Chapter 7
Chapter 7
S carlett sat back on her sofa and closed her eyes. The music in her ears grew louder and louder until nothing else existed. She blew out a long breath and stood, then went to her writing desk and pulled out several sheets of paper to write the notes down. After a few minutes of frantically filling notes on the ledger lines of the sheet paper, she set it down on her lap, satisfied with her efforts. She picked it back up and moved the music sheet to the table then stretched the kinks out of her muscles.
Her doorbell rang, echoing throughout her home. She glanced at a nearby clock and frowned. Where had the time gone? She hadn’t realized how long she’d been working on the music. Scarlett rose and walked to the door, then slid it open. Remy stood on the other side. He had his hands shoved into his dark jeans, and he rocked a little on the balls of his feet. “I’m not too early, am I?”
“Not all,” she said. “I had this idea pop into my head earlier. Come look.” Scarlett rushed over to the table and then shoved the sheet music at him. “With the right lyrics this could be amazing.”
He stared down at the sheet and then started humming the melody. “This is spectacular. I love how creative your mind is. How did you come up with this?”
She shrugged. “It came to me…” All her melodies did. It was part of her gift, but she didn’t explain that to him. It wasn’t easy to describe how the music filled her ears and she deciphered it on paper. Even her sisters, with their experience regarding their own gifts, didn’t fully understand how Scarlett’s worked. “I don’t keep any instruments here. I’d like to play it on the piano and hear it aloud. Do you mind if we go to the studio to work?”
“Not at all,” he said. “We can discuss lyrics while we are there too.”
Scarlett grabbed her purse and her keys off a nearby table. “Do you want to drive together or separate?”
“I took a rideshare here,” he said. “I don’t drive.”
She hadn’t realized that about him. It hadn’t occurred to her that he wouldn’t drive. “Ever?” She lifted a brow. “I don’t when I’m on tour or if I have a performance, but I love driving.” She tilted her head. “I actually find it unimaginable to not drive.”
He chuckled. “Trust me,” he began. “It is for the best if I don’t get behind the wheel. The world is a much safer place this way.”
That was odd. Why couldn’t he drive? She wanted to ask, but held back. It seemed rude to push him for answers. If he wanted her to know his secrets or if he had some sort of condition that prevented him from driving, he would have shared it with her.
“Then I believe I’ll drive.” She smiled at him. “Let’s go.” Scarlett opened the door and gestured for him to exit before her. After he was out, she locked her door and they went to her car. Scarlett did love driving, but she rarely had a passenger. She usually used her driving time to brainstorm ideas though she could take a different approach to it. Remy would make a wonderful sounding board.
“What are you thinking so hard about?” he asked.
She started the car and pulled it out of her driveway, then headed in the direction of the studio. “You never did tell me why you decided to start making music. I’ve explained why I want you to work with me, but I don’t know why you’ve agreed.”
Remy was quiet for several moments. When he started to speak, his voice was soft, almost inaudible, and Scarlett had to strain to hear him. “Music brings me joy.” He took a breath then continued, “It’s all that made me happy. There were some years in my childhood that were…sketchy. I didn’t pursue it as a career because I refused to live in my father’s shadow. Music, for me, was a way to escape, and I didn’t need to be famous to have it in my life.”
“That doesn’t explain why you’ve decided to perform publicly now?” Scarlett turned and headed down a side street that led to the parking lot of the studio.
“Life is short,” he said. His voice held a hint of sadness. “I’ve decided to embrace it for however long I have.”
That was a bit melancholy… “I suppose I understand in some ways. Life is also not easy.” She knew that too well. “It also comes with heartbreak.” She pulled into the lot and parked the car in the spot nearest the entrance, then turned to him. There wasn’t anyone around, and she was grateful for that. She hated talking to people. Scarlett didn’t do well with socializing. When she performed in front of crowds, she came alive, but that was different. It wasn’t one on one interaction. At times, she could be a little socially awkward. “I’ve had to harden my heart…” She let out a strained breath. Talking even in philosophical terms regarding her breakup with JD was difficult. She held her hand to her chest. “It’s like…a diamond. I can prevent myself from being hurt again by making myself unbreakable, so I’ve crushed all that pain into something sparkly and impenetrable.” She smiled, but it wobbled a little. “A diamond doesn’t cry, and I don’t have time for any useless tears.”
“But is that any way to live? Love is a gift you shouldn’t deny.”
“Perhaps,” she said softly. “But I’ve already had enough of love for several lifetimes. I’ll pass on having it in my future.” She opened her car door and stepped outside. “Let’s go get some work done.”
Remy followed her out and headed toward the studio door. She got to the door and opened it expecting him to be right behind her. Scarlett turned, and was surprised to see him on the ground a few feet away. “Remy?” She rushed over to him. Her heart beat heavily inside of her chest, and her hands shook a little bit. She didn’t do well in a crisis, and she didn’t have the first clue what she should do. Now she wasn’t so happy to be alone with Remy in the parking lot. Another person to help her would be appreciated right then. “What is it? Are you all right?”
His face had lost all color, and his breathing was shallow. “I don’t feel so good.” His eyelids fluttered, and he slumped completely to the pavement.
Scarlett felt his neck for a pulse and was relieved to still feel a heartbeat steady underneath her fingertip. She rummaged through her purse and called for help. “Please hurry. I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”
She sat down and waited for the ambulance to arrive. He’d seemed fine earlier. How could this have happened? She closed her eyes and prayed he’d be all right.
Scarlett paced the hallway of the hospital. She should call someone, but she didn’t know who. Remy was her friend, but their relationship was a recent one. She didn’t have phone numbers for any of his family members. She should have snatched his phone from his pocket before they had taken him away. At least they had allowed her to ride in the ambulance with him though they made her ride in the front. Not at all like they portrayed in television shows.
Movement from down the hall caught her attention. A nurse dressed in turquoise scrubs was heading toward her. Her blonde hair was pulled pack into a severe bun, and she had a pensive expression on her face. She stopped in front of Scarlett and frowned. “Are you the girl that came in with Mr. Wyatt?”
Scarlett nodded. “I am. Can you give me an update on him.”
She shook her head. “I’m afraid not. Please follow me.”
The nurse turned on her heels and headed back in the direction she’d come from. She didn’t stop to see if Scarlett followed her directions, but she didn’t hesitate to fall in step behind the nurse. She might be leading her to Remy’s room, and she really wanted to check on him.
She led Scarlett to a room and opened the door, but Remy wasn’t inside. Instead, there was a different man entirely. His hair was a similar shade as Remy’s, but there was silver at his temples. She never appreciated how much Remy resembled his father until this moment. Thatcher Wyatt, the lead singer to Harrowed Souls, stood in the middle of the room. He stared at her for a few moments, and then came to her side. “Thank you for bringing her to me,” he said to the nurse.
She stood, silently staring at him with her mouth gaping open. She had to look like a complete idiot. She closed her mouth and swallowed the lump in her throat. She coughed lightly before she could find her voice to speak. Scarlett wanted to scream. She had wanted to meet Thatcher Wyatt her whole life, but not like this. Never like this.
“My pleasure,” the nurse said and then exited the room, leaving them alone.
Scarlett gulped. She had no idea what to say to this man. What do you say to someone you’ve always idolized. “Mr. Wyatt…”
“Please,” he said interrupting her. Thatcher gestured toward a chair near the window. “Have a seat.”
“All…right,” she said. What was all this about? Was it Remy? She sat down in the chair and fidgeted. “Can you tell me anything?”
He smiled softly. “There is much you don’t know.” He leaned back into his chair and then lifted his hand to his face. “Until this moment I thought I had all the information, but it’s clear my son likes his secrets. When they mentioned he’d been with a woman, I thought perhaps he had a girlfriend he didn’t tell me about. But that isn’t it, is it?”
She shook her head. “No. We’re friends.”
Scarlett was so confused. The more Thatcher spoke she realized how little she actually understood. All she wanted to know was how Remy fared. He hadn’t looked good when he passed out.
“Will you indulge me a little?” he asked. “I have a story to tell you, and I promise all will make sense at the end of it.”
She nodded. Perhaps Thatcher Wyatt was a little eccentric. She didn’t know much about him personally. It was his music Scarlett loved. “Go ahead.”
“My son is the most important person in my life. He’s the reason I kept living when I lost all hope.” He stared out the window as if he couldn’t look at her as he spoke. “Many years ago, I went on a spiraling path. There wasn’t much I wouldn’t do to numb my pain. I drank heavily—mostly whiskey—and the drugs… I did them all. Anything to make me forget what I had lost.”
“That sounds awful.” When she’d been stood up at the altar, she’d been tempted to drink away her pain, but she’d found solace in her music instead. She couldn’t imagine going down the path Thatcher Wyatt had. It could have destroyed his life completely.
“It was,” he admitted. “But I don’t recall a large part of that time. It took something almost happening to Remy to snap me out of it. He gave me a reason to live.”
“What made you…” She nibbled on her bottom lip unsure how to ask him the question.
“Attempt to slowly kill myself?” he finished for her. “My wife was sick. She had Leukemia, and while she fought hard, she lost the battle. It devastated me, and I was very selfish. Every decision I made after her death up until the point I almost lost Remy…I’m not proud of the man I was.”
“I don’t understand why you’re telling me this,” Scarlett said. “Why do you think I need to know any of it?”
He turned his gaze from the window and met hers. “Because you’re my daughter, and I need your help to save Remy.”
That was completely and utterly ridiculous. She frowned and backed away from him. This wasn’t real. He had to be lying to her… Scarlett had always wanted to know who her father was, but that didn’t mean she had to take his word on anything. Why wouldn’t her mother have told her Thatcher Wyatt was her father? Did it have something to do with his sketchy past? Had her mother known him when he’d been lost to drugs and alcohol. “No,” she said with a quick shake of her head. “You’re wrong.” She refused to believe it. Nothing made sense…
“It’s true,” he said. “It’s easy enough to prove with a blood test, but I hope you won’t wait that long to help Remy.” He frowned. “He has Leukemia like his mother, and if he doesn’t get a bone marrow transplant, he will die. You can save him.”
“You don’t know that,” she said. “Even if I am his half-sister that doesn’t mean I’ll be a match.”
This was so much information too fast. Her mind spiraled out of control. She stood. “I can’t do this right now.”
Had he always known? She wasn’t a nobody that he wouldn’t have known. They traveled in some of the same circles musically. They may not have ever spoken before, but there were times that they were at least in the same building. Scarlett had never had the chance to talk to him or be close enough to even say hello. Award ceremonies weren’t always conducive to conversation. If he had been aware that he was her father though and never once bothered to have a relationship with her… She wasn’t sure how to process that possibility or what it meant to her.
She had to talk to her mother. Scarlett needed answers before she could make any decisions. She rushed out of the room, fighting tears every step of the way. If she was really Remy’s sister and she could save him, she would, but first she had to wrap her brain around all the information that had been dumped on her. Once she had the complete truth, then she would come back and talk to Thatcher Wyatt. She had a feeling he was telling her the truth, but she had to confront her mother before she could allow herself to fully believe it. She hoped her selfish needs didn’t hurt Remy’s chances at surviving.