Helen walked through the front door the following day feeling guilty. She couldn't believe she'd cheated on Paul like that!
"Hello baby!" Paul grinned, rushing over to her and giving her a hug. "How was the flight?".
"It was fine thanks," she said. "Where are the twins?". She put her bags down and switched the kettle on.
"Kris is playing with Nicole next door and Jamie's watching TV. He's sulking about something,".
Helen was concerned. Why was Jamie upset? She went into the lounge and sat down next to him. "What's wrong darling?".
Jamie turned to her with a sad look in his green eyes. "Nothing," he whispered.
"Come on, you can tell me," Helen told him, putting her arms around him.
"It's my stupid brother," Jamie finally confessed. "He's playing with Nicole again,".
"Oh," Helen said. "Are they leaving you out?".
Jamie looked down at the carpet. "Kris doesn't deserve Nicole. She's too nice for him!" he exclaimed.
Helen sighed, she had suspected Jamie had a thing about Nicole. "I'll tell you what, how about we invite Nicole over to play while Kris is at football practice tonight so you can be alone with her," Helen suggested. "Your dad and I are going out and so are Ben and Heather. Sam is coming to babysit so she could babysit Nicole too,".
Jamie smiled. "That's great!,".
They were disturbed by the doorbell ringing. Helen got up and opened the door.
"Delivery for Mrs Helen Marazzi," a man wearing a green uniform said, as three other men carried dozens of bouquets of flowers to the doorstep.
Helen gasped. "These are for me?".
The man nodded. "Yes, just sign here,".
In shock, Helen sighed his clipboard. "Who are they from?".
The man looked at his clipboard. "The sender didn't leave a name, maybe it'll say in the envelope," he said, before going back to his big green van with the other men.
Jamie appeared next to Helen. "Why have we got all these flowers at the doorstep, mum?" he asked.
"I don't know," Helen said. "Help me bring them inside,". She found a shiny gold envelope in one of the bouquets and opened it.
'These flowers are beautiful, but none can compare to you. Love Stuart,' the note inside read.
Helen gasped, she couldn't let Paul see these. "Jamie, help me load these into the car," she asked.
A few minutes later, the flowers were all inside her car. "I'm popping out, back soon," she shouted to Paul.
Paul was sitting in the living room, watching Changing Rooms. "Why am I watching this crap programme?!" he said to himself, switching over. "OK Helen, see ya in a minute," he called out.
Helen got into the car and sat thinking what she could do with the flowers. "I can't throw them away, it would be such a waste," she said to herself.
In next door's front garden, Ben was washing his car. He saw Helen and gave her a wave.
Helen got an idea. She opened the car door and got out. "Ben! You might be able to help me here,". She walked around to his garden.
"How's that then?" he quizzed.
"I have fifty-odd bunches of flowers to get rid of before Paul sees them," she explained. "Can you have them and give them to Heather, say they're a present from you,".
Ben laughed. "Sure, I bet she'll love that! But why have you got all these flowers in the first place?".
Helen blushed. "Someone sent them to me...". She thought of Stuart and felt ever so guilty.
"What, Paul?" Ben asked.
"No," Helen said, looking down.
"So you've got an admirer..?" Ben guessed.
"You could say that...". Helen couldn't keep it to herself any more. She told Ben what had happened with Stuart. "But you must not tell Heather or Paul!" she told him.
"OK, but Paul's my best mate, I don't like keeping things from him," Ben said, feeling uneasy. "As it was only a one-off, I wouldn't tell anyone,".
A one off. Helen wondered if that was the case, or if it was only the beginning...
Later that day, Ben stood in the bedroom getting ready. He and Heather were going to a new award show in London called 'The UK Music Awards'. a1 were scheduled to perform and were up for a few awards.
"Do I look alright?" he asked Heather, putting his hair straighteners down on the dressing table.
Heather nodded. "Gorgeous! You look as fit as ever,".
Ben blushed. "Thanks. You look really pretty,".
Heather thanked him. She was wearing a new black dress she had got when out shopping the week before.
"We'd better leave soon to beat the traffic," Ben said. "When's Sam coming to look after Nicole and the twins?".
Heather picked up a necklace and clipped it around her neck. "Any time now," she said.
"OK," Ben said, smoothing down his velvet trousers. He was wearing a pinkish-red jacket, a black shirt and black trousers. "Shall I keep my contacts in, or wear glasses?" he asked Heather. "Glasses might look better for an award show,".
Heather nodded. "Yeah, wear your glasses. You look really sexy with them on!".
There was a knock at the door. "That must be Sam," Heather said, rushing down to let her in.
Sure enough, Heather opened the door to see Sam standing there, "Come in,".
"What sort of time are you going to be back?" Sam asked as they walked into the lounge.
"Oh, late!" Heather laughed. "Early hours. I expect we'll be going to the after party,".
Sam noticed the flowers which were displayed around the house. "Oooh, these are nice! Are they from Ben?".
Heather smiled and nodded. "Yep, he gave them to me this morning!".
Ben came down the stairs and heard this. He nodded uneasily. "That's right,". He wanted to tell Heather the truth, but he didn't want to break his promise to Helen either.
Heather shouted out to Nicole, who was in the garden. "We're going now, see you in the morning,".
Nicole came in and glared at Ben. "OK,".
Ben was hurt, he hated the way Nicole was being so cold. "Honey, there's some jelly and ice cream in the fridge you can have after dinner,".
"Yuck, jelly and ice cream are for babies!" Nicole exclaimed, before running back into the garden.
Heather shook her head. "She's being a brat today, Sam. I'm really sorry,". She took Ben's hand. "Come, we'd better leave,".
As they got outside, they saw Helen and Paul getting in their car. "The kids are in the garden," Helen called out to Sam. "Kris is going to football practice soon, a friend's mum is picking him up and dropping him back, around eight,".
"OK. Have a nice time!" Sam said as both couples set off towards London.
"And the winner is... a1!".
Ben grinned and hugged the other three guys followed by Heather as the winner of 'Best Tour' was announced. They had won!
They four lads made their way up onto the stage and took their award. "Thank you!" Paul grinned. "Wow, best tour!".
Mark stepped forwards, he was holding Becky in his arms. "I would like to dedicate this award to the most beautiful girl in the world, my daughter Becky,".
In the audience, Sarah smiled and clapped, feeling very proud.
"We'd like to thank our brilliant fans," Christian said, as some fans in the crowd screamed. "Without them, none of this would be possible. We'd also like to thank our families, management and record company... I especially would like to thank my wife Naomi, baby I love you!".
From her seat in the audience, Naomi looked at him and gave him a big smile.
"Thank you very much, this is such an honour!" Ben added, blinking away happy tears. "I'd like to say hi to my daughter Nicole who's watching at home,". He waved at the camera.
Back home, Nicole was watching with Sam and Jamie. "Look, your dad just said hello to you!" Sam told her.
Nicole scowled. "So what!". She went over to the TV and slapped the screen, right where Ben's face was.
"Nicole!" Sam warned.
Jamie sat on the sofa nervously. He wanted to talk to Nicole but was too shy.
Sam turned to Jamie. "Maybe you and Nicole could go and water the plants,". She thought that might calm Nicole down.
What a mistake. Nicole took her cup of water for the plants and poured it over Jamie, who cried out and ran off to the bathroom to dry himself.
That was enough to make Sam angry. "Nicole!" she shouted. "Go and apologise now! That was very, very naughty!".
Nicole stomped upstairs and slammed her bedroom door shut.
Heather and Ben returned the next morning at breakfast time. They'd been partying until late and had decided to stay in a hotel rather than get a taxi home.
"Sorry we didn't come back last night," Heather said to Sam. "Did you mind sleeping over?".
"No, not at all," Sam assured her. "The twins slept in the spare room, they're in the garden riding their bikes at the moment,".
"Where's Nicole?" Ben asked. "I brought her some of our celebration cake back,".
"She's sulking in her room," Sam told them.
Before Sam could explain what had happened, Nicole came downstairs. "She shouted at me last night!" Nicole complained to Heather, pointing her finger at Sam.
"She was a naughty girl," Sam told Heather and Ben. "She was acting up all evening, then she tipped water over Jamie,".
Heather smacked Nicole. "Go to your room!" she yelled. "You mustn't do things like that!".
"You don't care what I do!" Nicole cried. "You're going to have a new daughter soon so you won't need me,".
Ben sighed. "Here honey, this is for you,". He handed her the cake.
Heather took it away. "No, she doesn't deserve it. She's a spoilt brat as it is!".
Ben gave Nicole a cuddle. "I still love you, don't you worry what will happen if we have Summer,".
Nicole pushed him away and rushed up the stairs.
Helen walked up the aisle of the plane nervously, worried about facing Stuart again.
She felt someone touch her shoulder and turned around. There he was, grinning at her.
"Hi," she said. "Look, you shouldn't have sent those flowers. Paul could have found out!".
Stuart laughed. "Don't worry about Paul. Anyway, he cheated on you more than once, he's just as guilty as you are,".
Helen nodded this was true.
Stuart opened the door to his private room. "Let's have a coffee before the flight. Take off has been delayed so we have half an hour to wait,".
Helen couldn't really refuse. They went inside and sat down.
Stuart took a can of squirty cream and shook it. "Want some on your coffee?". He raised his eyebrows in a sexy way. "Or want some on me?".
Helen laughed and gave him a smile.
Stuart stood up and locked the door. "Well then?". He placed a hand on Helen's shoulder and with his other hand, started undoing her blouse.
What Ben had said the previous day wasn't true. This wasn't just a one off after all...
.