A Night of Scandal

He signed a few autographs before remembering that he never signed autographs.

‘Oi, tudo bem?’ He spoke in Portuguese and Gabriela, a slim dark-haired woman who ran the centre, clapped her hands and commanded silence.

‘We’re overwhelmed that you have chosen to visit us in person.’ There were tears in her eyes and Nathaniel tried to think of a slick, movie-star response but his tongue had tied itself in a knot and his acting cloak failed him, just as it had that night onstage.

‘Show me what you’re doing,’ he said roughly. ‘Maybe I—I can try and help.’ Great. Now he couldn’t even string a sentence together.

At first it felt awkward. Taking him to one side, Gabriela told him a little about each child and they acted scenes for him, proud to show off what they’d been doing. Some of them were wooden; others were better, and one or two had real talent. But it was the one boy who refused to join in who drew his attention. Watchful and tense, he stood close to the door.

‘That kid over there—’ Nathaniel wiped his forearm over his brow. ‘What’s his story?’

‘I don’t know.’ Gabriela handed him water. ‘He comes and watches sometimes. If you try and speak to him, he runs. I suspect he’s just hiding out here. Best to leave him and hope that one day he’ll have the confidence to join in. It happens sometimes. He isn’t the first.’

Nathaniel looked at the boy and felt an immediate flash of recognition. In those eyes he saw defiance, anger, curiosity—and fear.

It was the fear that made Nathaniel stroll towards him.

The boy edged closer to the door and Nathaniel almost stopped walking. What was he doing? He didn’t know anything about counselling kids. He didn’t even know how old this one was. Ten? Older?

The boy turned his head, torn between the lure of the escape route and the lure of the world’s most famous movie star. The movement revealed the livid bruise darkening one side of his jaw. His mouth tightening, Nathaniel kept walking. He didn’t know anything about kids in general, but he knew about damaged kids. Knew he was looking at one.

Anger shot through him but he checked it as the boy glared at him, fists clenched. ‘It’s all right—I’m going. You don’t have to throw me out.’

‘Actually, I was hoping you could help me out ….’ Keeping what he hoped was a non-threatening distance, Nathaniel squatted down so that he was eye level with the boy. ‘You’re exactly right for this part—you ever act?’

The boy’s fists relaxed slightly. ‘I don’t know anything about acting.’

‘Good. It’s easier that way than if you think you already know all there is to know.’ Nathaniel held his gaze. ‘So this is what you do—you forget all about being you, and pretend you’re someone else. That’s it. That’s all there is to it. Easy.’

He was willing to bet the boy dreamed about being someone else almost every day of his life….

When a sheen of tears glazed the boy’s eyes, Nathaniel didn’t know which of them was more alarmed.

Out of his depth, he was about to call time and summon reinforcements in the form of Gabriela and Katie, when the boy grabbed his arm.

‘I’ve seen your movies.’

Nathaniel felt a pressure behind his chest. ‘Right. Good.’

‘I—You’ve got plenty of actors here.’ His voice was rough. Desperate. ‘You don’t need me.’

‘Well, that shows how little you know.’ Nathaniel saw the bruises on the boy’s arms and the anger was a hard knot in his stomach. ‘I need you really badly. So get your skinny butt on that stage and let’s get to work.’

‘No one has been able to persuade the boy to speak.’ Gabriela was huddled with Katie, sewing costumes out of scraps of material. ‘But now he’s having an acting lesson with Nathaniel Wolfe. Katie, I just saw him laugh.’

‘Don’t. You’ll set me off.’ Katie blinked rapidly. ‘I can’t sew and cry.’

But Nathaniel’s dogged determination to persuade the child to open up and participate had moved her. He’d refused to give up. Every time the boy had backed off, he’d been there, lowering his own barriers in order to help the child.

‘Do you know how many times I’ve tried to get that boy to speak?’ Gabriela threaded a needle. ‘And now he has a part in the play. I have his name now—we can help him.’

Katie lifted her head and watched Nathaniel. He was demonstrating a movement to the children and they were watching, enraptured.

He would make a fantastic father.

The thought came out of nowhere and she froze, shocked by her own thoughts.

Oh, no, she wasn’t going to do that, was she? She wasn’t going to start thinking, even for a moment, that their relationship was more than a quick flash of fire.