“You’re the one who’s misleading my audience, Mr. Parker.”
“I imagine your audience tuned in today to find out about my horse rescue plans. They haven’t been misled in the least. I’m sure your station will post the information on your website, but if anyone is interested in the program or has a horse in need of rescue, just email me.” Chase rattled off his email address.
The tech was giving a signal for Wilcox to wrap up the interview. Trying to paste on a recovery smile, the reporter said, “Thank you for coming in today, Chase. I’m sure our audience appreciates your forthrightness on everything we discussed.”
Chase felt a flush come to his face. He didn’t like not being forthright. But for Lucie’s sake, what else could he do?
Chapter Thirteen
After watching Chase’s interview, feeling for him as he was ambushed by the reporter, Lucie came to several realizations. She was irrevocably in love with Chase. Because she loved him, she couldn’t let him put his reputation on the line. He probably didn’t realize what was going to happen next. There would be so much fallout that there’d be an absolute media scramble to find out the facts. There would be rumors about their marriage and affairs and engagements, and everything in between. Chase had no idea what was coming.
But she did.
What did Chase feel for her? Did he just want her in his bed? Or did he love her? Did he want their marriage annulled? She didn’t, but she wasn’t in this alone. If Chase didn’t love her, it would hurt and be almost unbearable. But because she loved him, she’d give him the annulment and let him go on with his life.
However, neither of them could continue without the truth. It was about time she followed her mother’s advice and let the truth be liberating. She knew the best way to do that was to contact her mother’s public relations secretary and let her set up a press conference. But first she’d call her mother and tell her what she was planning.
* * *
Chase was pacing his office, realizing that wily reporters, let alone investigative ones, could probably access his phone records to see if he and Lucie had talked. Should he call her and tell her he hadn’t known what else to do except fall back on denial?
While he was considering that, his own phone beeped. Taking it from his pocket, he didn’t recognize the Texas number. “Chase Parker here.”
“Mr. Parker? This is Josephine Fortune Chesterfield. We met briefly last week.”
“Yes, we did,” he confirmed, wondering why Lucie’s mother was calling him. Then a horrible thought hit him. “Has something happened to Lucie?”
“You mean, by way of an accident or that type of thing? No, no, no. I’m sorry if I worried you in that way.”
Worried him in the least? If something happened to Lucie, the light would go out of his life. This realization stunned him. Chase’s heart had almost stopped when he realized how his world would fall apart if harm came to Lucie...because he loved her. It had taken him too long to realize it. Was he too late? “How can I help you, Lady Fortune Chesterfield?”
“Lucie saw your interview and so did I.”
He was silent because he absolutely didn’t know what to say.
“Chase?” she asked.
“I was there to talk about the horse rescue. I didn’t expect the rest.”
“No, of course you wouldn’t. You’re an honorable man. Mr. Wilcox was out for the ratings. Lucie is terrifically unhappy that you were put in that position.”
“That’s not her fault.”
“I’m so glad you don’t blame her. Other men in your position might.”
“It is what it is, Lady Fortune Chesterfield. She can’t help that the press hounds her and her family. The truth is—I didn’t know what to tell him. I’m sure with investigation all of this is going to come out. But at least with notice, you and your family can prepare what you want to say. It gave you a little time if nothing else.”
“I see now that that was your plan,” Josephine said. “Thank you. Lucie is wasting no time dealing with this and that’s why I called. She will be giving a press conference in about an hour at the Crown Hotel’s ballroom. I thought you might want to be there.”
“Why didn’t Lucie call me and tell me?” Was she too upset about what he had or hadn’t said?
“My guess is that Lucie doesn’t want you to be embarrassed if you don’t like what she’s going to say. Personally I think you two need to communicate better.”
There seemed to be much Lady Fortune Chesterfield wasn’t saying, but Chase understood loyalty, and she would be true to her daughter no matter what.
“I don’t know whether to be worried or relieved she’s giving a press conference,” Chase said honestly. “Do you know what she’s going to say?”
“She hasn’t shared everything with me, but she did say she was going to tell the truth. You can infer from that what you may.”
“Will you be there, Lady Fortune Chesterfield?”
“No, I’m still in Horseback Hollow. I won’t be able to get there in time. But I will be watching.”
“Then you’ll see me there. I’ll be as close to the front as I can get.”
“I thought you’d want to be there. Lucie’s going to need all the support she can get. After she makes a statement, the press will bombard her with questions.”
“I’ll protect her. No matter what she says.”
“I was counting on that,” Josephine said with a smile in her voice. “I’ve depended on her a bit too much since her father died. I think we’re both coming to realize that. She’s a woman with her own mind, and I have to stand back a bit now and let her do what she must.”
After Chase ended the call, he thought about what Lucie could say, might say, might feel.
Then he headed for the elevator. He had a stop to make before he attended that press conference.
* * *
Lucie knew she had to do this. She absolutely had to. If she brought the tabloids down on her family, well, so be it. They’d been through it before. They’d survive. Her mother had accepted her decision and hadn’t tried to talk her out of it. Maybe she’d realized she had to pull back a bit. Maybe she’d realized Lucie wanted a different life from the one Josephine envisioned for her. Lucie had realized that she had to find her own life, no matter what happened with Chase. She simply knew she couldn’t let him take the fall for their history and what had happened between them the past few weeks. She didn’t want him to have to evade or be dishonest. Neither of them had done anything wrong.
To Lucie’s dismay, the ballroom of the hotel seemed to be filled. There were press members with their lanyards and ID badges, cameras and cords, and people everywhere. The cacophony of voices almost made Lucie’s head spin. But she emerged from the shadowy corner and walked up to the podium, prepared for whatever happened next.
After she adjusted the microphone, she tapped on it and closed her eyes for a moment against the flashes of light. Taking a bolstering breath, she opened her eyes and put on her best smile.
“Hello, everyone. I’m glad you could join me here today. Ever since Norton Wilcox’s airing of About Austin yesterday, there have been rumors and gossip about me and Chase Parker. I’d like to settle those rumors and give you the truth.”
Any chatter in the room stopped. For so many people gathered, the atmosphere was as silent as that of a church. But Lucie wasn’t nervous anymore. She wasn’t anxious either. She was doing the right thing.
“I have a tale to tell you and it’s not very long.”
Reporters held up microphones. She knew some of the people in the folding chairs were recording and photographing with their cell phones. She continued. “It’s the true story of a girl who hadn’t known much about the world. That girl was me. I’d been fairly sheltered, sent to the best schools, taken care of as if I were
royalty. But at seventeen, I felt it was time for me to venture a bit on my own. I signed up for a trip to Scotland. I thought I was ready to be an adult, away from my parents and family. I was enjoying some freedom. My trip leader was Chase Parker. He was twenty-one, and from the first moment we looked at each other, there was attraction there. So much so that we were both a little overwhelmed. So overwhelmed that when Chase asked me to marry him right there in Scotland where I didn’t need permission, I said yes.”
Many of the reporters in the crowd gave a gasp, and Lucie couldn’t help smiling genuinely this time.
“Our marriage was short-lived, however,” she went on, “because when Warren Parker, Chase’s father, found out, he persuaded us both the best thing to do was to have the marriage annulled. I was sent home from that trip in disgrace because I’d been caught with a boy in a hostel room alone. No one but Mr. Parker, Chase and I knew that boy was my husband.”
Again there was a buzz vibrating through the room. But it stopped when she began to speak once more. “Because of circumstances that occurred after that, Chase and I didn’t see each other again, not for ten years, not until a few weeks ago, when he visited me and told me he’d just found out that our marriage had never been annulled. He said lawyers were working on putting it right, but he wanted to tell me in person in case the news got out. Chase and I have seeing each other since that day. We’ve gotten to know each other better than we knew each other ten years ago. And I want to make one fact perfectly clear. When I was seventeen, I fell in love with Chase Parker, and...I’m still in love with him now.”
Oohs and aahs went up from the crowd.
“Yes, the annulment is in the works,” she went on, “but if it’s up to me, we’ll stay married forever.”
* * *
Chase had been sitting about ten rows back. He knew Lucie couldn’t see him in the crowd, especially not with the lights and the flashes and everyone wanting her attention. When he heard the words When I was seventeen, I fell in love with Chase Parker and I’m still in love with him now, it took him a moment to absorb what she was saying.
Reporters began firing questions. “When did you last see Chase Parker?”
“Have you been intimate with him?”
“Did his horse rescue ranch bring all of this to light?”
Chase was not going to let Lucie handle this herself, and he knew what he was going to do. There was no question about it in his mind...or in his heart.
When he stepped out into the side aisle and moved forward, security that had been hired for the occasion stopped him. But Chase took out his wallet and flashed his driver’s license.
“I’m Chase Parker, and I have something to say to Lucie.”
The burly man’s eyes grew wide. He stepped to the side to let Chase pass, and Chase heard the man call, “Good luck.”
Yes, he needed luck, but he needed more than that. He needed Lucie to change her life the way he would change his. Would she do it?
Chase pressed his way to the front of the crowd and shouted above all of them, “Lucie. What happens next isn’t just up to you. It’s up to me, too.” Then he ran up the steps to the stage.
She was staring at him as if he were a ghost. “Where did you come from? How did you know?”
“Your mother phoned me,” he said with a grin. Then, knowing exactly what he had to do, what he wanted to do more than anything else in the world, he dropped down to one knee.
Immediately the room grew quiet once more.
On his way to the press conference, he’d stopped at the jewelry store. Removing a velvet box from his pocket, he opened it. “From the moment I met you, I was smitten with you. There was something so strong between us that years and distance couldn’t erase. When I realized we were still married, one of the things I felt was...hope. I looked forward to seeing you again. Reuniting with you was the most life-altering moment I ever experienced. Because I loved you then...and I still love you now.”
Then, his voice ringing out loud and clear, he asked, “Lucie Fortune Chesterfield, will you agree to not unmarry me?”
A genuine smile broke out on Lucie’s face, and he could see tears brimming in her eyes.
“Yes, I’ll agree to not unmarry you. I’ll stay married to you forever.”
Rising to his feet, Chase slipped the ring on Lucie’s finger, took her into his arms and gave her a resounding kiss. The applause in the background registered only slightly because he had his world in his arms...and that was all he cared about.
Epilogue
One Week Later
Lucie and Chase sat on the fence, watching the horses trot in the larger pasture and in the separate runs from the barn. Chase had settled on the ranch, and his dad had let him borrow hands from the Bar P to quickly make necessary changes for the rescue horses. The sign for the Parker Rescue Ranch had just gone up the day before. Chase wrapped his arm around Lucie’s shoulders.
“We’re going to take a real honeymoon. I want to take you someplace you’ve never been.” That could be difficult, considering how much Lucie had traveled, but he didn’t think she’d ever been to Curaçao or Bali.
“We are on our honeymoon,” she reminded him.
He laughed. “Sleeping in sleeping bags the first two nights until we had furniture moved into the house wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.”
“Making love all night, whether on the floor or in a bed, is my idea of a honeymoon,” she teased.
“Besides trying out the stall in the barn and settee in the sunporch and—”
She jabbed him in the ribs.
He leaned close to her and kissed her temple. “I never thought you’d agree to stay in Austin...to starting a life here with me.”
“When you first told me we were still married, I couldn’t comprehend giving up the life I was leading. I had so many responsibilities to so many people. I guess I finally realized I don’t have to carry the world’s concerns on my shoulders. And...Mom and I need a little bit of distance, too. Neither of us really realized what happened after Dad died, the way we held on to and depended on each other, and didn’t make a move without the other’s approval. It was like we were afraid we’d lose each other, too, so we did everything we could to hold on. But that kind of love soon feels confining. It didn’t let either of us stretch our wings. We both realize that now.”
“And your mom’s not upset you found someone to take your place in Guatemala?”
“No. She knows Jenny Preston. She’s worked with us on many projects. She knows as much about the details as I do and about the process. She and Mom will work well together.”
Suddenly there was a honking of horns and the sound of cars on the gravel lane.
“Everyone’s arriving,” Chase said with a broad smile. “This barbecue might not be the best organized in the world, but the important thing is we’re sharing our happiness with our family and friends.”
“Exactly.”
She and Chase hopped off the fence and ran to the front of the house. As they passed the front porch, Chase caught the scent of newly sawed wood. He’d been cutting new baseboards. The inside of the house needed lots of work. He and Lucie had painted some walls and sanded the living room floor. It was work they enjoyed doing together.
As he rounded the lane and peered into the backyard, he grinned. It was ready for company, with picnic tables, benches and canopies. He’d had new appliances delivered to the kitchen two days ago, so that room was ready.
A limo drove up first and he knew his mother-in-law would be ensconced inside. She’d postponed her trip until after the barbecue.
Lucie waved at the couple in the second car and Ella stuck her head out the window. “Are you ready for us?” she asked.
“More than ready,” Lucie assured her.
A third SUV parked beside the others. I
t wasn’t long before Amelia, Quinn and Clementine were rushing toward Lucie and Chase.
Chase said, “Come around back, everyone. There’s beer, sweet tea and plenty of food.”
It wasn’t long before Chase’s parents arrived, along with Josephine’s sister, Jeanne Marie, and her husband, Deke, as well as Josephine and Jeanne Marie’s brother, James Marshall. Lucie’s brothers and their wives were there, too. All except her bachelor brother Charles, who couldn’t get away from London yet.
Quinn said to Chase, “There’s a news van parked out at the end of the lane. But I saw you had two burly guys in a truck watching them.”
“I hired security for today so we could have privacy. This is the reception Lucie and I never had, never dreamed we’d have. I’m not going to have it ruined by the press.”
Lucie and Amelia, Josephine and Jeanne Marie went into the kitchen and soon had the food organized, bringing it all outside to a large buffet table.
Chase heard Jeanne Marie say to Lucie, “I understand you’re going to keep working for the Fortune Foundation.”
“I am. I’m not giving up my work with children. There are lots of needy kids here in Austin. I’ll be helping the Fortune Foundation fund the best ways to aid them.”
Chase wrapped his arm around Lucie’s waist. “And soon maybe we’ll have kids of our own.”
They’d talked about that at night as they’d held each other in their arms. They both wanted children, at least three and maybe four.
Lucie’s cell phone buzzed and she took it from her pocket. Chase could see her press her video-chatting app. Her brother Charles’s face appeared on the screen.
“Hi, Luce. I wish I could be there with you, but I had to congratulate you and tell you I’m happy for you.”
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