“I’ve got it!” she called out to Brenda as she ran down the stairs. Had Sadie been at her old studio apartment, she would have asked who it was before opening the door. But in the suburbs, she felt much safer and she knew whoever it was would likely be someone friendly who was there for a cause.
When she swung the door open, she learned just how wrong she was. The person on the other side wasn’t friendly. But he WAS there for a cause.
“Elias,” she gasped, taking in his signature sandy brown curls and his vibrant green eyes.
“Sadie,” he said, nodding at her and looking into the house past her.
“Wh-what are you doing here?” she asked, but before he could answer, Brenda came bounding down the stairs.
“Who is it?” she asked as she got halfway down the stairs. She stopped with her foot in the air as she noticed Elias standing on her doorstep. “Elias Cane?” she said in a quiet voice. “What in the world?” She slowly began to descend again. “Is this some kind of hidden camera prank or something?” she asked, looking up at the ceiling to see if she could reveal a small camera hiding nearby.
Sadie wasn’t surprised by Brenda’s shock. It was how anyone would react to finding Elias Cane on their doorstep without warning. Elias was one of the biggest names in Hollywood, after all. And he didn’t usually just turn up on a random doorstep in the middle of a New York suburb.
“You must be Brenda,” Elias said, slapping his movie star grin onto his face and holding out his hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Great, Sadie thought, he was laying on the charm. It was what made her fall for him in the first place. He was an actor and he could act like the perfect gentleman if he so pleased.
“You’ve heard about me?” Brenda asked, a star struck look on her face. “I loved you in Terminal Terror. The way you caught on to what was going on and captured the bad guy right at the end…” Brenda trailed off, “of course, that wasn’t you, that was just your character,” she rambled.
“Sadie was in that movie with me,” Elias revealed as Sadie felt her face turn as white as a sheet.
“She was?” Brenda asked incredulously. “She said she did some work as an extra, but I had no idea she was in something so big.”
“She’s been in several of my films,” he provided, his face shining as if he were on camera right then. “In fact, that’s why I’m here. Sadie and I are old friends and I wanted to stop by and catch up.”
“You’re just full of surprises,” Brenda said to Sadie. Ellison chose that moment to wake up and cry for attention. Sadie looked from the monitor hanging from her waistband to Elias. She had no idea what to say to anyone at that moment.
“I’ll get her,” Brenda said, grabbing the monitor from Sadie and turning it off. “You two catch up.”
Brenda jogged back up the stairs, stopping at the top to take another long look at Elias before she went to retrieve Ellison.
“What are you doing here?” Sadie said in a quiet voice.
“Just like I said,” Elias continued, the same concerned, kind look on his face, “I came to catch up.” He moved into the entry way as if he owned the place and looked around for a place to make himself comfortable.
“Catch up,” Sadie repeated, “but it’s been nearly a year. And we didn’t exactly part on good terms.”
“I know,” Elias said, plopping down on the couch and putting his feet up on the coffee table. “That’s why I came. I didn’t want to leave things the way we did.”
Sadie flashed back to the day she had last seen Elias in person. They were wrapping up Terminal Terror, in which she had played several roles as an extra. She was a lady in a coffee shop in one scene and an injured victim in another. She still had her fake blood and black soot on when she finally worked up the nerve to confront Elias. “I’m pregnant,” she had blurted out. He had grabbed her elbow and directed her to his dressing room just off the set.
“What do you mean you’re pregnant?” he asked through his teeth.
“I’m pretty sure you know what it means,” Sadie said. Their relationship had gone from friendship to much more in the matter of minutes. His charm had somehow talked her into doing things that she promised she would never do with anyone other than her future husband. And now, she was paying for it. After he got what he wanted, she immediately regretted it. Not only because she had broken a promise to herself and God, but also because he started treating her like she was just any other extra again.
“And it’s mine?” he asked, a look of disbelief on his face.
“Of course the baby is yours,” Sadie replied, not appreciating his use of the word ‘it’ in reference to their child. “There hasn’t…been anyone else.”
Elias smirked as he turned away from her. He quickly got out his check book and began writing. He ripped the check out of the book and handed it over to her. “Here,” he said as she took the check with shock. “Take care of it.”
“Take care of it?” she asked, unsure if he meant that he wanted her to care for their child on her own or do the unspeakable and terminate the pregnancy.
“Yeah, you know, get rid of it,” he said, clarifying his position.
Sadie had stared at him for a full minute. And then she had looked at the check. The amount of money written on the line was substantial. But it wasn’t enough to care for the child for all of her life. It was money to pay for an abortion, but there would even be leftovers after that. The rest, Sadie believed, was hush money. He was trying to pay her off. She was to get rid of the baby and stay silent about the entire ordeal.
Sadie had then quietly folded the check, turned, and left the trailer. She stayed silent to allow Elias to think that she was going to do as he asked. She hadn’t lied and said that she would, but she had not disputed his orders either. He could think what he wanted. And she would do what she wanted. She didn’t know at that time what she might do, exactly. But she wasn’t going to have an abortion. Of that, she was sure.
She ended up quickly moving to New York. She chose New York because it was the farthest she could get from California and the most different. She wanted to get away and put space between herself, her child, and the situation. She hoped she could hide in a city that large and never see Elias Cane again.
Apparently, that was not the case. As she was brought back into the present, she looked at his stinging green eyes. The very eyes that had drawn her in and made her feel like the only woman in the world. “How did you find me?” she asked, as curious about the how as she was the why.
“You remember Jim,” Elias said, more of a statement than a question. Sadie nodded. She remembered Jim all too well. He was Elias’ body guard, but he also ran a private investigation business on the side. He made more as a body guard and that was why he stayed, but he always had a knack for finding information that no one wanted found. Apparently, he also was able to find people that didn’t want to be found.
The panic within Sadie began to rise. Why was he here? Elias knew about Brenda, from the way he greeted her, but did he know about Ellison? Was he going to take her away from Sadie? No, Sadie wouldn’t allow it. She didn’t care how much money he had or how powerful he was. She would die first.
“Look, Sadie,” Elias said, taking his feet from the table and leaning forward, “I just wanted to make sure we were okay.” He looked at her with sympathy written all over his face. “You took the money and I know you cashed the check. And you, well, you just disappeared. I was worried. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
Sadie frowned. Had he really wanted to know if she was okay, he would have tracked her down later that day, or even the next week. The fact that he had let nearly a year pass was enough to tell her the truth. She wasn’t going to allow herself to get sucked in to his charm and smooth talk again.
“I’m fine, Elias,” she said. “I have this wonderful place to live and I am surrounded by loving, caring people. What more could I want?” she asked, leaving out the part about Ellison and praying that
Brenda would stay upstairs and keep her hidden.
Sadie heard the soft telltale knock on the front door. It was the way Jed always knocked when he arrived. He never waited for someone to come to open the door, though. He always just knocked and then headed right in. Sadie held her breath as the door opened and Jed walked in, catching her eye as soon as he entered. “There she is,” he said with the same excitement his voice always held when he saw her. Then, he stopped dead in his tracks as Elias turned around on the couch.
“Elias Cane?” he said with more shock in his voice than Brenda had held.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
At that moment, Brenda came bouncing down the stairs, Ellison cooing in her arms. Sadie wanted to scream at her to go back up and hide her daughter, but it was too late. Brenda froze when she saw Jed and felt the tension in the air. Ellison began to cry and time stopped.
Sadie watched Elias as he looked from Ellison to Sadie and then back again. She could see the wheels in his head turning. He was likely wondering whether the baby’s was Brenda’s or Sadie’s. Sadie had the monitor when he arrived, but Brenda had been the one to go and retrieve her.
Brenda was pulled back into the moment by Ellison’s insistent cries. She rushed down the rest of the stairs and handed the baby over to Jed who tickled her cheek and calmed her instantly.
“I love how that works,” Brenda said, smiling at her cousin. “Jed,” she said, still feeling the tension in the room, “let’s let Sadie and Elias talk for a bit.”
Jed looked confused, but he could tell that his cousin was trying to hint at something so he followed her into the kitchen.
“What’s going on?” Jed asked as he began to pace the kitchen with the baby.
“I’m not sure,” Brenda replied as she got out a few glasses and began to pour sun tea into them. “Elias Cane just showed up at the door. He claims to know Sadie. Did you know Sadie was an extra in some of his movies? Apparently they’re old friends.”
Jed frowned. Sadie hadn’t told him any of that. Did she not trust him at all? Or was there some other reason she didn’t want him to know? “What does he want?” he asked.
Brenda shrugged. “I don’t know, I didn’t exactly ask. I fawned over his latest movie, made a fool of myself, then went to grab Ellison.”
Jed looked down at the little baby. He didn’t tell Brenda how much the little family meant to him. Or that he had looked up the meaning behind her name. Sadie seemed to put so much thought into her name by giving her his last name as her middle name. He thought she likely had a reason for naming her Ellison as well. The name, he found, meant two different things. First, my God is Lord. And second, child of Elias.
* * * * *
“Tell me you did what I asked,” Elias said, accusation running thick through his voice.
“I did what you asked,” Sadie answered meekly. She felt like she had gone back in time, bowing to his every whim. Once his charm had turned, she still followed him around like a puppy. It took her a little time to figure out who the real man was beneath all of his facades. Once she did, she turned away from him took her baby, and never looked back. “I took care of her.”
“Her?” Elias asked. “How do you know it was a her?”
“IT,” Sadie proclaimed, “is a baby,” realizing that Elias’ investigation hadn’t revealed all of the details. The bodyguard found her and knew about Brenda, but apparently the details about Ellison had been left in the dark.
“Is,” Elias caught on to the present tense Sadie was using.
Sadie stormed out of the room and into the kitchen. Without saying a word, she took Ellison from Jed and a look of sorrow passed between them. Whatever bliss they lived in without having the entire truth out in the open was over. It was time for the group to address the issue head on. Sadie tilted her head towards the living room, inviting Jed and Brenda to come along with her.
“Elias,” she said as she entered the living room with Ellison in her arms and Jed and Brenda standing awkwardly behind her. “This is your daughter Ellison. Ellison Leida Walker,” she completed.
“Daughter,” Elias said with a blank look on his face. He certainly wasn’t acting now. And he wasn’t welling up with tears the way a normal father would upon meeting his daughter.
Sadie held the baby out to Elias so that he could hold her for the very first time. Instead, he held his hands up in front of him and backed away. “Who have you told?” he asked.
“Told?” Sadie said, completely missing the point.
“About this baby. Who have you told?” Elias glanced at Jed and then Brenda without looking at the beautiful little baby again.
“No one,” Sadie said. “Not until now, at least.”
“She’s yours?” Brenda chimed in, facing Elias with shock written on her expression. “We had no idea.”
“She’s not mine,” Elias denied. “I don’t have any children.” With that declaration, he pulled his pocket book out and began writing. “What is this going to cost, Sadie?” he asked. “You didn’t do as I asked last time, but I presume if I write down a number big enough, you’ll do what I want this time.”
Sadie narrowed her eyes. “What exactly is it that you want?” she asked. In her nightmares, Elias found out the baby, hired a high powered lawyer, and took her daughter from her, claiming that he never knew she was pregnant or he never would have allowed her to leave. Her nightmares didn’t seem to be coming true so she was at least grateful for that. But the situation was still tense and the conversation wasn’t going well.
“I want this,” he said, making a gesture towards her daughter, “to disappear.”
“Disappear?” Sadie said in a small voice.
“You can’t make a child disappear,” Jed popped in, close to Sadie’s side. “She’s a person. And she’s not going anywhere.”
Elias gave him a demeaning look. “I don’t care where she goes,” he said with venom. “Or what she does. I just don’t want to have any connection with her. Don’t you see?” he asked, directing the question at Sadie. “An illegitimate child would ruin my reputation. In Hollywood, whether I get hired for a movie or not is based solely on my reputation. If the producers think I don’t take care of my own child…it’s over.”
“She’s not your child,” Sadie said, standing tall for the first time since Elias entered the room.
“What?” he said, looking up from the check he was writing. “I thought you said there hadn’t been anyone else.”
“I know what I said,” Sadie continued with confidence. “And I was being honest with you. But she is not your child. You are not her dad. You might be her father, but it takes a real man to be a dad. I thank God that I met you, Elias. I thank God every day. Because without you, I wouldn’t have her. But I can continue to have her without you now. I don’t need you. She doesn’t need you. You obviously don’t want her. I release you, Elias Cane. I release you from any responsibility. I didn’t put your name on her birth certificate and if the word ever gets out that you are her father, it won’t come from me. I don’t want your money. I don’t want your time. I don’t want you.”
Sadie took a deep breath as Elias stopped writing and looked at her in a new light. “I’ll pray for you, Elias. I’ll pray that someday you find God and invite Him into your heart. If that happens, and I pray that it does, you will start to understand what is important in life. It certainly isn’t money. It definitely isn’t movies. But until that time, I’ll think of you and pity you for not being a part of this little girl’s life. I am the lucky one for getting to be a part of her world.”
Elias slowly closed his checkbook and put it away. “So you’re not going to the media?” he asked, missing the point.
“Not now and not ever,” Sadie confirmed. “You think I want to live under a microscope? You think I want that for Ellison?”
Elias nodded and reached out to place his hand on Sadie’s shoulder, but then thought better of it and drew back. He glanced at Brenda and then locked eyes with Jed. The t
wo men started at each other for a few minutes and then Elias left in the same calm manner in which he came, as if he owned the place.
Sadie collapsed on the couch in tears. “He thought he could buy me,” she sobbed. “How did he ever get the impression that I was the type of girl who would just take his money and slink off into the night?” She realized as she said it that it was exactly what she had done before. She had taken the money he had offered, but only because she had needed it to survive. Without it, she wouldn’t have lasted a day in New York or anywhere else. She rationalized that she took the money to “take care of the baby,” just as he had said. But her form of taking care of Ellison and his were much different.
TAXI DELIVERY Page 7
