Maisy’s voice cracked when she spoke. “Mom is relying on faith. I want to believe, too. I’m weak, though, and keepconsidering the consequences of what will happen. I’m looking for another job, but I’m probably not going to earn enough to fill in for what Mom contributed as a substitute teacher.”
“I’m sorry, love.”
“I know you are. It’ll work itself out. It always does.”
He heard the forced enthusiasm and wasn’t fooled. Maisy tried hard to have the same depth of faith as her mother did. These blows to the family had devastated her. It killed Chase to hear the fear and doubt in her voice. It hurt him, too, that she didn’t feel comfortable enough to share with him what happened to the family.
—
The next morning, Chase went directly to his father’s office. He knew Simon was busy getting ready for this all-important trip. This meant Chase would be working long hours, curtailing the time he had to chat with Maisy. The timing wasn’t the best, with Maisy needing his love and support now more than ever.
His father looked up from his desk when Chase entered. He must have noticed something in Chase’s expression, because he blinked and asked, “What’s on your mind, son?”
Chase took a chair. “It’s Maisy,” he said, without preamble.
“Something happen to her?”
He nodded, unsure how much he should share. “Her family is going through a financial crisis.” He explained what she’d told him the night before.
“And you want to help?”
“I do, but she’s pretty adamant that she doesn’t want me involved. She has this cockamamie idea that it would destroy our relationship.”
His father’s brows rose. “Will it?”
“Not on my end.”
“I like her, Chase. I’ll admit I had my doubts when you first mentioned her. All it took was that one meeting for me to recognize what you see in her. She’s as real as they come.”
Chase felt that way, too. “I don’t know what to do,” he said, returning to the problem at hand.
“Are you going to step up and help anyway?”
“Maisy made me promise that I wouldn’t.” He regretted that now, and wished he hadn’t agreed. Ignoring the fact that he’d given his word went against everything he believed. And yet he wasn’t comfortable standing by and letting the Gallagher family lose everything while he did nothing.
Chase had spent a sleepless night mulling over ways to intercede and still manage to keep his promise and had come up void.
“I suspect you believe I might have a solution for you,” his father said. He propped his fingers below his chin as he appeared to mull over the situation.
“I hoped you might have an idea.” Chase valued his father’s wisdom.
Simon leaned back in his chair as if he needed a few minutes to ponder the situation. When he spoke, it had nothing to do with Maisy.
“I ran into Harry Newman at the club two nights ago.”
His father hadn’t mentioned that earlier, which surprised Chase. He waited for Simon to relay the details.
“As you might imagine, it wasn’t a pleasant conversation. He’d made a fool of himself, announcing the wedding when there wasn’t going to be one. I overheard him telling a friend how you did his daughter wrong.”
Chase fully anticipated he’d be Harry’s scapegoat. It didn’t bother him as much as it apparently did his father.
“I wasn’t about to let him blame you for this, so I stepped in and made sure his audience heard the truth. Harry stepped way over the line in his effort to manipulate you and Astrid.”
“I’m fine with whatever Harry says about me.” And he was.
“I’m not, and I don’t believe Astrid is, either.”
Chase could see that his father had taken Newman’s rumor-spreading as a personal slight. While he had his suspicions, Chase had heard Harry’s financial troubles were worse than before. Recently there had been rumors that Astrid’s father was deeply in debt. His financial situation might not be currently apparent, but it would be soon enough. Harry’s house of cards was about to crumble. Chase pitied the man and worried about Astrid and her mother.
