Part 10 (1/2)

”Because, sister dear, the only person that Kiley Kepner hates more than you and me is her ex-husband, who absolutely doesn't want this film made. The enemy of your enemy is your friend and right now, you and me with The Lady's Regret are definitely in opposition to Dad.”

”Kiley is using our film and this role to mete out her revenge on Dad,” Amanda said. She pressed her fingertips to her forehead. ”This is a Shakespearean tragedy waiting to happen.” She turned her gaze toward me. ”I've always pictured Mom in that role and if the choice is between the film never getting made and Kiley playing the role written for Mom, then Sterling, I have to say let Tom destroy the script. I won't even be able to watch the film with Kiley in Mom's role.” Amanda rubbed water up and down her arms. ”Plus, if we let Kiley play that role? Daddy is already p.i.s.sed that we're pursuing the film; he'd blow a gasket if we put Kiley in Mom's role. The ink on the divorce decree is barely dry.”

”They were married for, like, three months.”

”Right, and in those three months do you recall all the things she did to me and to Daddy, not to mention Lane and even you? This is not the woman I want in the role that I've always pictured Mom playing. We both own half of the option and I don't want Kiley to play this role.”

Dread thickened in my chest. We were running out of time and actresses. ”If Tom would give us more time.” My gaze drifted over my shoulder to Rhiannon who sat silently behind me. ”Would you ask your father?”

”I will,” Rhiannon said. ”I'll call him in the morning.”

”It's after noon in Dublin,” Maeve said. ”He'll already be three pints in and you want a sober Tom Bliss for this conversation.”

”I can tell you both from the way Papa talks about The Lady's Regret, he's not inclined to give you more time,” Rhiannon said. ”He blames The Lady's Regret for most of the bad things that have happened in his life.” Rhiannon's lips were pulled down at the corners. ”He thinks the script is cursed.”

I frowned. ”Why does everyone think this script is cursed?” I looked from Rhiannon to Maeve and back to Rhiannon. ”Don't tell me you believe it, too? That The Lady's Regret is never meant to be made?”

”I don't know about cursed, Sterling, but I do know that some bad things have happened to people involved with the project. I mean, just look at our two families.”

Unlike everyone else, I'd disconnected the script from the events of that summer. The Lady's Regret was actually finished before Mom had been diagnosed. The fighting had escalated and the separation of our parents had happened immediately after the script was completed. Tom and Gayle separated soon after Mom and Tom returned from Montecito, and Dad moved out of the house until we found out Mom was sick.

My gaze flashed up and I caught Rhiannon's eyes. A shadow slipped across her face. Did she know why Gayle and Tom and Dad hated this script so much? A question formed in my mind-a question that I didn't want to ask.

Chapter 14.

Rhiannon.

”You're leaving your family, for her?” Mama stood in the hallway just outside her and Papa's bedroom. She hugged her torso. While there were no tears, a horrible sadness claimed her face. Maeve and I had been banished down the hall to our room, but the house carried sound. We both sat in the hall and listened as our parent's marriage came to an end.

”I'm not choosing Joanne over them, or even over you.”

”That's a laugh.” Bitterness wove through Mama's voice. ”You know she won't love you. She can't love anyone. She's much too damaged to love.”

Papa's shadow flashed backward and forward across the white wall as he packed his bag.

”She may be damaged, but at least she needs me.”

”Needs you? What the h.e.l.l does that mean? We've been married for nearly twenty years. How can you think...? We need you. The girls need you. Even I...” Her voice trailed off into nothingness.

”You can't even say it, can you, Gayle? You've not needed me for years now. You see me as another child to feed and clothe and take care of. When did I stop being the man you married and loved and, instead, became the boy you took care of?”

”I guess when you stopped being a husband. How many years has that been?”

”Far too many,” Papa said. His footsteps thudded through their room and we heard the slam of a drawer in their bathroom. The soft sounds of Mama's crying filtered down the halls. Maeve scooted closer to me and pressed her face to my shoulder. Her hot tears soaked through my s.h.i.+rt.

”Gayle.” His voice was softer. His anger gone. ”I can't stay. I can't be here with you any longer. It's not that I want Joanne more, or even love her; it's simply that I no longer love you. At least not the way you deserve to be loved.”

Thwapp.

The sound of a hand striking a cheek came down the hall. I jumped and Maeve pressed her face harder into my shoulder. A mewling sound like a scared kitten came from Maeve. I rested my hand on her head.

”You f.u.c.ked her. You f.u.c.ked my best friend. How? How could you do that to me, to us, to this family? You've destroyed everything because of your own midlife crisis. Because some lovely little bauble of Steve Legend's felt alone and abused. You know what you are to her, don't you? You are nothing but a mechanism for revenge. Revenge for the public affair, revenge for all the b.a.s.t.a.r.d children she's discovered. Do you think you're the first one? The only one? I am her best friend. I know about all of her dalliances.”

The snap of a suitcase being closed. My father's steps thundering toward the hall.

”You're not the only one, Thomas,” Mama called. She stood in the hall, her face a mask of sadness and tears. ”You'll never be the only one for Joanne. Don't even dare to think that you can be.”

He paused in the front room. His gaze wandered down the hall and caught with mine. His anger slid to pain. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Maeve sobbed on my shoulder. I turned to her and put my arm round her. Papa had ruined our family. He had destroyed what we thought to be ours-a family with a mother and a father and happiness and joy. Amanda's mother had taken Papa from us. I clutched Maeve as she cried.

”Make them stop, Rhiannon, oh please make them stop,” she begged through choked sobs and tears.

I turned back to where Papa stood, but he was already gone.

”Rhiannon!” My shoulder shook. ”Rhiannon, wake up.”

My eyes fluttered open. Maeve stood bent over me as I lay in my bed.

”You were crying and thras.h.i.+ng. You were having a bad dream.”

In the darkness my eyes focused. The moon cast a silver light into our shared childhood room.

”Are you okay?”

”I was dreaming about when Papa left.”

Maeve sat on my bed. ”I remember that night. It sucked.”

A smile crept across my face. I adored my little sister. She was so honest and so in the moment. She did not ruminate or worry, she simply rushed through life with a joy-filled speed collecting new experiences. Sometimes I wished I could be more like her.

”I don't think what happened between Papa and Joanne is what frightens me,” I said. ”I think it's also Steve, and what he did and what he continues to do. He's been married four times since Joanne died.” I turned my head and looked at Maeve as she slid back into her own bed and cuddled up under her sheets. ”And I know Sterling and Amanda have no idea about Sophia, Ellen, and Rhett.”

”Oooooh,” Maeve said and pressed her finger to her lips. ”Shhh, you're going to get in very deep trouble for mentioning those-who-must-never-be-named.”

”Right. So those are a load of secrets we've kept from Amanda and Sterling.” I turned toward my sister. ”Not really the best foundation for a relations.h.i.+p.”

”Those aren't the reasons,” Maeve said. She flipped onto her back. ”You're scared.”

”What?”

”You're scared. You don't want to fall that much in love and then have it ripped away because Sterling can't keep it in his pants.” She looked over at me. ”I mean the inability to be faithful destroyed Steve's marriage and Papa's. That's what you're afraid of.”

”Mama and Papa would be furious if I ended up with Sterling. You should have seen Mama the morning after Sterling was here. She was nosy and judgmental and worried.”

”Don't let her fool you, you're going to get those reactions no matter who you're with. She's just as worried as you are. Think about it, her best friend of thirty years slept with her husband, destroyed her marriage, and then practically died a saint. Then Mama stays here to make sure that that friend's children don't end up drug-addled or suicidal. I mean, Mama is a bit of a martyr.”

”Seems as if you've gotten all our familial dysfunction sorted out while you've been traveling.”