather warned.
Their game was very close. Heather was about to win when Ben stormed off the court.
Heather laughed. "You're a bad loser, Benjamin!".
It was dark by the time Paul and Helen returned. The girls were sitting on the grass chatting, while the boys were playing football again.
"Oooh, I wonder if they know the result of the test yet," Tasha said to the others as Helen approached them.
"Hi Helen, how did it go?" Heather asked as she sat down on the grass.
"The babies are Paul's," Helen said, smiling in relief. She was so glad.
"That's great!" Linda said, passing Helen a drink.
Meanwhile, Paul went indoors to get a drink. On his way, he passed Jenny.
"Paul!" she exclaimed, pretending to be surprised.
"Hiya Jen," Paul said, grinning at her.
"Is our night out still on?" Jenny asked.
"Night out? I was thinking of a night in,".
"Sounds good to me!" Jenny giggled.
Ben, Mark and Christian passed them by. "We're going to a club, wanna come?" Ben asked Paul.
No, I'll don't think I will," Paul answered. When the boys had left, Paul turned back to Jenny. "Wait here a moment,".
He found Helen outside. I'm going out with the boys," he told her. "I'll see you in the morning,".
"To my flat then?" Jenny questioned as they slipped outside into the night.
"OK," Paul agreed as they got into Jenny's car, looking around to make sure no-one could see them. He didn't like two-timing, but he just couldn't resist Jenny.
"I shouldn't cheat on Helen like this," he muttered to himself. "This will be the last time," he promised under his breath.
.