Page 200 of Fame & Rhythm

“It’s okay,” Loretta replies. “I understand. I’m not exactly easy to trust.” She gestures vaguely to herself. “This is what my past left me with. Believe me, I wish I looked…” she looks down at herself, “… better for you.” I don’t know what to say to that. “She’s right about one thing,” Loretta continues. “You deserved better than me. That’s why I gave you up. You deserved a life without me in it.”

I swallow, steadying myself. “So why come back now?”

She smiles softly. “Because of you. When I saw what you’d become. How you climbed out of your own mess… I used you as my reason to get clean. I thought, if my daughter can fight, then so can I.”

I shake my head slightly. “I wasn’t addicted to drugs. The media just ran with what they wanted. I made a mistake once, and that was enough for them. I’m not proud of it, but…” I glance at Aston. “It brought this man back into my life. That’s what matters.”

“Well then,” Loretta says, looking at him. “Thank you, Aston, for helping my Acacia find her way.”

I blink. “Acacia?”

She smiles. “That’s what I named you.”

The words hit differently than I expected.

Of course, I had another name.

I just never thought about it.

“Wow,” I say softly. It doesn’t feel like me. Annie fits. Annie is who I am. “I think I prefer Annie.”

She nods like she expected that.

“So… if you don’t know who my father is,” I continue, bracing myself. “Do you at least have names? Anything that could help narrow it down?”

Her expression shifts, the honesty settling in before she speaks, “I was in a bad place,” she says quietly. “I was sleeping with men for money… just to get my next hit. There were a lot of them, Annie. Too many. And if I’m being honest… I don’t remember most of them.”

My body goes rigid.

“So you were a hooker?”

“I didn’t work the streets or anything,” she says, her voice quieter now. “But I did get paid for sex. I didn’t think of myself that way, but I guess that’s what it is. So if you need a label, then yes.”

A shudder runs through me. “Were you high when you were pregnant with me?” I ask.

She looks down at the table.

And everything inside me goes cold.

“Yes,” she says softly. My stomach drops. “You were born high, Annie. They had to detox you after you were born prematurely. You were in the hospital for a long time.”

I shake my head, my chest tightening as the words sink in. Every instinct in me is screaming to get up and leave, to walk away and never speak to her again.

But I stay.

Because if I’m here, I need to know everything.

“So… how long have you been sober?”

She looks back up at me, a small, almost hopeful smile on her face. “Nearly six months. After everything came out about you… your scandal, your recovery… I sorted myself out. Seeing you go down the same path I tried so hard to stop you from taking when I gave you up…” She exhales shakily. “It nearly killed me, Annie. The thought of you becoming addicted, knowing how easy that could have been for you—”

“But I wasn’t,” I cut in, shaking my head. “I told you, I only took them once.”

“Oh.” She blinks, taken aback. “I just… believed what the papers were saying.”

“Yeah, well, they don’t exactly care about the truth.”

“I never wanted that life for you,” she says softly. “Not for my Acacia.”