• "I’ve got a surprise for you", I looked behind him to see if he was hiding something. My mind worked really quickly. We had been talking about buying a house of our own, and maybe he had bought it without my knowledge and was holding the keys. When he didn’t do anything and I started to feel the need of knowing he said: "We’ve rented a castle in Ireland to spend Easter there. You’re gonna love it, kitten, Ireland is beautiful", I just jumped to kiss him passionately. He smiled. "I knew you would like it".
• "Oh, John, you and me alone, in a castle... Mmmm!!!", I saw his face change.
• "Well, luv, not exactly..."
• "What do you mean?"
• "Well... George and Pattie are coming too"
• "What?", I lost my temper. I got up in the bed. "I’m not going anywhere with that girl!!!", John sighed and rolled his eyes.
• "Come on, Vicky! Don’t be childish!"
• "I’m not childish and this is my last word, if she comes I don’t go", and with that I turned around in bed giving my back to John. He started to stroke it until I started to feel aroused. I moaned a little bit.
• "Even if I asked you to, Vicky?", John was almost begging me. I understood the love John felt for George. During all his life I know John loved George even more than he loved Paul. He always saw him as the younger brother he never had. I turned around again to face him.
• "Why have you got so much interest in going with them, John?"
• "Oh, luv, I’m not interested. I just want to go with George. They want to come with us. George still considers you one of his best friends. Please...", now John was begging me. I looked at him deeply in the eyes. There was no joke in his voice nor his eyes. He was serious. He really wanted me to go with them. And I loved John madly by then. So I finally gave in.
• "Ok, John... But I just do it for you and George. I’ll always see that Pattie as a rival for Edu", John kissed me.
• "I see yer point of view, luv. What do you think all of them thought when I left Cyn for ya, luv?", Uff!, I hadn’t thought about that, and he was absolutely right. John saw how my face changed and then with a smile he kissed me.

Ok, and that was it. The weekend of Easter we four parted to Ireland. We had no problems going because the press didn’t find out we were going anywhere. The castle was great, very big, and it was decorated like in ancient times. I tried to get on well with Pattie, putting a mask my Gemini character let me do, but it didn’t work out. I couldn’t stand her fashion way of dressing, her pretty face or her stupid voice. What was more, every time I saw her, I saw Edu in Spain, alone, suffering, maybe thinking of George, not dating anyone, while Pattie was with the love of her life.

During all weekend, as a sort of punishment for John forcing me to do something I had never wanted to do, I didn’t let him make love to me. He tried and tried persistently during the whole weekend (and I must admit it was really hard not to make love to him, seeing him there so sexy) but to no avail.

• "What the ‘ell is wrong with ya, Vicky?", he finally blurted out. I looked at him fixedly.
• "How come you don’t know? I don’t want to be with Pattie and you know that".
• "Oh, don’t be foolish, girl, and don’t come with all that crap again! You’re behaving like you did with Tessa", I became tense at the mention of her name. "George has to go on with his life, right? I like Edu, and you know that, but life goes on", well, still I wasn’t convinced so I didn’t look at him directly to his eyes. He held me softly by the shoulders. I loved him so much that I didn’t need much more persuasion. He leaned to kiss me. John was nice and delicate with me so we finally ended up making love.

But the day we had to come back to England was a complete disaster. I don’t know how but the press found out we were leaving and Pattie and I had to disguise as maids and hide in a dirty linen truck among the dirty clothes of a lorry that would take us to the airport. John and George could find a different way to go. It was the most embarrassing moment I had ever lived! We were hiding there for more than an hour and still nothing happened.

• "Oh, Vicky", said Pattie with her stupid childish voice, "don’t you think someone should have already come for us?", I didn’t answer but I thought she was right. I went crawling to the back door of the lorry and started knocking on it like mad. Pattie came too and we both were like twenty minutes yelling and beating the metal door.
• "I hear something", I whispered to Pattie. Finally someone opened the door and Pattie and I were welcomed with an unexpected scene. John and George were laughing hysterically
• "It’s not funny!"; I shouted at them. I was very very angry and didn’t have a good feeling about this. George and John helped us go down the lorry and the boy kept on saying I’m sorry to us. He directed us to the VIP room in the airport and there we could change into clean clothes. I observed Pattie. She was really beautiful: blonde, very big big blue eyes, very thick lips... her mouth was really beautiful. And besides she was tall. No wonder she was a model. But I had to fight for my friend.

As soon as we returned to England after the awful Easter weekend, I phoned Edu. I was lucky she was at home, because I didn’t want to phone when John was at home.

• "Hello?"
• "Hello, dear! It’s me, Vicky!"
• "Vicky! What a lovely surprise! I’ve been missing you so much!", well, the was no point in telling her I had been putting off this moment because I didn’t want to tell her about Pattie.
• "Well, yes, I’m sorry, but you know..."
• "What’s wrong?", I was a very bad actress and she had noticed my voice was breaking.
• "Oh, Edu, luv! You have to come back to England, please! I’m begging you!"; there was something in my voice that made her realise there was something serious going on.
• "Vicky! You’re scaring me! Tell me what’s wrong, please!"; now I couldn’t pretend any more, I had to tell her, it was now or never, so I blurted out.
• "Edu... George is dating another girl...", then there was this terrible silence. I couldn’t even heard Edu’s breathing. I felt I had to say something, "Edu, dear... You there?"
• "Vicky, I can’t go to England now. My family needs me and I can’t leave them here now..."
• "But Edu, George is every time more involved with this girl, they even went on holidays together this Easter..."
• "I’m sorry, Vicky"; I was going to insist but I suddenly heard some voices and the door opening. I felt panic, because I didn’t want John to find out I had been trying to convince Edu to come to England with George.
• "I have to hang up, dear. Talk to you later", and I hung up. I turned around to face John. He wasn’t alone, George and Ringo were also there. But something was wrong. I could see it in John’s face.
• "Bloody bastard! To me he can rot in hell!", John was cursing and for him to curse like that, something serious had happened. I watched him as he went towards the kitchen without saying hello or without looking at me. I had a look at George and Ringo for help.
• "His father", Ringo told me. "He’s back".
• "His father??!!", my voice showed my surprise. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I needed to talk to John. I went to the kitchen. John was sitting there, with his head between his hands. He was very upset but he wasn’t crying. Anyway, something wasn’t right for me. I thought John didn’t have parents. "John, I thought your father was dead..."
• "He is!", he shouted from where he was but without lifting his head to look at me. I looked at George and Ringo for help again. George told me to go outside the kitchen with his hand. Ringo followed us. John needed to be alone so we left him there to his own thoughts.

We all sat at the living-room table and I prepared two Scotch and Cokes for the boys.

• "So, John never told you the story", George said more like a statement than like a question. I shook my head:
• "No, I only knew his mum was dead and he was raised by his aunt Mimi. He also told me his father left him when he was five or so, but I assumed he was dead if he hadn't shown any signs of being alive until now. maybe that was a mistake. I assumed his dad was dead".
• "It’s much more than that, little girl", George went on. "His dad is in search of something, I’m pretty sure, you know".
• "Money", Ringo butted in.
• "Hey, hey, wait a minute! You mean to tell me he had never tried to contact John in all this time?", I couldn’t believe it. Now I understood much better some features of John’s personality. He was really hurt by how life had treated him. Ringo and George both shook their heads. John turned up suddenly at the door. There was silence but then George got up and said:
• "OK, Ring. We’d better go home now to rest for tomorrow", Ringo got up to go too and John looked at him with thankful eyes. When he and I were completely alone, John broke down. I hated to see him cry, I really hated it. John was really tough outdoors, but very deep inside he was just a little child. Mimi had told me. He needed all the love I could give him. I stroked his hair and kissed him on the head. He lifted up his head and he had his wonderful hazel eyes full of tears.
• "Why didn’t my parents love me, Vicky? What did I do wrong?", I kept on stroking his hair and kissed him several times on the head.
• "Shh, my love. Everything is alright, I am here with you...", John was sobbing.
• "Thank you, my love. Thank you for being here with me... Don’t ever leave me, please..." I sighed. I still couldn’t believe this guy, who had everything under his feet, who could have any woman on Earth and was a very famous person... I couldn’t believe this guy was begging me to stay with him. Of course I would stay, I loved him like mad.
• "I’ll never leave you, John", I promised him. He lifted up his head to kiss me. I drank his tears and once again we made love softly and loving each other a lot.

In the next few days, John recovered a lot. He tried to forget his dad and concentrated on filming the movie. And at the beginning of April, John announced me he wanted to go to Liverpool to see Julian. His birthday was on the 8^th and he wanted to give him a little birthday party.

• "Can I go?", I asked him, not sure if he wanted me with him or what. He looked at me in awe:
• "Are you joking? If you’re not coming there’s no point in bloody going", he smiled at me.
• "You and me together, alone?", that was my eternal question. I wanted so much to be alone with John. So I asked him that, smiling at he thought of a wonderful time with John and Julian in Liverpool.
• "Well, I’ve invited everyone, but George and Pattie are staying and Ring has to film a solo scene or something for the movie, so just Paul and Eli are coming", my heart almost stopped, I could still remember Paul trying to make a move on me when he started to kiss my body. John took it the wrong way. "C’me on, luv! Still angry at Pattie?", I smiled.
• "No, no, it’s OK", well, at least I would do my best trying to act normal in front of Paul.

Eli was really happy. She didn’t know Julian nor Mimi and she was dying to meet them. Besides, Paul had promised her to introduce her to his brother Michael. Brian wasn’t’ coming. He stayed with Ringo.

We parted on Tuesday the 7^th, shortly after the Beatles filmed another scene. Nobody knew we were going, only Cynthia and Mimi. John didn’t want his son’s birthday to become a circus. Anyway, the Cynthia thing worried me. I hadn’t said anything to John because he was getting a little bit fed up with my jealousy but somehow he knew I wasn’t comfortable with that. Once on the plane, John took my hand:

• "I’m glad you’re coming with me, luv", I forced a smile and John realised. "Are you worried about what Mimi may say or what?"
• "Oh, no! It’s not Mimi! I love Mimi! It’s...", and then I stopped because I didn’t know how to continue.
• "Wha?"
• "Cynthia", John’s laughter was so loud that even Paul and Eli, who were a few rows behind us, realised.
• "What’s the problem with ‘er, luv?"
• "She’ll be there and...", he cut me short.
• "Uh uh", he said shaking his head, "Cyn is not in Liverpool. She’s visiting her brother Tony. She’s left Julian with Mimi...", he kept on smiling. "Don’t worry that you won’t see her", I blushed a little. I must admit John was very patient with me, sometimes treating me as thought I were a little child.

We arrived in Liverpool late at night. John didn’t want a big scene so Mike McCartney came for us to the airport. I didn’t know Mike and I found him very different from Paul. Not only did they not look alike physically, but they were also quite opposite in character. Mike was very similar to John in character. So, Eli, being as outspoken and very muck like John himself, it was me who didn’t say a word during the drive to Mendips. I still don’t know how I had hoped they wouldn’t notice.

• "What the ‘ell is wrong with that bird of yers, Lennon?", that was Mike, of course, but he referred to me.
• "Shut up and drive on!", was John’s answer but Mike was persistent. I could see him looking at me through the rear mirror.
• "Oh, you know I’ve always loved listening to a beauty speak... or is it that being a Spanish bombshell she can’t speak English?", well, I must admit I felt quite pleased because behind all that speech lay some compliments that even Paul seemed to like.
• "C’me on, Mikie", he said, "She’s John’s. You’ve never been strong enough to steal a girl from Lennon boy!", I looked at both with the corner of my eye. John and Eli hadn’t probably noticed but I knew what Paul meant, and Mike probably did too because he didn’t say any other word during all the drive.

He dropped us at Mimi’s and we all arranged to meet the next day in the early afternoon. Surprisingly, there was nobody waiting outside Mendips but the exterior gates were full of declarations of love towards John, the proof that some girls had been hanging out there. The living-room light was on, so Mimi would be awake, John rang the doorbell and in a couple of minutes Mimi opened the door.

Every time I saw Mimi I got the shock of my life because she was very much like John. The same nose, eyes... Even the same sharp features. She hugged John and kissed him and honestly that was the first time I had seen her kiss John. Then she came to me and hugged me too:

• "You look nice", she told me. "Much better than the last time I saw you". Well, I had to laugh at that. The last time she had seen me had been when I was in hospital recovering from having lost my baby.
• "Where’s my baby?", John asked, going inside. Mimi stopped him.
• "He’s sleeping. What did you expect, Lennon? It’s past his bedtime now", John laughed.

We all went to the living-room. The house was exactly like I remembered. Mimi had prepared some meal for us. Although we had eaten on the plane, we ate again.

• "Are the birds disturbing you very much, Mimi?", asked John. Mimi put a strange face.
• "I’ve told you thousands of times not to use that vocabulary here, Lennon!", John ducked his head. I could see he respected his aunt Mimi a lot. But then Mimi laughed. "John... I’m used to it now".
• "Tell me if they disturb you very much", he was better now. I looked at him with the corner of my eye not knowing what he meant with that. Maybe Mimi and he had a secret code or something.
• "Don’t worry about me, Lennon", she blurted out. "You’d better take care of your girl. You lost your baby because of the ‘birds’, as you call them", John looked at me and smiled.
• "Never again will she go through that. I’ll make sure she’s the happiest girl in the world".

I went to bed immediately after dinner, but John stayed with Mimi catching up, I guess.

I woke up the next day to the soft touch of a baby’s hand. I opened my eyes and saw John holding a lovely Julian. Julian was looking at me with puzzled eyes, quite understandable because he didn’t know me.

• "Had you ever seen a more beautiful thing?", John asked. I shook my head:
• "No, John. He’ll be as sexy as his dad".
• "I wasn’t asking you, luv. I was asking him", I rolled my eyes. John was impossible. But Julian was adorable. John leaned to me to pass me Julian over but he wasn’t very keen on coming with me. He grabbed John’s neck and wouldn’t get rid of it, so finally John desisted. "Alright, we’ll be downstairs. Don’t be long, luv", he kissed me and went.

When I went down, Mimi had prepared a wonderful breakfast. Of course, cereals were there, John being a great cereals lover, but there was also orange juice, toast, tea, coffee and bacon. I couldn’t believe it! And I felt guilty. Every time I had been at Mendips, I hadn’t moved a finger. I mean, I hadn’t helped. I didn’t know how John would take that. Being a Northern England guy, he probably expected the woman to do all the housework. Definitely, I wasn’t like that.

Outside, a tremendous screaming could be heard. The girls were back. Thankfully, it was a working day and the girls had school so the mob only lasted a while. John shook his head.

• "It’s impossible we’re having the party outside, Mary", I totally agreed.
• "What do you reckon, then?", was Mimi’s answer. John looked around and shrugged.
• "We can have it either in the back garden or here inside". Mimi said:
• "We’d better have it here. You can’t imagine the amount of girls I’ve found sleeping in the back garden", John and I looked at each other in surprise.
• "What?", Mimi smiled:
• "Yes. It’s become that crazy".

At that very moment, Julian started to cry. I went to him but he only stayed with his dad or Mimi so John took him out from his chair and sat him on his lap.

• "We’d better start with the preparations", said Mimi getting up and picking up things from the table. I got up to help her and noticed John turning on the TV. Without watching it, I noticed the news was about the Beatles. So I turned to see what it was about. They were talking about their new film, called Beatlemania, according to the reporter., John shook his head. I was still holding some plates:
• "They got it wrong", John told me. "It hasn’t got a title yet".
• "Beatlemania is alright. I like it. Does it sum up the plot?"
• "In some ways", said John. He went on watching TV and I went to help Mimi with the things of the party.

Paul, Eli and Mike came at 1.30 or so, they were the firsts. Paul was holding a big parcel wrapped in present paper and with a big lace at the top. Paul saw the way I was looking at it and smiled:

• "Sorry, luv! It’s not for you. Where’s my little Julian?", John came out at that moment from the kitchen holding Julian and as soon as he saw Paul, he threw himself out at his arms. Paul hardly had time to pass the present over to Eli and hold Julian. Obviously, Julian loved Paul very much and the love was mutual. Mike went with Paul, Julian and John, and Eli and I were finally alone to catch up on things.
• "What?", I asked her. "Everything alright with Paul’s family?", she made a strange face.
• "I dunno... They’re nice but I have the impression that Paul’s dad has something against foreigners and somehow Mike still hasn’t got over the fact that Paul dumped Jane Asher for me...", I shrugged.
• "They will get used to it, don’t’ worry. Mimi was also quite unfriendly with me at first and now... You should see her! I think she even likes me!", we both smiled. Then I suddenly realised Eli hadn’t met Mimi yet. "Talking of which, come with me! I’ll introduce you to her..."

We went towards the kitchen, where Mimi was now alone. Obviously, Mike, John and Paul were not very keen on helping Mimi in the kitchen.

• "Mimi", I said, "Let me introduce to you to Eli. She’s a fellow Spaniard, like myself and she’s dating Paul", Mimi scanned Eli from head to toe. Both Eli and I felt quite uncomfortable because Mimi was very sharp-tongued when she wanted. Nobody knew what to say. The doorbell rang at that very moment.
• "Vicky, would you mind going to open the door? I’m taking care of these things. Thanks!", said Mimi. I hated to leave Eli on her own with Mimi but I had to open the door.

When I opened it, I came face to face to a young guy, quite fair, full of freckles and with the whitest skin I had ever seen. He smiled at me a grin that was quite friendly:

• "Hi, is John there?", I doubted. I didn’t know this guy, I had never seen him before and I was scared that maybe word had spread about two Beatles visiting Liverpool and he was just another fan. John’s voice came crawling from behind.
• "Bloody ‘ell, Shotton! Long time no see, man! How are ya?", I turned to find a very relaxed and genuine John. I had never seen him like that before. That was John, the real John.
• "Good grief, Winnie! No need to ask you how ya’re doin’!", John directed him a mischievous grin.
• "Shut up yer bloody gob, Shotton, or I’ll bear the shit outta of ya like in the old days", but they weren’t talking seriously because after that, they joined in an embrace that I had never seen John give Paul or George or Ringo for that matter. When they broke apart, he introduced me to that stranger: "Oh, Shotton! This is Vicky, my new bird", Shotton’s eyes were about to pop out from their orbits.
• "Fuckin’ shit, John! I always said ya never had taste for women but this bird ‘ere is really beautiful", Oh God! What did I have for Englishmen? I was as normal as could be, nothing special, but ever since I had arrived in Liverpool Mike and now this Shotton were all but complimenting me. John was going to say something but Paul came out:
• "Hey, Shotton! How are ya doin’, mate?", he shook hands with Shotton.
• "Fine, fine, working hard to be a good policeman, ya see", I saw John put a strange dace.
• "’ell, Shotton, don’t remind me" Come in! It’s me son’s birthday".
• "I know, Cyn told me. I saw her the other day and we were chatting for a while", John and Paul both looked at me and my face became tense. John’s voice was very weak when he asked:
• "And what did she tell you?", his Scouse accent had stopped being. Shotton looked at me and tried to avoid the question. He looked at John and said:
• "Aren’t two Beatles now going to let an old Quarryman enjoy the party?", both John and Paul made room for Shotton to pass but John was persistent.
• "What did she fuckin’ tell ya?", that Shotton really should be a very close friend of John because he wasn’t afraid of him. He could face him without fear.
• "Everything, Lennon. She told me everything. And I let her do it, you know why? Because that was much better than going to the press and telling them all", we three were silent. John suddenly said:
• "She did it once. She told the press a pack of fuckin’ lies and Vicky was hurt", yeah I could remember Edu and I sitting at the kitchen table reading the paper:
• "I know, I read it too. Everybody read it", Mimi and Eli came out from the kitchen then and more introductions were made. Then we all went to the back room where Julian and Mike were. The scene was that of a film. Julian was sitting on the floor, in the middle of a very big scalestrix and was watching like mad the way Mike drove the cards around him at the speed of the sound. "The best present, Paul", Shotton said. "Is it really for Julian or for ye both?", they all laughed. I couldn’t see the joke but Shotton told me John and Paul (and maybe the rest of the Beatles and even himself) loved Scalestrix.

After playing for a while, John announced he wanted to give his present to Julian. We were all inside the house and John said his present was outside. I looked at Eli in surprise because honestly I didn’t have any idea what it was. So John took Julian in his arms and we all followed him to the back garden. All our jaws dropped opened when we saw the present. Standing there was a very beautiful pony, very small but it could stand still. John’s face was really bright. He was obviously very proud of his own present. I had no idea how he’d done it. John put Julian on the pony and held him to pose for the pictures Mike was taking. Suddenly, Shotton came from behind me and offered me a drink that I accepted. I took a few swags but unfortunately Mike, who was some steps ahead from me to be able to take better pictures, walked backwards and pushed me, throwing all the drink over me.

• "Oh, hell! I’m sorry, Vicky. I’m awfully sorry".
• "It’s nothing, Mike", seemed like the McCartney brothers had something against me to throw drinks on me. He quickly went to the kitchen and came back with a cloth to wipe me. He tried but it was useless. "I’ll go upstairs to change, I’ll be right back", I thought that was the best solution. So I went upstairs and took my sweater out. I opened the small suitcase I had brought with me and started looking for something suitable to wear. I was only in my bra. I suddenly heard the door of the room closing. I didn’t remember having left it open so I lifted up my eyes and saw Paul coming towards me.
• "Paul!", I shouted but he quickly came to me and out his hand on my mouth to shut me up.
• "Shhh, luv! Nobody knows I’m here!", I made gestures with my hands to tell him I wouldn’t shout but I needed to talk. He finally took his hand away from my mouth.
• "What are you doing here?", I said, very very angry. I was so angry that I didn’t realise I was facing Paul with only my bra. I noticed it when I saw Paul’s eyes going down instead of looking at me in the face. I covered myself with my arms but my angriness hadn’t faded. "Well?", I said, impatiently. He took my face between his hands and tried to kiss me but I wouldn’t let him. "What are you doing? Are you crazy? John and Eli are downstairs!! Why are you doing this?", I said, more calmly now. "Don’t you love Eli any more?"; Paul dropped his hands and looked outside of the window. As if I had said that by telepathy with her, Eli’s voice came to us from downstairs:
• "Paul? Paul!"
• "Oh, shit!", said Paul, and I started to panic. What if she came upstairs? Or if someone saw Paul coming out of our room? Oh my God! Paul was putting me in a mess. "Alright, give me ten minutes!", and with that he went away. With all my nerves, I just took the first thing I found in the suit case and put it on. I started to count. I didn’t want to be there that long, ten minutes was a long time so I just decided to count to ten and come out.

When I went downstairs. Shotton was at the bottom of them. He directed me a strange stare, something I couldn’t say if it was surprise or amazement.

• "What were ya doin’ with Paul?", he asked me. I blushed. I think I hadn’t got used to the fact that in Liverpool all guys were very direct.
• "Nothing", I said, but my voice was weak. Shotton came to me.
• "Look! John is me best friend. No matter he’s a Beatle, he could be a John Doe and I would fight for him the same", I didn’t know what he was up to. He went on: "Don’t hurt him, girl! Do you hear me? Don’t!", and with that he went out to the back garden where everybody still was. I came out too but now I had fear because what if that Shotton said something to John? Well, if he didn’t want to hurt him, he wouldn’t say anything. I was crazy about John and I would never do anything to hurt him.