by Selena Kitt
“Why is she doing this? Is it about money?” I asked. “I mean, half of whatever you own together has to be… an astronomical amount.”
“Because royalties are forever.” Celeste sounded amused at my naïveté. “If she gets rights to the songs, she’ll get paid on those until the day she dies.”
“Oh my God.” I looked over at Rob, who sat with his head in his hands again. I couldn’t even imagine what he was feeling. Of course, he was kicking himself in hindsight, but he couldn’t have known things would turn out this way, that Catherine would be so vindictive.
“So, it’s all about the money then?” I picked up a copy of one of the papers Celeste had put down, staring at my obviously pregnant profile.
“No, it’s about you,” Celeste frowned, punching a number into her phone. “If you hadn’t come along—Hello? Can I speak to the editor please?”
“Celeste!” Rob warned, but she was already walking away, her finger in her other ear as she talked.
“What is she talking about?”
“Don’t listen to her.” Rob reached out, putting a hand on my arm. “Even if she gets my rights… I’ll live with it. It’s my fault, not yours.”
“Why does she think it’s my fault?” I nodded toward Celeste, standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room with the phone to her ear.
“Catherine is very jealous.” Rob sighed, rubbing my arm as if he could warm away the goose flesh there, but I wasn’t cold. “When she found out about you… that’s when she decided to up the ante.”
“That Inquirer photo of us?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “And she’d already seen you at the house. She knew it was true.”
“So, it is my fault.” I sat back, defeated. “You’re going to lose the rights to your songs because of me.”
“No.” Rob frowned, taking his hands in mine over the table. “No, Sabrina, this isn’t about you.
“Except it kind of is,” Celeste said as she hung up the phone.
“Celeste, you can go.” He stood, pointing toward the door. “Now.”
“Don’t you think she should know?” Celeste didn’t budge, crossing her arms over her spotless Donna Karin blouse. Her voice was shaking. “We both know how crazy Cat can be. Did it occur to you that Sabrina might be in danger?”
“Why do you think I keep her with me constantly?” he snapped.
“Rob?” I stood too, putting a hand on his arm. “What should I know?”
“She’s never going to stop now.” I’d never seen calm, cool Celeste this emotional about anything. In fact, I couldn’t’ remember ever seeing her emotional at all. She always handled everything with finesse and grace. This was completely out of character for her. “You know what she’s like as well as I do!”
“I can handle this, Celeste!” Rob’s arm flexed as his hands clenched into fists.
“Like you handled it when she did this?” Celeste grabbed the edge of her blouse and yanked it out of the waistband of her skirt, pulling it up high, over her bra.
I gasped, covering my mouth with my hands, staring at the long scar running from the middle of her chest down to her navel, a raw, red, angry slash.
“Catherine did that to you?” I blinked at Celeste as she angrily tucked her blouse back in. “Why? Why would she?”
I turned to Rob, who took both of my hands in his, shaking his head sadly.
“Maybe she’s right.” His mouth trembled, with sadness or anger, I couldn’t tell which. “Maybe I should have told you before…”
“Told me… what?”
“Cat thought we were lovers.” Celeste looked at Rob, who closed his eyes and turned his head away at her words. “We weren’t. But she’s one of those women who assumes everyone else is doing what she’s doing. You know the type?”
I nodded as if I understood what she was saying. I couldn’t take it all in.
“Anyway, she got it into her head that I was sleeping with her husband.” Celeste sneered. “That’s when she did this.”
“But… wouldn’t she be in jail?” I asked. “Or… something?”
“The lawyer got her off.” Celeste scowled. “She had to wear a little ankle bracelet for a while, that’s all.”
I looked at Rob, frowning. “Is this true?”
“Yeah.” He sighed. “That’s when we separated.”
“I wouldn’t have told you if I thought you didn’t need to know,” Celeste said. “If she would do that to someone she just suspected was sleeping with Rob, can you imagine…?”
“But wasn’t she cheating?” I asked, looking between the two of them.
“Constantly.” Rob’s jaw worked, tensing, untensing.
“It makes no sense.” I couldn’t puzzle it out. “Why would she get jealous, if she was already cheating?”
“She’s not rational.” Rob snorted. “She didn’t want me, but she didn’t want anyone else to have me.”
“She is… very unstable,” Celeste agreed. “I don’t think she would have even agreed to the separation if she hadn’t found someone else.”
“She found someone else?” This was news to me!
“Some poor guy actually thought he found a catch.” Celeste rolled her eyes. “I mean, she is a model. She’s beautiful, right? I’m sure there were perks. That’s why she finally served Rob divorce papers.”
“But I don’t understand. What’s the problem?” I asked. “She wants to move on, you want to move on…?”
“It’s been like a perfect storm.” Celeste sighed. “Her new guy ended up going back to his pregnant wife.”
“Oh no,” I groaned.
“Oh yes.” Celeste’s smile was wry and bitter. “And then she saw you and Rob in the tabloids. You and your belly.”
“Oh no,” I whispered, putting a protective hand over the baby. Rob pulled me closer, shaking his head as if saying “no” could change any of this.
“The thing is, Cat couldn’t have kids,” Celeste explained. “She slept around and didn’t have to worry about getting pregnant.”
“Do you really think she’d… do something?” I looked up at Rob, frowning.
“She’s not going to fly to France,” he assured me.
“But we’ll be home soon,” Celeste reminded him.
“And I’ve beefed up security,” he countered angrily. “Look, Celeste, you’re scaring Sabrina and I think you’d better go.”
“Don’t shoot the messenger!” She held up her hands to ward him off, turning to leave, but her parting shot over her shoulder before she went out the front door was, “Just watch your back.”
“Rob, this is insane,” I whispered. “What are we going to do?”
“This is why I didn’t tell you.” He turned, cupping my face in his hands. “You’re safe, trust me. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
I believed him. But that wasn’t all of it, not by half.
“What about your songs?”
“She won’t get them.” He pulled me into his arms, holding me close. “We’re fighting it.”
“What if she does?” I put my head on his chest, miserable at the thought. “Oh Rob, you’ll blame me for the rest of our lives...”
“No!” He grabbed my arms, holding me out from him so he could look into my eyes. His were dark, as dark as I’d seen them. “Sabrina, this isn’t your fault. None of it is your fault. It’s mine. All mine.”
Something in him broke. I saw it in his eyes. They clouded as his head dropped with his gaze. His voice was a bare whisper, choked, like he couldn’t get the words out.
“I’m sorry,” he managed. “I’m so sorry.”
“No, Rob…” I reached out and touched his cheek, shaking my head, feeling tears coming to my eyes in the face of his pain.
“I don’t deserve you,” he whispered, his hands falling to his sides. He stood there, helpless, defeated. “I don’t deserve any of this.”
“No, no…” I protested, grabbing his hands in mine, urging life back into them. “Don�
�t say that. Rob, don’t. You’re my entire world. You are everything to me. Everything.”
He looked so unsure for a moment—so unsure and lost and yet still just a little bit hopeful, like he wanted to believe, he really wanted to—it broke me wide open. I felt tears slipping down my cheeks.
“Don’t you know that?” Now it was my turn to cup his face in my hands, to make him look at me, as if I could convince him, if not with my words, then with my eyes. “Don’t you know how much I love you? I’m so yours. All yours.”
“Sabrina.” He closed his eyes, resting his forehead against mine, still not touching me, his hands at his sides. I wanted his arms around me, I wanted my sure, confident, determined Rob back. Had she broken him down so far? Had I?
“I would give this all up right now for you,” he whispered, not opening his eyes. His lashes were wet. “None of it matters. I don’t care about the money. She can have it all. I just want you.”
“Oh Rob.” I wrapped my arms around him, tight, tight, my cheek against the hard beat of his heart in his chest. “You already have me.”
“Mine.” His arms encircled me, his voice a whisper. “You and our baby mean everything to me. Everything.”
“I know.” I knew because it meant everything to me too. “But Rob…”
That rational part of my brain wouldn’t let go, wouldn’t settle for just this, just us.
“I don’t want you to lose your soul, too,” I pleaded with him. “Your music, your songs. I don’t want you to resent me five, ten years down the road.”
“Say that again.” His arms tightened around me and his lips touched my forehead.
“I don’t want you to resent me,” I choked out.
“No, baby.” His lips touched my temple, my cheek, little feathered kisses down to my lips. “Five years, ten years, twenty, fifty. Forever.”
“Forever.” I kissed him back, tasting my tears on our lips.
“Whatever happens, Sabrina, you’re mine. Now and forever.”
“Yes.”
I knew then that I wasn’t going “home” after the tour was over, that the life I’d lived in my little yellow house in Ferndale, teaching kids music in Detroit, that was already part of my past, and my mind just hadn’t caught up yet. My heart already knew.
We belonged together, doing this, and whatever trepidations I had about having a baby in the midst of it were assuaged by this man who loved me more than, maybe, I even deserved to be loved, this man who broke my heart and put it back together every single moment of the day. This man was my world, had been for years, and now I lived here. He was mine and I was his and we were forever.
Chapter Thirteen
“What about Celeste?” I asked. It was quite different deboarding from the band’s private plane than it was when we flew commercial. We hadn’t made that flight on the beginning of the tour because Rob had decided to take us on a detour through Florida and then to Aruba, I remembered, smiling fondly as Rob took my hand when we hit the tarmac.
California was as beautiful as ever, cotton clouds floating through the sky above, the warm breeze on my face welcome after the stale plane air. Twelve hours was a long time to fly, even if you did have a bed on the plane.
“She’s coming on a later flight. She always stays an extra day or so to tie up loose ends.” Rob slipped an arm around me and kissed the top of my head. “It’s all taken care of, baby. I had the movers tow your car and haul all your stuff. It’s here in storage. We’ll go over and sort it out after we’ve had some time to unwind.”
“And Katie and Sarah flew in last night?” I asked, even though he’d told me already, a hundred times.
“Safe and sound. Sarah texted me when they landed.”
“Are you sure you have enough room for all of these people?”
“Have you seen my house?” He snorted. “Sarah and Tyler have lived with me for over a year and we can all go days without even running into each other.”
“And… who is Sarah again?” I nudged him. “I mean, besides your transition management specialist when Tyler gets some girl hooked on drugs?”
Tyler I’d known about, of course—there had been plenty of articles and even and MTV’s Cribs show on Rob’s. They billed it as their “bachelor pad,” Tyler and Rob being two of the most eligible bachelors in the country. It made sense, because he and Rob were close and had been bandmates since they were teens. But I still couldn’t fit Sarah into this living arrangement puzzle.
“I told you. She’s an old friend.”
“She’s awfully young,” I mused. “How long have you known her?”
“Are you jealous?” He grinned down at me as we walked.
“No.” I stuck my tongue out at him.
“You have no reason to be jealous.” He gave me an extra squeeze as we approached the car waiting for us, getting close to my ear to murmur, “I can’t wait to get you back to our bed.”
“I’ll have to be quiet, with all those people in the house.”
He laughed.
“Jesse!” I cried, when the limo’s driver got out and I saw who it was. I ran up to him, putting my arms around his neck. “It’s so good to see you!”
“Glad to see you too.” He smiled, looking over at Rob, who scowled in his direction.
“I didn’t get that kind of reception.” Rob complained as we climbed into the limo and settled together in the corner. It seemed like such a waste, this giant car for just the two of us, but Rob said their record company insisted. There were appearances to keep, apparently.
“Do you want me to say, ‘welcome home’ to you now?” I purred, sliding my hand along his denim-clad thigh.
“I’ll save my strength for tonight.” His eyes lit up when I unbuttoned the top button of my blouse, teasing him. “I’m gonna rock you. All. Night. Long.”
He punctuated each word with a kiss. Jesse must have loaded the bags because the limo started moving. I tucked my head under Rob’s chin, watching L.A. fly by, remembering the first time I’d arrived, late at night, in a limo like this one. It looked different during the day. And so much had changed since then.
“So, Tyler’s home already?” I asked. I was surprised when he wasn’t on the band’s plane with the rest of Trouble.
“Yeah, he flew commercial.” Rob stroked my hair. “He couldn’t wait to get back to Katie.”
That made me smile. If anyone deserved some happiness, it was those two. I closed my eyes, letting the miles fly by. I thought I would be homesick at the thought of not going back to my little house, but I wasn’t. I had a little twinge of guilt and sadness thinking about all my kids, but I would fly back, sometime after the baby was born, to say an official goodbye. And maybe Rob and I could play and sing our new song for them. But mostly, I was glad we were on the ground and going home.
Home.
“Is that your stomach rumbling?” Rob murmured,
“I’m starving.” I opened my eyes, seeing he had his head tilted back, half-asleep.
“Here, drink more water.” Rob sat up, reaching to open the little refrigerator and pull out a bottle of water.
“I’m not dehydrated.” I rolled my eyes, opening the water bottle and taking a drink to appease him. “I’m just hungry. Does Daisy know we’re coming?”
Daisy—and Daisy’s food! I hadn’t even thought of it until now and my stomach rumbled even more loudly. My mouth literally started to water. And the baby, for good measure, decided to kick and let me know she was hungry too!
Rob laughed. “She’s got pork roast cooking right now.”
“Oh my God.” I screwed the lid back on my water bottle. “I just said yesterday how much I was craving pork roast.”
“I know.” He grinned.
“You spoil me.” I tossed the water bottle aside and wrapped my arms around his neck.
“You’re mine to spoil.” His mouth was warm and full and open under mine, making me moan and slide closer to him on the seat, as close as I could get. Would I ever stop wanting
this man?
“Hey, I think we’re home.” I murmured as the limo rolled to a stop. I leaned over to look out the tinted window on the driver’s side. “Huh. That’s new.”
There was still a keypad at the gate, but now there was also a camera, a monitor and a speaker. Jesse waved. I could see him on the monitor.
“More security remember?” Rob’s arm tightened around my shoulders.
“You don’t really think Catherine—?”
“It’s just a precaution,” he assured me. “But she hates to lose.”
“I still can’t believe we won.” I sat up, watching as the house grew bigger in the window, the big double gate closing automatically behind us. “So how long before the divorce is officially final?”
I hadn’t asked him yesterday, when we got the call from the lawyer. We’d all been in the middle of packing and getting ready to go home and the news had brightened Rob’s spirits considerably. I hadn’t wanted to dampen that, even a little.
“Well, she can still appeal,” Rob said. They’d struck her lawsuit down based on the copyright information Rob’s lawyer had presented, proving the songs were his. “It’s a victory, but it may be temporary.”
I sighed. “This baby is going to be illegitimate at this rate.”
“I’m sorry, Sabrina,” he apologized, looking guilty. “I’m pushing them as fast as I can, believe me.”
“You know what, I used to care but I don’t anymore.” I smiled, squeezing his hand. “We’re a family already. Me, you, the baby, Tyler, Katie, Sarah, Celeste… no wonder you hired a cook.”
He laughed. “Thank God I have a twenty-car garage.”
“And six bathrooms.”
“Look, we’re home,” he said as the limo stopped in front of the house.
I remembered seeing it for the first time, how beautiful, how intimidating it was. Now it was home. Except it didn’t matter, in the end, where it was. We’d lived in my little yellow house in Ferndale, we’d lived in hotel rooms across Europe, and we’d lived here, but none of those places were home. Home was where Rob was in the world, and I would follow him anywhere.
“Thanks, Jesse,” I smiled and took his offered hand when he opened the limo door.