Fallen Angels

by Tara Hyland

  Olivia had never felt so wretched as she did then. There was the boy she’d set her heart on, unable to keep his eyes off her stepmother. Suddenly the dress that she’d loved didn’t seem so special – it felt young and silly, too girlish. How could she hope to compare with her glamorous stepmother? Her beautiful stepmother, who looked ravishing in a silvery-grey satin gown, all womanly breasts and hips, while she, Olivia, looked like a little girl in white lace. It was small wonder Brett was enchanted by Franny, she thought bitterly as she watched them whirling around the dance floor. He whispered something to her stepmother, who threw back her head and laughed. Even her laugh was sexy: a deep, throaty sound. She had never looked better, her long, swanlike neck exposed, her rich red hair falling in soft waves down her back. That was it for Olivia. She turned and started to run.

  Watching from over by the drinks table, Gabriel saw what had happened, and cursed his thoughtless stepmother for the way she’d treated poor Olivia. He’d begun to thaw towards Franny over the past few weeks, seeing the effort that she was making for his sister. But this behaviour tonight negated everything else.

  He caught sight of his father standing a few yards away, a glass of whiskey in hand, his gaze on Franny and Brett. Gabriel could only imagine how much it was annoying him, seeing his new wife all over some teenage boy. Other guests had spotted them too, and there was a ripple of gossip running through the party. Gabriel couldn’t resist putting the boot in. Walking over to his father, he said, ‘Looks like you’ve been replaced by a younger model.’ He nodded over at Franny and Brett. ‘That didn’t take long, did it?’

  It had sounded so clever in his head, but as his father turned stone-cold eyes towards him, Gabriel suddenly wondered if he’d gone too far.

  ‘I know I haven’t always been the best father to you,’ Max said icily, ‘but that’s no reason for you to insult my wife like that. I’ve seen the way you’ve treated her over the past few weeks, and I’ve let it go, because I know it’s more about me than her. But I’d thank you to keep your vicious comments to yourself tonight. This evening is for your sister, not your petty vendettas.’ He drained his glass. ‘Now, I’m getting back to the party. I’d suggest you do the same.’

  With that, he walked off, leaving Gabriel feeling somewhat ashamed.

  Duke Carter wandered through the undergrowth, away from the other guests, loosening his bow tie as he went. He hated these parties, with the schmoozing and small-talk, although no one would ever have guessed that, given he was so good at both. But the truth was, he hadn’t wanted to come tonight. He was only here because Lloyd had let him know that his attendance was expected by their chief investor. So he’d traipsed all the way out here, to see the same faces and make the same conversation. His date, some stuck-up actress who seemed to think she was it after winning an Academy Award this year, was beginning to bug him, and he wanted to go home. But he guessed he’d better stick it out until midnight at least, so he’d decided to take a few moments’ break instead.

  As Duke made his way further into the bushes, he spotted an old treehouse. It seemed as good a place as any for a smoke. One cigarette, and then he’d go back, he promised himself. He walked over and sat down on the third step, but as he reached for his lighter, he heard a noise coming from the treehouse above. It sounded like crying. Part of him was tempted to walk away, but whatever was going on had to be more interesting than the party, so he decided to investigate.

  As he climbed the rest of the steps, the sounds got louder. It was definitely a female crying, he was sure of it now. ‘Hello!’ he called out, not wanting to frighten anyone. And, as he poked his head up through the trapdoor, he saw that he was right. A girl, Max’s daughter, in fact, was sitting on the floor, in a sea of white lace, her knees pulled up to her chin, sobbing her heart out.

  Duke considered what to do. The girl was so caught up in her misery that she hadn’t noticed him yet. He could slip away, and she’d be none the wiser. But even as the thought went through his head, Duke knew he wasn’t about to leave. He may only have met her that evening – Olivia, wasn’t that her name? – but the poor little thing looked so miserable that he couldn’t just walk away. Duke was always a sucker for a damsel in distress.

  ‘Fancy some company, Birthday Girl?’ he said.

  Olivia looked up, startled. She stared at him for a moment and then, clearly embarrassed, turned her face away. ‘Thank you, but no,’ she sniffed. ‘I’d rather just be alone.’

  But Duke sensed she didn’t mean it. So instead he climbed up and came to sit beside her, resting his back against the wooden wall of the treehouse. ‘Well, you might not want company, but I do. So humour me for a little while – all right?’

  She sniffed again. ‘All right,’ she gave in.

  ‘Good.’ He reached into his pocket and pulled out a hanky. ‘Now for God’s sake, please blow your nose. I can’t bear to hear your snivelling.’

  At that, Olivia gave a weak smile.

  ‘Ah ha!’ Duke said triumphantly. ‘So I got a smile out of you! Does that feel better?’

  ‘Yes, thanks.’ She wiped her eyes and blew her nose, and then looked at her rescuer properly for the first time, only realising then that it was Duke Carter, the movie star. How embarrassing. She loved his pictures, and had all his posters on her walls. She didn’t want him to see her like this. ‘Please don’t feel obliged to stay. I’m fine, honestly,’ she assured him, just wanting him to go away so she could forget this whole humiliating experience. ‘I’m feeling better, I promise.’

  But he seemed in no hurry to leave.

  ‘I’m glad,’ he said. ‘No one should be sad on their birthday, kiddo.’ He punched her arm playfully, and then he grew serious. ‘So do you want to tell me what upset you?’

  Olivia’s smile disappeared then. Her eyes dropped to her lap, and she began to pick at her lace dress. ‘Oh, I don’t know.’

  ‘Tell me.’

  She hesitated, not wanting to burden him with her childish problems. But he sounded so sincerely interested, and it would be nice to have someone to talk to.

  ‘It was just this boy I like. Brett,’ she confessed.

  ‘And he didn’t like you back?’

  ‘I thought he did. But then I introduced him to Frances, and well . . .’ She stopped, unable to finish.

  ‘He started paying her too much attention?’ Duke filled in, guessing what had happened.

  ‘Can you blame him? She looks amazing.’ Olivia sighed enviously. She could never work out how she felt about Franny. Part of her wanted to be just like her, and the other part hated her guts. ‘What would he want with boring old me? I’m a wallflower next to her.’

  A sob caught in her throat as she said the last word. Her bottom lip trembled, and she felt the tears threatening again. She looked away.

  ‘Hey, now. Let’s have no more tears.’ Duke moved so that he was kneeling in front of her. Putting his hand under her chin, he tipped her face up so that she was forced to meet his gaze. ‘I can tell you this for a fact: you are by far the most beautiful woman here.’

  ‘You’re just saying that,’ she said, shaking her head.

  ‘No, I’m not.’ His eyes, for once, were serious. ‘Frances is an attractive woman, there’s no doubt about that. But it’s all manufactured: from the coiffed hair to the carefully applied makeup to the expensive dress. You have something far better: a sweet, natural beauty and a good soul. That’s going to mean so much more in the long run. Trust me.’ He winked then. ‘I know a thing or two about women.’

  Olivia didn’t know what to say. Part of her wanted to tell Duke that he was being stupid, that she could never measure up to her stepmother. But the other part of her could hear the sincerity in his voice, and knew that he really believed what he was saying.

  ‘You’re being so nice to me.’ She met his gaze. ‘Thank you,’ she said.

  It was not often that Duke felt good about himself, but this was one of those rare moments. ‘That’s quite all right,�
�� he told her. ‘It’s your birthday, you shouldn’t be sad today of all days. And don’t waste any more time feeling upset about this boy. Give it a month or two, and you’ll have forgotten all about him.’

  Olivia laughed. ‘You know, to be honest, I’m not even sure how much I really liked him,’ she admitted.

  ‘Then why are you so upset?’

  Feeling a little silly, she told him how she’d envisioned her evening: that she’d just wanted one dance with someone – and not her father or her brother, but someone who she could at least pretend had romantic feelings for her. ‘Now that’ll never happen,’ she said in a small voice.

  She’d half-expected Duke to tease her. But instead he looked at her very solemnly, and said, ‘Well, let’s see what we can do about that.’

  He stood up then. Bowing from the waist, he said, ‘May I have the pleasure of this dance, Miz Olivia?’

  Even though they were up in the treehouse, they could still hear the band playing, the music floating through the warm night air to them. Duke took Olivia in his arms, and began to dance with her. There wasn’t much room to move, but somehow that made it even more special, as though they were on their own private dance floor.

  As Olivia closed her eyes and rested her head against Duke’s shoulder, she decided that her stepmother was welcome to Brett: Duke Carter was a far better person to have her first dance with.

  For some reason Franny couldn’t quite understand, her stepdaughter’s sixteenth birthday didn’t bring her any closer to Max’s children. In September, Olivia and Gabriel went back to their respective boarding schools, leaving her alone in the house. But instead of being relieved, Franny just felt more frustrated. The days seemed so long and lonely.

  One morning in mid-October, waking to another empty day, Franny decided there was nothing for it: it was four months since the wedding, and she needed to get back to work. She called up Lloyd, without discussing it with Max first. The Studio Head seemed happy, if a little surprised, to hear from her.

  ‘So how’s married life?’ Like everyone else, it was his first question.

  ‘Oh, wonderful! Amazing, of course,’ Franny replied breezily. ‘But I was actually calling to find out if there’ve been any new developments on the Elizabeth project?’

  There was a silence. Lloyd coughed uncomfortably. ‘Well, yes, we’ve decided to go ahead with making the movie—’

  ‘That’s great!’

  But already she could tell from his hesitation that this wasn’t the news she’d been hoping for.

  ‘Uh, yes,’ he stuttered. ‘But, um, I have to tell you that we chose in the end to go with Edie Lincoln to play Elizabeth.’

  Franny was stunned. It took her a moment to recover. ‘Oh, right. I see. That’s good,’ she said hurriedly. ‘I was actually only calling to say that I wouldn’t be able to do it, anyway. What with being so busy now.’

  ‘Great – excellent. That’s what I thought.’ Lloyd sounded relieved. ‘Obviously you were always our first choice . . .’

  The conversation carried on politely enough, but Franny got off the phone feeling hurt and dejected. She hadn’t been gone that long, and already she’d been replaced.

  When Lily called an hour later, asking if she’d like to go out to Mocambo’s the next evening, Franny was surprised to find how eager she was to get back to the LA party scene.

  Franny neglected to tell Max her plans. It wasn’t that she planned to hide her outing from him, but he was staying the night in Chicago anyway, so it wasn’t like he would miss her. Franny set off just after breakfast the following day, and drove herself down to LA. She was there by early afternoon. It felt like she was coming home. She planned to stay the night at Holmby Hills, and had alerted the staff to prepare the house for her arrival. Sitting in front of the mirror that evening, getting ready for her night out on the town, Franny felt more like her old self.

  The gang had arranged to meet at Musso & Frank. As a waiter escorted Franny to the table, she saw that everyone was already seated in their usual red-leather booth – Lily, Helena, Emily, Duke and Hunter. Hunter stood as she walked over.

  ‘Long time no see,’ he drawled, his eyes raking over her. ‘We’ve missed you.’

  ‘Have you now?’ Franny had always been a flirt, and having a ring on her finger wasn’t going to stop her doing something that came as naturally to her as breathing. She felt like she’d been let off the leash for the night, and she was going to make the most of it. Now, she held out her arms. ‘Well, why don’t you get over here and show me how much?’

  Hunter bent to kiss her on the cheek, but while he moved one way, Franny went the other, so that they ended up catching each other’s lips instead.

  ‘Ooops!’ Franny pushed Hunter away, laughing. ‘Lucky Max isn’t around to see that.’

  She was so happy to be back with her friends that she never noticed the magazine photographer, snapping away in the corner.

  It was that very shot, of Franny and Hunter caught in a full kiss, which made the cover of Celebrity magazine the following week.

  The night that the magazine came out, Max wasn’t home until late. Franny lay in bed, waiting for him to come up to their room, but he never did. Sometime along the way, she must have fallen asleep, because she woke to see that it was nearly three in the morning – and Max still wasn’t there. Certain that he was somewhere in the house, she got up, pulled on her robe, and went to look for him. Sure enough, she found him in his study: with a half-drunk bottle of whiskey and a copy of the magazine.

  ‘Oh, Max,’ she whispered, when she saw that he was staring at the picture of her and Hunter together.

  He closed his eyes for a brief second, and when he opened them and looked up at her, she could see the pain he was feeling. ‘How could you?’ he said.

  It took Franny a moment to realise what he thought had happened. ‘I didn’t!’ she exclaimed.

  He shook his head. ‘Please, Frances—’

  ‘Honestly,’ she interrupted. ‘Nothing happened between me and Hunter, I swear. That photo – it looks like something it’s not.’

  Seeing the scepticism in his face, she walked over and sank to her knees in front of him, a sign of supplication. ‘Please, darling.’ Tears gathered in her eyes. As an actress, she’d learned to cry automatically, but this was genuine. ‘Nothing’s going on, I swear.’ She took his hand, imploring him to believe her. ‘Please believe me. You have to believe me.’

  He stared down at her for a long moment, as though trying to decide whether she was telling the truth.

  ‘I would never do that to you,’ she told him. ‘I swear I wouldn’t.’

  Finally he sighed, and she could see he was giving in. ‘All right. I believe you.’ He still didn’t sound happy, but she could tell that at least she was halfway to winning him over. ‘But just explain one thing to me.’

  ‘Anything.’

  ‘What on earth were you doing at that club in the first place?’

  Franny wished now that she’d mentioned her plans to go out. She could see from his point of view that this lie of omission made her outing seem more sinister than it should have done. ‘Oh, it seems so stupid now,’ she admitted. ‘I only went because I was upset about not getting the part as Elizabeth.’

  Her husband looked surprised. ‘That was the reason?’

  ‘Yes,’ she said simply. ‘I thought that I was the best Elizabeth that Lloyd had seen. And I was hurt when Lloyd said he’d given the role to someone else.’

  Max reached out and touched her cheek. ‘Oh, sweetheart, I’m sorry to hear that.’ And he did sound as though he was. ‘But there’ll be other parts, I’m sure.’

  A thought suddenly crossed Franny’s mind. ‘Could you have a word with Lloyd?’ she asked hopefully. ‘I’m sure he’d listen to you.’

  At that Max drew his hand away. ‘I’m sorry, but I’ve told you before, I made a promise at the beginning not to interfere in the creative side of things. And you wouldn’t want to get a part
simply on my say-so, would you?’

  ‘I suppose not.’ She could see his point, it would be better to be cast on her own merits. But until then, she was stuck out here, feeling useless. ‘But you see—’ Franny stopped. This was it, she decided suddenly; this was the moment she would tell him about Cara. If she had no career to get back to, then she wanted her daughter here. She took a deep breath. ‘Max,’ she said determinedly. ‘I have something to tell you.’ She stopped again, unsure how to go on.

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘Well, if I’m not going to have my career, then I need something else to occupy me. You see, I find it so difficult, being here alone all day . . .’

  But before she could broach the subject of Cara, Max cut her off. ‘Well, I presumed you wouldn’t be alone for long,’ he said, smiling a little.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I thought we’d start trying for a baby.’

  Franny stared at him, stunned into silence.

  ‘I know we haven’t talked about it before,’ he continued. ‘And to be honest, I never expected to feel this way myself. After everything that happened with Eleanor, and the way I’ve treated Gabriel and Olivia, I didn’t think I’d want to have another child.’ He paused, and took her hand. ‘But with you, it seems like the right thing to do. I love you, Frances. I want us to be a family. I want us to have a baby.’

  A baby? The idea of getting pregnant had been furthest from Franny’s mind. She wasn’t even sure that she could conceive, let alone whether she wanted to. She already felt like a failure as a mother: having failed to tell her husband about Cara, and then not being able to connect with Gabriel and Olivia. Having another child would surely just complicate an already impossible situation.

  ‘But Max—’

  He held up his hands, interrupting her again. ‘I know it’s a lot for you to take in right now. I appreciate that. All I ask is that you give it some thought.’

  Franny stared at her husband. He seemed so excited about the prospect of having a child together. She felt terrible. How could she tell him about Cara now? It would devastate him. So she decided instead to take the coward’s way out and go along with him, for now at least – especially as she was still feeling so guilty about the photo of her and Hunter.