by Daphne Clair
‘I can delegate, and do a lot by phone. It’s after midnight. Why don’t you go home and get some sleep?’
‘You just asked me not to leave.’
‘I’d been dreaming. There’s no need for you to stay.’
There was a stir in the doorway, and his mother tiptoed in. A whispered conference, then Devin put a compelling hand on Shannon’s arm. ‘Come on, I’m taking you home.’
At the car she said, ‘Would you like me to drive?’
‘I’m all right.’
He seemed preoccupied on the way to the apartment, and once there Shannon said, ‘Can I get you something?’
Devin shook his head. ‘You’d better turn in. You’ve only a few hours to go before you need to be at work.’
The crew would be there and she couldn’t dump her assistant director in it with few clues about Shannon’s concept of the scenes. ‘Are you going to bed?’
Devin passed a hand over his hair. ‘I guess. Lila promised to phone if…I’m needed.’
‘Would you…’ Shannon hesitated. ‘Would you like company?’
He studied her. ‘A charity case?’ he said.
‘I just thought you might want…’
‘Sympathy, comfort…sex? Choose one, or all three?’ His mouth moved crookedly. ‘I appreciate the offer,’ he told her, ‘but I’ll pass, thanks. It’s been a long day and I don’t need any more complications.’
Swallowing the hurt of rejection, Shannon said, ‘Let me know if there’s anything I can do.’
When she got up Devin was already gone. She hadn’t heard the phone, but perhaps he’d just driven to the hospital anyway. Feeling guilty at having slept, she phoned patient inquiries and was told that Mr Keynes was ‘holding his own,’ which told her nothing new. She debated trying Devin’s cell phone but remembered the hospital discouraged their use.
She made herself coffee and raced off to the location.
This was the last day of filming in the house, and by midafternoon she hoped they’d be moving to the garden for some outdoor scenes. Shannon had a consultation with her assistant director, unable to keep herself from glancing at her watch every few minutes, and after an hour she drove back to the hospital.
Payton was in the waiting room, leafing through a magazine. ‘Ralph’s improving,’ he told Shannon. ‘They think he could be out of the ICU in a day or two if it continues. Did you see Devin?’
‘I thought he was here.’
‘He went to the set to tell you the good news. You must have passed each other on the way. He said you switch off your phone when you’re filming, and you’d be working until at least six.’
‘The cast and crew will be, I left them to it. How long have you been sitting here?’
He shrugged. ‘Hours, but that’s okay. Lila needs me.’
‘Yes,’ Shannon said. ‘I think she does.’
Payton flicked her an alert look. ‘They don’t like to think they can’t manage alone, these Keyneses. But at times like this they need their loved ones just like us ordinary mortals.’
‘I’m sure Lila’s a very ordinary mortal,’ Shannon said. ‘I mean, a very normal woman, needing love and affection…comfort.’
‘I know. I’ve always tried to give it to her, even when she was pretending she didn’t need it.’
‘She pretends?’
He nodded. ‘But after six years of marriage I can read her like a book.’
‘Oh?’
Payton frowned. ‘What does that mean?’
‘Nothing, except…are you sure?’
‘What are you getting at, Shannon?’
‘It’s none of my business.’ She regretted showing her scepticism.
‘We’re family,’ he said. ‘Spill it.’
‘Lila said you’re spending a lot of time away from home. It…worries her.’
‘Oh, hell! I thought I was covering it so well.’
‘Then you are having an affair?’
‘Affair?’ Payton coloured angrily. ‘Of course not! Whatever gave you that idea?’
‘I’m sorry, it’s just that…’ She broke off, afraid of making things worse. ‘I’m sorry,’ she repeated.
‘Lila thinks that?’ Payton thrust a hand over his almost non-existent hair. ‘I’ve been working on a deal with a bigger company. It will mean more income but fewer hours for me. Lila and I would like a family, and this way I’d be able to help more, so she could keep on working. I meant to surprise her.’ He rubbed a hand over his eyes. ‘How could she think…?’
‘You just said,’ she reminded him, ‘that the Keyneses aren’t as secure as they pretend to be.’ Even Devin wasn’t, she’d discovered.
‘But Lila knows I adore her!’
The door from the ward opened and Lila stood there. ‘What?’ she said, her gaze fixed on her husband.
He crossed the room and took her in his arms, giving her a kiss square on her mouth. ‘I love you, Lilly-pilly. You know that.’
Lilly-pilly. Shannon blinked, then picked up a magazine and flipped it open.
‘I suppose so,’ Lila was saying in a dazed voice.
Payton gave a growl in his throat, and Shannon choked down laughter. He seemed such a mild man, but evidently there was a tiger hidden inside somewhere. ‘Later,’ he promised, ‘I’ll prove it to you.’
Lila’s whisper was scandalised. ‘Payton! Stop it!’ Then she said, ‘Shannon, we didn’t expect you so early.’
When Shannon looked up again they were two feet apart, but Lila’s cheeks were rosy and Payton looked faintly smug. ‘Why don’t you two go and have a coffee or something,’ she suggested. ‘I can wait with your mother.’
Payton said, ‘Thanks, Shannon,’ and carried his bewildered wife off with a masterly air.
Devin arrived soon afterward, brushing off Shannon’s apology for his wasted journey. ‘They told me you were here,’ he said. ‘You’ll want to get back.’
‘It’s all right, I’ve left my assistant in charge. I’d like to see your father if they’ll let me.’
Ralph was conscious, looking considerably better, and at dinnertime he urged his wife to go and have a meal at a nearby restaurant with the rest of the family.
Relief and a bottle of wine helped to lessen the strain they’d been under, and Shannon, who had seen a side of the reserved Keynes family that had been invisible to her before, was more relaxed than she had ever been in their company.
They took Marcia in to say goodnight to her husband, and Shannon murmured to Devin, ‘Could you stay with your mother tonight? Payton’s back and Lila might like to be at home with him.’
He gave her a slightly surprised look. ‘I guess so, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Mum insists she’s okay on her own.’
Neither would Shannon, but actually Marcia made only a token objection.
The film crew had experienced some problems with the garden scenes. Shortly after they set up the cameras the cloudless sky had altered, and changes in the light ruined several takes. In the end they had to stop shooting early.
‘It’s just bad luck,’ Shannon told her apologetic assistant, though she’d hoped to move on to the courthouse set next day.
In the morning it was raining, and the forecast was for more rain the following day. Shannon had to decide whether to stay at the house and film between showers, or move the cameras and equipment to the next set where they could shoot indoors, but then they’d have to bring everything back later, with all the possible continuity hassles that might create.
She decided to stay put, throwing out the tight shooting schedule rather badly, even after a hasty reshuffling of some outdoor scenes to the interior.
Which meant going to six days a week and working at night to get Rose’s scenes finished before her deadline.
Devin was also catching up on his own work, in between visiting his father and looking out for his mother. He didn’t turn up on the set again until late one evening as they were shooting Rose’s final scenes, when her character was watchi
ng her sister and her fiancé take their turns in the witness box.
There was a lot of tension on the set. The scene was a crucial turning point, and Rose had no lines but was required to express a changing range of deep emotion without words and without moving from her seat.
Rose gave a powerful performance, and on the last take Shannon felt a rare tingle up her spine that told her this time they had something quite extraordinary.
The rest of the crew knew it too. When the first assistant called, Cut they burst into applause.
Rose gave them a Victorian curtsey in acknowledgement, and looked to Shannon for her approval, but Shannon was already out of her chair and crossing the room to give her a congratulatory hug. ‘Thank you!’ she said sincerely. ‘That was great.’
Behind her, Devin’s voice said, with a tinge of awe, ‘I could almost believe it was real, in spite of the cameras.’
He bent to kiss Rose’s cheek as Shannon moved aside. ‘Are you all right?’
Rose smiled up at him. ‘A bit wrung out.’ She turned back to Shannon. ‘Is that it?’
‘Yes. You’ve been wonderful, Rose.’
‘I’ve enjoyed it. Everything’s so laid-back here, and I love the way the crew and the actors all help each other out.’
Then someone called, ‘Party time!’ and there was a flurry of activity as cameras and equipment were rolled aside, trays of food and bottles of wine miraculously appeared on the lawyers’ tables, and a crate of beer was humped in by the brawnier members of the crew who proceeded to turn the judge’s bench into a bar.
Over the noise, Shannon explained, ‘We couldn’t let you go without a farewell party.’
Rose laughed again, asking Devin, ‘Did you know about this?’
‘It was mentioned.’ Shannon had told him yesterday of the plan, wondering if he’d find time to attend.
Craig appeared at Shannon’s side and grinned at Rose. ‘Come on,’ he said, holding out his hand. ‘I’ll get you a drink.’
As they moved toward the impromptu bar, Craig’s arm about Rose’s shoulder, her face tilted to him, Devin stood looking after them.
He turned to Shannon, a peculiar expression on his face.
Trying not to speculate on what it meant, she asked him, ‘How is your father? Have you seen him today?’
‘He’s on the mend. My mother is looking a lot less stressed too.’
Someone called Shannon, offering champagne, and she said, ‘You are staying for the party? Help yourself, I have to organise getting the film to the lab for processing.’
By the time she’d done that and got herself a drink Devin was part of a group gathered about Rose, and Craig drifted to Shannon’s side.
‘She’s gorgeous, isn’t she?’ he said wistfully, gazing at Rose.
‘Yes.’ Shannon suppressed a pang of envy.
Craig said, ‘She invited me to go over and stay with her, even offered to recommend me for auditions, but I don’t know if I’m supposed to take it seriously. What do you think?’
‘Rose seems a pretty genuine person,’ Shannon said. ‘I’d say go for it.’
‘Thanks, hon.’ He bent to give her a kiss.
Shannon slipped away from the party as soon as she decently could, hoping for a night’s sleep. She was surprised when Devin arrived soon afterwards, while she was checking her shooting schedule for the following day, clad in pyjamas and sipping cocoa as she sat on a sofa.
She looked up and said, ‘I didn’t expect you back so soon.’
‘There was no need to stay after you snuck away. Craig will look after Rose.’
‘Yes, he will,’ she said absently, returning to the pink paper in her hand. ‘Are you taking her to the airport tomorrow, or should I lay on a car?’
‘Whatever,’ he said impatiently. ‘Do you know she’s talking of Craig joining her in L.A.?’ he asked.
‘Yes, he told me.’
‘And…?’
‘And I think he should take her up on it.’
‘I…see,’ he said slowly.
‘What do you see?’
‘You really don’t care, do you? Were you ever at all in love with him?’
Shannon’s head shot up. ‘In love with…Craig? Of course not! I’m…’ I’m in love with you. She swallowed the words. ‘I can’t imagine what gave you that idea.’
‘You’re very affectionate with each other. You understand each other, don’t you, being in the same business? And he’s very good-looking. When I first saw you together I was sure if he wasn’t already involved with you, he’d like to be.’
‘He’s fond of me. I’m fond of him. We’ve been through some good and bad times in the business together. We’re good friends.’
‘I guess I’d forgotten how touchy-feely your friends are…your filming friends.’
True, there were a lot of hugs, kisses and casual endearments. The entertainment industry attracted outgoing personalities who openly showed their feelings, sometimes pretended to feelings they didn’t have. Quite unlike Devin and his more restrained business contacts. ‘I remember how you looked down your nose at them.’
‘Not at all. They were such a colourful and exotic bunch, I felt like a particularly dull sparrow among a bevy of peacocks.’
‘A sparrow?’ A less apt description she could scarcely imagine. A hawk, more likely, whose shadow on the ground would send a bunch of peacocks screeching to the hills.
‘I could see,’ he said, ‘that you might prefer someone who shared your creativity to a facts-and-figures man like me.’
Shannon shook her head. ‘No.’ And made bold by his confession, she added, ‘What about Rose?’
‘What about her?’
‘You were very attentive to her.’
‘I’d persuaded her to come here and be in your film.’
‘Bribed her.’
‘I paid her the going rate. She wouldn’t have agreed if she hadn’t liked the script. But I felt obliged to look out for her while she was here, and I wanted to save you the extra burden.’
He looked at her narrowly, then a faint smile lit his eyes, lifted his mouth. ‘And she’s a beautiful young woman,’ he said. ‘It didn’t hurt a bit.’
‘I’m sure it didn’t,’ she retorted with a snap, and stood up, clutching her papers to her chest. ‘And I’m sure you’ll enjoy seeing her off tomorrow.’
As she turned away Devin caught her arm, laughing, bringing her round to face him. She looked at him with fire in her eyes, her mouth stubborn, her body rigid.
‘You’re jealous,’ he said, as matter-of-factly as if he were remarking that it was raining.
About to deny it, she saw how futile that was, and instead countered, ‘Well, so are you!’
‘Yes,’ he conceded softly. ‘And where does that leave us?’
Her mouth dried, her heart thumping. She didn’t dare speak.
Devin said, ‘You still have feelings for me…as I do for you, Shannon. Very deep feelings.’
Ages ago, it seemed, she’d been at least half convinced that he felt only a need to assert his will, to master her and punish her for leaving him. But they had come a long way in the last few weeks. This had nothing to do with revenge for past wrongs. ‘What kind of feelings?’ she asked. No matter how hard it was for him, she wanted it spelled out, no doubts, no concealment.
‘Love,’ he said simply, as if at last he could understand and meet her need for that reassurance. ‘Passion. I never stopped loving you, Shannon. Even when I was furious and trying to convince myself you were shallow and selfish and not worth it, I couldn’t help loving you, wanting you. And when I saw a remote, dim chance of bringing you back into my life—and keeping you away from Craig Sloane’s bed—I jumped in with both feet—and nearly drowned in the process.’
‘Drowned?’
‘It was the wrong way to go about it, maybe fatal to renewing our marriage, but once I’d made the bargain I didn’t dare let you back out. I did try to be different this time, more sensitive. I see y
ou can’t walk out and leave someone else to carry on when you’re in the middle of a film. It’s your vision that holds the thing together. And yet,’ he said slowly, almost tentatively, ‘you did exactly that when my father was taken ill.’
‘I thought you might need me.’
Something flared then in the dark eyes. ‘I did. Everyone else was looking to me to be the strong one, and you were just there for me. You’ll never know how grateful I was for that.’
‘Then I’m glad I did it.’
‘So am I. It gave me a ray of hope, only I was too taken up with my father and the family to take advantage of it. And you’ve been pretty elusive.’
‘We were running over schedule.’
He removed his hand from her arm. ‘I’m releasing you from our contract, Shannon.’ As her eyes widened, he said, ‘Not the formal, written one. Your film is safe. But our unwritten agreement was unfair and unscrupulous, and I had no right to impose such conditions on you. So…’ he looked up at the ceiling, drawing a deep breath before continuing ‘…you’re free to go anytime you want.’
Blankly, she said, ‘You’re asking me to leave? Throwing me out?’
‘No! I’m giving you a choice. And if you go I’m asking—begging you to let me see you again, give me a chance to show you that we could, maybe, have a real marriage again.’
He looked strained, and tense, as though holding himself under a tight rein.
Shannon wondered if this was a dream, a wish-fulfilment dream. Her voice low, and sounding as though it didn’t belong to her, she said, ‘I love you, Devin. I want to stay with you always.’ She paused, bracing herself ready for heartbreak, yet knowing she had to do this. ‘But I can’t give up my career, even for you.’
‘Have I hindered you in any way since you’ve been back?’ he asked.
‘No, and…before, I probably was a bit excessive,’ she conceded. ‘After my father died I was very frightened. It was bad enough when I lost my mother, but with him going too, having to relive that sense of abandonment brought home to me that even people who loved me couldn’t be relied on to look after me.’
‘That’s what I wanted to do.’
‘I know, and I couldn’t let you. Deep down I was terrified that something would happen to take you away too. And the more you pushed me to let you care for me, the more determined I was to cling to my career and retain some independence, be responsible for myself.’