"So, here you are."
Copper glanced up from the piles of manuscript paper that surrounded her, casting her companion a wary, apprehensive look. "Two days and you've not been near me. What's the matter, rich girl? Hate having your genes tainted by the likes of me?"
"You haven't exactly come looking for me either." Copper set down the sheet of paper she had been half-heartedly looking over, a frown touching her lips. "And as for being here, this is where I work. It doesn't take a lot of brain power to deduce that."
"Well, obviously you think me an idiot as well as a whore and a bitch." Jesta seemed unconcerned. "And as for not looking for you, I've been busy. I've been trying to work out if this is some mad scheme of yours, or if this is all for real. Because if it is, Copper, you ain't getting shot of me so easily. I'm owed money...and plenty of it. So you better take that into your pretty little head."
"I spoke to my mother last night." Copper said quietly, folding her hands in her lap. "She told me that it's true. That Papa had a daughter called Jessica before they were married, and that her mother was an English air hostess called Natalie. It's all true. That...that makes you and I sisters."
"I don't care about sisters." Jesta shrugged her shoulders. "And from the way you look at me, Copper, you don't really want me around either. So let's cut the crap, huh? This Esteban guy you're so fond of was a rich bloke in the public eye, and your mother's a highly successful actress. How much do you suppose she'd pay to keep this a secret? Preserve her husband's reputation and all that?"
"Mama won't be blackmailed. Not even by you." Copper's dark eyes flashed indignantly. "So don't even think it!"
"It worked very well with you, and gave me information I didn't even anticipate." Jesta shrugged lazily. "I might as well see if your mother'd go for it too. I mean, this is a juicy scandal. And if I don't get my money one way..."
"Mama wants to meet you." Copper interrupted.
"What?" Jesta stopped dead, staring. "She wants to what? Why in hell?"
"Apparently she made Papa a promise." Copper sighed, rubbing her temples. "And she wants to see it through. She wants you to come to Detroit with me to see her."
"And why am I going to do that?" Jesta snorted. "In case it escaped your notice, I have a lot of work stuff to do as well as all of this. I'm flying back to England at the weekend to do some shows and then I'm gonna be working my butt off recording and stuff. I'm not at her beck and call."
"She said Papa left you money in his will." Copper said softly. "And she's the only one who can give you access to it. All the paperwork and everything is in Detroit. It's your call. You don't have to go...but if you're so damn obsessed with getting money out of my family, you're gonna have to."
Jesta paused for a moment, then she muttered a curse.
"Fine." She said at length. "Fine. But we'll go when I'm ready, not when you tell me, all right? I'm not under orders from any Santiago, and especially not you!"
"That suits me." Copper shrugged. "I'm not in any hurry to take you into my Mama's house and risk you upsetting her with your big mouth, so take your time about it."
"So long as I get what I want, there'll be no upsetting." Jesta's tone carried an edge to it. Copper spread her hands.
"All right." She agreed. "Then when you're ready, you know where to find me."
"Fine." Jesta glowered. "I'll be in touch."
With that she turned on her heel, disappearing back into the corridor, and Copper buried her head in her hands, letting her breath out in a rush.
"Later rather than sooner." She muttered. "Papa, why did you have to do this to me? And lie about it, too? Even if you thought it was the best thing - you couldn't know that it would be like this. And now Aaron's right - I have to do this, even if it's just for your sake. I just wish you'd told me the truth before you died. I'm not dealing with it all so well."
"Talking to yourself is a sign of madness, you know."
Nancy's voice from the doorway startled her and she glanced up, biting her lip at the sight of her sister in law's questioning look. "Well? Are my scripts that terrible?"
"I haven't touched more than half of them." Copper shook her head. "I'm sorry. I'm a bit distracted."
"So I see." Nancy pursed her lips, then, "And Jesta?"
"Huh?"
"She came out of here, as I came up the stairs." Nancy came to join her, scooping up discarded manuscripts as she did so. "Something you'd like to share with the class?"
"Something I wish had stayed long buried." Copper sighed. "Something which died with my father."
"I don't follow." Nancy frowned. "What has Jesta to do with your father?"
"Nance, right now it's hard to talk about it." Copper shook her head. "I'm still getting my head around it."
"Is she upsetting you?"
"No, it's not her. Not really." Copper responded. "It's more like...have you ever thought that you knew someone and then you found out something that made you see things completely differently?"
"Yes." Nancy looked thoughtful. "When Emily told me that Aunt Phyl was her mother, that knocked me for six. I trusted her, you see...and I never imagined she was hiding something like that from everyone. It made me see her a little differently - and realise that she wasn't as strong and as single-minded as I always thought she was. You know, I realised she could make big deal mistakes too."
She cast her companion a sidelong glance.
"So this is something you found out about your Dad, then?"
"Yes." Copper agreed. "Something I never knew before."
"And it's not a good thing?"
"It's unexpected, and I'm finding it difficult to put together." Copper admitted. "You could talk to Phyllis about Emily, but I can't go to Papa and ask for answers. He's not there to give them."
"Your mother, then?"
"I spoke to her yesterday." Copper nodded. "But it didn't help. She confirmed things and...well...I guess I realised when she did that I'd rather they'd not even come to light."
"You're not making a lot of sense. Can't you tell me any more than that?"
"I'm sorry." Copper hesitated, then, "I wasn't the first child my father had. He had a kid with another woman before Mama and he were together, and I never knew about it till now."
"That's a pretty big deal thing." Nancy let out a low whistle. "Did you talk to Aaron about this?"
"Yes." Copper agreed. "And he gave me some good advice. It's just hard, Nancy. I idolised Papa so much...I guess it isn't so different from you finding out about Phyllis's baby, is it?"
"No, except as you said, I could ask her about it." Nancy pursed her lips. "He never did anything about this kid?"
"Apparently he looked for her, and put money by for her in the will." Copper sounded bitter. "I always wondered why Mama wouldn't let me come to Papa's will reading, but I thought she was trying to protect me from more grief. I was pretty wrecked when he died. I guess not...I guess it was all about keeping this a secret. And I know he did it because he didn't want Luis, Ros and I to wonder about a sister we probably wouldn't meet, but I...I wish he'd told me. Just so I'd known he trusted me with his biggest secret, before he died."
"You feel he betrayed your trust, huh?"
"A little, perhaps."
Copper sighed.
"And now it's all flared up. Before long it'll probably be public knowledge. I don't know how I feel about that."
"Jesta? Did she find all this out?"
"In a way." Copper agreed. "Nance, don't freak out, but..."
She faltered.
"Jesta is the baby in question." She whispered. "My half sister. Jessica Talley."
Nancy's eyes became big.
"Not really?" She demanded. "Copper, are you serious?"
"Completely."
"No wonder you're so freaked out." Nancy shook her head slowly. "That sucks big time. What are you gonna do?"
"What else can I do?" Copper sighed. "Mama wants Jesta to go to Detroit so she can settle up the inheritance and...and when she's ready, I'm going to take her. Whatever I feel about this, Papa wanted her to have something, and she's had nothing else from him her whole life. Aaron made me see that - that however horrible it might be for me, Jesta at least deserves the chance to find out something about her father. So...so I guess that's what we'll do. Go to Detroit, sort things out. I don't know when, yet...but sometime. And then, perhaps, I'll be more adjusted to it. Right now I'm not but...but whether he told me or not, I loved Papa like nothing else. I won't let him down. If this is what he would have wanted from me - and I think it is - then I have to see this through."
She grimaced.
"I just wish it didn't make me feel so hollow inside. And more than anything, Nancy, I wish it wasn't her!"