The Cate Blanchett Case {Cate Blanchett}

4~The Bruised And Broken

"So, how are we doing this? Straight to business or shall we get to know each other first?" Cate asked me in a playful manner as she sat down with two glasses of white wine in her hands.

I smiled politely and took the wine glass she offered me, although I knew I wouldn't be drinking any of it anyway.

"Well I'd like to get to know you, of course," I told her, taking my notepad, and a pen, out of my small bag and laying it on the couch beside me.

Cate watched me and sipped her wine, placing it down on the coffee table that separated us.

"And do I get to know anything about you?" She asked me, her hands coming together in her lap, she tucked her legs underneath her to make herself comfortable.

That's exactly what I wanted, I wanted her to trust me and become comfortable with me. That was she'd feel more open to telling me all of her little secrets. 

People might think that tricking Cate into trusting me is a horrible thing to do and the truth is that it was a horrible thing to do. It was my job to do things like this, I wasn't stupid, I knew that this job would make me some enemies and I didn't care if Cate was going to be my first enemy.

I knew most of the tricks and things I'd have to do in order to succeed. I wasn't going to give up, plus, I'd only be telling the truth. If the rumours about Cate were true, than who cared if she hated me, she was a cheat and the world knew her for it.

"Yes, I don't see why not. I wouldn't want you to think of me as a stranger, I want you to think of me as your confidante," I shrugged simply and reclined in the chair, if I looked comfortable she'd be comfortable. 

I looked at her, the cogs grinding in her brain, she looked sick. Her face was gaunt and there were dark circles under her eyes as if she hadn't slept or eaten for a while. Her eyes were distant and dark, the blue iris' were void of any strong emotion. 

I realised the playfulness she'd displayed earlier had been nothing more than a mask to cover all the pain she felt, it was then I realised that her mind was busy elsewhere. She wasn't thinking about what I'd said, she was thinking about something else.

Now I wasn't completely heartless, over my childhood I had learnt basic sympathetic and empathetic skills. I felt sorry for her, whatever had happened between her and Andrew and whoever else, had left an impact on her and clearly thrown her out of it.

Before I could say anything I was stopped by a loud shout, "Mum!" It was a collective yell from upstairs, how we heard it in a mansion that was colossal was a mystery to me.

However, Cate snapped out of whatever trance she'd been in and jumped up as two pairs of footsteps came thundering through the house and into the living room. It was a boy and a girl, they both looked young and the girl seemed to have tears streaming down her little face from her dark eyes.

Children hadn't been something I really cared to think about, I didn't dislike them but I just didn't imagine myself having kids. I was good with my nieces and nephews but having a kid seemed like a full time job.

Although her stature was small the girl got to Cate first, who in turn leaned down and swooped her up into her arms. The little boy, stood hugging her leg his own face red and clearly upset.

The girl had a blonde shock of hair which was pulled into two curly pigtails, she looked a lot like Cate. 

"Oh, Edith, baby," Cate cooed and rubbed her daughters back and turned to me mouthing sorry. I shook my head and watched as she interacted with her kids. "What happened?" She asked them both, taking her hand off of Edith's back and smoothing the boys hair.

"Iggy pulled my hair," the girl said in a small, whiny voice. Kids always knew how to guilt trip adults, even if they didn't know they were doing it and I'd bet Edith was great at it.

Cate looked down at Iggy, who refused to look at her, his head hidden in her leg. He had blonde hair, but it was marginally darker and straighter than Edith's. 

"Ignatius, you know we don't hurt other people. Why did you pull Edith's hair?" She asked him, kneeling down to be on level with him, putting Edith down next to her. She took him gently by the shoulders and moved him so she could look at him properly.

She fixed him with a stern stare, the once distant and broken look she sported before had disappeared and now she was in parent mode. I could see the difference between her and my mother almost instantly and it made me like her just a tiny bit, she actually cared about her kids and teaching them right from wrong. She had time for them, and if she didn't she made time for them.

"I don't know," he said sadly, hiding his face in his hands. "She wouldn't listen to me, I told her that you and Dad don't love us anymore because Dad is moving out," he said quietly, as if he was embarrassed of saying something like that.

I was shocked he even knew about a thing like that, most kids would stay ignorant and think that everything's okay but he seemed to know a lot about his parents.

Cate seemed just as shocked, I heard a gasp leave her mouth, instead of freezing she pulled Ignatius towards her and hugged him tight. Wrapping her arm around Edith when she moved into the hug.

"Ignatius Martin Upton," she whispered sadly, burying her face in his hair and holding him close to her. "Yes, your father and I are going through something hard. However, under no circumstances do we not love you, we love you more than anything else. Your dad is moving out because we realised it would be better for all of us, it doesn't mean he loves you any less," she told him, Edith wrapped her small arms around them both.

My heart thumped at the whole thing, this poor broken family were suffering and these rumours weren't making anything any better. I felt bad that my story controlled a portion of this whole thing.

There was a moment of silence as those words sunk into the two young children, I could hear Cate breathing heavily she seemed to be really upset. Learning that her child thinks his own parents don't love him must be quite a hard pill to swallow, at least she took the liberty of erasing those horrible rumours.

Eventually she spoke, asking if they were both okay. Ignatius said he was and Edith echoed his answer, she seemed to be just as affected as Ignatius was. 

"Now apologise to Edith and go and play nicely upstairs, 'kay?" She told them, watching as Ignatius hugged his younger sister and then held her hand as they both left the room, leaving Cate and myself in a tense silence.

Cate stood at the archway that connected the living room to a different part of the house, her hand lay on her chest and her back was to me. I let her stand there for a minute and just as I was about to say something she turned around with a weak smile on her face.

"Sorry about that, Andrew is busy..." she trailed off, taking a deep breath and rubbing her chest, "He's sorting out his house, the kids are with me until the end of the week," she told me and then collapsed onto the couch rubbing her eyes with a shaky hand.

"I'm sorry about all of this Cate, it must be so hard with the kids," I said, wanting to offer some sort of comfort. "Hopefully, after this story is out and the rumours are quelled then everything will change,"

Cate didn't look at me, her eyes looking down into her lap. She nodded softly, "yes, everything will change," she said sadly. "Now where were we?" She asked, looking back up at me with that pained smile and those broken eyes.

It was as if we both knew, sitting opposite each other, we both knew that things would change. Only one of us knew if it'd be a good change or a bad change, part of me hoped for something good but the other part of me hoped for the rumours to be true.

No one wanted to read about two celebrities 'falling out of love'.