The Millionaire Claims His Wife

“She said that if her mother and father could go from feeling like that to—to feeling the way we do about each other now, then she didn’t want any part of the process that got them—that got us—to this point.”

Chase stared at his ex-wife. Her eyes were glassy with unshed tears and her mouth was trembling. Was she remembering, as he was, how it had once been between them? The joy? The passion? After a long minute, he cleared his throat again.

“What’d you say?”

“What could I say?”

“That our mistakes don’t have to be hers, for starters.”

Annie waved her hand in a sad little gesture of dismissal.

“Did you tell her that she was probably tired and jittery, and overdramatizing things?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

“I thought so, too.” Annie sighed. “But Dawn said she was just being pragmatic. She said she’d rather end things between her and Nick now, while they still cared for each other, than wait until—until they hated each other.”

“God, Annie. We don’t hate each other. You told her that, didn’t you?”

Annie nodded.

“And?”

“And she said I was kidding myself, that love and hate were two sides of the same coin, that there was no middle ground, once people who’d been in love fell out of love.”

Chase blew out his breath. “My daughter, the philosopher.”

Annie looked up, her eyes filling again. “What are we going to do?” she whispered.

“I don’t know.”

“Dawn’s heart is breaking. There’s got to be something! We can’t just let her walk away from Nick. She loves him, Chase. And he loves her.”

“I know. I know.” Chase shoved his hand through his hair. “Let me think for a minute.”

“Our daughter’s terrified of marriage, and it’s our fault!”

Chase shot to his feet. “That’s crap.”

“It’s the truth.”

“It isn’t. It’s bad enough we couldn’t make our marriage work but I’ll be damned if I’m going to feel guilty for the failure of Dawn’s marriage. You hear me, Annie?”

“The entire house will hear you,” Annie hissed. “Keep your voice down, before you wake the kids.”

“They’re not ‘kids.’ Didn’t you just tell me that? Our daughter was old enough to decide she was ready to get married even though, according to you, you tried to talk her out of it.”

“According to me?” Annie leaped up, her hands on her hips. “I did try to talk her out of it! But you’d already caved in and given her the ‘follow your heart’ baloney. You told her to do what she wanted!”

“That’s not true.” Chase strode toward Annie, his eyes blazing. “I begged her to think and think again. I said she was too damned young to take such a serious step—and guess what? I was right.”

Annie’s shoulders slumped. “Okay, okay. So we both tried to convince her to wait. So maybe she should have listened to us. But she didn’t.”

“No. She didn’t. She did her own thing. And then she sees us dancing and all of a sudden, she turns into Sigmund Freud and figures out that she’s made a terrible mistake.”

“Chase, please! Keep your voice—”

“She has an epiphany, brought on by seeing us dancing. Why not by a gum wrapper on the floor at the airport, or the electrical energy from an overhead wire?”

“This is not something to joke about, dammit!”

“Maybe it was some guy at a piano, playing a three-handed version of ‘The Man That Got Away.’” Chase lifted his arms to the sky, then dropped them to his sides. “What was wrong with her hearing the day her old man tried to give her some advice?”

“It was advice I’d tried to give her, too,” Annie said coldly. “I keep telling you that.”

“What was the use of my talking,” Chase said, ignoring her, “if she wasn’t listening? She did what she wanted and now she thinks she can lay it off on our divorce?” Chase’s mouth thinned. “I don’t think so.”

“She’s not trying to lay anything off. She’s upset.”

“She’s upset? What about everybody else? Does she think we’re busy yakking it up and having an all-around good time?” Chase’s face darkened. “Do you know what it was like, having Nick turn up at the door to tell me Dawn had run off and he couldn’t find her? Do you have any idea at all of what that kid and I went through?”

“Yelling won’t help, Chase.”