Duchess (26 page)
Authors: Nikki Wilson
“Good gravy, girl! What happened in here?” Amber looked at Katie, and her eyes widened. “And don’t even get me started on how you look right now.”
It was enough to give a girl a complex, but she couldn’t help but smile at Amber’s exuberance.
“It’s not that bad,” Katie protested half-heartedly.
“She’s already at the delusional stage,” Amber said to Chase, who was chuckling to himself. “What would David say if he saw you like this?”
“Take a nap?” Katie answered hopefully.
“He would say to quit wallowing and get to work.”
Katie could suddenly see why Amber was so good with the veterans she helped. She sounded like a drill sergeant.
Amber grabbed Katie’s hand and began to pull her out of the room. “Come with me. We’re going to clean you up.”
Katie shot a glare at Chase as she reluctantly left the room. Before she could protest, Amber took her to the bathroom and shoved her toward the shower.
“I’ll find you some clothes while you wash off the stink of day-old pizza.”
She obeyed, and before she knew it, Amber had her looking like a model. How the woman pulled off that miracle, Katie didn’t know.
Trudging down the stairs, she followed Amber to the waiting car in the drive. Chase was already in the passenger seat, and Amber headed to the driver’s side. Curious about the plans of her devious companions, Katie opened the back door and climbed in.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Do you even know what’s been going on since the de-masking of Duchess?”
“Oh, I’m pretty sure I can imagine. Right now, the media is probably having a field day, laughing at the would-be singer/songwriter girl who didn’t have enough talent to make it with her own voice, so she had to dress up and use synthesizers. I’m sure there are pictures from my high school yearbook scrounged up by some overenthusiastic journalist intern. Oh, and let’s not forget the entertainment journalists who are claiming they knew all along that Duchess was a fraud. Gee, I can’t imagine why I would want to lock myself away from all of that.”
She waited for Chase to respond, but he turned back to looking out the windshield with a smirk, not saying a thing.
The thick silence made her uneasy. “What’s going on? What did I miss?” She looked to each of them for an answer, but neither one said a thing until Amber stopped the car in the parking lot of the Hollywood Bowl.
Chase twisted in his seat to face Katie. “You got part of it right.”
She sighed. “How’s that?”
“The media is having a field day, but not for the reasons you think. Videos of you singing that song for your mom have gone viral, and everyone’s wondering why you were hiding behind a synthesizer in the first place.”
Katie stared at him with her mouth open.
“You must be mistaken.”
“I’m not, and we’re here so I can prove it to you.”
Looking around, she noticed the parking lot was fuller than normal on a weekday afternoon. She shifted her gaze toward the stadium and saw a giant sign that said, “We love Katie!”
“I don’t understand.”
“What don’t you understand? People recognize true talent when they hear it. They love you, Katie. They love your song—they love your voice. If you would come out of hiding, they would love everything else about you too.”
“Is that what this is about? Am I coming out of hiding right now?” Her pulse sped up, and her eyes widened.
“Not exactly. In fact, you’ll need to be in hiding a little longer. Amber?”
Amber got out, opened the backdoor, and produced a bag from the floor of the backseat. “These items should help you stay incognito.”
Opening the bag, Katie found large sunglasses and a big floppy hat. Her eyebrows scrunched together as she looked up.
“Just put them on and trust me,” Chase said as he held her gaze.
Heat flooded through her, and she realized she did trust him. Even if he had broken her heart.
Obeying his request, she placed the hat on her head and slid the sunglasses over her eyes. “Now what?” she asked.
“Now we hike.” Chase got out of the car and walked around to open her door.
As they walked toward the stairs, Katie looked back at the car and noticed that Amber wasn’t coming with them. The idea of being alone with Chase thrilled and terrified her at the same time. Climbing the steps, she followed him to the same spot where they had eaten their picnic lunch the first time she’d brought him there.
She sat down and looked toward the stage, noticing a gathering of people with cameras and microphones. Sitting in the lower level seats was a small crowd of people chanting something she couldn’t hear and holding signs she couldn’t read.
“What’s going on?”
“You’ll see.” The half-smile on his face caused a fluttering feeling in her gut. She studied him as he turned back to watch the stage. The anger she’d seen since he found out about Duchess was gone. She hoped he could forgive her. He might not ever feel for her what she felt for him, but the thought of not having him in her life caused a shiver to go down her spine.
“Can I have your attention, please?” The voice that came over the speakers had Katie whipping her gaze to the stage. Her jaw dropped open as she saw her father addressing the audience. “I know you all have lots of questions and would love nothing more than to see Katie for yourselves, but I would like to remind you that her mother passed away less than a week ago, and she would like some space to grieve.”
That statement produced a flurry of activity among the media. Questions were fired at the stage, and she watched in awe as her father answered them all with ambiguous statements. One question caught Katie’s attention.
“Are the rumors that Duchess’s record label is going to sue Katie true?”
She groaned as she remembered her last phone conversation with Kyle.
“Actually, the record label and Katie’s attorney have come to an understanding that won’t make a lawsuit necessary.” Her father’s confident answer pulled a gasp from Katie.
She turned to stare at Chase, who smiled broadly. “You never told me your father was a lawyer,” he said, “and a very good one at that. He tore their case apart by showing them the illegal nature of their contract with Duchess. They withdrew their lawsuit, and your father made them sign an agreement that they wouldn’t try to sue you in the future.”
Katie looked back at the man on the stage, and moisture pricked at the corners of her eyes. “He did that for me?”
Chase gently turned her head to face him. “Your father may have made some mistakes in the past, but he loves you, almost as much as I do.”
Katie started to nod, but stopped as she realized what he said at the end. Her eyes widened as she searched his face for answers.
“I’ll admit, when I found out your secret, I felt betrayed and angry, and I didn’t know why. But these past three days, I’ve watched the reaction in the media. I expected them to have the same feelings I did, but that didn’t happen. No one else felt betrayed or angry. I had to ask myself why it hurt me so much, and I realized I had let myself care for you. I thought I would never care for anyone like this ever again, but you brought my heart back to life.”
Tears gathered in her eyes at his words, but she couldn’t believe he would ever be able to forgive her. “I never pretended with you.” The words came out before she could think about them. “I never had to.”
Katie broke eye contact with him and looked down. His warm fingertips lifted her chin, and she gazed into his eyes.
“You couldn’t pretend with me any more than I could pretend with you because this is real, Katie, and I love you.”
Standing up, Chase reached down for her hand and pulled her up next to him. Her heart quickened as he wrapped his arm around her waist and held her close. For the first time in days, her overwhelming grief lessened and hope filled her. Her mother was gone, Duchess was gone, but looking into Chase’s eyes, she knew her life was just beginning.
He brought his hand up to the side of her head and gently guided his lips toward hers. Closing her eyes, she immersed herself in the sensation of feeling the warmth of his mouth against hers.
The kiss ended slowly, and she opened her eyes to find him staring at her.
Katie took a deep breath and knew it was time to think about her future. A future that included Chase.
“Now,” Chase said with a smirk, “do you want to give this audience a sneak peek of what Katie’s first album will be like?”
She waited for her nerves to react to his question, but nothing happened. “I think I am,” she answered and took hold of his hand.
A floating sensation washed over her as all her cares and worries lifted away. Peace settled in her chest, and she knew everything would be all right. Her worst fears had been realized—her mother had died and the secret of Duchess had been revealed. She’d been so afraid of those things happening that she never stopped to realize that she’d given her fears too much power—power to cage her. But fear had no hold over her any longer. The worst had happened, and she’d done more than just survive it—she’d thrived. Thanks to her mother, she’d gained two important men in her life, and she learned that love never dies.
About the Author:
Nikki Wilson was born Nikki Hogg, no relation to Ima Hogg or Ura Hogg. She received her two-year Associates in Arts degree after only seventeen years from starting it. (Impressive, I know!) She works as an instructional assistant helping children to learn to love reading as much as she does. She is a licensed cosmetologist in the state of Arizona and enjoys meeting new people. She is also founder of the blog Mormon Mommy Writers, where she can talk about the joys of being a Mormon, a mommy, and a writer. When she isn’t busy reading or writing, her greatest accomplishments expect her to cook them dinner, drive them all over kingdom come, and tuck them in at night. You can learn more about Nikki at
www.authornikkiwilson.com
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