by Terri Lee
“I’m sorry, my love, that Caterina behaved so badly. You didn’t deserve any of that.” He held her face in his hands. Hazel eyes communicating more than a thousand words ever could. “Please don’t let her scare you away.”
Natalie had spilled the story as gently as she could while still conveying the harsh truth of the encounter. “I’m not going anywhere,” she assured him. “I understand her worry. You’re her entire world. The last thing she wants is change. She’s clutching at the last bit of normalcy in her life and unfortunately that means she won’t give me an inch.”
“You let me handle Caterina,” Nico soothed. “You have enough to worry about.”
Natalie could feel her concerns melting as he pulled her to his chest. The warmth and smell of him filling up her senses. If Nico said he would handle it then everything would be fine.
“Come, let me remind you how much I love you.” Nico pulled her by the hand and led her to the bedroom.
There on an island of silky sheets the rest of the world fell away. Hollywood dimmed to a faint light in the distance. Lawsuits disappeared like chalk drawings on a rainy sidewalk and recalcitrant teenagers tucked their tail between their legs and ran off to lick their wounds.
When all was said and done it was always just the two of them. Natalie draped her arm around Nico’s neck as he leaned in for the kiss waiting on her lips.
42 Toxic Soup
“Firma qui, per favore.” The handsome young deliveryman thrust a clipboard in front of her.
Natalie tucked the package under her arm and scribbled her name on the dotted line.
“Grazie,” she sang out, closing the heavy door behind her.
The package was postmarked Los Angeles, with no return address. Scooting her coffee cup to the side she placed the package on the coffee table and began unwrapping the folds of brown paper. Inside, she immediately recognized the letterhead and Stan’s bold scrawl.
* * *
Natalie,
You might want to take a look at what’s going on here at home while you’re busy fucking your way across Europe. Gone to Italy to heal? My ass. It’s nothing more than a selfish holiday at everyone else’s expense. Leaving a studio hanging for millions of dollars? You deserve the lawsuit. And here’s another one for you. Tess will NOT be returning to Rome. In light of this new information, I’ve decided to file for full custody. I believe the courts will agree it’s in our daughter’s best interest. I’ll be waiting for your call.
Stan
* * *
The letter drifted from her fingertips to the floor, falling like ash after a volcanic eruption. Beneath the letter were three magazines. The Hollywood Tattler, Theadora Barrett’s rag, was on top. Obviously, Stanley took great care in deciding which tabloid would provide the biggest bang for his buck when he wrapped his little bomb. Headlines in bold font screamed out at her.
FROM AMERICA’S SWEETHEART, TO INTERNATIONAL HOME-WRECKER.
To seal the deal there was a picture of her and Nico sitting at a café table, hand in hand, his other hand on her face as she looked lovingly at him.
Natalie’s own hands were shaking so hard she could barely flip through the pages to find the story inside. There in the centerfold were more pictures and all the scandalous words to accompany them.
* * *
July 25, 1978
Los Angeles
* * *
It’s Not Gossip If It’s True
By Theadora Barrett
* * *
Where has America’s Sweetheart been for the last year? According to my insider she’s been on a European romp. And not alone, mind you. While production on the movie, ‘The House on Fremont’, was abruptly halted due to its star flying the coop, we had no idea just how far our little bird had flown. There was plenty of talk at the time, that NH was suffering from exhaustion, (which we all know is a Hollywood euphemism for something more consequential) but I responsibly refrained from publishing anything of the sort without hard facts.
Although reportedly under a doctor’s care it appears, she has found the time to take a lover. You know the phrase; WHEN IN ROME. While that might play in Europe, American fans are less likely to turn a blind eye to such behavior from a very married woman.
Not only was Mr. H left holding the bag on an unfinished movie, leaving millions of dollars on the table, ( I have it on good authority that the studio has since filed a breach of contract suit against its star in an effort to recoup some of its losses.) but the poor man was also left with the sole responsibility for the couple’s only child.
While NH was busy getting ‘healthy’ in Rome, it seems she found a companion in a man whose wife laid in a coma in an Italian hospital. The woman has since passed, leaving NH with a widower to comfort. While his children are left mourning a mother, they’re also missing a father who has been swept up in the glamour of dating one of Hollywood’s brightest lights. The daughter of the gentleman in question says she ‘just wants her father back’. Perhaps it’s time for NH to come home and deal with the consequences of her actions and leave Italy to the Italians.
Until next time, darlings
Thea
* * *
Along with several pictures of Natalie and Nico, which all appeared to have been taken on the same day, there was a photograph of Stan and Tess sharing an ice cream sundae. The juxtaposition couldn’t have been more glaring, but Natalie recognized a staged photo when she saw one.
Natalie’s breaths came in ragged sheets as she reached for the other magazines. Photoplay and Movieland’s headlines had a similar tone, as if all the editors had agreed to a theme.
NATALIE HAMPTON’S ROMAN HOLIDAY and NATALIE HAMPTON, THE REAL-LIFE STAR OF ‘TO ROME WITH LOVE’ fell at her feet like spent shell casings. Mortars wrapped in salacious words hit their intended target and now Natalie sat with her broken bits scattered around her like the pieces of paper strewn across the couch, the coffee table, and on the floor trying to make sense of a war she hadn’t even known she was in. Unarmed and defenseless, she’d signed for the bomb delivered in plain brown wrapping by a smiling courier who was blissfully unaware of the volatility of the package he placed in her hands.
One word rose from her chest, demanding an answer.
Why?
Why would Stanley do this, now? She’d given him practically everything. The divorce was finalized. Her thoughts spun a wild narrative as she read and re-read the tabloid stories. Digging for clues like a prospector, she kept coming back to one line in Theadora’s article: ‘the daughter of the gentleman in question says she, “just wants her father back.”
Caterina.
But how? Why? When?
Monty was the shore she swam to. White knuckles gripped the phone like a life preserver, while she drowned in a toxic soup of headlines.
“I just got in from Mexico tonight.” Monty’s voice was strained on the other end of the line. “I saw the tabloid at the newsstand in LAX and almost died on the spot,” he said. “It’s two in the morning, but you can bet I’ll be on the phone all day threatening lawsuits of our own if they don't print a retraction. I was planning on calling you in a little bit, honey. God, I’ so sorry.”
“He’s going to take Tess.” Jagged breaths left little room for words. The name, Tess, uttered in a low moan. The kind of sound a wounded animal makes.
“No, baby, that will never happen.”
Natalie found herself leaning in and reaching for the surety in Monty’s voice “But it is happening. Right now. He’s going to take my baby.”
“Look honey, he might try, but I can’t believe any judge would allow that. You’re a fantastic mother. Besides the courtroom is not a movie set. Judges don’t’ take kindly to theatrics. Everyone will see right through this for what it is.”
“What is it? Please tell me, Monty. Because I have no clue.”
“It’s just another pitiful attempt from Stanley to sling a little mud. He doesn’t have a leg to stand on.”
“He
has all the ammunition he needs. He’s going to claim I’m mentally unstable. An unfit mother. There’s plenty of evidence to back up his assertions.”
“Stop,” Monty cautioned. “There is no evidence you’re an unfit mother. You had a breakdown due to exhaustion because Stanley worked you to death like a fucking plow horse.”
“I’m ruined.” Her voice cracked with the sob. “I’m about to lose everything. My daughter, my career, and the man I love.”
“What does Nico have to do with this?”
“It was Caterina who went to the press. When she said she’d do whatever it took to get me out of Nico’s life, I had no idea she could even dream up something like this. A bold-faced lie making it sound like Nico and I were together while his wife was still in a coma? My God, Monty… where do Nico and I go from here?” The question was thrown to the gods in desperation, the universe had no answer for her.
“Everything will work out in time, baby.”
“That’s the one thing I don’t have right now. Time. I’m booking a flight as soon as I get off the phone with you.”
“You’re going to fly commercial?”
“I don’t have a choice. I have to get home. If Stanley thinks I’m just going to roll over and play dead, then he knows nothing at all. We’re talking about my daughter.”
“Okay. Okay. Let me make a few calls and hook you up with a flight. The last thing we need is photos of you landing at the airport as if you're coming home with your tail between your legs.”
“You're right. Give me a few days to wrap things up here. I don't even know where I'm going to stay when I get back to LA. I don't have a house anymore. Sold, in the divorce, along with my soul.”
“You'll stay with me of course.”
“What in the world would I do without you, Monty?”
“Chin up, we've got this.”
We. The word was balm on frazzled nerves.
“Thank you.” The words were a whisper, but she had no doubt that Monty would feel the weight of her appreciation and love piggybacking on the electric current through the line and across the ocean.
“Okay, Natty, I'll call you with the flight info. You stay strong.”
“I'm going to need all the strength I can find, when I talk to Nico.”
“Do you need me to come get you?”
She could sense the worry behind the words. “No, Monty. I'm okay. I'm not going to fall apart again.”
“I didn't mean it that way, honey.”
“I know you didn't. I'm just reassuring both of us.”
43 Evidence
Natalie and Nico sat sprawled on her living room floor, the incriminating bits of black and white evidence of Natalie’s undoing scattered around them. The look on Nico’s face as he turned back to face her, eyes wide, lips parted, was that of a man who was watching his world slipping through his fingers. Again.
“Caterina?” He shook in head in disbelief, though he held the proof in his hands. “Are we sure?”
“You’ll have to ask her.” Natalie took the article from Nico, laying it with the others. “She certainly knew about the movie being filmed on location here. And where there’s a movie set, there’s plenty of reporters to be found. It’s my guess, she found someone willing to listen. And just in case the story wasn’t juicy enough on its own, she added a few salacious details, such as suggesting that we were seeing one another while Claudia was still alive.”
“I can’t believe it.” Nico leaned against the sofa, defeated. “I mean, of course, I believe it…you… it’s just—”
Natalie placed her hand over Nico’s. “I know. I can’t really come to terms with it either.” She waved her hand over the stack of headlines and photos. “But obviously someone in the press was tipped off to our whereabouts.”
She mirrored Nico’s body language, sitting back with a sigh. Exhausted from the endless replay of details. The search for the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ invading her every waking thought. All of it leading up to this moment.
“What can we do?” Nico asked.
“At this point,” she shrugged, “I’m not sure there’s anything that could be done. It’s out there in bold print.”
“I’ll make Caterina give an interview, taking it all back.”
“People never remember the corrections, only the headlines. Besides, what is there to take back? Only her insinuation about the timeline of our relationship.” She sat with her hands in her lap. “I’ve always tried so hard to reserve bits of myself for me alone. Only letting the press have so much of me. It’s why I fought so hard to stay under the radar here in Rome. Now the press has been invited in to feast on the details of my life. Like the ravenous vultures they are, they’ll feed on my break-down, my hospitalization, the studio lawsuit and the custody battle until they’ve picked my bones dry. They’ll regurgitate small truths wrapped up in colorful innuendo and outright lies. I’ve seen it before.”
Nico hung his head, as if the weight on her shoulders had been shifted to him.
“You know,” she continued with a far-away look in her eyes, “the irony is… when I ran away, I wasn’t running away from my career. I was running away from Stanley. From the situation, the torment. My only thought was to save myself. Once I was able to think clearly, I realized I needed to put my career on pause for a bit while I gave myself time to think, to heal. Then I met you.” She looked up at him with a weak smile. “From that moment, I’ve been trying to think of way that I could live in both worlds. Perhaps it was selfish of me. Unreasonable to the point of absurdity to think I could have both lives without corrupting either one of them.”
“Everything is possible. We can fight this.” Nico seemed determined.
“Oh yes, I can fight it. And I will fight. But this isn’t your battle, Nico.”
“You’re wrong, mia cara. If it’s your battle, then it’s my battle.”
“My fight is half-way around the world. I don’t have any idea what my life looks like right now other than a warzone. I have battles on three fronts. The press, the lawsuit, and Stanley. I won’t drag you through it with me.”
“Let me make my own decisions about what battles I’m prepared to enter into.”
“No, not this time, Nico.” She sat back, staring directly into the hazel eyes that had been her undoing all those months ago. “You need to stay here and tend to your daughter, and I need to head back to LA and tend to mine.”
“I understand you have to go home now.” He gathered her into his arms. “But we’ll spend a fortune on long distance phone calls. And I’ll write the longest letters you’ve ever seen. We’ll make it through this.” Pressing his lips against her ear he whispered. “I’m not sure I could bear to lose love again. Please say you aren’t giving up on us.”
“I’m not giving up on us,” she whispered her response, almost afraid to challenge the universe by making such a bold statement out loud. “I’m just not sure what will be left of me, when all is said and done.”
“There will be plenty left to love. You’ll see.”
“Yes, we’ll see.”
44 Red Shoes
Natalie sat in Anne’s office, pulling at the threads on her favorite pillow one last time. Having spilled the story, the back-story, and the darkest thoughts that hunted her down in her sleep, she sunk into the sofa cushions where the magazines and Stan’s letter, now rumpled, worn, and tear-stained offered their unforgiving testimony.
“It seems I’ve come full circle, doesn’t it?”
“In what way?” Anne cocked her head to the side.
“I came here with my marriage in a mess, and problems with my career. I’m going home with the same basket of troubles with a few new issues piled on top for good measure.”
Anne smiled despite the seriousness of the topic. “With one big difference, of course.”
Natalie raised a questioning eyebrow.
“You’re prepared to deal with whatever awaits you in Los Angeles.”
“I don’t know ab
out that.”
“I do.”
“Then that makes one of us.”
“I don’t see a few tabloid stories undoing a lifetime of work. The world has been in love with you since you were seven years old.”
“Ah, that’s where you’re wrong.” Natalie held up a warning finger. “The world loves the Natalie Hampton they think they know. And Hollywood? Well, that’s a town marinated in its own gossip. An industry where they eat their young. I’m not kidding myself about what lies ahead for me.”
The pair sat quietly for a moment while Anne gave Natalie time to gather her thoughts. It reminded Natalie of the early days when Anne stood quietly off to the side of the road, letting Natalie navigate her own path in the unraveling of her story. At times slow and hesitant. Other times, information, and words tumbling over themselves in a hurry to find freedom before the door closed again.
“Quite frankly,” Natalie continued, “worries about my career are a distant second, right now. My driving force is Tess.”
“Of course.” Anne nodded.
After a moment or two of stillness, Anne spoke up. “How has Nico taken all of this?”
Natalie shook her head in disbelief. “He’s Nico. Solid. Sure. I think it was very hard for him to believe that Caterina was capable of such duplicity. He’s hurting on several fronts. We still have a couple of days before I leave, and we’re just hanging onto to one another for dear life.”
She thought back to last night as they laid in her big bed, a tangle of arms and legs and hearts. Usually conversation flowed easily between them, but neither one seemed to find the strength for small talk nor the will to discuss the truth lodged like a thorn just below the skin.