Unable to stay still for a moment longer, I got up from the sofa and walked over to the window, keeping my back turned to Chase. This was the one thing I had never shared with anyone.
The air grew silent, and all I could hear were the cars outside.
“The morning of the day she disappeared, I was late for school, but she wasn’t in a hurry to let me go,” I began. “She pulled me aside and told me that she was sorry. That I shouldn’t be angry with her for what she had done, but she was worried for my safety. That I must never go after the money, but that I should try to get my hands on the letters because they would explain everything.”
“What letters?” Chase asked.
“The letters in her will. The only thing she left me,” I explained. “By committing suicide, she left everything to Clint. The mansion. All her money. Everything she had received from her father—my grandfather.”
I turned around to face him. His eyes were narrowed as he processed my words.
Eventually he said, “That’s…strange.”
He had meant to say something other than “strange.” I could see it in his expression, but I didn’t press the issue.
“I guess.” There was a hard tone in my voice. I sounded bitter, I realized, but I couldn’t help myself. Too many years had passed, and yet they did nothing to reduce the pain of her leaving me to face the world alone.
“Did you read them?” Chase asked, filling the silence.
“The letters?” I shook my head, signaling that I hadn’t. “That’s why I needed you.”
“I’m sorry. I’m afraid I don’t follow.”
I clasped my hands together. “My mother specifically asked that I be married before my twenty-third birthday in order to get the letters,” I said.
He drew a long breath. “And your twenty-third birthday is—”
“In twenty days.”
“Ah.” His eyes widened just a little bit. “In twenty days? But you’re not married. You’re just engaged.”
“Pretend-engaged.” I rolled my eyes at Chase, stating the obvious. “I don’t even know why I can’t just forget all about them and move on. There’s probably nothing important in them anyway, just a madwoman’s senseless rambling.”
“But she was your mother,” Chase said. “And those letters are the only thing she left you.”
I nodded gravely. Maybe he didn’t know what I was feeling, but he certainly knew why those letters meant so much to me.
“That’s true. But she was still crazy. And they’re probably just stupid letters,” I said, repeating the one thing I had kept telling myself over and over again for the past few years. Lies to myself to get over the fact that she hadn’t loved me enough to stay alive and see me grow up and do all the things mothers did with their daughters.
“They’re not stupid letters, Laurie.” His fingers stroked my face, pressing gently until I looked up to meet his determined gaze. “You said she was scared, maybe not just for you, but for herself as well. Maybe she knew something, and that’s why she cut you out of the will.”
“Or maybe she was crazy as bat shit.” I laughed darkly.
“No,” Chase said, his gaze never leaving me. “Clint offering me money to get rid of me? That only proves he has something to hide. What if there was something really important in those letters?”
I stared at him, at the way his eyes seemed to shimmer with intelligence.
“I’ll admit it crossed my mind, but I always thought….” I left the rest unfinished.
“What?” He frowned at me.
“My stepfather gave her the medication. I always thought she was quite lucid…until she took the pills he gave her. But maybe I was imagining things. I was just a child. Maybe I’m crazy thinking all this.”
When I remained quiet, he continued. “You’re not crazy, Laurie. You actually might be on to something.” He pulled me to him, and for a moment I thought—feared—he’d kiss me. But the kiss never came. “That’s why you need me. And I’d be happy to help you.”
My heart skipped a beat or two.
Why did I like the sound of that so much? And why did I like it even more coming from this stranger’s beautiful mouth?
For a moment we just stared at each other, the silence heavy between us.
“You know what?” he asked. “I think we should get married.”
“What?” I gaped at him, unsure whether I had heard right.
Chase shrugged and pulled away, his face turned so I couldn’t see his expression.
“I mean it. We’re both single, with no commitments. It would solve all your problems. What’s the harm?”