No Matter What (29 page)

***

“Is somebody going to tell me what the hell is going on here?” Terry asked, as they all stood in Reece’s kitchen.
 
Him, Reece Brogan – Hollywood movie star - and his mother!
 
What in God’s name was
she
doing here in
L.A.
?
 
And why?
 
Terry didn’t know what to think, it was like some ridiculous, surreal nightmare.

Reece hadn’t been able to hide the shock on his face when she’d walked into the room because she’d been the last person he’d ever expected to see.
 
He’d thought it was all over, all finally worked out, sorted, finished with, but it certainly looked like he was wrong on that score.

He tried to avoid Terry’s eyes as he looked over at him.
 
He felt numb, unable to get his head around what was happening, and what was now inevitably
going
to happen.

“Well?
 
Are
you
going to tell me what she’s doing here?”

“Terry ... I ... I can explain.”

“Then please do because I am fucking confused like you wouldn’t believe.
 
The last time I saw my mother she was in
England
, serving school dinners in the west end of
Newcastle
, and now she’s standing here in fucking
Malibu
!
 
Not only that, but why is she
here
, at
your
house?”
 
He looked over at his mother.
 
Her face was expressionless, calm even.
 
She just kept looking over at Reece as if she was expecting him to say something.
 
“Are you here to see
India
?
 
Is that it?
 
Are you after her money?
 
You spend your whole life ignoring her, not giving a toss about her but now she’s famous you want a piece of her, is that it?
 
Huh?”
 
He was getting exasperated now, pushing a hand through his hair, leaning back against the breakfast bar.
 
“But that still doesn’t explain why you’re here, in Reece Brogan’s house.”
 
He looked over at Reece again, his eyes now demanding answers and Reece knew he couldn’t keep it quiet any longer.
 
It was over.

“This ... this
has
got something to do with
India
, yes,” Reece said, wishing this wasn’t happening this way.
 
This wasn’t the way he’d wanted this to play out.
 
He’d really gained Terry’s trust and now all that was in jeopardy.
 
But what really mattered was
India
.
 
In all of this she was the one who stood to get hurt if this wasn’t dealt with correctly.

Terry was still looking at him, still expecting answers.
 
If only it was that simple
, thought Reece.

“Come on then.
 
I’m waiting.”
 
He hadn’t missed the look that had just passed between Reece and his mother.
 
“Well?”

Reece looked down at the floor for a second, running a hand through his now slightly greying hair before he looked back up at Terry, sighing heavily.
 
This wasn’t the way he’d wanted to tell him this.
 
It really wasn’t.

“I’m ... I’m
India
’s father, Terry.
 
She ... she’s my daughter.”

Terry laughed.
 
He couldn’t help it.
 
“Sorry?
 
I’m not sure I heard that right.
 
I could have sworn you just said you were
India
’s father.”

“This isn’t the way I wanted to tell you, Terry, believe me.”

“No, I’m bloody sure it isn’t.”
 
He looked over at his mother, who was now staring out of the huge French windows at the ocean view.
 
She didn’t seem in any hurry to deny it, and the look on Reece’s face wasn’t that of a man who would lie about something so serious.
 
“This isn’t a joke, is it?”

“I know this must have come as a bit of a shock ...”
 

“That’s one way of putting it, yeah.”
 
Terry couldn’t quite get his head around all of this.
 
He’d woken up this morning, thinking it was just another ordinary day, and then all of a sudden his mother turns up in
Malibu
and Reece announces, out-of-the-blue, that he’s
India
’s dad!
 
What kind of shit was going on here?
 
It was only
8am
but he really needed a drink.
 
And was his mother going to say
anything
?
 
Ok, so he’d just been dealt that knockout shock but there was more to this than he’d been told, that was obvious.
 
“I’m assuming
India
knows nothing about this.”

“No.
 
She doesn’t,” Reece sighed.

“And when were you planning on telling her?”

“When the time was right ... Terry, listen, this isn’t something you can just come out with, there’s a lot to explain.”

“Too fucking right there is!”
 
He pushed a hand through his hair again, throwing his head back and closing his eyes for a second.
 
“Jesus ... I can’t do this, I just can’t do this right now.
 
I need five minutes to get my head together.”
 
He looked at the two of them, still unable to believe what was going on.
 
“I’ve got to go and call work, then I need some fresh air.”

Reece felt a wave of panic rise up in him, terrified of what Terry might do.
 
“Terry, please ...”

Terry looked at him.
 
“It’s alright.
 
I’m not going to go running to
India
.
 
She deserves better than that.
 
I’ll be back in a few minutes and maybe then someone can start giving me some kind of explanation.”

Reece watched him leave, then turned to look at the woman who’d caused him so much heartache, so much stress over these last few years.
 
With her bleached blonde hair and her over-made up face she was nothing like her beautiful daughter.
 
India
had, thankfully, inherited none of her harsh features.
 

“What’re you doing here, Angie?”

“I told you I’d be back, Reece.”

“I thought we’d sorted this out.”
 
His voice was angry now.
 
She’d come into his home and turned everything on it’s head and she had no right.
 
None.
 
“That last payment was more than enough, not to mention the house, the car ... all of that, Angie, all of that was given to you on condition that you didn’t turn up on my doorstep and fuck everything up, yet here you are.
 
One call to Max, that’s all it’ll take me, one call to Max ...”

“I wouldn’t do that, Reece.
 
India
doesn’t know the truth yet, remember?”

He couldn’t believe this woman was
India
’s mother, that he’d ever gone near her in the first place.
 
Could she really care so little for her own daughter that she’d be willing to hurt her for money?

“So, what do you want?”
 
His voice was resigned.
 
There was no time to call his lawyer; he’d have to sort this one out himself.

“Another million.
 
One million and I’ll walk away.”

“A million.”
 
It wasn’t a question.

She nodded as Reece went over to a desk in the corner of the room, opening a drawer and taking out a cheque book.

“And what about
India
?” he asked, opening the cheque book.

“She’s your responsibility now,” Angie shrugged.

He looked at her.
 
“You don’t tell her, you got that?
 
I give you this money, this one final payment – and I mean final, Angie – and you let
me
tell her.”

“I won’t bother any of you again.
 
I promise.”

“Well, forgive me if I don’t pay much attention to your promises.”

“I mean it this time, Reece.
 
You can call Max when I’ve gone, get him to put any measures in place he needs to but I promise you, you won’t see me again.
 
None of you will.”

Reece needed to believe her; he really needed to believe her.
 
“
India
is a very special young lady.
 
She doesn’t need you turning her life upside down.”

“I know.
 
She seems happy.
 
I mean, she’s got the big house, fame, money ...”

“She has everything she needs.”

Angie paused for a second, looking at Reece.
 
“I’m sure she does.”

He signed the cheque and handed it over to her, just wanting her out of his house.
 
“Now go.
 
Get out of here.
 
I’ll handle Terry and
India
.
 
You’ve got what you came for.
 
I’ll be calling Max as soon as you’re out of here and this time ... this time there’ll be no more room for negotiations.
 
I’m going to make damn sure of that.”

She reached out and took the cheque from his outstretched hand, tucking it into her bag, turning to go.

“Don’t you even want to know how she is?” Reece couldn’t help asking, still totally confused as to how she could just walk away from her daughter without asking anything about her.

Angie turned round and looked him straight in the eyes.
 
“I know how she is, Reece.
 
I read the newspapers and magazines.
 
She’s in enough of them.”

“And that’s
it
?
 
By doing
that
you think you know how she
is
?”

She shrugged again.

“Have you even seen any of her films?”

“A couple.
 
I saw that one she did with Michael Walsh.
 
Isn’t that who she’s shacked up with now?”

Reece gave a cynical laugh, pushing a hand through his hair.
 
“They’re together now, yes.”

“That’s nice.
 
Bit old for her though I would have thought.”

Reece couldn’t stand anymore.
 
He just wanted her out now.
 
“Goodbye, Angie.”

She looked at him one more time and, without saying another word, she just turned and left, bumping into Terry on his way back in, but saying nothing to him.

“Where’s
she
going?” Terry asked, looking at Reece.

“Out of our lives.”

“Hang on, what about explanations?
 
She can’t just leave; I want to know what the hell’s going on here.”

“Sit down, Terry.”

“I’d rather stand, thanks.”
 
Terry was still staring at Reece, and suddenly it all started to fit into place, what it was that had made him think there was something familiar about Reece, something he couldn’t quite put his finger on.
 
India
had his eyes.
 
She actually had his eyes, and his mouth, Jesus!
 
There were so many resemblances he could kick himself for not working it out sooner.
 
But then, how could he have had any idea that
India
’s real father was a
Hollywood
movie star?
 
Although it went a long way to explaining where she got her acting talent from.

“Do you want a drink?” Reece asked, because
he
certainly needed one.
 
“Then we can talk.
 
Believe me, there’s a lot to get through.”

***

India
sat on the large cream sofa in their huge bedroom suite, hugging her knees to her chest as she watched Michael get ready for their evening out, although neither of them really wanted to go.
 

He turned around and smiled at her, that wonderful smile that could literally make her heart stop for a second, and she felt her stomach do that funny little flip.
 
She couldn’t help but smile back, even though she wasn’t sure she had the energy.
 
She just couldn’t shake this tired feeling she’d had all day.

“You alright?” Michael asked, fastening the towel around his waist a bit tighter.