Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Nineteen
F elicia Laverne stared at Bessie. “What are you saying?” Her daughter-in-law had come into her bedroom to see if she intended to go to church today and, if so, see if she needed help getting dressed.
“I’m saying that Carrie called this morning with great news. It seems that Chance has finally decided to live again, and we might owe it all to Zoey Pritchard.”
Felicia Laverne eased down in the chair near her bed. “What do you mean?”
Bessie’s smile widened. “Luke and Mac went out with Slade, Blade, Reese, and their wives last night. They met up with Corbin and Zoey Pritchard at Vance’s Tavern. Well, Chance showed up, and according to Carrie, her youngest grandson not only hung out with everybody dancing way after midnight, but he also shocked everyone when he invited Zoey to dinner at his ranch today. It seems he’s sweet on her. Can you believe that?”
No, she couldn’t. “That is hard to believe.”
“Well, honestly, I was hoping that something would develop between Zoey and Corbin, especially after meeting her and seeing how nice she was, and noting that you liked her, too. But Chance did meet her first, so I can see him being smitten. She’s such a pretty girl. And another thing: Ravena was at Vance’s Tavern last night as well.”
“She was?”
“Yes, and she saw Chance and Zoey dancing together. Luke told Carrie that he kept an eye on Ravena. Although the look on her face was furious and, at times, even enraged, she didn’t make a scene or anything. Probably because there were so many Madarises there who she knows don’t like her. The nerve of her getting jealous after how she treated Chance…”
Felicia Laverne didn’t say anything for a long moment. Her mind was consuming everything her daughter-in-law had said. She agreed that Ravena had no right to get jealous seeing Chancellor with someone else. Obviously, she believed that foolishness that Chancellor had been pining for her all those years since he hadn’t been seriously involved with anyone. Seeing him with Zoey had undoubtedly painted a different picture.
She couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps that had been an intentional move on Chancellor’s part. She knew that great-grandson better than anyone, and she wasn’t buying Bessie’s take on things that Chance had decided to “live again.”
When Bessie left the room, Felicia Laverne picked up her cell phone to make a call. It didn’t matter to her that it wasn’t yet seven in the morning.
“Mama Laverne?” a groggy voice said. “Is everything okay?”
“I’m not sure, Chancellor. I need to talk to you.”
“You need to talk to me? Now? It’s not even seven in the morning.”
“I know what time it is. And yes, I need to talk to you. In person. This morning.”
“This morning? Aren’t you going to church?”
She had planned on going, but meeting with him was more important. “Not today. I will expect you at ten. Goodbye.”
“Hello?” Zoey asked drowsily, not bothering to open her eyes after grabbing her cell phone off the nightstand. Who would be calling her at this hour?
“Zoey? Zoey Pritchard?” a feminine voice asked.
She forced open her eyes, not recognizing the caller’s voice. “Yes, this is Zoey Pritchard. Who is this?” The clock on the nightstand indicated it wasn’t even seven in the morning.
“Oh my God! I can’t believe it! I truly can’t believe it!” the feminine voice said.
Zoey asked again. “Who is this?”
“This is Sharon Newberry. I was your mother’s best friend.”
The woman’s words had Zoey quickly sitting up in bed. “Doctor Newberry?”
“Yes, and I apologize for calling so early. I’m presently in New Zealand, and was told one of my former colleagues, Dr. Kemmic, was trying to contact me. We finally connected and he told me everything. I can’t believe it. I’d tried reaching out to you for years. Your aunt Paulina refused to let me connect with you.”
“What! Why?”
“I was your mother’s best friend, and she knew it. All I wanted was to keep in touch with you. To make sure you were okay. That’s something I knew Micky would have wanted me to do.”
“Micky?”
“Yes. That was your mother’s nickname in college.”
Suddenly, a fuzzy scene flashed before Zoey. A man, who she knew was her father, answered a telephone and then called out saying, “ The phone is for you, Micky .”
“Zoey are you still there?”
A lump formed in Zoey’s throat. “Did my dad call my mom Micky, too?”
“Yes. Micky met Holt while we were in med school, so he also called her by her nickname. Dr. Kemmic told me your aunt had passed. I want to extend my condolences. He also mentioned that you still had memory loss. I ran into your aunt a few years ago, and she said the doctor told her there was less than a twenty-five percent chance your memory would ever return.”
“That’s what my aunt told me as well. However, when I began having dreams with images of me and my parents, I sought the help of a doctor without my aunt’s knowledge. According to Dr. Wheeler, what I was led to believe for all those years was not true. There’s a fifty-fifty chance of my memory returning, Doctor Newberry.”
“Please call me Sharon. Doctor Newberry sounds so formal. Especially for a woman who was your godmother.”
“My godmother?”
“Yes. I’m the one who named you. I wanted to keep in touch with you, but your aunt said seeing me would force you to remember the past, and the doctor said that would not be in your best interest.”
Zoey recalled she’d been told something similar. Her aunt had led her to believe that if she tried piecing together her memory on her own, instead of letting it return naturally, there was a strong chance it would never return. For that reason, she’d never researched anything about her parents.
She felt a deep sadness at her aunt’s lies. She would have loved having Sharon be part of her life while growing up. “Thanks for sharing that with me, Sharon. There is something I want to ask you.”
“Ask me anything.”
“Did you know my parents owned a ranch in Texas?”
“Yes, the Satterfield Ranch. It was such a beautiful spread—big and spacious. I spent a lot of time there with your mom during the summer breaks from college. Your grandparents, the Martins, were the best. They were college professors and mostly lived on the ranch during the summertime.”
That’s the same thing Ms. Felicia Laverne had told her. “I’m in Texas now.”
“At the ranch? That’s wonderful! Micky and Holt enjoyed going there to relax and unwind.”
“No, I’m not at the ranch. My aunt sold it.”
“What?! Micky wanted to keep the ranch to give you one day because you always liked visiting there. You learned to ride a horse before you were two.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t have any memory of that.” She told Sharon about finding the deed to the ranch—a ranch her aunt claimed her parents didn’t have. She also told her that she had met the person who now owned the ranch, and after looking around, parts of her memory had returned.
“I don’t know why your aunt would say she knew nothing about the ranch when she did. If telling you might have been a key component in your memory returning, that should have been a good enough reason to do so.”
“I wish I could remember my grandparents and parents,” Zoey said, despondently.
“I have some things that belonged to your mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.”
That cheered her up somewhat. “You do? What?”
“Their diaries and photo albums. I had a key to your parents’ home to check on things whenever they stayed at the ranch for extended periods. When I heard your aunt was selling the house, I gathered everything I figured Micky would want you to have. I’ve kept them for you all this time, hoping you would reach out to me one day, and when you did, I would have them for you.”
Knowing Sharon Newberry had done that touched Zoey deeply. “Thank you.”
“No need to thank me. Micky was my best friend. I understand you followed in your parents’ footsteps and are an orthopedic surgeon.”
“Yes, I am.”
“That’s wonderful. Holt and Micky would be proud of you. They loved you a lot, Zoey.” There was a pause, and then Sharon said, “I’m not sure if your aunt ever told you this, but at the time of your parents’ accident, your family was driving home from the hospital—after the birth of your baby brother.”
Zoey gasped. “Baby brother? I didn’t know that.” Tears Zoey couldn’t hold back flowed down her cheeks. She had lost a brother in that accident. A brother she’d never been told about.
“Do you know why Aunt Paulina disliked my mother so much?”
“Holt told Micky there was another woman that Paulina wanted him to marry. The daughter of someone she knew. She’d even told him she would not accept any other woman as his wife.”
“That’s crazy.”
“I agree.”
“When will you be returning to the States?” Zoey asked, wiping tears from her eyes.
“Not for another month. However, my niece is house-sitting for us. I will tell her where the items are and have her ship them to you. How much longer will you be in Texas?”
“I plan to be here the entire summer.”
“I will text you my niece’s phone number. Her name is Kourtney. Call her to let her know where you want the items sent. I plan to fly to Texas to see you as soon as I return to the States. Dr. Kemmic says you look just like Micky. That means you are an attractive young woman, and I can’t wait to see you again.”
“Thanks, Sharon, and I’m looking forward to seeing you, too.” Before ending the call, she thought of a question she needed to ask. “My baby brother…what was his name?”
“Holton Pritchard Jr.”
“Thanks.”
After Zoey ended the call, she eased between the covers and clutched her necklace while crying. Not only had she lost her parents that fateful day, but she’d also lost a baby brother, and she couldn’t remember any of them.
***
After parking his truck, Chance strolled up the walkway and knocked on the door. His granduncle Nolan answered with a grin. “I’d heard you’d been summoned. What have you gotten yourself into, son?”
“Heck, if I know, Uncle Nolan,” he said after giving his uncle a huge bear hug. “I got a call before seven from Mama Laverne, who ordered me to be here by ten. Is Aunt Bessie at church?”
“Yes. You know she still likes getting there by nine for Sunday school. I volunteered to stay with Mama since Reverend Hill’s sermons put me to sleep anyway. She’s sitting on the patio.”
He reached the patio and saw his great-grandmother sitting there with her glasses perched on her nose while knitting something yellow. Mama Laverne looked pretty, but then she always did. She was wearing a light pink dress with her signature pearls. Her beloved Milton had given her the pearls on one of their wedding anniversaries.
“Good morning, Mama Laverne.”
“Chancellor.”
“You want to talk to me?”
“Yes. Please have a seat,” she said, putting her knitting aside. “I understand you enjoyed yourself last night.”
“I did,” he said, not surprised that she heard about it.
“Glad to hear it. I’m sure you heard that Zoey Pritchard and I had a nice meeting on Friday. She’s a nice young woman. You didn’t tell me about her memory loss.”
He shrugged. “I figured that was something she should tell you herself.”
“I see. Her story of being in that car accident that killed her parents and not remembering them touched my heart.”
“Yes, that was sad.”
“I will do all I can to help her by providing as much information about her family as possible. Hopefully, doing so will trigger her memory. Both my beloved Milton and Waylon would want me to do that.”
“Waylon?” he asked, stretching his legs out and leaning back in his chair.
“Yes, Waylon Satterfield, Zoey’s great-grandfather. He was Milton’s best friend.”
“He was Arabella Martin’s father?”
“Yes. Now that I’ve met Zoey, I feel protective of her since she has no one. More than anything, she needs her full concentration to get her memory back. That’s one of the reasons I’ve arranged for her to spend the summer in Trevor’s cabin.”
Chance sat up straight in his chair. “Trevor’s cabin?”
“Yes. I talked to Trevor yesterday, and since he and his family are spending the summer on Warren Mountains, he’s given permission for Zoey to stay there. I plan to tell her about it later today.”
“Why does she need to stay at that cabin? What’s wrong with the hotel?”
His great-grandmother leaned forward. “I’ll be returning to Whispering Pines this week. Since Zoey and I will continue our meetings, staying at the cabin will be more convenient. Definitely a closer drive than coming from town.”
He nodded. “Is that why you summoned me here? To tell me that you’ve made arrangements for Zoey to stay in a cabin that borders my property?” he asked, unsure how he felt about that, although her staying there made sense.
“That property was an original part of the Satterfield land before the Johnstones sold it to Trevor. While talking with Zoey, I realized that the lake in her dreams is not the lake on your property, as she assumed. It’s the lake on Trevor’s property. I am hoping that being in that cabin will increase the chances of her memory returning. She’s been told there’s a fifty percent chance her memory might never return, but I’m of the mind that it will.”
He recalled she’d said something similar when he returned home in a wheelchair… “ Those doctors claim you will never walk again, but I’m of the mind that you will .” And with her help, he had.
His great-grandmother stared at him intently through her glasses. “The reason I wanted to meet with you today is to tell you to stop whatever foolishness you’ve cooked up involving Zoey just to score a point with Ravena.”
He frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about your need to prove to Ravena that you haven’t been pining for her like she assumes and using Zoey for that purpose.”
“You think I would do that?”
“Didn’t you do that very thing last night, Chancellor?”
Chance eased out the chair and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “Okay, I’ll admit the thought entered my mind and would even say that’s why I’d decided to stay at Vance’s Tavern longer than planned. However, when I got on that dance floor with Zoey, thoughts of Ravena and proving anything to her never crossed my mind again.”
“For you to even think you needed to prove anything to that woman means you still have issues where she is concerned,” Mama Laverne said before taking another sip of her tea.
“Zoey came to Texas to try remembering her past,” she said. “Namely to get her life together. I don’t intend for you to mess hers up just because your life is a mess. I know what you think of women since Ravena, Chancellor. Not one is good enough beyond a night spent in bed. Just the thought of you flaunting Zoey in front of Ravena last night to prove a point is unacceptable and unfair to her.”
Chance knew his great-grandmother was on a roll, and the best thing to do was to let her keep talking and not interrupt until she was finished.
“Unlike other members of the family,” she continued, “I don’t think your issues have anything to do with you carrying a torch for Ravena. Your problems have everything to do with Madaris pride, which I know all about.
“What Ravena did not only broke your heart but damaged your pride. Your heart might have healed, but not your pride. That’s what your issues are about—and a man with issues is the last thing Zoey needs in her life.”
Feeling it was okay to speak now, he said. “Again, Mama Laverne, I forgot all about Ravena when I danced with Zoey. I honestly enjoyed being out last night with her and the family.” There was no need to add he’d gotten a taste of what he’d been missing the past five years.
He met his grandmother’s gaze. She stared at him like she could decipher everything going through his mind. He eased back down in his chair. “Are we having this conversation because you’ve selected someone for Zoey? Corbin? Adam? One of the Bannisters? Emerson?” Why was he feeling anger at the thought that she had? He had learned a long time ago not to let his emotions get the best of him when it involved a woman.
Mama Laverne leaned closer to him to ensure he heard her following words. “To be honest, neither you, nor any of those that you named, nor any great-grandson you didn’t name, would I consider as a match for her. All of you have whorish ways, and after all she’s been through, that’s not the type of man she needs in her life. Zoey needs someone who will want to give her the type of love she’s lacked for the past twenty years.”
Mama Laverne shook her head sadly as she settled back in her chair. “Poor child didn’t even get the love she deserved from that aunt who raised her. The woman might have treated her decently, but considering what Zoey had gone through, she needed more than that. She needed unconditional love.”
Chance watched his great-grandmother pause and figured it was highly likely that her Christian side was warring with the side that wanted to say how she truly felt about Zoey’s aunt Paulina.
“Whether Zoey gets her memory back or not,” Mama Laverne continued, “at least she will leave Texas knowing more about her family than when she arrived. I will see to it. She’s a good person. She can’t help but be one with Deedra as a great-grandmother and Arabella as a grandmother. Both were kindhearted and decent women. And then she had Waylon as a great-grandfather. He was a good man.”
Mama Laverne then said in a softer tone, “From just that one meeting with Zoey, I felt a kindred connection to her, Chancellor. One just as strong as I do to my biological granddaughters and great-granddaughters. It might be because of my and Milton’s love and respect for Waylon.”
“I like Zoey, too, Mama Laverne,” Chance said. “Just in the short time I’ve gotten to know her, I picked up on those same qualities in her that you did.” There was no need to add how intensely attracted they were to each other. Chance also knew there was no way he would tell Mama Laverne what he’d told Luke. Namely, any feelings he had for Zoey were purely sexual.
He would, however, tell her this much to put her mind at ease, hopefully. “The only relationship I want with Zoey, and the only kind we both agreed to share, is one of friendship,” he said. “I had invited her to dinner before I saw Ravena last night. I did so to explain why I’ve been a loner for so long. She asked me about it, and I wanted to be up--front with her. I would never deliberately hurt her.”
Mama Laverne stared at him for a long moment before nodding. “I’m taking you at your word, Chancellor. As I said, a romantic involvement is not what Zoey needs right now, not with you or anyone with the last name of Madaris. Or Bannister. However, there is nothing wrong with being her friend, and I’m glad the two of you agreed to only be friends. Everyone could use a friend. Even you.” After taking another sip of her tea, she added, “Besides, I believe she already has a boyfriend back in Baltimore.”
Did she? He’d had no reason to ask her anything about a boyfriend and assumed she didn’t because of the intense sexual chemistry between them. And then she had agreed to go out with Corbin. However, last night, she had asked him about a girlfriend, and he’d made sure she knew he didn’t have one. He’d been clear about just the type of affairs he preferred. “Why would you think she was involved with some guy? Did she mention that she was?”
“No, but I can’t imagine a young woman as beautiful as Zoey unattached.”
***
After his talk with Mama Laverne, Chance remained at his granduncle Nolan’s house when his grandfather Lucas unexpectedly dropped by. After hearing that his brother Nolan was not attending church, Grampa Lucas decided to do the same. It wasn’t long before two other brothers, Milton and Lee, came knocking. It seemed they’d decided to play hooky from church as well.
Chance had stayed for breakfast, knowing the four hoped he would enlighten them about why their mother had summoned him that morning. However, he decided it would be best not to tell them anything since they tended to talk just as much as their wives.
When he was headed back to his ranch and had driven a few miles, his phone rang. It was Zoey. Last night, he’d given her a particular ringtone. “Good morning, Zoey.”
“Hello, Chance. I’m calling to cancel dinner.”
“Cancel dinner?”
“Yes.”
He hadn’t talked to her since last night and hoped that none of his cousins had put the same idea into her head that Mama Laverne had in hers. Specifically, that he’d used her last night to prove a point with Ravena. He doubted they would have, but still… “Would you mind telling me why?”
She didn’t say anything, but he could hear her sniffling. Was she crying? “Zoey, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t want to talk about it now, Chance. I can’t.”
He pulled to the side of the road. “Tell me what’s wrong. Why are you crying? Is it about last night and Ravena?”
“I don’t know anything about a Ravena, and it has nothing to do with last night. It’s about a call I got this morning from a woman who was my mother’s best friend. And she told me that…”
He strained to hear, but she stopped talking and started crying again. “What did she tell you?”
“I—I can’t talk about it now,” she said between sobs. “I just can’t. It makes my heart hurt. I just wanted you to know I won’t be coming to dinner. I wouldn’t be much company. Bye, Chance.” She then hung up.
Chance sat there, knowing that whatever was wrong with her didn’t concern him; it was her problem to deal with. But then another part of him knew that wasn’t true. Not when the sound of her crying had torn deep into him. He rubbed a frustrated hand down his face. After Ravena, he’d established a rule not to make any woman a central component of his life again. Then why was he breaking that rule for Zoey? Why was he making her problems his? Was it because she’d unloaded her issues on him and, in doing so, had broken through a barrier he’d so firmly erected? Or was it because like he’d told Mama Laverne, he considered her a friend?
Hell, he wasn’t sure of the reason. However, he did know he wanted to get to her and find out what was wrong. He recalled her telling Corbin the name of her hotel. The Houston Riverfront. He had no idea of her room number but would worry about that when he got there.