Family (25 page)

“You had no idea what you were getting into in LA.”

“Still-” her eyes met Bethany’s-“I would understand if you wanted me to step down. If the things people are saying about me are too much for all of you, too much for the reputation of CKT.”

Bethany was still standing beside her. She crouched down and put her hand on Katy’s shoulder. “They can call you a hypocrite, but we know the truth. You wouldn’t be here if your faith wasn’t everything to you.”

She had expected raised eyebrows and even a scolding. If Bethany would’ve asked her to take time off, she would’ve understood that too. No matter what the truth, the rumors would take weeks to settle down. Months, maybe. But this …

open arms and perfect love, never for a minute had Katy hoped for this response even though it made sense. Of course they would stand by her; they were friends, after all.

A lump settled in her throat, and she put her arms around Bethany. “I . don’t know how to face everyone. The Picks and Johnsons, the Reeds, the Shaffers.” She felt fear well up inside her. “What will they think of me?”

As she talked, Nancy and Al stood and moved behind her. Rhonda reached across the table and took her hand. “No one s deserting you, Katy. We know who you are.”

“The tabloids don’t have any idea what they’re talking about.

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Al’s voice was thick, as if ev en he was choked up watching everyone come to Katy’s rescue.

Katy couldn’t say another word, couldn’t refuse the chance they were giving her.

If they were willing to stand by her, then somehow God would pull her through.

She’d come out on the other side stronger for every lie told about her. Besides, there was no denying her role in what had happened. She shouldn’t have trusted herself in public with Dayne, shouldn’t have kissed him at all, not when from the beginning she could see no future for the two of them. And another thing.

She shouldn’t have allowed lies to be told on her behalf. Lies never amounted to anything good.

Her time with Dayne had been only a dream, a fantasy. He would never be a normal guy. There was no way to undo what fame and celebrity had done to him, no way for him to wake up tomorrow morning and be anyone other than the famous movie star he was.

She and Jenny and Jim had talked about all of it the night she returned from Los Angeles. She’d told them she was wrong, and she’d asked them to forgive her for marring their reputation in any way. Their reaction had been much the same as the one here today. They hurt for her, but they were hardly willing to point a finger at her.

“I think you should go home and get some rest.” Bethany stood and gave Katy’s shoulder one last tender squeeze. “We have a lot of another sort of drama ahead in the next few weeks.” Narnia. Katy could hardly wait for the distraction. She lifted her head and looked at each of them. “Thank you.” She bit her lip to keep from crying out loud. “I couldn’t ask for better friends.”

The meeting ended with Al praying for her, praying that people who knew her would see the tabloid lies for what they were, and that Katy would feel the love and support of the Flanigans and her CKT family.

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“And lastly, Lord, we pray for Dayne and Katy, these two young people who can’t act on their feelings, feelings that may actually be from You.” He paused. “Give Dayne wisdom, help the two of them to walk in honesty, and help them keep their faith in You.”

Before she left, Bethany assured Katy that she would field any concerns from the CKT families. “I really don’t think you have anything to worry about.” She gave Katy another quick hug. “But whatever trouble is stirred up, I’ll deal with it.”

The concerns came, but only one or two each day. For the most part, Katy didn’t know more than the fact that Bethany had handled a few phone calls on her behalf. But at Friday’s rehearsal, a group of the teenage girls was whispering in a corner, and they stopped when Katy walked over.

“Girls-” Katy kept her tone even-“if you have something to say to me, please . .

. just say it.”

A brunette stepped forward. She was known for her flirtatious behavior and for being on the fence when it came to faith. Her eyes sparkled. “What’s it like kissing Dayne Matthews?” She glanced back at her friends. “Since the rest of us can only dream about it.”

They wanted Katy to giggle, and if she and Dayne had figured out a way to make things work, she might have. But there was nothing funny about what had happened, not when their actions had clearly been a mistake from the beginning.

“Dayne’s a nice guy.” She raised her brow, her expression serious. “Let’s leave it at that.”

Later that day one of the new mothers approached her and took her aside. “Will this-” she pulled one of the tabloids from her purse-“be a regular thing for you, Ms. Hart?” Her expression was smug, and she kept her voice low. “Because if it is, I’d just like to suggest that maybe you consider another line of work.

Where our children wouldn’t have to see their … Chris 207

tian drama teacher on the front page of every magazine in the supermarket.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Katy felt the blood drain from her face. Her arms and legs were suddenly weak. “I’m … I’m sorry you had to see that.”

“Quite right.” She snapped the magazine back into her purse and tossed her head.

“Please mind yourself from now on.”

Bethany must’ve seen the confrontation. She was at Katy’s side in a hurry. “Mrs.

Wilson, did you have a question I could handle?”

“I’ve handled it.” She leveled her look at Katy. Then she huffed off after her two young daughters.

Katy fell against the wood-paneled wall. “Don’t feel sorry for me. It’s my fault. I deserve-“

“No, Katy.” This time Bethany was angry. “That woman doesn’t know the first thing about you.” She tightened her lips and stared after the woman. “People like that give Christianity a bad name.” Her expression softened. “Far more than anything you’ve done.”

Even so, Dayne had been right that once the tabloids landed on a topic, it wouldn’t die out after a week. The tabloids fed off each other. If one found a juicy tidbit or an irresistible detail, it would be in every magazine the following week. And with the revelation in one magazine that she worked with a Christian Kids Theater, Katy fully expected more stories about her.

And there were.

The next Monday, pictures of Katy and Dayne ran on the covers again, and this time each of them was accompanied by a few lines that called Katy a hypocrite.

“Mystery Woman Defies Christian Beliefs for Dayne” one cover read.

He called her that afternoon, but she only stared at her phone and watched his name flash in the caller ID window. Dayne, she wanted to say, I’m sorry. I can’t do it. And she couldn’t. To answer the phone would be to expose her heart to the same wild roller

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coaster of emotions. Joy at hearing his voice and then almost at the same time a sorrow that was suffocating.

She loved him-truly she did. But in some ways it was like being in love with a fantasy, an image. Not in the way Dayne’s fans were in love with him. They were infatuated with the onscreen image, the handsome playboy, or whatever they’d made him out to be in their minds. Girls like the ones at CKT practice who could giggle and imagine and dream about what a day at the beach with Dayne Matthews might be like.

Katy was in love with a different sort of fantasy. The Dayne Matthews no one but her knew. She didn’t dream about the movie star; she dreamed about the man. But there was no separating the two, so the real Dayne was as much make-believe for her as the movie star was for girls across America.

The phone stopped ringing, and she pressed it to her heart. God , . . why can’t there be a way?

She reminded herself of the “strength” verses in the Bible. “Nothing is impossible with God” and “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” But sometimes it wasn’t a matter of willing a thing to happen or believing Jesus would accomplish it. Sometimes it was a matter of accepting His will and letting a closed door be closed, without trying every possible way to pry it open.

And so Katy limped through the next week, laying low mostly and wondering at church and at the library and at the gym whether everyone really was staring at her or whether that was only her imagination.

On Saturday they moved the Narnia sets into the Bloomington theater, and Monday began a full week of nightly dress rehearsals. Somehow she kept breathing, kept waking up and putting one foot in front of the other, and in a blur of days it was suddenly Friday, opening night for Narnia.

At least Katy could see God in every scene of rehearsals that week, because otherwise she would’ve felt very far from Him, 209

missing the stolen moments she’d shared with Dayne and wondering why she had been exiled to a life without love. But because of the kids, because of the work they’d done on the C. S. Lewis classic, Katy survived, and as she drove to the theater that night, she stared at the deep blue Bloomington sky and thanked God for His plans.

Even if she couldn’t for a single minute understand them.

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Dayne had a beautiful blonde on each arm and a hundred cameras in his face.

Also at the party were the heiress daughters of an international shipping magnate and dozens of young starlets, the type who still got a charge out of having their pictures in the tabloids every week. At least it seemed that way.

“Over here, Dayne … over here!”

He did a quarter turn with the women and smiled at a new set of cameras. Not a person watching him could’ve guessed that his mind was two thousand miles away, lost in a bittersweet memory that no Hollywood party could ever match.

The prepublicity party for his next movie was his agent’s idea, and by the industry’s standards it was a must, the sort of affair that mandated the city’s entire A-list to attend. This one was the fourth since the verdict against Margie Madden. Every tabloid Was present and welcome, and most of them would include at ‘ least a two-page spread detailing who had attended and what .they had worn and who they had sat with and what they thought of the idea for Dayne’s newest movie.

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His new film matched him with Randi Wells, the Oscar Award-winning stunner known for her on-camera attitude. His other costar was Maria Menkens, the talented daughter of Sarah Menkens, a woman who was an icon in Tinseltown. Maria had already starred in half a dozen romantic comedy hits.

With the actresses on either side of him, the image his agent wanted the world to see was clear and intentional. After all, the movie would tell the story of a man in love with two women-one a forgotten high school love and the other the beautiful daughter of a senator-Dayne’s fiancee in the movie. The show would appeal to the chick-flick set, but it had enough drama to be taken seriously.

Talk around the city was that this could be Dayne’s biggest film yet.

“Dayne … Randi… Maria …”

Another quarter turn and the trio waved and smiled some more.

They were halfway up the red carpet, halfway to the door when Randi Wells leaned in close to him. “Jim asked me for a divorce.” She waved to a group of cameramen three rows back. “He wants to share custody of the girls.”

“Randi, no,” Dayne said so quietly that even Maria on the other side couldn’t hear. His heart sank. He waved and smiled to three tabloid reporters. “Tell me it’s not true.”

“It is.” She grinned at the same reporters. “I tried everything to keep him.

Everything.”

“I’m sorry.”

They edged their way closer to the door. The tabs had been saying for a year that Randi and her actor husband were on the outs. His career was dying; hers was thriving. Headlines questioned whether he was merely a house dad for their two young girls. Photos showed them together but with scowls on their faces. Body language experts analyzed everything from the opposite directions their feet were pointing to the meaning of a hand in a pocket or the angle of one of their heads.

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Dayne felt a rush of anger, even as he made another quarter turn and smiled at a group of fans and media. How often were his Hollywood friends going to let this happen? The tabloids played a diabolical role in all of their relationships.

They would lure and tempt and attract, making reference to two people who seemed to have an interest in each other.

Once the pair had been identified as a couple, the photographers couldn’t capture enough pictures. Certainly he and Katy Hart were the current tabloid couple of choice-though the frenzy had died down now that he hadn’t seen Katy since the trial.

Once the tabs had a couple pegged, once the pair was openly together and had run the course of happy-couple pictures, the headlines would begin to suspect that marriage was on the way. There would be articles about supposed rings and dresses and locations, even if an actual wedding wasn’t in the works.

For most of his friends, babies came next. One time he asked an A-lister friend of his why everyone in their circle did things out of order, putting babies before a commitment.

His friend shrugged, his expression cynical. “Are you kidding? Get married and doom the thing to failure?” He had chuckled then. “The longest-lasting couples in Hollywood are the ones who never marry at all. No tabloid can suspect them of breaking a vow they never made.”

Sadly, it was true.

Once a couple married, the tabloids could hardly wait to doubt their commitment.

“Is He Cheating?” headlines would ask. “Is She Getting Too Cozy with Her Costar?” A few stories would spin into an avalanche of print and photographs designed to give the magazines enough drama to sell copies.

The wake of crumbled Hollywood marriages that paid the price was of no interest to the photographers, reporters, and editors who profited from celebrity pain.

Pain like the kind Randi was silently suffering now.

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He leaned closer to her. “We’ll talk about it later.”

She nodded and smiled for a sea of cameras close to the ropes.

Soon they were inside for a private dinner. Invited members of the media-which meant everyone, even the tabs-would join them after that.