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“Because I love you.”
Silence screamed. For a moment, pure elation shone – an instant later, her expression turned blank. “You only think you love me because you can’t have me. This isn’t real.”
What happened in the past to make her believe that? Pain, wariness and fear sparked, but he stood strong. He wouldn’t allow fear to sabotage the future. “You’re wrong. This is about you and me. Why can’t you believe me?”
“I… I don’t know.” Yet her eyes couldn’t hide the truth. She was terrified.
“You do know.” He stepped closer. “There’s something you’re not telling me, a missing piece that completes the puzzle. After all this, don’t I deserve the truth?”
A pale face belied all denial. She looked down, up and away, anywhere but him. “It’s not because of anything else. It’s just us.”
“Oh no. If it was just us, we would be together right now. Something is holding you back.” Dread crept a sharp path through his chest. “Or is it someone?”
This time the gasp gave her away, the eyes just a little wider than before, the pinkness that stained her cheeks. His heart slammed against his ribs. “Is that it? There’s someone else?”
“Yes!” The cry was a thousand whispers put together. She stood tall and rigid, her arms by her side, hands fisted and clenched. “There is another man: Charles Sanders.”
She could have mentioned many men: Another actor from the set. One of the crew members. Santa Claus. But Charles Sanders? His friend and mentor? Although many older actors dated women generations younger, neither Charles nor Cheyenne had shown any indication of knowing each other, much less something more. “How could you possibly have something with Charles Sanders? How do you even know him?” His voice was getting louder, and more fervent, as doubts unbalanced the world. “He’s old enough to be your father.”
“Actually…” Her chest rose and fell, once and then twice and then three times. “Heismy father.”
“What?” The man he’d looked up to for so many years was this woman’s father? How could it be? A puzzle piece took shape, forming smooth edges with angles and curves before joining the mystery that was Cheyenne Kirk. It didn’t quite form a complete picture, yet it was far closer than before.
“It seems unbelievable.” Her expression was wary, and a thousand other emotions, shining through liquid irises. “Father isn’t truly the correct term since he was absent my whole childhood.” She hardened, looked away. “Of course, that didn’t stop me from wanting him.”
“Are you sure?” He kept his tone quiet, careful. Did not reveal brewing suspicions. Couldheknow more about the situation than her?
“I’m sure,” she spat bitter words. “This is not one of your fan letters, from a far away land with a woman you’ve never met. My mother and Charles had a relationship, however brief. He acknowledged me, at least to her, and even gave it a go when I was a baby. I have the pictures to prove it, but of course he never went public. I wasn’t even walking when he left, never to return.” Her eyes shuttered. “Actually, that’s untrue. He’s suddenly reentered my life, or at least he’s trying to. Yet how am I supposed to–” She stopped suddenly, took a shuddering breath. “This is not the time to discuss this.”
“Actually, this is very much the time. Don’t you see? Your fears are a reflection of your past. Not your present, and most certainly not your future.”
“You can’t say that,” she refuted. “He was just like you: the most beloved movie star of his time, with all the perks that go with it.” She stopped, closed her eyes. When she opened them, they were bright with regret. “That isn’t fair. This is about me, not you. You have been the perfect…” Another breath, and she stood taller. “I just can’t take another chance. I have to go.”
No.She would not escape. Every instinct rose as she pivoted, urging him to stop her in any way possible. It took a single word. “Starbeam.”
She stopped, turned slowly, slowly, slowly back around. “What did you say?”
Was this the right move? Was he breaking a confidence, or was it two, by sharing what he knew? No, she deserved to know. “Starbeam. That’s what your dad called you, right?”
“How did you know that?” she whispered. She wrapped her arms around herself. “He mentioned in one of his letters thatwas my nickname when I was a baby. But I don’t understand. He actually told you about me?”
“So many times.” The words were raw, genuine and completelyhonest. “He didn’t share your real name, of course, and I didn’t know who you were.” If he had known the woman he’d fallen for was his mentor’s secret child, matters would have progressed very differently. “He talked about his daughter, how amazing you are, and how much he cared about you.” He paused. “He regretted so much.”
The lines in her forehead smoothed ever-so-slightly. “He’s trying to fix it, but it’s so late. I’m an adult and–”
“No.” He stopped her. “Not just recently.” Did she really not know this part? “He tried to get back into your life for years.”
“What?” She paled. “You’re wrong. He reached out just a few months ago. It was the first time I’d heard from him in… well, ever.”
“But it wasn’t the first time he tried.” It was a heady reveal, and perhaps not his to share, but she deserved to know. “Ever since I knew him, Charles was hoping to be part of your life. He admitted he left when you were a baby, which he told me was the greatest mistake of his life. Yet he tried to contact your family only a few years later, when you were a toddler. He wanted to be a father.”
“He could have been a father anytime,” she snapped. “Nothing was stopping him.”
“Actually, someone did. Your mom.”
“What?” She shook her head, backed up. Her mother had just passed last year. “You’re wrong. My mom did everything for me.”
“And this doesn’t change that.” He stayed where he was, his stance light and nonthreatening, with both hands held out. “Being a single mom is the hardest job out there, and she raised an amazing daughter. I wouldn’t blame her for being wary ofhim. He abandoned you for years, and she believed he would do it again. That’s why she asked him to stay away and wouldn’t even take the money he sent.”