Star Promise (20 page)

“Is this you?” My voice was barely there.

“Yes.”

The brunette girl in the picture was about fifteen, smiling, fresh faced and pretty as she posed with her arm around a handsome boy’s shoulder. I didn’t need to ask who he was. I would’ve recognised the shaggy blond surfer boy anywhere. It was my father.

“Alex gave me that necklace.” She put her hand to the base of her throat as if she missed it being there. “I’ve worn it every day for twenty-six years.”

I tore my gaze from the piece of history in my hand and forced myself to look at her. “You’re Olivia?”

She nodded, looking as distraught by the notion as I felt. “I’m your mother, Charli. I’ve thought about you every day.”

I couldn’t return the sentiment. I rarely thought of her at all, and if I did it was only to wonder what she looked like. I didn’t feel like I was getting a true picture at that point. It was likely that her hair wasn’t usually coiffed into a foot tall mass of curls, and she probably didn’t swan around in period costume either.

I snapped the locket shut and held it out to her.

“Keep it,” she urged. “I want you to have it.”

Probably wondering what was taking me so long, Adam knocked on the door and called my name. “I’m okay,” I said through the door. “I’ll be out in a minute.”

As if confusion wasn’t muddling me already, Olivia asked a question that made even less sense than finding my long lost mother in a hotel bathroom.

“Are you frightened of him, Charli?” she whispered.

“Who?” I gasped. “Adam?”

I couldn’t quite place her expression. It was a cross between pity and fear. “He got quite nasty when he found out who I am,” she said quietly. “He warned me to stay away from you.” She glanced at the door as if she was worried Adam would bash it in. “I begged him to give me your contact details, but he refused,” she added.

Adam’s voice sounded distant, but his fist was loud. Maybe he
was
about to smash his way in. “Charlotte, open the door.”

“Wait, Adam,” I demanded, putting my hand on the door. “Please.”

“He knows I’m in here talking to you,” Olivia said morosely. “He saw me come in.”

I shouldn’t have been giving any credence to her words. I didn’t know her from a bar of soap. She was a stranger who’d busted into my life claiming to be my mother. What she thought of my husband was inconsequential.

My eyes dropped to the locket. It was tangible proof of who she was, and a tiny glimpse of the beginning of me. The confusion that came with that realisation was crippling.

I ran my thumb over the gaudy etching. “I don’t know what’s going on,” I mumbled.

“I loved your father, Charli,” she declared with reverence. “Giving you up was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I want us to know each other. It’s everything I’ve dreamed of.”

Another sentiment I couldn’t return. “I’m not sure what I want,” I muttered.

“Just promise you won’t let Adam stand in the way,” she begged. “He’s gone out of his way to keep me from you for a week. It’s been horrendous.”

When Olivia took a step toward me, I took a giant step back. I wasn’t just trying to get away from her. I was trying to escape the whole situation.

“Adam would never stop me from seeing you, if that’s what I choose to do.”

“He’s made it impossible so far,” she replied.

Everything darkened around that one sentence. It gutted me to think Adam had kept this secret from me. I had no idea why he would do it.

“He cancelled Bridget’s ballet lessons,” she added. “I begged him not to. He told me that having me in your life would be of no benefit.”

When she burst into tears, I almost moved to comfort her. But I stayed put, because I needed comforting more.

Adam wasn’t above lying to get his own way – he pulled it off for a whole year when we were first married. Perhaps New York brought out the worst in him. Or maybe he was just a jerk. I didn’t care either way at that point. He’d stumbled across my mother and then dared to keep it a secret from me. It was controlling and nasty beyond measure.

“Please don’t let me lose you a second time, Charli,” sobbed Olivia. “I couldn’t stand it.”

“I need time to think,” I said weakly.

Olivia reached into her purse, grabbing a couple of tissues and a business card. “Call me,” she pleaded, thrusting the card at me. “Day or night.”

I nodded, but wasn’t sure I meant it.

Teary and upset, she unlocked the door and wandered out. Like the most powerful of hurricanes, Olivia Fielding had dropped in, torn up my whole world and then left.

I paced the corridor, doing all I could to stop myself from kicking down the bathroom door. When it finally opened, Olivia swaggered out. Charli was nowhere to be seen.

I stood and waited for her to pass me, fearful of what I might do if I approached her. I didn’t get the baleful glare she’d hit me with earlier. I got an ingratiating grin that made my stomach turn.

“Such an emotional reunion,” she exclaimed, dabbing her eyes with a tissue. “Poor Charlotte is a wreck.”

Her tears were as bogus as the emotion in her voice, showcasing another of her talents. She was also an actress.

“What did you do?” I hissed through gritted teeth.

Olivia dropped the wounded mother ruse instantly. “Played my hand, Adam,” she said slyly. “It’s your move now.”

The desperate need to get into the bathroom was all but gone. I stood at the door for a long time, dreading what I might find on the other side. When I called Charli’s name and got no answer, I pushed myself to open the door.

Women’s bathrooms are far better decked out than men’s. It was no wonder they spend so much time in them. I found Charli in the lounge area, slumped on a chaise lounge in a puff of heavy pink fabric.

“You shouldn’t be in here.” Her voice was flat and empty. “Get out.” Her head fell forward, shifting her focus to the oversized pendant in her hand.

I made my way over to her, pushed her dress aside as best I could and sat beside her. “I’m not going anywhere.”

After a long moment of silence, Charli picked up the necklace and dangled it in front of us. “Do you know what this is, Adam?”

“No.”

“There’s a picture of my parents inside,” she explained. “My mother just gave it to me. I just met my mother.”

I didn’t know how to acknowledge the news, so I didn’t. I commented on the necklace instead, and even that wasn’t honest. “It’s pretty.”

Charli huffed out a sharp breath. “That’s all you’ve got to say?”

“I’m not sure what else to say, Charlotte.”

“You knew about her a week ago.” The disgust in her voice was clear. “You kept it from me. Why would you do that?”

“I tried to talk her into meeting with you, Charli.” My voice took on a completely different tone as I pushed for understanding. “She was adamant that she didn’t want to meet you. I didn’t know what to do.”

Charli jumped to her feet, furiously waving the necklace at me. “Olivia has worn this every day since before I was born. Why would she do that if she didn’t care?”

I was beginning to realise that Olivia was more toxic than I had first thought. The ugly necklace was just an extension of her venom. She wasn’t wearing it the day I met her. It was nothing more than a prop; but there was no way of explaining it without making the situation worse.

“I don’t know,” I muttered.

I did know, which made looking Charli in the eye nearly impossible. Her mother was evil. Plain and simple.

The necklace bounced off the cushion as she threw it down beside me. “Olivia said she begged you for my number.” The words raged out of her. “How could you refuse?”

I exhaled, trying to keep my anger in check. Yelling back at her wasn’t going to help. “I gave her your business card,” I insisted. “Mine too.”

She shook her head, making the wispy blonde curls at her shoulders bounce. “You’re lying to me.”

The accusation was a spear through my heart. I couldn’t allow her to accept Olivia’s version of events, but a simple denial wasn’t going to cut it. It hurt that she believed her without question, and I developed a sudden ache in my chest because of it. I looked her dead in the eye. “I am telling you the absolute truth,” I said firmly. “I have no reason to want to keep you from your mother.”

“So you
didn’t
refuse to let Bridget join her class?”

Every ounce of concentration I possessed went toward wording my answer. Before I even spoke I knew it was game over.

“I did refuse,” I admitted. “I don’t want Bridget in her class.”

I hate the moment when anger suddenly turns to tears. It usually took a lot for Charli to reach that point, but not tonight. “Why, Adam?” Her fists thumped my chest as she answered her own question. “Because having my mother in my life would be of no benefit, right?”

Olivia had really pulled out all stops. Every single word I said had been twisted to make me look like the villain. It was impossible to deal with that level of malice, especially considering I had no idea why she was gunning for me in the first place. I grabbed Charli’s wrists, mainly to stop her whaling on me. “You need to calm down,” I told her. “There are two sides to this story, and for some reason you’re only listening to one.”

I felt her body go limp beneath my grasp. “Nothing you say will change the fact that you kept this from me,” she said weakly. “I will never forgive you for that.”

I tried to see further than her teary brown eyes. “I’m sorry.”

She pulled her hands away. “Me too.” She snatched up the pendant and made her way to the door. “Where are you going, Charlotte?”

She shrugged. “I don’t want to be near you right now,” she whimpered. “I need time to think.”

“You can’t just leave.”

“Sure I can,” she retorted. “I’ve done it before.”

When everything falls apart, my first instinct is to pull those I love in close. Charli had put herself out of reach, but Bridget was well within my grasp.

The Parker Royale Hotel had to be cursed. I’d never experienced anything but conflict there. The long line of chauffeured town cars waiting on the street was one short. As inconvenient as it was, I was relieved to notice that ours had gone. Wherever Charli had run to, it wasn’t on foot.

I walked down the street, hailed a cab and made my way to Ryan’s apartment. My little girl was asleep on the couch when I got there, looking angelic and sweet. Heinous Treasure was by her side, looking … well, heinous.

After a few digs at my costume from Ryan, and a few half-hearted threats of violence from me, I gathered up my baby and headed to the door.

“Don’t forget this beauty,” called Ryan, rushing over with Treasure in hand.

“Thanks,” I muttered.

“No problem.” He grinned. “We’d be sleeping with one eye open with her here.”

I grabbed the doll with my free hand and shook it, making her wonky eyes flutter. “Just like Treasure.”

Bridget was wide awake by the time we got home, but still insisted that I carry her. “My legs don’t work at night time,” she explained.

The elevator door slid open and I slowly moved toward our door. “Lucky I’m here to carry you then, huh?”

“Yes,” she replied. “Mummy can’t carry me far.”

It was the first time she’d mentioned Charli since I picked her up. The reason why became obvious the second we walked in the door. Bridget thought her mom would be there waiting for us.

“She’ll be home later, baby.” It wasn’t the black kind of lie that Charli accused me of, but it wasn’t quite white either. It was a grey lie, with room to move.

“But I need her.” Bridget pouted. “Call her, Daddy.”

“She’s busy, Bridge,” I soothed her. “Maybe later.”

Her little mind wasn’t entirely one-track. I diverted her attention with chocolate milk and coaxed her into her bed with the promise of an early morning trip to the park. It was lazy parenting at its best, but I was tired and drained and unhappy.

I hadn’t spent a night alone in my bed since Charli went home when Jack was born. I didn’t enjoy it then, and tonight was even worse. When Bridget appeared in the doorway, I didn’t even try sending her back to bed. Neither of us coped well when her mama wasn’t there. I threw back the covers on Charli’s side.

The running jump from the doorway was a skill she’d mastered perfectly. Her little head thumped on the pillow beside me. “I really love this bed.”

I turned off the lamp. “That’s good, but you really need to go to sleep.”

She was quiet, but not for long. “Are you awake, Dad?”

I didn’t answer in time. She poked a finger into my eye to check.

“No, Bridge,” I grumbled, rubbing my eye. “I’m sleeping.”

“Good.” She snuggled further under the covers. “It’s very late.”

Staying out all night to punish Adam wasn’t my style, and I’d made a promise a long time ago that if I ever felt the need to run away again, I’d take him with me.

I crept into our apartment at a little after one. All the lights were off, which led me to think he thought I wasn’t coming home. Another hint was the little girl on my side of the bed.

I would’ve let Adam sleep, but I needed help. I trailed my fingers down his bare arm and whispered his name. His eyes fluttered open, and he reached out to me.

“I’m glad you’re home.” He kissed my hand. “Come to bed.”

“I can’t.”

He let out a disapproving low groan. “I’m sorry, Charli. Truly,” he said. “If I could go back and handle things differently, I would. I don’t –”

I put my hand over his mouth to stop him talking. “I can’t because Bridget’s there,” I whispered. “Also, I need help getting my dress off.”

Adam pulled my hand away and got up. “I’ll move the baby,” he offered. “And then I’ll gladly help you get naked.”

We hadn’t made it through the night unscathed. Something between us had shifted, and it didn’t feel good. But I wasn’t an idiot. Adam and I were ninety-nine per cent perfect. Because of that, we were more than capable of dealing with the one per cent that wasn’t.

The introduction of my mother into my life hadn’t brought me thoughts of joyous, happy endings. I was scared and apprehensive, and possibly even miffed at the disruption.