Duchess (9 page)

The intensity in Kyle’s voice unnerved her. He truly did believe in her. How could that be? There was an emotion in his eyes she couldn’t decipher. She looked away, uncertain how she felt about this information.

“I guess we’d better start thinking about damage control now.” He was back to business as usual. She wondered if she had imagined what had just happened.

“Um, yeah. Sure.” She took off her wig and stared out the window as Kyle began droning on about what they needed to do next.

Did she only fail because she didn’t believe in herself? She scrambled to understand how that could be possible. Everything Katie had thought about herself and Duchess had been turned on its head, and she wasn’t sure it would ever be the same again.

Chapter Ten

Chase held the flowers low so he could see over the bright blossoms and not get dizzy from the fragrant scent that emanated from the large bouquet. He knew he’d gone a little overboard in the hospital gift shop, but he hadn’t wanted to visit Shirley empty-handed. When he thought about all the things Shirley had done to help him and the other people at Veterans’ Aid over the past year and a half, the bouquet in his hands didn’t feel like enough. And to know that the whole time she’d been helping them heal from battle, she’d been engaged in her own private war against cancer—the woman’s strength made him feel like a coward.

After the nurse buzzed him into the ICU, he walked into her room holding the flowers in front of him. Looking around, he noticed the fancy wallpaper and beautiful overstuffed couches and chairs. The opulence of the room screamed upscale hotel room. Only the hospital bed and steady beeping of the machines gave away the room’s true purpose. Shirley stared at the TV on the wall.

“Hey, Shirley,” he said as he came to the side of her bed.

“Shh!” was all the reply he got as she motioned to the television. He looked up and saw Duchess giving an interview. He couldn’t believe the get-up she had on. How did she manage to always look like a cartoon character? And those purple eyes! So unnerving. He set the flowers down on a nearby table, took a seat by the bed, and watched as the pop diva made a fool out of herself on national television. When the interview was over, Shirley turned off the TV and sighed.

“Did she really just say that everyone should pretend to be someone they’re not?” Chase couldn’t believe this was the artist Amber wanted to represent her charity at a benefit concert.

“I’m afraid so.” Shirley looked worn down, and he realized she was probably just missing Katie.

“I guess Katie is with
her
?” He pointed at the blank screen.

“Yep.”

He pressed his lips together and crossed his arms as his muscles tensed.

“How did Katie ever get mixed up with someone like Duchess in the first place?”

Shirley didn’t answer right away. For a moment, he didn’t know if she would answer him at all.

“Katie’s always wanted to be a singer, even from the time she was a young child. I suppose it’s my fault for encouraging her, but I thought she should try to reach for her dream. What parent doesn’t want their children to succeed?”

He thought about his own parents, who had been too strung out on drugs to care about feeding him, much less caring about his dreams.

“When her older brother joined the Army, we all feared the worse. When he died, it shattered our whole world. Suddenly, James and I were blaming each other for everything. I told him it was his fault David signed up in the first place. Said he was trying to make his father proud of him.”

A sob racked her body. Her lungs couldn’t handle the strain, and a coughing fit ensued.

“Take it easy.” Chase raised the top of the bed to lift her head. “Maybe we should talk about something else.” He helped her sit up and began to pat her back. As the coughing subsided, he slowly lay her back down.

“No. I need to say this.” She motioned to her water, and he brought the straw to her lips. After taking a small sip, she lay back on the pillows before continuing. “James couldn’t look at me without seeing the blame in my eyes. He finally left me. I thought I would feel vindicated at that moment, like I was right or he wouldn’t have left. But all I felt was emptiness.” Her eyes closed for a moment, and Chase thought maybe she’d fallen asleep. But soon her eyes blinked open, and she began again.

“And poor Katie. Not only had she lost her brother, her biggest fan and confidant, but she lost her father as well. After he left, she worked so hard to get into Julliard and was rewarded with a full-ride scholarship. It was her dream come true. At least, that’s what she thought.”

Shirley’s eyelids drooped, and her head rolled a bit to the side on her pillow. Chase thought about the beautiful, confident woman he knew and compared her to the girl Shirley was describing. His chest swelled with emotion as he thought about all the things Katie had gone through.

“She soon realized that opera wasn’t what she wanted to do and dropped out of Julliard.” Shirley broke the silence as she continued. “But no matter how hard she worked, her music just wasn’t the same. She threw herself into the work part of the business—who she should know, how to market and publicize. She stayed away from the emotion of writing songs. She just sang the ones she’d written before, but the passion was no longer there. She received rejection after rejection. I watched as my vibrant, outgoing Katie withered inside. Her confidence was gone, and it didn’t matter how hard she worked or who she met—each rejection seemed to take a piece of her until there wasn’t much left. When we found out about my cancer, it was kind of the straw that broke the camel’s back. That’s when . . .” She paused for a bit to catch her breath. Chase picked up her cup of water, but she shook her head. “That’s when she met Duchess.”

He waited to see if she was going to say anything else. When she didn’t, he finished the thought for her. “She decided to give up her dream and help Duchess with hers?”

Shirley nodded, and he sat back in his chair with a heavy sigh. “Duchess has been good to you both, hasn’t she?” Just the hospital room around them was proof.

“Yes,” she answered simply. Her eyes fluttered closed, and Chase knew it had worn her out to say what she had.

“You know who she is? Duchess?” He couldn’t help asking the question.

“I used to think I did.” She paused. “I’m not so sure anymore.”

Her eyes remained closed, and her breathing started to slow a bit, though it was still labored. He sat still for moment, taking in the information she’d given him. It certainly explained a lot about Katie. He knew the girl he had seen on stage the other night was a glimpse of what she used to be. He smiled at how vibrant she had been. It was such a contrast to the woman he’d first met. That woman had been emotionless. Like a soldier—a beautiful but battle-weary soldier.

Suddenly, he understood her. He knew all about shutting off his emotions. Was that why he’d been so drawn to her?

“Chase?”

He turned at the sound of Shirley’s soft voice.

“I’m still here,” he answered.

“I need your help.” Her eyes were only opened partway, and her voice was almost a whisper.

“Do you need me to adjust your pillow?” He reached up toward her bed, but she shook her head.

“No, I need you to help me find my husband.”

“What?” His stomach grew heavy as a feeling of dread came over him.

“I need to find James. He’ll want to be there for Katie when I’m gone.”

“I’m sure you have lots of time.” He actually wasn’t sure of that at all, but wasn’t that what he was supposed to say?

“No, I don’t. Katie’s just in denial.”

“Well, even so, can’t you just have her find him?” His uneasy feeling grew.

“She won’t. I’ve asked.”

“Then maybe you should respect her wishes.”

“Her wishes? What about my wishes?” She tried to yell the last part, but it ended in another coughing fit.

“You’ve gotta stop working yourself up.” 

“Then listen to me!” She tried to sit up, but fell back in pain and grasped Chase’s hand instead. “You don’t understand. I’m the one who pushed James out of Katie’s life. Out of my life, too. It’s my biggest regret. I have to beg his forgiveness, and I have to fix my wrong. I can’t die knowing I left Katie without anyone to care for her. She can’t be alone.” A tear escaped and crawled down her cheek. He reached for a nearby tissue and caught the tear. He hated to watch a woman cry. Something about Shirley crying was even worse.

Leaning forward, he placed his elbows on his knees and hung his head for a moment as he let out a long breath. “Okay, Shirley,” he answered as he brought his head back up and thought about how he was going to accomplish this task.

“You’ll do it?” The hope in Shirley’s voice caused him to cringe. He didn’t know if he could give her what she was hoping for.

“Yes, but I’ll need you to tell me everything you know about him. His birthdate, where he last lived, all of it. But I still can’t promise anything.”

“I know. But just knowing you’ll try is enough … for now.”

It was his turn to sigh. “How did I let you talk me into this?”

“I think it was the tears.” She smiled like she had planned it. But thanks to his ex-wife, he knew a fake cry when he saw one, and that wasn’t it.

“Yep, that’s what it was.” He humored her. “Well, I think I’ll let you get some rest.”

“Wait,” she said. “Go get my purse out of that cabinet, please.”

He brought it to her and watched with curiosity as she pulled out a fancy-looking envelope.

“These are two tickets to a charity event at the Wilshire Hotel on Friday night. Could you give them to Amber for me?”

He looked at the envelope incredulously. “Amber wants tickets to a charity event?”

“I don’t know. I just thought it would be good for her to see how these things are run, and maybe she could rub elbows with the rich and famous. It could help with the benefit concert.”

Chase promised he would take care of it and thanked her for her generosity before leaving. As he caught a bus to Veterans’ Aid, he smiled at the thought of Amber’s husband, Rick, in a tux. Oh, that would be funny.

He found Amber in her office, which was actually just a desk in the back corner of the space they rented. He dropped the envelope on her desk and smiled.

Amber looked up in surprise. “What’s this?”

“It’s from Shirley.”

Amber opened the envelope, and her eyes went wide. “Oh, my goodness! Do you know what these are?”

“Tickets to some black-tie charity event.”

“Not just
some
black-tie charity event. The John Wayne Cancer Institute charity event at the Wilshire Beverly Hills! Do you know what it would mean if we could raise just a tenth of what they raise? We could buy that building, remodel it, and still have money left over.” Amber held the tickets up like they were made of diamonds.

“Be sure to tell Rick to break out a tux.” Chase couldn’t help the smile that came to his lips.

“Rick? Oh, no! He can’t go—he has a dinner appointment for work. I don’t want to go alone.” She looked around frantically until her eyes fell on Chase again.

“Chase?” When he saw her eyes light up, the smile slid off his face.

“I’m not going to a black-tie event. I’m just the delivery man.”

“Please, Chase? I really need your support on this.”

“Hey, you told me all I had to do was help you with a benefit concert. You never said anything about wearing a monkey suit.”

“But you could see how they run security. You might even be able to hire some of them for our concert. Just think—less work.”

He knew from experience how persistent she could be, but he wasn’t going to back down this time. “I don’t mind more work as long as it’s not in a tux. Besides, where am I even going to get one on such short notice?”

“Rick has an old one that doesn’t fit him anymore, but I think it would work nicely for you.”

“Of course you do.” He rolled his eyes and sighed. This wasn’t going his way. “Look, I’m sure you could find someone else.”

“Who else, Chase? Please?”

He pushed his shoulders back as he mentally encouraged himself to stand his ground.

“I’m not going to do it, Amber. I draw the line at wearing a tuxedo. You’ll just have to find someone else.”

Amber narrowed her eyes. He waited for a tongue-lashing, but instead, her lips suddenly turned up into a sly smile as she replied, “We’ll see about that.”

With that cryptic response, she walked away, and Chase slipped his hands into his pockets and wondered what she was planning.

Chapter Eleven

The opulence of the Wilshire Beverly Hotel took Katie’s breath away. People bustled around her in evening gowns and tuxedos as she stopped to gawk at the chandelier hanging in the lobby. Light reflected off the many drops of cut glass, leaving little rainbow circles around the room, including on Katie’s new gown. The bodice and cap sleeves were a sparkly navy-blue color, with the flowing skirt going gradually to a light blue puddle on the floor behind her heels in a small train. Her light-brown curls hung loosely past her shoulders.

Katie took a deep breath and made her way to the ballroom, entering alone. Her mother had been at her side last year, not lying in a hospital bed—just a reminder that all the contacts she’d made at this fundraiser last year had failed. She’d talked to every doctor she could find, but no one had been able to cure her mother’s cancer. Hope had been a bright, burning bonfire. Now it was made of dying embers that didn’t know they should flicker out.

Katie pasted on a smile as she looked for her name on the many linen-draped dinner tables packed into the ballroom. She’d forgotten how many celebrities attended this fundraiser. The record label hadn’t forgotten—that’s why they had chosen this event for Duchess to make an appearance tonight. She sighed at the thought of having to become Duchess here. She’d checked into a room in the hotel to make the transition easier, but it had cost her $1500 for one night. It was ridiculous to pay that amount of money on a room for one person. If Duchess was like any other self-respecting pop diva, she would have at least ten other people in the room helping her trash it properly.