Part 15 (1/2)

”Really? Aware of them, are you? Then you've met your brothers and sisters?”

Sterling's mouth dropped open. He looked as though he'd been punched in the gut. He stepped back from Papa. He looked at me, his gaze full of questions.

”What brothers and sisters? I have one sister, I don't ... I don't ...”

”Oh, but you do,” Papa said. He stepped closer to Sterling, seeking a kill shot on a wounded animal. ”There are three that I know of, but I can nearly guarantee that with your father's insatiable appet.i.tes there are more. Many, many more. Why do you think, after all those years of ignoring your father's bad behavior, that your mother finally left? Finally took a lover? Finally wished to return to work? Sterling, what did finally push your mother over the edge?”

Sterling's eyes glanced from Papa to me. I met his gaze and in that instant he saw that I knew. That I had kept this secret from him and hadn't told him all that I had known about his family's past.

”You ... you know them? You've met them? My brother and sisters?”

”Ask your father about the house he keeps in Castaic. Perhaps you've met these siblings and didn't even know your own brother and sisters. The way your father propagated his seed, I can't believe that these three are the only unknown siblings that you and Amanda have.”

”Papa, no,” I said. ”Please, stop-”

”Oh, my darling.” A mean smile cast upon my father's face. ”He has taken something so precious from me. Every Legend has stolen from this family. Now it's my turn to take something from him.” Papa's anger was so intense. I knew that he didn't just mean me, or The Lady's Regret-he blamed the destruction of our little family of four on the Legend clan.

”Go ask your father, Sterling, the man I'm so concerned that you're so similar to. Ask him how many children other women bore for him while he was married to your mother. Then perhaps you'll understand my fears, my worries when it comes to Rhiannon and your relations.h.i.+p with her.”

Papa looked at me. ”I fell for it too, my darling. Joanne had me mesmerized with her promises of love and devotion. We had that for a while, she and I, but she could not stand to be without the Legend lifestyle. Once she grew ill, she wanted everything that being a Legend could provide.” Papa turned to face Sterling again. ”You are not the man that I want for Rhiannon. Not now, and not ever.”

”This isn't your decision,” Sterling said. ”This is Rhiannon's decision.”

”Sterling, please,” I said. I grasped his upper arm and steered him to the front door. I shut the door behind us.

”I need time to talk to Papa. He is righteous and indignant and he's saying the most vile things.”

Sterling pulled back from my grasp. ”You're staying with him?” Sterling's shock broke my heart.

”No. I mean yes. I just need some time, to talk to Papa. To make him understand, to be rational.”

Sterling's eyes widened as though I'd struck him. ”He said those things about me, about my family and you're staying here with him, instead of leaving with me?”

Heat in my belly flooded through my chest. ”He is my father,” I said. ”I need to speak with him. This isn't a you or him situation.”

”It isn't?” Sterling seemed surprised, perplexed by my words. ”It was before, wasn't it? You left with him to go to Ireland instead of staying with me.”

”I was fifteen,” I said. ”I did what my family thought was best. I did what I thought was best.”

”You wanted to leave? You believe all those things he said about my family? About my father? About me?”

”Sterling, those things about Steve are true. You do have three siblings and your mother and my father did have an affair, and I did leave, but it wasn't because my parents made me.”

My gaze locked with his. I wanted Sterling to understand that I had chosen to leave out of fear, but that I now chose to stay because of love. At fifteen the idea of such an all-consuming love frightened me. ”We needed this time apart. I couldn't have become the person I am now if we'd been together for the past seven years. Neither could you. We needed to find our own ident.i.ties and then be together.”

”I can't believe you didn't tell me any of this,” Sterling said. His hands were planted on his hips.

”And I can't believe that your father didn't.” I crossed my arms over my chest. Anger split through my chest. Right now, Sterling reminded me of a petulant child who wanted everything his way. ”My parents are overprotective and intrusive, but they are my parents. I need to speak with them about what I want. What we want. Alone.” I placed my hand on the doork.n.o.b and looked at Sterling. ”Please understand.”

Sterling turned away from me and looked out toward to the horizon where the sun sank toward the ocean. ”I waited for you once, Rhiannon, I'm not certain that I'm willing to do so again.”

Chapter 20.

Sterling.

”First you're gone, and now you're back? You call mom a wh.o.r.e and now you stand here and tell me she has six weeks to live? That she's dying? What the h.e.l.l, Dad? Who the h.e.l.l do you think you are standing here and acting like you belong in this family? That you have a right to be in this house?” My fists clenched at my sides. There was no fear. He'd hit me once and I hadn't hit back. Back then I'd turned and walked away, but this time, I would pound the old b.a.s.t.a.r.d if he threw a punch. My fists itched for him to take a step toward me, to say something mean and unkind. Let him call Mom a wh.o.r.e again, let him feel the pain that raged through my heart and wanted to come out through my fists.

”She's dying, Sterling.” His eyes held pain. ”She's upstairs in bed. We just came from the oncologist. There's nothing more they can do.”

”Bulls.h.i.+t,” I said. I opened my hands and clenched them again. ”Mom can do anything. If she can live through you and your drinking and your whoring and your insane bellowing then she can f.u.c.king beat cancer.” My voice was low and my throat closed up around my words. My eyes filled with heat, a horrible heat. I didn't want to cry in front of my father, this b.a.s.t.a.r.d who'd caused my mother to sob deep into the night. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d who regularly appeared on the front page of the tabloids because when he was on set, he screwed everything with t.i.ts. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d who made it impossible for anyone to get away from him. ”You're a liar!” I yelled. I started past him toward the stairs and his arms grabbed me and pulled me in. I pulled hard against him to get away.

”Son, I'm not lying. I may be a b.a.s.t.a.r.d and a womanizer and a huge a.s.s, but I love your mother and I always have. I'm not lying-this is nothing to lie about. She's leaving us, and soon.”

The sobs broke free. I hadn't cried since I was in middle school and the sound that wrenched from my chest was unfamiliar. Giant tears rolled down my face, hot and angry. I wanted to throw up. Dad pulled me tighter.

”We'll get through it,” he whispered in my ear. ”Do you understand, son? We'll make this the best f.u.c.king six weeks she could ever have and we'll get through it. The four of us, together.” His voice was thick with emotion. He pulled his head back and looked into my eyes as the tears rolled down his face.

His arms tightened around me and his giant hands patted my back. ”Now go up there, don't cry, and be happy to see your mother.”

I swallowed and wiped the tears from under my eyes. I looked at Dad. His face was stoic, but sadness etched his eyes. ”Don't let her see it son, don't let her see the pain. Be happy to be with her now. Let's hold off on missing her until she's gone.”

I nodded. Dad was right. He was a b.a.s.t.a.r.d and an a.s.s and a million other things, but he was my dad. And he would make this the best six weeks of Mom's life and I would be there beside them. They would be the last few weeks that we would have as a family.

I burst into Dad's house. I didn't knock. I didn't call. I didn't pause at the doorway where his housekeeper stood in slack-jawed surprise as I blew past her and up the stairs to his room. There could be half a dozen starlets with him, but I didn't care. Tonight I didn't f.u.c.king care what I saw. I bounded up the stairs and rushed down the hall. I threw open the door.

Dad's room was gigantic, bigger than the entire main floor of my house in Venice. Instead of the orgy I expected, my father sat in the center of his immense bed with reading gla.s.ses on, a script open on his lap, and the giant flat screen TV turned on, but on mute.

Not the hard-partying Legend lifestyle.

He jerked his head back when he saw me and pulled his gla.s.ses from his face. ”This is a surprise. What is it, son?” His voice was always raspy and thick.

”Do I have a brother and two sisters?”

Nothing on Dad's face twitched. Not one muscle moved. His gaze darted from me to a portrait of my mother that hung above the fireplace and then back to me. ”You have a half-brother and two half-sisters.”

My gut twisted as though I'd been socked in the pit of my stomach. I hadn't believed Tom; I hadn't wanted to believe Tom Bliss. I wanted to believe that the things Tom said were the ramblings of an angry man and not legitimate statements of truth.

”Are there more?”

Dad tapped the stem of his gla.s.ses against his bottom lip. ”Could be,” he said. ”Those are the only three I know about.”

I wanted to pummel him and use my fists to release the anger that burrowed in my chest. Instead I clenched my fists together and pressed them to my head. My fingertips brushed through my hair. ”How could you not tell us? How could you keep this from Amanda and me?” I stopped pacing and stood beside Dad's bed. ”Do they live in L.A.? Where are they? Who's their mother? What the f.u.c.k? Are you such a f.u.c.king narcissist that you have to leave a trail of progeny behind?” I asked.

”I've been called worse.” He closed the script on his lap. ”They live in Los Angeles, their mother is ...” He paused and closed his eyes, his chin dropped to his chest. His lips pursed and then he pulled his head up and looked at me. ”Their mother is Anita.”

”Anita? Our nanny? The woman that Amanda caught you f.u.c.king in the guest room?”