2 A.M. — November 22, 1996 #6
Oh, God, of course Claudia would have better manners than her.
Maybe that’s what attracted Zane to her.
No, she should have better manners. After all, she was the one who caused this horrible shitstorm threatening to sully their crisp, clean world.
Sienna crossed the room and perched herself on the ottoman of the Eames lounge chair.
From this angle, a stack of books on the coffee table blocked her view of the baby’s head and torso.
Now he was a much less harmful pair of chubby little legs.
Sienna finally made eye contact with her, using every muscle in her face to say how much she despised her. Claudia’s expression was appropriately contrite. Not that her guilt would help.
Dean carefully slid onto the sectional, as far from both women as possible while remaining in the room. “So, Sienna, you said you have a plan that will help everyone.”
She turned to him. That was better. Someone she could trust. Wait, no, he’d obviously proved she couldn’t trust him.
Now he was merely someone she could use.
Nodding, she said, “The world doesn’t want Zane to be a cheating asshole.
They won’t mind if Claudia is a slut with loose morals.
They won’t ever buy her music, but they’ll love the story. ”
“Come on, Sienna,” Dean said. “You promised you weren’t going to attack.”
“I’m not.” She was. “I’m simply stating how people will see them if they find out the truth.
They have Claudia firmly in their minds as Mike’s girl.
The love of his life. The poor almost-widow, who was abandoned by the man she loves.
” She was being facetious now, but she didn’t care.
Claudia deserved worse. “If they find out, it’ll be the end of The Vows,” Sienna said, hardening her gaze at Claudia.
“The very name of the band becomes a colossal joke. Reputations ruined. People pitying me around the globe. People hating you forever. You won’t come back from it.
Zane might. Rusty and Steven will hate you both.
If they do decide to get back on stage with Zane, nothing will ever be the same, venue sizes will shrink exponentially until it’s embarrassing.
Record sales will be stagnant. Before long, everything unravels, and Dean here will be out of a job. ”
Dean blinked slowly. “Okay, great, you’ve given us the doomsday scenario. Can we hear the plan?”
“It only works depending on the people who already know whose baby that is.”
Dean put both hands up, palms out. “I’ve only talked about this with Zane and you two.”
Raising one eyebrow, Sienna said, “You sure?”
Nodding, he said, “Don’t forget this is pretty much my worst-case scenario too, for all the reasons you mentioned.”
She turned to Claudia, who said, “My parents. That’s it.”
“No one else? Not, say, your doctor or a nurse in the delivery room?”
She shook her head. “No one.”
“And your parents, who did they tell?”
“Nobody. They’re not exactly proud,” she said. “In fact, they haven’t even told our extended family that I had a baby.”
“If that’s true, and if you think they can keep their mouths shut, we can proceed.” She paused, her heart pounding at the thought of getting a no from Claudia. “Because of the timing of everything, we say he’s Mike’s baby.”
Dean sucked in some air while Claudia’s jaw dropped. “What? No,” she answered. “I’m not going to do that to Mike. Not after … no.”
“Think it through,” Sienna said. “Mike doesn’t have any family left, so it’s not like he’s got a mother or someone else who will want to know the baby.
His share of the royalties is set to be split between the guys, and none of them need it, but you do.
We can arrange for you get all future royalties, and what’s owing from Full Moon right now, which, as I understand it, is around seven hundred grand. ”
Claudia looked at Dean, her face pale. “Did you know this was her plan?”
He shook his head. “Only that she had one.”
Scoffing, Claudia turned back to her. “So you expect me to tell Elliott that Mike was his father for his whole life? To lie to him forever?”
“Tell me this: would it be harder for him to know he’s got a father in the world who doesn’t want him or to believe he would’ve had a father who’d have loved him with his whole heart?”
“Both are awful.”
“I know it will be hard.”
Elliott fussed, and Claudia picked him up. “Hard? That’s an understatement. You’re asking me to keep the truth from my son for his whole life.”
“You’d be doing it for him. Think of how cruel kids will be, knowing he was the result of some tawdry affair,” Sienna said.
Claudia flinched but she seemed to know better than to try to frame it as something pure.
“He’ll never escape it. His whole life he’ll be Zane McCreight’s bastard son.
You don’t want that for him any more than I want my children to be devastated by this.
Because they will be. They’ll never see their dad the same way again.
They’ll always resent him. And you.” She glanced at the baby. “And him, just for existing.”
Sienna stood up hoping to relieve the tension that had built up in her muscles.
She took a few steps to the wall of windows, then turned back to Claudia.
“I’m offering you a chance at a new life filled with money you never thought you’d have.
You’ll be able to buy your son anything he wants.
Opportunities most parents would kill to give their child.
He’ll be the only living link to a legend.
People everywhere will love him. They’ll want to know him.
And he is the child of a musical genius, so it’s not entirely false. ”
“Yes, it is.”
“It’ll be a huge boost to your career.” Feeling a wave of desperation, she turned to Dean. “Am I right, Dean?”
Dean ran his hand over his mouth before answering, as if hating himself for what he was doing. “Yep. The entire industry would have a soft spot in their hearts for you. Fans too. A record deal would be as easy as a phone call. And not some crappy deal. A good one.”
Sienna almost smiled. “Instead of being the villain, you get to be the victim. The loving woman who lost so much and bravely brought a son into this world alone to carry on Mike’s legacy. Think of it. The cover of Rolling Stone—you and the baby.”
Claudia’s eyebrows knit together, and Sienna was certain she was going to say no, so she went on. “It’s just a name on a birth certificate. That’s all. It’s a simple lie that’s not too far from the truth. If Mike had lived, you two might have had children.”
“Mike had a vasectomy years ago,” Claudia answered. “What if his doctor does a tell-all?”
Shrugging, Sienna said, “These things reverse themselves sometimes.”
“Honestly, people will want to believe it’s true.
They want some piece of him to be left alive,” Dean said, his voice cracking.
He cleared his throat, then added, “The story would play beautifully for the fans, especially if we get the guys on board. Three Men and a Baby it. We say they’re helping to raise him. ”
Sienna’s head snapped back. “I don’t think so.”
Dean gave her a hard stare. “It would obviously just be for show, Sienna, and it’s the only way to play this. The band coming together to care for Mike’s child and help Claudia out. Healing together after such a horrible loss.”
“That’s not necessary,” Sienna answered, not wanting her husband anywhere near Claudia again.
“How would it look if they didn’t?”
Claudia answered Dean’s question. “It would look terrible, and isn’t this whole plan about the optics?”
8 P.M.
CLAUDIA
Claudia sat at her kitchen table with only the light from the stove fan to help her see the numbers on her cordless phone. It was late evening, and Elliott was fast asleep in his crib while she sat alone in the dark sipping chamomile tea.
She was in shock at the speed at which everything had happened.
The test results had only come back the day before, and already a lawyer in an office downtown somewhere was drafting up paperwork to make Elliott Mike’s legal heir.
She and her son would inherit everything that had been put in trust while the estate attorneys had been searching in vain for a long-lost relative.
The Malibu home. Millions of dollars. Luxury vehicles.
Mike’s guitar collection alone would be enough to put Elliott through college from freshman year to a doctorate at any Ivy League college. Not that she would sell it.
Instead of feeling relieved that her financial problems would be forever behind her, Claudia felt dirty and sick to her stomach.
But should she? After all, Mike had abandoned her, after years of her supporting and caring for him.
She was the one who spent countless afternoons making herself invisible to ease his temper.
And it was her words that lifted the band back up to the top of Mount Everest.
So maybe she was owed this. And maybe it was okay to take it and never look back.
For herself, for her son, and in a distorted way, for Mike too.
She was finally getting the break she’d been waiting for her entire life, only not the way she wanted it.
Not because of her talent. Because of a lie.
And Claudia knew that the truth would haunt her.
Maybe it wasn’t worth it. Maybe she should refuse and spend her life noble in her struggle, like most people do.
Besides, what if this ruined a possible future with Zane?
She knew it was a sliver of a chance at best, but still.
What if she could’ve had him for the rest of her life, and wound up alone instead?
The thought caused her breath to leave her body.
She could still change her mind. Nothing had been signed yet.