Plain Jane in the Spotlight (13 page)

Glancing over his shoulder, Charlene saw a young woman, scantily dressed, stretched out on a sofa. Her figure was curvaceous and magnificent, but that wasn’t her chief attraction. It was more the look in her eyes as they gazed into the camera, a look that said,
Why don’t we get together and…see what happens?

She felt mildly insulted. If Travis expected her to play the role of the faithful girlfriend it was hardly courteous of him to slaver over another female in public.

‘Hmm,’ she said.

Glancing up, he read her thoughts. ‘No, no, it’s not what you think. That’s Cassie.’

‘Cassie? The one who—?’

‘The girl Marcel wants to marry, and who told him to take a running jump. I did hear a rumour that she’d once had a career as a glamour model—’

‘She seems to have returned to it.’

‘And how! Poor Marcel.’ Travis sighed. ‘I shouldn’t think he’ll get her back now.’

‘I wonder how much they paid her for that,’ Charlene mused. ‘Enough to buy her a lot of independence.’

‘Is that all you see?’ he demanded, comically outraged. ‘Money?’

‘It matters. When we’re finished, I think I’ll buy myself a toy boy.’

‘He wouldn’t be called Lee, would he?’ Travis asked lightly. He knew he shouldn’t have asked the question, but since the other night something mysterious seemed to have happened to his self-control.

‘Lee? No way. He’s in the past. But of course—’ she studied the picture again ‘—if I looked like her I wouldn’t need to pay. The men would be clamouring to enjoy my charms.’

‘It’s not just voluptuous women who make men clamour,’ he observed. ‘There are other things that can be enchanting.’

‘Nonsense!’ she teased. ‘That’s just polite male talk. What all of you actually think is that real women are plump and luscious. The rest of us are too skinny to count.’

‘Oh, that’s what men think, is it?’ he asked, raising his eyebrows.

‘Sure is.’

‘And who made you an expert in male thinking?’

‘Women are born knowing it. And if they don’t, they soon find out.’

He cocked his head on one side. ‘So you’re going to lecture me on the subject?’

‘Why not? Since we’re brother and sister, I can say what I like to you.’

‘Brother and sister,’ he murmured.

‘It’s what we agreed. That way, we’re both safe.’

‘Then, since we’re speaking frankly, let me tell you that you don’t know half what you think you do. Some men like to be taken by surprise.’

That made her gaze at him, wondering about his meaning and the slight edge in his voice. But then the loudspeaker shrieked,
‘The flight from Paris has landed—’

The moment collapsed and died. It was time to get back to real life.

Whatever that was.

Julia Franklin still looked much as Charlene remembered her from old films on television. Though well into her fifties, she could have passed for forty or less, the result, Charlene guessed, of much cosmetic surgery and sessions in the gym. It was the same with her charm, which was untouched by the years.

She greeted Travis with an eager cry of,
‘Darling!’
shrieked over a distance, and began to run. He did the same and they threw themselves into each other’s arms, to the delight of the crowd, most of whom had recognised Travis.

Behind Julia came a man in his thirties, with a cherubic face and a good-natured air. This must be Eric, Charlene thought. Travis greeted him amiably, but with the caution of a man who’d met too many of his predecessors.

A cab took them to Bunker Hill, where Julia lived in a house that was defiantly colourful and un-modern. From the first moment Charlene felt herself under inspection. Julia had clearly heard the talk and was buzzing with curiosity.

‘I haven’t told her everything about us,’ Travis had said earlier. ‘Only that we met by accident in the studio, and found we could talk to each other easily. She doesn’t know anything about Lee.’

During the meal, Julia dominated the conversation, talking about Paris and Rome, where she and Eric had spent their vacation. Eric sat looking at Julia with a little smile on his face.

Afterwards, Julia drew Charlene aside, saying, ‘Come and have lunch here tomorrow. We’ll do much better without the men.’ Her voice became teasing. ‘I think we always do better without men, don’t you?’

‘Sometimes.’ Charlene laughed. ‘But they come in handy now and then.’

‘Good thinking,’ Julia said triumphantly.

Later, Julia pulled her son into the kitchen and shut the door.

‘So that’s her. That’s really her. I’ve been dying to meet her, although I’ve seen so many pictures of the two of you that I almost feel I know her. Look at that.’

She held up the snap taken in the hotel restaurant, showing Charlene convulsed with laughter.

‘I’d bought her some pearl earrings,’ Travis recalled, ‘but I’d also bought some Daft Doody earrings for a friend, and I got muddled and gave her the wrong ones.’

‘And she saw the funny side of that?’ Julia asked, amazed.

‘As you see.’

‘Then she’s a real jewel.’ She eyed him with motherly suspicion. ‘You do realise that, don’t you?’

‘Oh, yes,’ he murmured. ‘I realise that. Mom, can we talk about this later? I have a lot to tell you.’

‘And I’ve got a lot to tell you. Paris was fantastic, and guess what! I bumped into your father. I was invited to some big reception, and there he was. Marcel was there too. Poor soul, he’s so sad since he broke up with Cassie. He sent you his good wishes.’

‘I’ll bet my father didn’t send me any good wishes.’

‘Actually, he was on his best behaviour because Freya was there.’

‘Freya? She’s his stepdaughter by his new wife, isn’t she?’

‘Yes, and she’s really very nice. Amos has set his heart on marrying her to one of his sons. He failed with Darius, so now he wants it to be Marcel. You should be careful. If he fails with Marcel he’ll get you in his sights.’

‘Hey, c’mon!’

‘Really. “The Falcon” never gives up. That’s what they say.’

‘Then I’ll have to set Charlene onto him. If that doesn’t fill him with fear, nothing will.’

Which left Julia regarding him oddly and mulling over the conversation long into the night, so that Eric was roused to ask if anything was wrong.

‘Nothing wrong,’ she murmured. ‘Just something I can’t make up my mind about.’

‘Would a cuddle help?’

‘Yes, please!’

CHAPTER EIGHT

N
EXT
day Charlene paid Julia a visit. The two women liked each other. Julia was no actress. The cheeky kid she’d played as a starlet was simply her real self, and after thirty years she still existed. For much of the meal they swapped witticisms, but they both wanted to talk about Travis, and at last Julia said, ‘He was always a lovely boy. So sweet-natured and full of feeling. I used to wish he didn’t have so many feelings, so that his father couldn’t hurt him so much.’

‘He really minded about that, didn’t he? He didn’t say much but I could sense rivers running deep underneath.’

Julia nodded, then went to a cupboard and brought out a large book, which she opened, revealing a portrait photograph of Amos Falcon.

‘I took this shot of him when we knew each other, years ago,’ she said.

Amos had been an attractive man, not conventionally handsome, but with a fierce purpose in his face that proclaimed him one of life’s winners. Many women would find that appealing, as the young Julia had done.

As she still did, Charlene thought, watching the other woman as she surveyed the photograph. After all this time, there was sadness and longing in her face as she flipped over the pages to find pictures of the two of them together. Amos and Julia, a young girl, her face full of love, happy in the conviction that she had found her man and they would be together for ever.

More pictures: Julia with baby Travis in her arms, but never the three of them together.

‘Are there any of Amos and Travis together?’ she asked.

‘None,’ Julia said. ‘That’s one thing I can’t forgive Amos for. He paid maintenance for Travis, but he never took any real interest in him. He’d visit, talk to him about how he was doing at school, criticise him. But he wouldn’t pose for a picture or become really involved with him. But look at these.’

At the back of the book were newspaper cuttings showing Amos with some of his other sons.

‘Darius, Jackson, Marcel,’ Julia said bitterly. ‘But not Travis. I’ve seen him looking at these pictures with such sadness. Just imagine what he must have been thinking.’

‘That they were a complete family without him,’ Charlene whispered. ‘How well I know that feeling.’

‘Then you understand how it’s been for him. I’m so glad.’

‘It was much the same for me,’ Charlene said.

Briefly she outlined the situation in her own family.

‘I’m lucky in my grandparents. I get on with them wonderfully, and thank goodness I do because they’re all I’ve got.’

‘And I’m all Travis has got,’ Julia said. ‘I have no relatives. I’m an orphan, raised in an institution.’ She gave a grim laugh. ‘You wouldn’t believe it, would you? The big star, the world at his feet, women pursuing him, but it breaks his heart that he’s never felt really included in a family.

‘I haven’t been as good a mother as I meant to be,’ she added wryly. ‘At one time I thought I’d marry and give him a father, but none of my relationships ever quite worked out and…well, it didn’t increase stability, if you see what I mean.’

Charlene nodded, liking Julia even more for the honesty with which she admitted her own failings.

‘But he’s got you,’ Julia went on. ‘He hasn’t said much, but I gather you’re protecting him from the people who are out to harm him. I can see that he’s close to you, much closer than to women he sleeps with. Sometimes sex can actually form a barrier to closeness.’

She took Charlene’s hand. ‘Just be there for him,’ she said. ‘I know you will be, and I thank you with all my heart.’

‘I’ll be there,’ Charlene promised.

Soon after that Travis arrived to collect her, looking from one to the other, smiling when he sensed the warmth and friendliness.

As soon as she could, Julia drew him aside, murmuring, ‘Now I can have an easy mind about you. And I never thought I’d say that.’

‘Mom, it’s not like that. She’s a friend.’

‘A friend who happens to be living with you. A friend the whole world is talking about.’

‘That’s just it. We want the world to be talking about her so that they forget what happened in the nightclub. I couldn’t face losing all I’d gained. Luckily Charlene agreed to help me.’

‘How much does she know?’

‘Everything. I didn’t lie to her. That’s the most wonderful thing about her. You can be completely honest and trust her to understand. It’s such a relief.’

‘Someone you can be completely open with. That’s more luck than most people ever have. And you actually persuaded her to put on a big performance for the cameras?’

‘Yes.’

‘And the fact that you’re living together isn’t—?’

‘No.’

‘And you’re not—?’

‘No!’

‘And you haven’t even tried to—?’

‘No!’

She surveyed him, half cynical, half amused.

‘I don’t think you’re my son at all. You’re an impostor. What have you done with the real Travis?’

He grinned. ‘He decided to lie low for a while. He reckons he isn’t so clever.’

She patted his hand. ‘Well, getting Charlene to help you was really clever. She’ll do you the world of good. You might start appreciating other things about women than the shape of their behinds. Why, darling, you’re blushing!’

‘Nonsense!’ he said hurriedly. ‘Can we leave it?’

‘Of course. I’ll just say this. I think she’s the woman for you, and you should try to win her for life.’

‘Mom, please. You just don’t understand.’

She patted his face. ‘No, my darling. It’s you that doesn’t understand.’

* * *

Life settled into a comfortable pattern. Sometimes they would go out together, always choosing a place where they would be seen and enjoying the public reaction, whether it appeared in the press or on the Internet.

‘But don’t overdo it,’ Joe, the Press Officer, had warned. ‘The public are quite sophisticated about this kind of thing these days, and if you live in each other’s pockets they suspect a PR stunt.’

With one voice they exclaimed,
‘Shocking!’

Joe grinned. ‘You two scare me sometimes. It’s like the same brain working both of you!’

They shared a smile. Their instinctive mental harmony was a source of pleasure to them.

But they heeded Joe’s words, and went out separately. She enjoyed the theatre, while he preferred to spend an evening with friends. She wondered if the friends included the kind of ladies he didn’t dare be seen with, but if so he never mentioned it. When describing his evening he would finish with, ‘I was boringly virtuous. You’d have been proud of me.’

‘You could tell me if anything happened,’ she said once. ‘I wouldn’t be jealous.’

‘And I would tell you, if there was anything to tell. You’d need to be warned, for practical reasons.’

And since she had a deep belief in the trust between them, she accepted his word.

One evening Travis arrived home to find her about to leave.

‘Going somewhere interesting?’

‘To the theatre, with some of the girls from the TV studio. There’s six of us going in total. It’s an open air performance, so I’m just dressed casual.’

He noticed that by ‘just casual’ she meant the tight jeans she’d been wearing the day she sat on his lap, when he—

He shut off the thought.

From below came a beep from a horn.

‘That’s my taxi,’ she said. ‘Right, I’ll be off.’

‘Will you be late?’

‘Very late, probably.’ She added significantly, ‘And I promise to come in quietly.’

He understood. She was saying that he was free to enjoy himself with another woman—or women.

‘Charlene—’

‘Got to dash. Bye!’

She blew him a kiss, and was gone.

From the window he watched her hop merrily into the taxi. As he turned back into the room he realised how empty it was. How silent and lonely.