“I’d hate to think you’ve lost your career because of me.”
“That doesn’t matter right now,” Curt said. “We’ll deal with that later. Right now, what really matters is our family. Our babies.”
He reached out to her, wanting to touch her stomach.
Then he hesitated, unsure. “Can I?” he asked.
“Of course.” She pulled his hand to her and rested it on her belly.
There was nothing to feel yet, of course. The pregnancy was too new. But Curt could imagine nonetheless. His children—their children—were right there, beneath the palm of his hand. Growing.
“I want to be around for the pregnancy,” he said. “I don’t want to miss anything. I want to be there for you every day, and I want to see everything that happens.”
Annalise nodded. “I want that too,” she said quietly. “What should we do?”
“Would you consider moving in with me?”
“Really?” Annalise asked. “You’d want me to?”
“More than anything,” Curt said.
“But if I move in with you, we won’t be able to keep this a secret anymore,” Annalise pointed out. “People will find out. The paparazzi will take our picture, and there will be gossip. Speculation. Eventually, I’ll start to show, and people will know you’re going to have a baby.”
Curt nodded. “I know that’s a lot to ask of you. I understand if you’re uncomfortable with it.”
“I wasn’t worried about me,” Annalise said. “Won’t that do even more damage to your career?”
“I don’t care,” Curt said firmly. “Directors are just going to have to learn to work with the family-man version of Curt Slade. And if they can’t deal with that, I’m not going to be in their movies. I’m sure there’s still someone who’ll have me. Like you said yourself, I’m a pretty decent actor.”
“The best,” Annalise said.
“So you’ll move in with me?” he asked.
“I must be crazy,” she said. “Taking a step like this so fast. But it feels right.” She closed her eyes. “Yes. I’ll do it. I’ll move in with you.”
A huge bubble of happiness swelled up within Curt’s chest. He hadn’t dared to dream that today would go so well. But Annalise had forgiven him for his terrible judgment. She had taken him back.
We’re going to be together.
We’re going to be a family.
It was strange. Curt had spent all his life dreaming of an acting career. He’d never even given serious consideration to the prospect of becoming a father. But now, with his career on the ropes and three children on the way, he felt more contentment than he ever had in his life.
Chapter 18
Nine Months Later
“Cut!”
The makeup assistant, Caitlin, hurried up to Curt before the director had had a chance to say anything. She took him by the hand and pulled him away toward the chairs that had been set up off to the side of the set.
“We have five minutes,” she said.
“We do?” Curt asked. He was still a little dumbfounded by how passionate and efficient every single member of the production team always was on a smaller shoot like this one. It was as if they were making up for not having a big budget with extra enthusiasm.
Caitlin nodded. “They stopped the shoot to talk to Elissa about the way she’s interpreting her character,” she explained. “They don’t need you. Which means we have time to touch up your makeup.”
“You just touched up my makeup fifteen minutes ago,” Curt pointed out.
Caitlin nodded. “I know,” she said. “But the scar is a little faded.” She indicated the intricate scar she’d painted across his cheekbones. “And it’s really important to keep that consistent between shots. It’s one of the primary ways people are going to identify your character.”
“You’re the boss.” Curt took a seat and tilted his face up to her so that she could work on him. “This is completely different from the way things were at the last movie I worked on.”
“Yeah, I bet those big-budget films have huge makeup teams,” Caitlin said, fishing her supplies out of her bag.
“That’s not what I meant,” Curt said. “I mean, when I played romantic leads, I never got to wear interesting makeup. Just little touches here and there to enhance my natural appeal.”
Caitlin broke into a laugh. “Did they really say that?”
“They did,” Curt said. “I mean, I understood what they were going for, and they were good at what they did. But your kind of makeup is a lot more fun.” He grinned. “I’m glad I branched out in the kinds of roles I took. It would have been a shame if I