After showering, he reached into the dresser, looking for a clean undershirt, and his hand hit the letter from his birth mother. He hadn’t opened it yet, and now he took it out to look at it. He thought maybe he should just ignore his birth mother and trust his father. Walter seemed as if he was changing for the better, but maybe not. He wished he could ask Kate about it, but she was being so distant. She seemed as if she was angry with him. He didn’t know why; he had thought their date had gone well.
As he held the letter in his hand, his curiosity got the better of him. He took out his knife and sliced open the envelope then took a deep breath and took out the letter.
My dearest son,
I’m so happy that you have finally been found. I never wanted to give you up. It was the Holbrooks. They made me do it. Your grandfather didn’t want a bastard child. You should have seen the look on his face when I married your father. Priceless.
I had nothing to do with the fire; don’t believe a word Walter says. I tried to rescue the children. I really did. It was the worst day of my life, the second being when I had to give you up. Bad things just keep happening to me, but with the success of the reality TV show and the fact that you have come back in my life, I believe that my life is turning around.
I do so want to meet you. I want to get to know you. I miss my children, and I need to have you around. I have an apartment in Manhattan. You can come stay with me. We can help each other. We can make each other stronger. I have connections
Grant stopped reading the letter—it was too much to handle. It reminded him a bit of his adoptive parents and how they would try to guilt trip him and manipulate him. Maybe his father was right about her after all. He wished he knew what to believe.
Chapter 43
Kate
“Where is Grant?” Kate asked Stefan. “The guests are arriving for the party. Grant needs to be here to greet them.”
Stefan headed upstairs to look for him.
“Perhaps he needs help dressing… oh, there you are! You look very handsome,” Stefan said to Grant.
He was wearing one of Mr. Lee’s well-tailored suits.
“No more uniform?” Kate asked him.
He smiled at her. “I’m not a marine anymore. It’s so strange.”
Kate pushed Grant out to the back terrace overlooking the garden. Waiters hovered with trays of drinks for the attendees. Grant and his father fielded congratulations and handshakes from the various important guests. Satisfied that they were able to handle themselves, Kate grabbed her own drink and went to talk to her grandmother.
“We pulled it off!” Margaret said, clinking her glass with Kate’s.
Ginny Fitzhugh and Eric Davenport arrived at that moment. Eric stayed to chat with Grant, and Ginny grabbed a drink and set off in Kate’s direction.
“How’s wedding planning?” Kate asked her.
“My planner is doing most of the work. I don’t really care about the wedding. I just want to be married.”
“That’s because you are a nice young woman who knows her priorities,” Margaret said.
“You know I’m not a big party person,” Ginny said with a giggle. “That’s Brandy.”
“I heard you’re franchising the dog-grooming business.”
“I just keep collecting her castoff projects,” Ginny said with an eye roll. “And then she gets mad at me. Now she’s trying to be an assistant. Be forewarned. Brandy is making moves on Grant. You better lock him down,” she said to Kate.
“I’m not—there’s nothing…” Kate sputtered.
“I heard you two went to that new place on the water,” Ginny said, taking one of the appetizers the waiter offered.
“It was a few friendly drinks.”
“That’s not where you take someone for friendly drinks,” Ginny said, coyly sipping her drink.
“I work for his family,” Kate said, trading out her empty glass for another cocktail from the server’s tray.
“You work for his father,” Ginny corrected, “and it hardly counts, considering we all went to the same schools. You aren’t some upstart gold digger.”
