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Frankie sat quietly, holding her sister’s hand, singing their mother’s favourite lullaby, ‘Luna Lunera’, about a lover who asks the moon to tell his sweetheart he loves her.

As her sister dosed, Frankie’s thoughts returned to Dan. She’d hoped that he would open doors for her, help her land a part that would pay big bucks and set her on the road to stardom. After all, he’d done it for his wife. Frankie didn’t believe her expectations were unreasonable, she knew it would always be her body and not her acting that would get her parts, but why shouldn’t she have a shot at Baywatch or Diagnosis: Murder? But things hadn’t worked out the way she’d planned. Dan wouldn’t play the game. Told her that their brief affair was a mistake and that he was ending it. Frankie didn’t think of herself as a cruel person, but she’d taken a certain amount of pleasure in breaking the news to him that she was pregnant with their child.

At first, he had refused to give her anything, told her that she was a crook and a liar, but Frankie bided her time and, once Alex was born, she was thrilled that he looked just like his daddy. She had sent a package to Dan’s office in Burbank Studios containing Alex’s plastic identity bracelet form the hospital, with his name, Alexander Rodrigo Jackson, and an enlarged photograph of their son, with his shock of brown hair and his eyes just like Dan’s.

Dan had agreed to meet her alone, without the boy. ‘What do you want from me?’ he’d demanded, his mouth set hard. Frankie saw that, despite the ‘decent man’ façade, this was a man like all the rest: happy to use her and then discard her afterwards, taking no responsibility for the predictable consequences.

‘I want a hundred thousand dollars and a lead role in your next movie.’

‘You’ve got to be kidding.’

‘I’m serious. I’ve got a journalist from the National Enquirer on speed dial and I’m ready tell them everything.’

Dan had refused to give her a part in one of his movies, but he had paid up.

Frankie had intended to leave it at that. If she was careful with the money, it would last them for years, or at least long enough to give her son a decent start in life. Isabelle adored her nephew and had insisted on helping to look after him, so the three of them moved in together, a happy little family. Until Isabelle started to feel unwell and they found out it was cancer. That had changed everything. When Isabelle’s doctor told Frankie that her sister would die within months without chemotherapy, she used every penny they had to pay the medical bills. And when the money ran out, she called Dan to demand another hundred thousand.

Isabelle’s breathing deepened and the rise and fall of her chest became more rhythmic. Frankie rose, put her jacket back on and kissed her sister’s forehead with the words, ‘Te amo, pequeña madre.’ Little mother, the name she had always used for Isabelle.

It was now eight o’clock and the bus was due in ten minutes, but as she headed for the lift, she saw a doctor approach, He was quite young, in his thirties, and Frankie had always thought he looked a little like George Clooney in ER.

‘Hello, Francesca, do you have a moment?’

‘Umm, hi, Dr Scott, I kinda gotta run …’

‘This won’t take long, I just wanted to let you know that your sister’s treatment is working well. We did some scans and we’re confident that the cancer is shrinking.’

Frankie felt her heart lift. ‘That’s great! Does that mean she’ll be able to come home soon?’

‘Well, as we discussed before, this is a very aggressive cancer. Isabelle will need many more months of treatment before we can say she’s in remission.’

Frankie’s face fell a little. ‘But it’s good news, right?’

The doctor nodded. ‘Yes, it is … As long as you can afford the treatment. It’s cutting edge, but very expensive.’

Frankie frowned. ‘I told you, you don’t need to worry about the money. I found it for you, didn’t I?’

‘Yes, Francesca, but we will need more—’

Frankie jutted out her chin. ‘Whatever it takes, I’ll get it for her. That’s a guarantee. Listen, Doc, I have to run.’

‘Of course. Goodbye, Francesca.’

Dr Scott watched Frankie as she skipped the lift and headed for the stairwell, running. He shook his head. Cancer treatment could run to hundreds of thousands of dollars. He had no idea where Frankie had got the money for her sister’s care – it wasn’t his job to ask those sorts of questions. The medical system was unfair enough in the USA; sticking his nose in where it wasn’t wanted wouldn’t help matters. He only hoped that, however Isabelle’s sister had found the money before, she’d be able to do the same again.

Chapter 19

Shauna didn’t think she was nosey, but it was in her nature to be inquisitive, she couldn’t help herself, so she tried not to feel guilty as she listened at the door of Dan’s home office.

That something was wrong with Dan was all too clear. He’d been drinking too much again, and she’d found more telltale signs around their Malibu home that hinted at his increased drug use. Whenever she attempted to talk to him about it, he bit her head off and told her to mind her own business, so she’d resorted to subterfuge to find out what was going on.

At first it was difficult to hear anything through the thick wooden door, but then he began shouting about being bled dry, accusing someone of extortion.

Shauna knew that Dan was having problems financing his latest project, perhaps it was something to do with that. In the movie business, drama wasn’t confined to the big screen. Actors, directors and producers tended to get emotional, sometimes to the point of hysteria, when they couldn’t get what they wanted. That must be what was going on with Dan; after all, he couldn’t be serious about blackmail, could he? She shook her head and padded up to her own office which looked out over the Pacific Ocean. Their home had cost $3,000,000 and boasted ocean views from virtually every room. While Dan had a library office, Shauna’s was filled with her beloved art deco collection which she had been building up ever since she had moved to LA.

She was more convinced than ever that what they both needed was to get away from LA altogether and take a long break. They’d both been working too hard and had been promising themselves a trip to Europe for years – Shauna would love for them both to go to Rome and Paris and be like tourists again. Maybe then, in a more relaxed environment, she could talk to him again about having a baby. They’d been married almost thirteen years now but it felt as though work had come first for both of them during that time. She hadn’t been ready … but now she longed to feel the grip of a baby’s fingers on one of her own. That sweet smell of a son – or a daughter – lying across her breast, sleeping soundly. Shauna knew Dan would make a wonderful father.

And what sort of mother would she be? She rarely allowed herself to indulge in these thoughts, but today she couldn’t help it. Yes, away from all the pressures of Hollywood, they could just be themselves, and they could find each other again.