Acting on Love

Chapter One Ezra The taxi turned onto the road of my childhood. A house that had once been a home, before my mother's exit from our lives tore through us like a tornado. My fear was that her re-entrance was going to have a similar effect. This trip from my home in New York back to my family in Willowfield had been one I'd been looking forward to. On my last quick visit, I'd managed to talk through some things with my estranged father and gain some perspective, after my mother's latest secret had detonated. The fact she'd had another son and left him too. Rinse and repeat. I'd been coming here this time to spend a few days with my family, including my newly discovered half-brother Eli, and then I was taking him to my latest film premiere in London on Friday. Yet it looked like the biggest performance of our lives was about to play out right here, right now. Because my mother sat beside me in the taxi. "What are you planning to do?" I asked Alice. I'd never call her mother again. She didn't deserve that title after what she did to us all. "Do you know, I actually have no idea yet. I just thought I’d come say hi, especially seeing as my other son will be there too." She smirked. God only knew how this would affect Eli. He knew nothing of her other than what he'd been told by his father and what my family would have told him. I’d only met him once, but I knew I’d do whatever it took to protect him from this manipulative b***h. The taxi pulled up outside the house. It had once been two semi-detached houses before our father and his father had renovated it into a large family home. I could see my brother Cal, Eli, Angela—who was Eli's mum in everything but biology—and Dad on the doorstep. f**k. Here went nothing. I exited the car as quickly as I could, grabbing the large holdall that was the only thing I'd brought with me, as I desperately tried to be one step ahead of Alice. I knew it looked like I was on my way to deliver bad news. There was no happiness on my features like what should be there, and I could see the question hung on my brother's face before he looked over my shoulder. Walking up to my father, I looked deep into his eyes and took a large inhale. "I'm sorry, Dad," I said. "I didn't have any choice. She said she either came with me or she'd turn up on her own. I figured it was better this way.” Alice's heels clip-clopped ever closer, the noise of her case being wheeled beside her accompanying it, until she stood by my side. "Hello, Josh," she said. "Surprise." "Hello, Alice," he replied tersely. I heard Angela gasp. We stood there for what was only a minute but seemed like hours. It was as if time had indeed frozen. I wanted a director here. Needed this to not be my life but rather it be a film set. The twist in the tale served up. But it wasn't. This was my real life. A suspense. A story where I had no idea what the ending was going to be. All I knew was I would fight for it to be an eventual happy one. Secrets tore people apart. Now I would face them all head on, no matter the consequences. I'd done enough avoiding, enough turning my back on the ones who mattered most. We got one chance at life and it was now time to live mine. "Shall we take this inside?" I suggested because soon some nosy neighbour would notice me and wonder who I was with. It was all too easy to snap a photo on your mobile phone and sell it to the press. It would be on some gossip site with the tag, 'who is Ezra's mystery woman' before I'd removed my shoes in the hallway. "Erm, yes. Yes, of course. Let's go into the living room. I know I have a damn lot of questions I want answering," my dad said through gritted teeth and a set jaw. I saw how his hand was held in a tight fist. My father was a good man, but I'd bet his current thoughts weren't pure. "Shall I go?" Angela asked him. As he grabbed hold of her hand and squeezed it, giving her a warm smile while asking her to stay, I realised Eli wasn't the only reason Angela was here. My gaze snapped to my brother and I raised a brow. He gave me an imperceptible nod before I followed my father's lead and walked through the doorway and into my old home. Home. A house where I'd once been so happy. Mum, Dad, siblings. Love, laughter, security. Then she'd just gone. Overnight. Had run away with the son of the woman who lived opposite us, and things had never been the same again. We'd had no idea of what had happened to Alice Waite. Until she'd decided it was time to re-appear… July 2019 "Ez, you've got a fan insists on meeting you urgently. She's been hanging outside the set for two hours now. Won't go away. I've threatened to call security and she still won't leave." My assistant, Jason, rolled his eyes. "So what's so important? Did she say? Probably written me a love letter or had my name tattooed on her breast." I sighed. I was in my trailer having finished for the day and was just enjoying a beer before I headed home, so the fact a fan was being a pain in the arse wasn't welcomed right now. Hours were long and tiring and I looked forward to the small amount of time I got to actually kick back and relax. "Oh it's hilarious. Weirdo reckons she's your mother. She's f*****g old enough. Obviously got some weird s****l fantasy in her head. Prepare for her calling you baby." He laughed but his words were like black crows circling my head. It will be a weird stalker with a sick fetish. I reassured myself. It couldn't be my mother. She'd walked out when I was seventeen and we'd never heard from her again. Alice had had plenty of opportunity to track me down. My movements were often in the press, despite my best efforts to lead a private life off-camera. But, just in case… "Get security to check her over and then stand with her at the gate. I'll come down and give her an autograph and send her on her way." "Yes, Boss. On it." He left the trailer and I sighed. And then I prayed, even though I'd never been religious. Prayed that a lunatic stood outside the set because it would be a lot easier than if my mother stood there. But I should have known better. My life had never been an easy one. It had been full of decisions that hurt me or others. As I walked towards the woman standing just inside the fencing, she shouted my name. It was like a clear shot to the heart, faded memories coming to the fore. A loving mother shouting me in from the doorway: 'Ezra, come on. Tea's ready'. That same voice had come from the woman at the gate. The woman whose features had yet to be revealed to me as I wasn't yet close enough to her. I stood stock still as if she did carry a gun and might shoot me again. Did I carry on moving forward, opening a can of worms previously buried deep underground? Or did I turn on my heel, back to the trailer, and pretend she didn't exist? "I won't go away, Ezra. If you don't talk to me, I'll go talk to the press instead." Closing my eyes, I took in my last few seconds of peace. Before I carried on walking towards the mother I hadn't seen since the day she left us all to go off with her lover. The march through to the living room was like a funeral procession. Everyone took a seat in our large room, one used to housing many. Our mother looked far too smug. Like she was the one in control here. "I'm going to contact the others. Get them back as soon as I can," Cal said. He'd hesitated by the living room door. I watched as he turned and walked away, shaking his head as if he couldn't believe what was happening. I knew the look well. I'd worn it last July. "I'll make everyone a drink, shall I?" Angela rose back to her feet. Eli had been deadly silent. I’d seen Callum whisper in his ear on our way in, clearly asking him to keep calm or something similar. "I'll help you," he told Angela. I'd bet it was the first time the teenager had helped with domestic duties voluntarily. That left me and my parents. Fabulous. "Why the f**k are you here, Alice?" My dad spat out before turning to me. "And how long have you known where she was? Did you know her whereabouts the last time you were here? You know, when we'd spoken about everything and I thought we'd cleared the air?" I looked away. I couldn't face seeing my father's disappointment on his features when we'd only just begun to sort things out. "I wanted to come and see my children," Alice replied. Dad almost choked on his disbelief. "Don't sit here telling me you came to see your kids. If you'd wanted to do that, we've all been here for years. Also, you could have called ahead. Someone." He glared at me. "Could have called ahead. We know where Ezra got his dramatic nature from, don't we? The woman who left like she was in witness protection and who's come back like a soap actress down on their luck and forced back on the original show. So I'll ask you again. Why. Are. You. Here?" "Because I'm dying." Mum said. I shot her a look. "That's a bit much, Alice. Just stick to the truth, hey?" "It is the truth," she said and as she didn't blink or look away from me, I realised that this was possibly one of the only times of late she had been truthful. "Oh God." The words left my mouth on a prayer. Because I knew then Alice was going to spin yet another tornado around our family and if this was the truth there wasn't a damn thing I could do to try to prevent its damage. Not a damn thing. "If this is true, and you can bet your f*****g life that the first thing I'll be doing is demanding to see proof with my own eyes, then how long have you got left?" I snarled. She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. It's stage 4 ovarian cancer. They've done all they can for me. I didn't say goodbye to my children when I left before because it was easier that way, but I wanted to say it now; well, to let my kids have the opportunity before it’s gone." It was then I realised that all the time she'd been in the states after turning up to see me, where I'd given her money and put her up in her own apartment and had as little to do with her as possible, she'd been getting treatment for cancer. That was if she was telling the truth. I sat with my head in my hands. The travel was something I never seemed to get used to and I was tired. Tired, mind spun, confused. And now I waited for the rest of my family to come home from work and reunite with our missing mother, where they'd find out she was once again going to leave us. But this time not through choice. My phone beeped and I was glad of the reprieve. I took it out of my jeans pocket and stared at the message. Lisa: The house is ready for you when you arrive. I've left the keys where you said. Lisa McKenzie. Another one of my secrets. Another part of my past it was time to face head on. There'd been too much time wasted, too much heartache and betrayal. I didn't know if this time we'd make it. But I knew I had to try.