by Trisha Grace
The woman slotted a brush into place in a rolled-up pouch and threw everything else into a rectangular black and silver makeup box. The makeup artist smiled and sent the classic sympathetic smile her way before hurrying out of the room.
“For what’s worth, I’m sure Keith didn’t cheat on you,” Elena said.
“He says Miriam’s just drumming up attention to get another role.”
Neither Elena nor Gina replied, and they shared a look between themselves—a look that told Sarah they knew more than they were letting on.
Sarah sighed. “Please just tell me what’s going on.”
Elena nodded, and Gina said, “Miriam’s really pregnant.”
“How do you know?”
Elena stood and adjusted the chair to face her. “I walked into Miriam and her sister having a rather heated conversation. Her sister was waving a pregnancy test stick in Miriam’s face, and Miriam admitted that she was.”
Sarah slumped back against the couch. “Did you hear who the father was?”
Elena shook her head. “I realized I’d barged into an intimate conversation, so I backed away and knocked into Spencer.”
“Spencer. Why can’t Keith talk to me instead? Why must he talk to Spencer about this?” Sarah crossed one of her arms across her abdomen and propped the elbow of her other arm against it before leaning her head on her hand. She’d thought she and Keith shared a bond based on mutual trust and he could tell or discuss with her anything and everything.
“Maybe it’s something only Spencer has the answer to,” Gina said. “I think Miriam hooked up with Spencer, too. Maybe he’s seeing if Spencer knows anything.”
“Is Miriam here?”
“No,” Elena answered. “She doesn’t have any more scenes today.”
“Do you know where can I find her?”
Gina glanced over at Elena and pursed her lips when Elena shook her head.
“Oh, come on.” Sarah groaned and reached into her bag when her phone started vibrating again. She threw the phone back into her bag after seeing the word ‘Mom’ on the phone’s screen.
“Don’t talk to Miriam alone. If you want to talk to her, make sure you have Keith or someone else with you. Miriam’s very manipulative. She’s a good actress. She can cry—” Elena snapped her fingers “—just like that. You’re a nice person, and she’ll have you wrapped around her little finger before you know it.”
“I don’t think I’ll be on the same side as Miriam—ever.”
“Sarah …”
“I know. This is a crazy world. People in Hollywood don’t behave like people outside.” She was so sick of hearing that. “What makes you people so entitled?”
Elena blinked, and Sarah raised her hands by her chest.
“I’m not talking about the two of you,” she said. “I’m just tired of you guys treating me like a child.” She was an elementary school teacher; she was used to being the adult.
“That’s because you haven’t even seen the worst. What you’re experiencing is nothing.” Elena clasped her hands together. “You haven’t seen or even heard the horror stories: the rape, the sexual assault, the manipulation, the backstabbing …”
“The targeted rumors that are meant to destroy someone’s reputation,” Gina added.
“Actors—good ones—are good at their jobs because they’re observant. And because they’re observant, they know exactly how to manipulate you.”
Gina’s head rocked up and down in a steady rhythm. “They’ll know which buttons to push when they want you to cry, which buttons to push when they want you to think they’re on your side.”
“I’ve been so blessed to have mentors who have protected me from most of that,” Elena said and paused. “We’re just trying to be your friends, trying to protect you from that side of Hollywood.”
“But if Keith is serious about our relationship, I will have to face this world sooner or later. I can’t always be hiding behind you guys.”
“Why not?” Gina asked. “Elena runs to Claudia for help whenever she needs it.”
“I have God on my side.”
“So do I.” Elena smiled. “Maybe God placed us in your life so you’d have someone to guide you along.” She stretched her back and neck. “Sometimes, I think working is the best escape for the craziness happening around us.”
“And what do you do when your work environment is filled with crazy people?”
“Then you find something else to work on.” Elena’s smile grew wider. “I’m visiting one of the orphanages I run tonight. Come along. You can read to the kids or even help some of them with their homework.”
“That sounds great.” It really did.
“Okay.” Elena stood when there was a knock on the door. “I have to go.” She glanced over at Gina. “Stay with her.”
“No. Please, you don’t have to.” She could tell Elena wasn’t going to back off, so she added, “My mom’s been calling me all morning. I’d like to take the call alone.”
Elena nodded then. “All right. But promise you’ll stay in here until Keith comes back for you.”
“I promise.” The phone call with her mom would probably go on forever anyway.
Once Elena and Gina closed the door behind them, Sarah took a deep breath and pulled out her phone to call her mother.
“Why haven’t you picked up my calls?” her mother asked once she picked up the call.
“I’m calling you back now.”
“Have you seen the news?”
“Yes. I don’t really know what’s going on yet, but we’re sure Miriam is lying about Keith being the father.”
“How can you be sure? Because Keith said he’d never slept with that actress?”
Sarah pursed her lips. “We just know.”
There was a moment of silence before her mother said, “Your father always claimed he’d never slept with me either.”
“Mom, please.” She knew the heart ache her mother went through when her biological father denied the relationship he had with her mother. So much so that her mother went on to marry a man she didn’t love.
Her stepfather was a kind, honest man. He was plain and safe, which was precisely why her mother agreed to marry him. Because a man like her stepfather would never cheat on or abandon her.
“Your stepfather loved you. He treated you like his own daughter. Why can’t you find someone like that? Someone decent, someone safe.”
Sarah loved her stepfather as well. He and her mother never had another child, and he did love her as his own. Even when he was sick, his eyes would light up whenever he saw her. But she wanted more than safe. She wanted the heart-fluttering, breath-quickening kind of love she’d read about in books and seen in movies—the kind of love she had with Keith. “I love Keith.”
“And he’s going to be a father. Do you think it’s right for you to rob the unborn child of his father?”
“The child isn’t his.”
“And if it is? Will you promise you won’t steal him away?”
“I didn’t steal him away, mom.”
“Don’t deviate from my question. I’m asking you: if the child is his, will you promise to leave and let him be the father the child deserves? Do you remember how sad you were when your classmates’ fathers showed up in school for science fairs and performances? You were always asking me why you didn’t have a father when everyone else did. Do you want the child to go through what you did?”
Sarah closed her eyes. “That isn’t fair.” All the pain she’d felt as a child rushed back to her, and she felt a literal ache in her chest. She wiped the tear rolling down her cheek. But as she did, more came gushing down.
“Sarah?”
She looked up at Keith.
He rushed over and sat next to her, his eyes wide and filled with concern.
Sarah swallowed and said, “I’ve got to go.” She ended the call with her mom and leaned on Keith’s shoulder as he shifted closer to her. His arms went around her, and he held her tight aga
inst him.
“Is this about Miriam? I’m so sorry. I promise I’ll make everything right. Don’t cry.” He ran his hand up and down her back while she sobbed.
She didn’t want to let him go. She wanted to hold on to him as long as she could.
Keith stroked her hair and held her, not saying another word.
“I’m sorry,” she said and straightened, wiping her tears on the back of her hand.
“I should be the one apologizing.” Keith cupped his hand against her face and brushed his thumb under her eye. “It breaks my heart to see you cry.”
“What if Miriam’s really pregnant with your child?”
“She isn’t.” He took her hands. “I’m sure she isn't even pregnant.”
“She is.”
Keith arched his brow, and she repeated what Elena had told her.
“Okay.” He nodded after a moment. “Even if she is, it isn't mine. She doesn’t look that pregnant. She can’t be that far along.”
The episodes of I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant she’d watched flitted through her mind. “I don’t know.”
“Okay.” He tightened the grip on her hands. “This I know: I love you. Whatever it is, we’ll get through it together. Okay?”
Sarah closed her eyes. Could they?
Chapter Ten
Keith looked over at Sarah after posing for a series of photos with the children at the orphanage.
Sarah sat with a young girl on her lap, both of them huddled over a book on the table. Sarah’s eyes were bright, and her smile so dazzling it made him grin. He liked watching her work, watching her around children. She was so good with them.
Could he be selfish enough to keep her with him and take away the joy she clearly had in her work?
“Have you spoken to Miriam?”
Keith turned to Elena and shook his head. “I’m sure it isn’t mine.”
“The child isn’t yours. I don’t think Sarah would like you to label the child as ‘it.’”
His grin broadened when an idea struck him. “You own this orphanage, right?”
Elena nodded.
“Don’t you think you should have someone here to permanently motivate the children and keep their dreams alive?”
Elena arched a brow.
“Don’t you think Sarah would be a great person for that job?”
“You’re trying to get her to stay by asking me to give her a job?” She rolled her eyes and turned away.
“Wait.” He grabbed her arm. “You have to admit that having someone to encourage and help the children out day-to-day is a great idea.” He jerked his chin toward Sarah. “Look how good she is with the children. I’ll even donate to that cause if you don’t have the budget.”
“Now you’re suggesting that you pay me to offer her a job so she’ll stay?”
“Do you really have to put it that way?”
“We have someone doing that job already. It’s the orphanage director.” Elena jerked her chin toward the elderly woman they had just taken a photo with.
“Yeah, but she’s already so old.”
Elena pursed her lips. “Please don’t continue with how she may die soon and Sarah would be a great person to take over.”
“Do you have a vice-director?”
She rolled her eyes again. “There’s no such thing as a vice-director.”
“You could make one. And don’t roll your eyes again. At this rate, your eyeballs may just drop out of their sockets.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m going to walk away and do you a favor by pretending this conversation never happened.”
He almost stuck his tongue out at her, but managed to rein his childishness in for the moment. He walked over to Sarah and pulled out a chair next to her.
“Okay? I’m sure you got this.”
The young girl nodded with a bright smile, then slid off Sarah’s lap and bounced off with the book in hand.
“Enjoying yourself?”
“Yes.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Done with your picture taking?”
“Yes.” He tipped his head back. “And I’m drained. Elena really owes me one for my hard work.”
She laughed, and he grinned. Why did it feel as if it’d been so long since he heard Sarah laugh?
She rubbed his cheeks, moving her hands in circles. “There? Do you feel better?”
He took her hand and kissed the back of her fingers. “We’ll come here whenever you want.”
“You don’t own this place.”
“I’m sure Elena will never turn down free labor.”
Sarah nudged him with her elbow. “Stop saying that.”
“You’re helping out and not getting paid.”
“It’s called volunteering.”
“Free labor.”
She laughed again and leaned against his shoulder. “You’re funny.”
“I have to be. I love hearing your laughs too much to be just another boring guy.”
Her lips curled. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” And in this moment, this perfect moment when she was smiling and gazing into his eyes as if the rest of the world didn’t exist, he wanted to get down on his knee and ask her to marry him.
But he couldn’t do that, not with Miriam’s pregnancy hanging over them.
When the moment came, he wanted it to be a moment of pure happiness—not shadowed by someone trying to break them apart.
Keith and Sarah were laughing at a silly joke as he turned his car onto the street that led to his place. A nice dinner without anyone else judging him and sending sympathetic glances to Sarah was what they needed. So they’d decided to order takeout at his place.
Their jovial mood turned somber when they drove past a herd of camera-wielding paparazzi. He thought the worst was over when he drove onto his property, but he saw the red Porsche parked in front of his house before he could even sigh.
He clenched his jaws to stop himself from groaning. Was it too much to ask for a good, quiet meal?
“Is that Miriam?” Sarah asked.
“Yeah,” he sighed his answer.
“Looks like our at-home dinner date may not happen after all.”
He ran his tongue under his teeth. “I wanted to talk to her anyway.”
“I thought we agreed to go through this together.”
“Sarah—”
“I’m not going to stay in the car while you go over and talk to her.” She unbuckled her seat belt. “Besides, do you think it’s a good idea for you to be alone with her? Especially since she’s claiming her child is yours.”
“I don’t want to get you into this mess.”
“I am in the middle of this mess. When will you finally realize that? I know she’s claiming the child is yours, but I’m in this mess as much as you are.”
He couldn’t say she was wrong, and she had that determined look he’d seen before—a look that told him she was ready to fight. Since he’d rather have Sarah direct her anger toward Miriam than at him, he relented. “Okay.”
Miriam stepped out of her car in equally red heels and a loose black dress topped with a black cardigan. A drastic change from the bandage dresses she usually wore. She held a brown envelope in her hand as she strolled over.
He glanced over at Sarah.
“Let’s see what she has to say.” She pulled on the door handle and stepped out.
Keith stepped out along with Sarah and went around the car to her. He took her hand, and they strolled forward to meet Miriam halfway.
Miriam gave them a quick scan, her eyes stopping on their intertwined hands. “How sweet.” Her chest rose sharply before she exhaled and turned to Sarah. “I’m sorry. The pregnancy caught me completely off-guard as well.”
Keith’s eyes narrowed. That wasn't what he’d expected.
“I know no one will believe me, so—” Miriam lifted the envelope in her hand “—I brought this.”
“What’s that?” Sarah asked.
Miriam flipped the front o
f the envelope toward them. “This is a clinic that does paternity tests. You can check it out for yourself. I’ve asked for the results to be mailed to both of us.” She lifted her other hand to reveal a cotton swab with a cover. “All you need to do is rub it against the inside of your cheek, and we’ll send it to the clinic.”
Keith took the cotton swab from her. “You could switch this out any time.”
“I’ll seal the envelope in front of you, and you can mail it. Mine’s already in the envelope and the clinic already has our baby’s DNA.”
He clenched his jaws when Miriam used the term ‘our,’ but popped open the cap and pushed the cotton through the plastic container anyway. He’d been so certain that Miriam couldn’t be six months pregnant, but Miriam seemed just as confident about the baby being his.
No. This was just a setup, a ruse to make them think she wasn’t lying.
He exhaled silently through his mouth, then rubbed the swab against the inner side of his cheek. But how long could this ruse last? Days? Weeks? Tests from private labs wouldn’t take too long, so what was Miriam’s point in doing this?
The more he thought about it, the more his confidence faltered.
He replaced the cap and put the swab into Miriam’s extended hand.
She lifted the envelope and was about to drop the cotton swab in when she dropped it.
Both he and Sarah reached for it. She stopped halfway and allowed him to pick it up.
This time Miriam angled the envelope toward him. “Drop it in.”
After he did, she licked the flap and sealed the envelope. Then with a small smile, she handed it to him. “Here. You mail this. I don't want you to think I tampered with it somehow.”
Keith took the envelope, but was unable to contain his frustration with this facade. “We hooked up over six months ago. You don't look that far along.”
“That was what I said, but my doctor says every pregnancy is different. Would you like to see the ultrasound scans?”
“No. We’re done here.” He took Sarah’s hand and strode toward the house. He entered the PIN into the security pad and headed inside. The engine of the Porsche roared as Miriam drove off.
