Page 56 of After the Red Carpet
Finn reluctantly pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to her. “That’s his cell phone number. Ella, are you actually thinking about reaching out?”
“I . . . I . . .” He cupped her cheek and she said, “I’m in shock. But . . .”
“What, love?”
“He’s my father. If he wants to see me . . .”
“Sweetheart, he abandoned you. Why would you give him the time of day?”
“I don’t know the whole story, only what my mother has told me. Maybe there’s another side to it.”
“As a father, I can’t see how. There’s no circumstance under which I wouldn’t be in my child’s life. It’s incomprehensible. Inexcusable.”
“For all we know, my mother pushed him away,” Ella said. “We always moved around a lot, so maybe he didn’t even know where to find me when I was growing up.”
“Then why hasn’t he gotten in touch with you in all the years since?”
“Maybe he tried to. My mother could have prevented him, or . . .”
“Ella,” he whispered.
“What? Why won’t you give him the benefit of the doubt?” She paused as her eyes welled up. “You don’t know what it’s like. You have two wonderful parents who have always been there for you,” she said as she began to cry. “Our children have that too. Why won’t you give me a chance to have even a little bit of that?”
“Baby, I told you about this as soon as we confirmed it’s him. I’m not preventing anything, but . . .”
“It’s like you’re poisoning it from the start, like you can’t see how this could be a good thing. A gift. For me, for our kids.”
“Honestly, I’m surprised,” Finn said. “This isn’t the reaction I expected. I didn’t think you’d want anything to do with him. You’ve never been . . .”
“What? A pushover?”
“No, baby. You’re just so shrewd and discerning. You expect a lot from people, and rightfully so. Trust has always been hard-earned for you. Hell, you didn’t even trust me in the beginning.”
“Maybe I’m different now. Being with you, our kids,” she said, holding her belly. “I don’t know how to just clamp off my feelings anymore. They leak. When you open your heart, it’s not so easy to close it again, and I’m not sure I’d want to.”
He looked at her lovingly and caressed her cheek. “Sweetheart, it’s just . . .”
“What?” she asked.
“Of all the ways he could have gotten in touch with you, he did it through my agent.”
“So?”
“Doesn’t that strike you as suspicious?”
“Maybe it’s the only way he could find me.”
“Baby, he could have reached out to your mother or your publisher,” Finn said. “The fact that he went through my agent makes me question his motives. He didn’t get in touch with you for decades, but now, when he obviously knows we’re married . . .”
“You think this is because you’re famous?”
“I’ve been through this kind of thing before. Fame and money are very seductive to a lot of people. Celebrity can lure all types to come crawling out of the woodwork. I would feel terrible if that’s what’s happening here.”
“We don’t know that it is. Besides, the whole world has known about our relationship for years. If fame were the lure, don’t you think he would have tried to contact me after our engagement or our wedding?” Ella said. “Both were splashed across newspapers and magazines around the world. We were kind of hard to avoid for a while there.”
“There could be a reason why he waited until now, something he wants. Who knows? The whole thing makes me uneasy.”
“Finn, he’s my father. If there’s any chance that he sincerely wants me in his life . . .”
