Payback (24 page)

I spent most of my free time thinking about Montana. I could have dwelled on the horrible way that Caden had treated me, but what really b
rought me pain was thinking about our last night together--  how I was so sure he had forgiven me and how wrong I had been. That was the cruelest cut—the fact that I had been played and allowed to think that I had won his love again, only to find that he was willing to pay me to leave—five hundred dollars.

I didn’t let myself think about the baby too much. It frightened the hell out of me to think I had twenty-eight weeks to get my life on track before I became responsible for another human being. I
know my life wasn’t going to turn out like I thought it would, but I felt good about what I had already accomplished since leaving Montana.

Two months after leaving Montana, Joe finally mentioned my pregnancy.  I saw him every morning before going home to go over the results of my work
, and yet it took him two months to finally realize that my abdomen was getting bigger.

“Please tell me if I’m interfering, but—are you pregnant?”

“Yes. I’m twenty weeks pregnant, halfway there.”

“Congratulations,” he said with a question mark in his voice.

“It’s okay. I’m looking forward to being a mom.”

“But your health insurance doesn’t kick in for another month.”

“I’ve been working with the local Planned Parenthood clinic and their doctors.”

“If you need anything, let me know,” he said sincerely as he walked away. He s
uddenly turned to say something. “I forgot to tell you. Someone said that there was a photo of a woman on the news last night that looked like you. On an entertainment segment of the news.”

“Who said that?” I asked.

“Angela.”

“The custodian?”

He nodded.

“Hmm. That’s odd. I wonder why.”

I found out that night. As I stood in line to check out at the grocery store, my blood pressure went crazy and the baby started moving around.   There on the cover of each of the entertainment magazines were current photos of Caden with various headlines:
He’s Back—America’s Classiest Guy Resurfaces in Hollywood; Caden Kelly—Hotter than Ever!  Where Did He Disappear To?; Caden Kelly—Why He’s Back and Why He Left.

The photos showed him in a silk
, charcoal gray suit with a starched white shirt that was unbuttoned at the top and a baby blue tie that was loosened around the neck, as if he was just starting to undress. He looked as if he was undressing the woman behind the camera with his blue, blue eyes. I swallowed hard. That photo had to have sent every woman’s blood pressure in the world through the roof. Compared to the photos from his twenties, which had sold more magazines than any cover, this more mature, sophisticated, and confident look was going to blow Hollywood apart.  People were going to be falling all over themselves to get a piece of Caden Kelly…for movies, for television, for interviews, for promotions, for charities…he was going to be the “it” guy.  But why the hell was he back in Hollywood? I bought every magazine on the stand.

It didn’t take long to find out why Angela claimed to have seen me. Each magazine had an old photo of the two of us. It was a candid photo of us at the Oscar party. I had my arms around his waist,
leaning my head on his chest, my face facing in the direction of the camera (which I didn’t know was focused on us.)  He has his lips on the top of my head, his eyes closed, as if he’s cherishing this moment with me. It was a very intimate photo of a couple desperately in love.  

When Caden left Hollywood less than a month after he caught me cheating, there
was speculation that our breakup had caused his departure. They were right, but no one ever knew why we had broken up. Where the gossipmongers got it wrong was assuming that I was the one that had ended the relationship. The theory was that I broke up with Caden to move in with Gordon. Caden was so distraught he left town. I was hounded for a few months, people wanting the real story, some offering real money for my interview, but, obviously, I wasn’t going to spill the beans. Caden went on the circuit to promote his last movie, and then he returned back to Montana where he stayed until now.

The articles and accompanying photos absolved me of all wrongdoing. 
Caden claimed that he was the one that had broken off the relationship and had left Hollywood to try to find himself. 

“I never stopped loving her. And I realized that for the last six yea
rs I’ve done nothing but blame her for things that were never her fault.”

So I was confused. If he never stopped loving me, why did he treat me like crap and why did he send me packing? I continued to read
, but by the end of the article, all I could tell was that he was back in Hollywood to make a movie, but first he was waiting for a rewrite of the screenplay. 

Bastard! If he loves me
, why didn’t he agree to buy my book, get it published, and let me write a screenplay?

I read the next article and didn’t find out anything new. The third article revealed one interesting item. 

“
I’m hoping someday to marry and have a couple of kids.”

Really? 

He was only two hours away from Bakersfield.  Should I make the trip and let him know he already had one kid on the way? 

I had a very selfish reason for doing it. I had been looking at a small
, two bedroom house with air conditioning (something that was sorely lacking in my studio.)  The only way I could afford the house, which cost forty-nine thousand dollars, was to either find twenty-five thousand dollars for a down payment or I needed another five hundred and fifty dollars a month in income. I thought that if I could get to Caden, I could ask for the five hundred and fifty dollars a month in child support. But I knew that along with this came the possibility that I would have to share my baby with Caden. I didn’t really mind if he helped raise our child. I wanted the baby to know Caden, to love its father and to spend time with him. I was just afraid that with all his money he’d find a way to take the baby from me. And considering the way he treated me when I was in Montana, he might just do that.

Saturday and Sunday
were my nights off. At the end of my Friday night shift, I packed some underwear, maternity shorts, and a madras top with sandals. I was very tired, but normally I didn’t go to bed until around ten in the morning. So I drove from Bakersfield down to Topanga Canyon that Saturday morning late in May. I parked outside of his Topanga Canyon horse ranch and tried to get a few hours sleep before approaching him, but in less than an hour there was a rap on my window, and I found myself looking up at a sheriff’s badge. I rolled down the window.

“Excuse me
, miss. What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to get a few hours sleep before I went to see my friend.”

“Your friend?” he looked skeptically at my not- so-fancy car, an eyesore in this enclave of luxury. “Your friend lives here in Topanga Canyon?”

“Yes.”

“Who is this friend?”

“Caden Kelly?” I said it
, but the stress in my voice made me sound deceptive.

He started laughing. “You know Caden Kelly?” More laughter. “I’m sorry, miss, but you’re going to have to move along. We get a lot of fans up here, but I have to admit usually they’re a little younger than you.”

“I’m not a fan!” I said angrily.  “I’m a friend. I used to live at the ranch.”

“Ma’am, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to move along.”

I shrugged, rolled up my window, and turned into the driveway going into the ranch. As soon as I stopped at the gate, the sheriff’s car pulled up behind me with the lights flashing. He got out of his car and started to pull out his ticket book.

Once again, I rolled down my window.

“Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to back up and park your car and then come with me.”

“What did I do?”

“You disobeyed my order!” He wasn’t happy.

“But I
moved along into the drive. I swear I know Caden!  Look, you can’t arrest me because I’ve done nothing wrong!  I’ve pulled into a private driveway with a security gate…” I looked at the gate and saw that it was open. Caden only left it open when he knew that someone was bringing a load of hay or a new horse or making some kind of delivery and he didn’t want to be bothered.  “You know, I’m just going to drive up to the house and knock on the door.”

“No! I’m afraid you’re going to come with me. Now, get out of the car.”

After climbing out,the first thing he looked at was my round belly. “You’re chasing Caden Kelly and you’re pregnant?”

“I know Caden Kelly
, I’m not chasing him. Knock on his door, and if he’s home, ask him if he knows Marie Morrigan. If he’s not home, I’ll leave.  If he is home, then he’ll let me in…I think.”

The sheriff looked annoyed.  I had a feeling that since Caden had reappeared, there had been a few groupies trying to find him. I had no doubt that the sheriff’s department took guarding the many celebrities in the Canyon seriously. The department received a good chunk of donations for weapons, equipment
, and scholarships for the children of disabled and fallen officers.

The sheriff, whose name tag said,
“Fugate,” looked me over and gave me a scowl meant to let me know I was a nuisance. “Okay, but stay behind me.  If you try to jump on Mr. Kelly, I’ll arrest you on the spot for trespassing.  Understand me?”

I nodded.

He had me drive my car off the property and then get into the back of the cruiser.  We drove the rest of the way, and then he parked in front of the entrance.  Walking up to the front door of the adobe home, I felt like I was coming home…well, kinda.

He didn’t ring the bell, he chose the old iron knocker on the door. When I lived in the house
, I found it interesting that about a third of the people rang the bell, a third hit the knocker, and a third tried both. Typically, women always used the bell first and men went for the knocker.

There was a sound inside the house
, and I wondered if the new housemaid would answer. When I was in Montana, Caden had received word that the old one was retiring so he needed to hire a new one. He made several calls, and I had a feeling he hired one sight unseen, but I wasn’t sure.

The door opened
, and I felt like jumping over the sheriff and taking out the beautiful woman standing at the door in a very thin, see-through dressing gown. She was very naked underneath, which had the sheriff so shocked that he had a hard time getting his words out. I recognized the woman immediately. It was Valentine Cassidy.

“Uh, good morning, ma’am. U
h…is Mr. Caden here?”

She gave him a very sensual smile that had the man completely mesmerized. “Caden, honey, there’s a sheriff at your door.”

“What?” a voice from far behind her called out.

But she didn’t respond. She yielded the door to Caden and then walked back inside.
He looked at the sheriff completely baffled. Caden was dressed in a dark, navy blue silk robe that exposed his tanned chest. 

“Yes, officer? How can I help you?”

“Uh, sir,  I have a woman here who says you know her and are expecting her.”

“Woman?”

The sheriff turned and grabbed me by the elbow, foisting me up to the door for Caden’s inspection.

Caden turned a grayish-white. “Oh, Jesus Christ, Marie? You’re really pregnant?”

I looked towards my feet (somewhat obscured by my burgeoning belly,) unable to meet his eyes.

“So, you know her
, sir?”

“Yes, O
fficer, I know her.”

“Then I can leave her
, or do you want me to take her in?”

“Leave her, please.”

The officer said his good byes and walked back to his car.

I finally looked up into his eyes. They looked so disappointed, so sad. “Why didn’t you—”

“Caden, darling, I’m going back to bed.” Valentine looked at me. “Is this the new housekeeper?”

Caden shook his head.

Valentine, oblivious to the obvious drama being played out at the door, sighed. “Join me when you’re done.”

I snickered. “And you told me you hadn’t slept with her.” I twirled around and stormed down the drive to get back to my car.

His long legs caught up to mine within a few seconds. I felt his hand on my elbow firmly pull me to make me stop. I yanked my elbow from his hand.

“For Christ’s sake!  Stop this,
” he cried out.

I stopped and clenched my jaw.  “So those photos of you and Valentine were real, not movie stills.”

I could see the anger flare as his blue eyes flashed dark. “Of course they were stills. I wasn’t banging Valentine back then.”

“So you are now?”

“We ran into each other a few nights ago at a party and—”

“So that bullshit in the magazine about still loving me was just filler for an article?”

He clenched his fists and held his breath to keep from throttling me. “Come back to the house so we can talk.”