The Seven Husbands of Taylor Swift

46

TAYLOR SWIFT
Alice stands in front of me, her face a storm of emotion—disbelief, anger, betrayal. My heart pounds in my chest, and I can barely think straight. Every instinct is telling me to reach out to her, to pull her into my arms, to somehow make this all go away. But I can see it in her eyes—she's furious, and anything I say right now could make it worse.

"Alice," I say, my voice trembling despite my attempt to stay calm, "I know I messed up. But I have to ask... your parents, did they..." I trail off, not sure how to phrase the question.

Alice lets out a sigh, putting her hand on her hip as she looks at me, frustrated but composed. "I had good parents, Taylor. They loved me. They gave me a good childhood. If you did anything right, you made sure I had them."

I nod, looking down at my hands, fingers tapping nervously against my leg. "That's good," I mutter. I should feel relieved, but it's hard when the weight of my lies presses down on me.

She laughs bitterly, shaking her head. "Growing up, people always told me I looked like you. We even had a celebrity look-alike contest in college, and I won first place." Her laugh turns into a scoff. "I got $100 for it. Funny, right? I could've really used you being in my life back then. Your daughter could've really benefited from knowing you."

Her words cut deep. "Are you... still mad at me or...?" I ask hesitantly, though I already know the answer.

Her eyes narrow. "Mad doesn't begin to cover it. I had friends who worshipped you. People who treated you like you could do no wrong. But all they were really worshipping was an asshole," she snaps, her voice filled with venom. "A cowardly liar."

I wince. "Alice, I—"

"No." She interrupts me, her voice rising. "Giving me up, choosing your career...I get that you were young. You didn't know what you were doing. I'll give you that much. You were trying your best, fine. But what I can't forgive is the fact that you let me sit here for weeks—weeks!—under complete false pretenses. You lied to me. Over and over."

I open my mouth to plead, to explain, but she cuts me off again. "Every single time I sat across from you, you were lying to me, Taylor."

Her words echo in the room, sharp and cold, leaving me utterly speechless. I want to explain, to beg for forgiveness, but I know nothing I say right now will undo the damage I've caused.

"You have to understand," I stammer, my heart racing with panic as I search her face for any sign of softening. "What was I supposed to do?"

"Tell the fucking truth!" she snaps, her voice sharp, cutting through the air like a blade. Her hands are clenched into fists at her sides, and her eyes are blazing with fury.

I flinch at the intensity of her words, guilt gnawing at me from the inside. "I was scared... scared of losing you, scared you'd hate me for what I did."

Alice shakes her head, her expression hardening. "You lost me the moment you decided to lie. You took away my choice—my right to know who I really am. You let me sit there, week after week, thinking I was just interviewing some distant celebrity, when all this time you were my biological mother."

I feel the weight of her words crush me, and I struggle to breathe under the guilt. "I never wanted to hurt you."

"Well, you did," she says coldly, taking a step back, like the space between us could somehow lessen the betrayal she feels. "And the worst part? I didn't hear it from you. Your mom had to tell me. You just kept lying, thinking it was for the best. But it wasn't, Taylor. It wasn't."

"Are you happy?" I ask, my voice trembling with desperation as I search her face for any sign of softness, some small glimmer that what I did wasn't a complete disaster.