wasn’t my intention for that to happen when I started that ridiculous game I should never have played, but it did happen. And I had no control over that, because you give nobody a choice, baby. You give no man any fucking choice and I fell hard, honey. So fucking hard, you have no idea…’
‘So why didn’t you just tell me, Dominic? When you started to feel that way, why didn’t you just tell me everything?’
‘Would you have understood any more than you do now?’
A sudden breeze swept the curtains pulled around the cabana frame aside to reveal the lights from the pool-bar a level below them, palm trees swaying gently and what seemed like millions of tiny stars lighting up the black, cloudless night sky.
‘I don’t know,’ she whispered, looking at Dominic who was now staring at the floor. ‘I just know that you should have told me. Before Michael had a chance to do what he did because you let him win, and that’s something you should never do with a man like Michael Walsh.’
Dominic looked back up at her. ‘You loved him once, though. Didn’t you?’ I mean, you two, you were one of the strongest couples in Hollywood. What… what happened to change that?’
India turned away from him, focusing on the fairy lights strewn from the roof above them, each tiny twinkling white light becoming blurred through more tears that were threatening to fall thanks to the re-emergence of a subject she really didn’t want to talk about. Least of all with Dominic.
‘It’s over, Dominic. All of that, it’s over.’
‘Your relationship with Michael…’
‘I thought you’d come here to talk about us.’
His eyes met hers again and he stared at her, determined to get through to this woman tonight, even if it took until sunrise to do so. ‘So, there still is an ‘us’, then?’
She wanted to look away again but she couldn’t. She couldn’t turn away, it was almost as if there was something in those blue, blue eyes that hypnotised her into staying right she where was. A feeling she’d felt so often with his father. And that’s what scared her.
‘That’s what we’re here to find out,’ she said quietly, making a conscious effort to stop playing with the hem of her dress because she was all too aware it made her look nervous. And she could handle this. She’d handled far worse.
He continued to look at her, holding her gaze. ‘I’ve been an idiot. A total jerk, I can’t deny that. What I did it was… it was wrong. It was stupid, thoughtless, but I... Jesus, I don’t know. I guess finding out that Michael Walsh is your long lost father kind of messes with your head.’
She couldn’t help but smile slightly at that because, in her eyes, anything to do with Michael Walsh messed with your head.
‘When did you find out?’ she asked, turning her body so she faced him head on, tucking her legs up underneath her. ‘About Michael being your dad?’
‘My mom told me, just before she died... just a few months ago,’ Dominic replied, turning away briefly, staring down at his still-clasped-together hands. ‘I guess she finally felt the time was right.’
India noted a slight hint of flippancy in his voice, but that was purely understandable, given the fucked-up circumstances they were dealing with. ‘Do you resent her at all? For keeping it from you for all those years?’
‘Did you resent your mom for not telling you about Reece?’
India flinched slightly as the memory of finding out about Reece being her father filled her head. And, yeah. Yeah, she did resent her mum for keeping Reece from her for all those years. But the circumstances were different. And her mum had only revealed who India’s real father was to benefit her; nothing to do with feeling guilty about keeping the truth from India for a good part of her life.
‘We’re not talking about me, Dominic.’
Dominic shook his head, his eyes meeting hers again. ‘No. No, I don’t resent her, India. How could I? I had the best life… she was a great mom, and Alan, he was a fantastic father. He was the best, and he was my real dad, y’know? In every sense of the word. Because he did all that important stuff. He gave me a childhood I’ll never forget. He made sacrifices for me and my mom, he gave us everything he had and I loved him. So much. He was a good man, a great father.