“It would have worked with me.” Evelyn wore a sad smile. “I would have given up the money, the mansion, my social standing with the community,everythingjust to hear your father say I was more important to him than his work.”
Chase put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry I blamed you.”
“You were looking at it through the eyes of a child. Understandable.”
He wondered what his daughter would think ofhim. Whether he was a large part of her life or didn’t have a place in it at all, she would grow up with her own ideas and emotions concerning him. As a father, it was his responsibility to do what was best for her. His first major decision was, should he try to work things out with Katie? If they stayed married, they could wind up destroying each other and hurting their child.
Would his daughter be better off without him?
Would Katie be better off?
Before leaving, his mother dug an envelope out of her purse and handed it to him. “Please, don’t hate me for keeping this from you.”
Chase stared down at his name scrawled across the envelope in familiar handwriting. “Dad wrote me a letter?”
“After his heart attack, your father gained a new perspective. Too little. Too late. He wrote this letter in the hospital and asked me to give it to you if he died. When I read it, I was elated. It was everything I’d ever wanted to hear from him, but he didn’t write to me.”
“You kept it because he wrote something nice?” Chase shrugged. “Keep it. I don’t want it.”
“Yes, you do.” When he tried to give it back to her, she pressed it into his hands. “And I didn’t just keep it from you because it was nice. If you had gotten your hands on it, you might have used it to toss out the codicil.”
He shook his head in confusion. “I thought you agreed the codicil was ridiculous?”
“I wanted a grandchild, Charles, and I certainly wasn’t going to get one from you, not unless something forced you to go against your nature. I’m only giving the letter to you now because I can see your father’s idea worked. You are in love with Katie, and you don’t want to lose your family.”
The alcoholic haze had his mind whipping around in circles. He couldn’t focus on what his mother was saying. It didn’t make sense, none of it, but one thing did catch his attention. “Father’s idea? What?”
She spoke slowly as if talking to a child. “Theodore didn’t want you to wind up alone, so he came up with the codicil idea to force you to take a wife. He knew you’d do anything to keep the company under your control.”
He blinked. It couldn’t be true. His father wouldn’t manipulate him into getting married after all his trash-talk about the institution. “You’re lying.”
“Read the letter and see for yourself.”
Through bleary eyes, he stared at his father’s neatly written words. It took him a few tries to make it all the way through the letter. Then he read it a second time, and darkness descended on him with the heavy force of a falling brick wall. What had he done? Was it temporary insanity that made him accuse Katie of tricking Reginald out of his stock?
“I have ruined everything,” he mumbled.
His mother shook her head. “It’s not too late.”
“She left me, and she’s probably in New York City right now starting a brand-new life without me.”
“Maybe not. You’ll never know until you go after her. Track her down. If she went to New York, then take the jet and go after her. Don’t let that girl get away or you will always regret it.”
He staggered to the door.
“Take my car,” his mother said. “You’re too drunk to drive, and my driver already knows the way to the lake house.”
“How will you get home?”
“I will hire a taxicab. It’s been years since I’ve been inside one, and it will give me an interesting story to tell my country club friends next week.”
So much had changed in just six months. He had vowed to never get married, but marriage to Katie was exciting.I can’t lose her now.
How could he have been so blind? He should have realized he loved her a long time ago instead of taking her presence in his life for granted. Katie deserved better than him. He only hoped he could convince her to give him a second chance to be the husband she needed.
♥♥♥
The limo driver let Chase off in front of the lake house. He sat there in the backseat for several minutes, trying to put together an effective argument to save his marriage. Katie’s car was in the open garage, but that didn’t mean anything. She could have taken a taxi to the airport and flown on her friend’s private jet to New York.