Chapter 37 Chase
CHASE
Pippa sent me a series of screenshots of a text exchange, along with the note:
I’m sorry things didn’t work out. I didn’t want to tell you this, nor can I keep it from you.
I want you to get your happily ever after.
If that might be with Marlow, you should know the truth.
I’m also well aware that it was wrong of me to go on her phone, but I guess I broke the rules this one time for a good cause.
Mom perches on the armrest of the Adirondack as I read a series of texts between Marlow and someone named Joe, revealing that she was using me for the inheritance money after finding out about it from her sister. She and Joe hatched the plan to blackmail Dad to get to me and the funds.
My mother reads over my shoulder. “Enough of this drama. Rhett Collins,” Mom calls with her hands on her hips in Wonder Woman stance.
Dad stumbles out of the room. “What? I have a headache.”
“Any afflictions you’re experiencing will have to wait. Come down here, now. You too, Marlow,” she hollers before marching upstairs. Moments later, she returns, gripping them each by the elbow.
“Rhett, I have one question for you.” She turns to Marlow. “And two for you.”
Dad bristles.
Marlow scowls.
“Does the housemaid in London mean anything to you?”
Dad frowns. “If you’re implying any untoward behavior, absolutely not. I promise I’ve done no such thing. She’s young enough to be my daughter, for goodness’ sake.”
Mom rounds on Marlow. “Who is the housemaid to you?”
I’ve never seen my mother whipped into such a fury. Her red face, combined with the sharpness in her eyes, dares Marlow to defy her.
“Well, she’s, um, my sister.”
“Your sister, an heiress to the Dwight Drilling fortune, works as a housemaid? That seems unlikely,” Mom says.
If this were a football game, my mother would’ve been the first woman in her sixties to score a touchdown. She worked fast, putting the pieces together.
“Your sister?” Dad asks, aghast.
Mom continues, “Is Dwight your real last name? Is your father really the executive at Dwight Drilling? Never mind. Don’t answer. Save your voice for this, Why are you blackmailing my husband?”
Marlow opens and closes her mouth. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I stop pacing. “Maybe Joe can tell us?”
“Joe? I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
“Let me see your phone,” Mom says, holding her hand open.
“No, that’s private.” Marlow sniffs.
“If you’re to marry into the Collins household, we share all content on all devices.”
“We do?” I ask.
“New rule.”
Marlow rolls her eyes. “Fine. I know a guy named Joe, but how do you know about him?”
“Never mind that. You have one chance to explain yourself. Otherwise, you’ll be hearing from my lawyer.”
“Ruth, we don’t have to take it that far.”
“You almost forced our son to marry this woman, I will take it as far as I have to.”
My eyes widen at my mother’s forthrightness. But before anyone can say anything, my phone beeps with a notification. It’s another email from Pippa, forwarded from her sister Phoebe, revealing a pair of documents that are almost identical except for one thing.
As if there are less than ten seconds left in the game and my father holds the ball, he becomes my target as I stride over to him and lift him to his feet by the collar of his robe.
“You are going to look me in the eye and swear that what I’m looking at is a mistake.”
“I don’t know what you’re looking at.”
“Two documents,” I say.
“I need my glasses,” Dad blusters as if that’s my problem.
I already know what I’m looking at and what I’m dealing with. Dishonesty. Deceit.
“How dare you try to smear my grandfather’s good name?” My muscles coil with energy. I’m in tackle mode and nothing will stop me except for the truth.
“I can tell you, if—”
I cut my father off. “There will be no bargaining, blackmail, or funny business. Marlow, if you know something, tell me now, otherwise, three of the largest and strongest guys I know will track down Joe and—”
Marlow fidgets and then relents. “Ruth is right. My sister works at your home in London. She came across some documents that looked unusual.”
“I’m Mrs. Collins to you, missy.”
Marlow pouts. “Then a man came around, delivering more documents that looked almost identical, except...except the names were changed.”
“What were the names?” I grind my teeth, hardly able to get the words out because I know where this is going, but need to hear it from them.
Dad chokes out, “Starkowsky and Collins.”
“You’d better explain or you’re going to feel like a football after it’s been in play for an entire season.”
“Chase, don’t threaten your father,” Mom says softly and then more sternly adds, “Rhett, explain, or you’re going to feel the wrath of a wife after forty years of marriage who suddenly finds her trust broken.”
“Alright. Alright. I’ll explain.” Dad takes a deep breath. “After Cap passed away, I found some incriminating evidence. Not against him, but against Starkowsky—before he was commissioner. It turned out he’d been bribing players.”
“But you told me that Cap did it.” I pace, needing to diffuse some of my anger.
“Right, because what did I stand to gain if I revealed that Starkowsky did it?” Dad asks.
I shrug and then as quickly as my mother had done before, I understand.
“Your business is in trouble. You realized if you swapped out the names—Starkowsky for Collins, making it look like Cap had done the deed—you could use it as leverage to get some of the inheritance money to save your business.” The taste in my mouth is bitter.
That explains why Starky never liked Cap, and by extension, me, because my grandfather knew what he’d done.
Head in his hands, my father adds, “I had the same guy who added the marriage stipulation to the will doctor those documents.”
“Oh, Rhett, you didn’t?” Mom says with disbelief.
“And I found out.” Marlow cocks her shoulder proudly.
“So this was a double blackmail?” My tone is flat with disgust.
“You don’t care about my son, Marlow?” Mom’s tone matches mine. It’s more of a rhetorical question than anything.
“Of course she doesn’t. She has Joe. She just saw an opportunity and couldn’t bear to let Pippa be happy.” I scrub my hand down my face because if anything, she’s the superhero of this story, yet I lost her.
“What can I say, old habits die hard,” Marlow says. “Perfect Pippa had always been easy to tease and taunt, especially after I found out you liked her. If you must know, I wrote the sonnet, Chase, because I liked you and she stole your attention away.”
“That didn’t give you the right to torment her.”
I can’t even look at her or my father.
My mother draws up to her full height. “Young lady, I was once told that ‘Grace is giving someone what they do not deserve.’ I cannot bear the thought of you under my roof for a second longer, but I will not turn you out in the night. Go upstairs and leave first thing in the morning. You and your sister are not welcome in our homes or our lives.”
Good riddance.
“Rhett, I’m disappointed. Hurt,” Mom starts.
“I’m sorry, dear.”
I grunt. “I’ll need some time before I can find the grace that Mom affords.” I stomp upstairs because now I have to figure out how to win Pippa back.
What would Cap do? Cap would tell me to take the ball and run. Not to stop until I score a touchdown. It ain’t over ‘til I win. But right now, that looks like listening to my heart, listening to God. I send up a prayer, seeking guidance, because this play isn’t one I’ve used before.