Cover art by: Trisha FitzGerald
Mainstream
Show business executive Kimberley Mason always felt something was
missing from her life. She forms an
association with a theatrical agency in Australia and uncovers a secret kept by
her parents for thirty years.
Revelations about her birth shatter her world. Discovering her real father is Australian
television celebrity Joel Winston, she cuts herself off from the family she had
always thought to be perfect.
Leaving behind her past in England, she moves to
Australia to be with the man she loves, her business partner, Simon Obertelli. Will
running away ensure her future happiness or will the complications of accepting
her famous father only lead to heartache?
Ben was waiting for the right moment. They’d had tea; the
evening sun was lending a balmy atmosphere to the terrace overlooking the
Thames. The four people were seemingly in relaxed mood.
Ben began. “Do you consider you had an idyllic childhood,
Kim?” he asked.
Kim stiffened. Here it comes, she thought nervously. “I
would say I had a wonderful childhood. Why do you ask?” Might as well get it
over with, whatever it might be.
Ben stood up as if he were about to deliver an oration, but
his slow pacing of the floor told the others that he was nervous too. His
outward appearance, however, displayed a man in control. “Your mum and I have
deliberated long and hard about this,” he said. “It isn’t going to be easy for
any of us...”
Kim breathed in deeply. “I know something is wrong,” she
told him. “I’ve known for weeks; months even. I haven’t any idea what it is, but
anything that can estrange me from my mother—and that’s what it has felt
like—anything that causes alienation from my parents, must be pretty bad.” She
moved closer to Simon and held tightly on to his hand.
“Please, Kim, let me continue,” Ben pleaded. “It is
important that your mum and I know at this point if you considered your
childhood was lacking in any way.”
Kim shook her head to acknowledge again that she had indeed
experienced a wonderful childhood.
While Belinda looked down at her clasped hands on her lap,
Ben continued earnestly. “Please tell me, Kim, if you think I’ve been a good
father. I need to know…”
“What is this, Dad?” she interrupted. “You are the best dad
I could ever have wished for. I’ve told you often enough, but where is all this
leading?” She was becoming agitated. “Are you and Mum splitting up?”
Ben’s eyes filled with tears. “No,” he said, his voice
trembling, “but we have something to tell you that perhaps we ought to have
told you years ago.” He related all the details of Belinda’s dalliance with
Joel Winston; her long term guilt and their decision to put Ben’s name on the
birth certificate. “I loved your mum then and I love her now.”
Kim listened in stunned silence. Her heart was beating
wildly in her chest, but when she spoke, her voice was strong and her manner
confident. “You are not my father?” she asked, not waiting for an answer. “How
could you do that to me, Dad? You have deliberately deceived me for almost
thirty years. I can’t believe you would do that to me. You above of all
people.” She paused while she breathed deeply in an effort to calm herself.
“How many other lies have you told along the way?”
“We honestly thought we were doing what was right...”
“Right for whom?” she demanded jumping up from her seat and
facing him challengingly. “Right for you; right for her...” She spat the words
in her mother’s direction. “What about me?”
Belinda looked at her daughter through tears of regret. “We
know what we have done, Kim, and we are sorry.”
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