Whitney hummed softly to herself as she got dressed in a sexy, yet tasteful Johanna Johnson original. The number gave a classy peek at her perky bust, hugging her tall, petite, yet curvy frame. The material was made in shiny silver squares, similar to a disco ball. She topped it off with a pair of red pumps that elongated her famous gams even more. She sported a new sassy, bob with blunt bangs, framing her oval face and strong bone structure perfectly. To put it bluntly, Whitney knew she looked good.
She was excited for what should be a fun evening with her and Kevin's family and friends. Kevin's birthday was that day and she went all out to plan a special night for him to enjoy. He went out of his way to love and please her, so she had no problem going all out for him. She got together with a party planner and planned a party for Kevin on Kevin's parents' yacht, Christened The Jade by Kevin's father, Bill. A ninety-footer, it was very light, airy and high-tech with blond hardwood and jade and black marble running throughout. Their favorite chef was coming along to prepare all of the food. They worked on the menu together and planned some delicious meals for the weekend. She also made sure there was plenty of beer, margaritas and Cristal for all who wanted to enjoy were aboard.
She had flown back to L.A. that day, almost done with her tour for the event. She wanted to be there to celebrate with her husband and the timing of the tour break couldn't have come at an opportune time. As much as she wanted to keep everything a secret, it would have been next to impossible to go over details and keep him from making any plans without telling him.
As she sat down on their bedroom bed, she looked down at her phone and saw that it was cutting it very close to when she and Kevin were to meet everyone on the boat. Whitney had to admit that the past two days between them had been quite strange. She could barely get in touch with him the day before, which was very unusual since they talked every day when they were apart from each other. When she finally did get in touch with him to tell him the plans, he did not seem to give her the reaction she was looking for. When she asked him what was wrong, he simply mumbled that he had a lot going on. She assumed that it had to be work-related with producing his latest movie and told him that the party is just what he needed to relax. Even after that, he didn't have much else to say, as much as Whitney tried to pry it out of him. She finally sighed and heeded her mother's advice that she once told her "Sometimes a man needs time to figure things out on his own. No one, not even his wife, can help him out. And that's okay…sometimes". As much as it bothered her that her usual upbeat, positive, strong companion wasn't letting her in on what was bothering him, she told him that she would meet him at home that night so they can go to the party together, let him know that he can call her anytime between then to talk, and left it at that. Kevin still didn't say much, but agreed to the plans.
"Hopefully, this party will uplift my baby." She positively thought to herself. "Hopefully…."
Meanwhile, CeCe was silent as she watched her brother BeBe and her husband carry all of their bags out to the Escalade. She and her husband were carpooling with BeBe and his wife to the party. She still felt very uneasy about carrying around the secret about Whitney and it would be hard to mingle with Kevin knowing what she knew.
"You okay sis? You've been more quiet than usual this evening." BeBe said as he came up to her. CeCe sighed. "You know how I am about parties. I have to be up for them, and at the moment, I'm not." She told him. BeBe laughed at his sister, "The Reluctant Star", thinking she was having one of her homebody moments. "Aww girl, you can be such a Suzie Homemaker sometimes! We can't miss our brother Kevin's birthday and Whit put a lot of hard work into this. You'll feel up to it once you get with everybody."
"I sure hope so" CeCe agreed, although her face still showed otherwise.
Back at the Costners, Whitney nervously began to pace back and forth in the living room, trying her best to remain calm. Kevin should have been home some hours ago. Now they were going to be very late for Kevin's own party. She tried calling Kevin's phone again, but there still wasn't an answer; she couldn't help but to start worrying. It was very unlike him to not return her calls. Somehow, they had weathered the storm of the publicity from the release party only to arrive at this point…. Kevin's behavior was totally out of his character and Whitney had no idea why. She was trying to think of who to call that could tell her about his whereabouts when she saw his black Range Rover zip into the driveway.
"Kevin where have you been?" She demanded as soon as he entered the house. "Baby, I have been worried sick about you."
"Working. On the set." He simply said and avoided her hug. He did, however, give her a lifeless peck on the cheek.
"You should have let everyone on the set know that you had plans tonight. Plus you haven't been picking up the phone to let me know what was going on." Whitney told him. "Look I'm here now, so don't get all dramatic with me!" Kevin snapped at her. With her feelings hurt (as Kevin never raised his voice at her before), Whitney followed him upstairs to their bedroom. All of the children where gone to a sleepover at a relative's house, and she had given the staff off that weekend since they were going to be away. "Listen, I know we have to meet everyone for this party, but right now, at THIS moment, I don't care about any of that. I'm just concerned about you."
Kevin, who was busy changing his clothes, didn't acknowledge her comment. Whitney stood there with her arms on her hips. "Kevin, what is going on with you? You've never come at me like you are doing. Tell me what I did so I can fix it. You know that we made a pact to be open with each other if anything is bothering us."
"You want to be open with me huh?" He finally asked. "Now that's a novel concept." Whitney gave him a puzzled glare. "Kevin, baby, you know how much I love you." She stated. "So you've said. You sure do have the funniest way of showing it though." Kevin went on. After he finished dressing, the troubled couple went outside to meet the limo that Whitney summoned to drive them to the dock. Kevin got into the limo first with no regard for Whitney, who slid in after him. He always held the door open for her and allowed her to enter in first, as the gentleman that he usually was. As soon as the limo took off, Kevin tossed ice cubes in a glass, poured in Tanqueray with tonic, drank it down, and quickly prepared another. Whitney looked on with concern; she had never seen her husband down so much hard liquor, as he wasn't a heavy drinker. They were both silent as the limo headed toward Santa Barbara in the congested Friday evening traffic. Something was definitely bothering Kevin, as he was acting completely out of character. Whitney was too afraid to ask what again.
Up at the dock, everyone was getting restless waiting on Kevin and Whitney to arrive. Completely out of her Christian character, CeCe actually downed two glasses of Cristal while she waited. Something in her spirit told her that things were about to hit the fan. This is why I told her to go ahead and just tell him. Maybe I should have went ahead and told Kevin, as a good friend would do to help someone who had a dependency. What kinda friend am I?…. She pondered to herself. As she walked outside onto the deck overlooking the water, Robyn herself had concerns. She felt bad to keep everything from Kevin as well, as he was such a cool guy and a good husband. But her loyalty to Whitney and her brothers prevented her to tell the truth. Besides no one would believe her anyways. She tried telling Cissy that her daughter was becoming dependent on drugs a long time ago, and it was swept to the side. Sharon looked at her watch and over at Cissy. "We should be having dinner under the stars right now. I hope everything is okay with the kids." Cissy nodded in agreement. "Me too… I know Nippy has a problem with time. Always has… but Kevin doesn't. Maybe it was an accident or something. You know how bad traffic can be out here."
Everyone went ahead and ate and stood around on the boat waiting more and more. It was just about midnight when Whitney and Kevin finally arrived at the dock. They had ridden in silence the entire way, both of them with stomachs full of alcohol, and now they were drunk. "Hey everybody, we're here. Now the party can start." Whitney managed to give them all a dazzling smile, not wanting to let on that there was any tension between them. "I'm so sorry that we are late. Something came up on set." The guest murmured a few words of forgiveness. They had all ate a gourmet meal and drank on their expense. It wasn't much complaining that they could do. Kevin and Whitney's parents looked at them with suspicion, as well as CeCe, BeBe, Whitney's brothers, Dan, and Robyn. They all could tell that something was wrong the moment the Costners entered the boat. "Are you sure everything is okay babies?" Cissy spoke up as if she were the spokeswoman for the concerned bunch. "Everything is fine mommy!" Whitney tried her tipsy best to chirp up for the two of them. "It's my baby's birthday and we need to celebrate this thing right!"
Everybody was so enamored with their strange entrance that they all forgot what the cause of the party was for. "Happy birthday Kevin!" everyone finally spoke up coming up to him, giving him nudges and well wishes. The DJ cut back on the music and people came up to Kevin to mingle with him. Kevin (who had a hard time focusing on anything at that point) was only good for small talk at that point. Their parents, siblings and close friends continued to look on with concern as they studied the usual close and comfortable couple stand in the midst of everyone in an awkward stances.
CeCe finally came up to Kevin and Whitney. "Hey y'all, I'm glad you guys made it. We definitely couldn't celebrate without the man of the hour." CeCe tried to hug Kevin, but he pulled away from her and went to the bar where his mother was preparing them food. The chef prepared a sumptuous fest, despite the delay in the guest of honor. "Here Bud sweetie, have something to eat." Sharon handed him a plate, but the alcohol in his system caused him to accidently knock the plate out of her hands. It crashed onto the floor and shattered into pieces. The partygoers all focused their attention to a wavering, uncontrolled Kevin. No one had ever seen him like this; his demeanor was the antithesis of what he was displaying at that moment. Whitney came over. "Will somebody get a broom please?" she asked, feeling exasperated and overwhelmed with the night. At this point, she didn't care if the party went on; it wasn't as if Kevin was enjoying it at all anyways. Finally John spoke up after bringing over the broom. "Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?" he asked. "The two of you show up plastered and barely talking to one another. I've never seen you two like this." Whitney let out a sigh as she put her hands to her face. "Nothing's wrong daddy. Everything's okay… I wish everybody would stay out of our business."
"That figures." Kevin spoke up as he took a seat and looked over at Whitney. "After all, I don't even know what ALL of our business exactly is….maybe you can finally shed some light into this for me." Whitney looked at him at shock, afraid of where this was leading. "What are you talking about honey?" Kevin laughed, with no one joining in. "Well I guess it odd for me to be the last to know that my wife is a drug addict and for me not to know this." The entire boat went silent, with the exception of a few gasps and the crashing of the waves against the yacht. "What-what do you mean Kevin?" Whitney asked him softly. "You are addicted to drugs, and I had no idea about this the whole time we've been together." Kevin bluntly stated.
The words cut into Whitney like a knife as she felt her long-time secret become exposed to her husband in the worst way. CeCe's urging to tell him rang in her ears and she immediately regretted not telling him when she had the opportunity to. "It's not what you think baby." Whitney said as she tried to hold back crocodile tears. "Nippy…baby….no…" Cissy said in shock in disappointment. Kevin looked over at CeCe. "I'm going to ask you a really dumb question, but I just have to know… did you know all of this? Did you know that she, her brothers and Robyn all have been using for years?" he asked her, exposing everyone. "Yes and no" CeCe slowly said as a look of surprised filled her brother and husband's eyes." Kevin nodded. "Of course you did, but I thought you would be the one person that cared enough to let me know this. I was such a fool to think that we all were close enough to care and look out for one another."
CeCe looked hurtful at him. "That's not true Kev. We were just trying to protect you, I guess. We just wanted to protect Whitney's image and how you looked at her." Cissy sat down next to Kevin, shaking her head. "I can't believe you all would harm yourselves like this and hide it from the people who LOVE you. Who would HELP you through this!" "Welcome to the club Mother Cissy." Kevin had somehow managed to pour another drink in his hands. "Get yourself a glass so that we can make a toast to the fools…us." "Kevin…." Whitney said. It was killing her seeing him this way all because of her. "How long has this been going on? Kevin asked her, his eyes filled with alcohol and pain. "We really need to go home baby, so we can talk about it and I can explain everything to you." Whitney said firmly "What? Is this question too hot for you to answer right now darlin'?" he questioned. "Go home by yourself, because I'm not goin' home with a liar." He finished the last of his drink and looked over at Robyn, Michael and Gary. "Got anymore Coke? I'm sure we all could use a hit….you know since it's not a secret that my wife uses anymore."
"Kevin, baby, let's just go home." Whitney desperately tried again, but Kevin waved her off. "I told you to go home or wherever you wanna go! You didn't wanna talk then, so why should I listen now!" he yelled at her. "Come on Kevin, let's get you home man. CeCe ride back with the girls" BeBe finally spoke up as he and Dan prepared to have them all ride together. As they reassured their wives they could drive, Whitney's eyes brimmed with tears, but she was determined not to break down in front of everyone. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hands. Whitney tried to rack her brain in figuring out how the information leaked to him. None of that mattered now: her dirt was in the light and she was suffering the grave mistake of keeping something that she was ashamed of away from her man. As the guys prepared to leave, Kevin took one last look at Whitney for the night. "You know, it's my birthday. And a few days ago, I was feeling really blessed for another year. And at that time, I thanked God for having such an awesome family and an amazing wife and best friend, who I THOUGHT I could trust and love share anything with. But now I see, I was wrong about it all. This whole relationship was lopsided the whole time. And what we have are just based on lies. " He chuckled briefly, while shaking his head. "Happy birthday. Happy fucking birthday to me!"
Before Whitney could say a word he stumbled away to be taken home. And a few moments later, Whitney fell to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably.