Maisy arrived home from her part-time job to find her mother sitting in the kitchen. She wasn’t alone. Simon Furst sat at the table with her. Maisy did an automatic double take and stopped so abruptly she almost stumbled.
“Good afternoon,” Simon said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world to be visiting with her mother and sipping coffee as though he hadn’t a care in the world.
“Mr. Furst,” she said, her voice scratchy with shock. “What are you doing here?”
He wasn’t allowed to answer before her mother spoke.
“We solved the mystery, Maisy,” her mother announced, smiling as big as if she’d won the lottery.
Maisy remained standing, frozen in place. “The mystery?”
Although she asked her mother the question, it was SimonFurst who answered. “I came because there are things you need to know.”
“Such as?” Her heart was pumping at an alarming rate as she tried to take in the fact that Simon Furst was here with her mother.
Simon’s hands cupped the coffee mug. “A while back, Chase sought me out for advice. He’d learned your family was struggling with the store’s debt. He cared about you and was afraid of what would happen to the family if Sean wasn’t able to work after his truck was taken. That Chase came to me for advice is rare enough. My son learned a long time ago to stand on his own two feet.”
“Sit down, Maisy,” her mother said, gesturing to the chair across from Chase’s father.
As if walking in a dream, she did as her mother suggested and slid onto the chair, still clenching her purse to her chest like a lifeline.
“Chase was deeply troubled and didn’t know if he could stand by idly and do nothing. Apparently, he’d given you his word that he wouldn’t step in.”
“He did promise me he wouldn’t,” Maisy stated stiffly.
“I mentioned earlier, when Chase brought you to Chicago, how important you’d become to him. You and your family. As you recall, I said you showed him what a real family looks like, how you pull together in a crisis. It was something he’d never witnessed before, and it changed him.”
“I remember what you said about not being able to give him a good home life,” she said.
“Chase never had that sense of belonging, of connection, or being a part of a whole. A family was the one thing his mothercraved, and the one thing her body wouldn’t allow to happen. When I took away any chance of her having more children, she lost all hope, and that destroyed her.”
Chase had told Maisy what he knew about Michelle’s story, so this wasn’t new information.
“My son is more like his mother than I ever realized. He, too, is hungry for family, a family I failed to provide. My two marriages after Michelle were disasters. Chase had no aunts or uncles or cousins, and God knows my parents were no help in that area. Basically, my son grew up without the roots he so badly needed, although I doubt he was aware of it until he met all of you.”
“Which is one reason he loves Maisy so deeply,” her mother said, looking thoughtful.
Simon agreed. “Maisy showed him something my son has never known, and that’s the love and connection a family shares, the feeling of being grounded, a part of a whole, working together for the better good. With Maisy came the desire to create his own family, giving his children what he never had himself.”
Still unsure what any of this meant, she asked, “Can you tell me why you’re here?”
“The changes in Chase have been dramatic ever since you came into his life,” Simon continued, as if he hadn’t heard her question. “I’ve never known him to care as deeply about anyone the way he does you.”
“You mentioned Chase came to you for advice. What did you tell him?” Maisy’s mother asked.
“I suggested Chase do whatever it was he thought best.”
Maisy couldn’t remember Chase mentioning this conversation. Perhaps he had, but she didn’t remember it.
“Before I left for Europe, I asked Chase what he’d decided,” Simon continued. “Like I said, my son struggled with what he felt he should do. He loves you, Maisy, and as hard as it was for him to stand aside and do nothing, that was his decision.”
“He changed his mind because—”
“He didn’t,” Simon cut in, just as adamantly.
Maisy frowned. “He said it was you.”
“It was,” Simon insisted. “I was the one who made the offer on Gallagher Jewels,” he said. “When Chase decided to do nothing, I submitted a bid without him knowing. I had other things on my mind. I didn’t feel it was necessary to say anything, as the offer came through one of my many companies. I didn’t expect you to ever know it was me. As far as I was concerned, problem solved.”
