“Where’s Sloane?” Raina asked.
“Home nursing a hangover, like Kendall, I’d think,” Rick said, his humor tinged with annoyance at last night’s situation.
“Oh, come now. Neither one of them drinks,” Raina said.
“How would you know what Sloane does or doesn’t do?” Chase asked.
Raina splayed her hands over the standard-issue hospital blanket. “I can read her well.
She’s a lovely, upstanding woman and she wouldn’t do such a thing,” Raina said with certainty.
“Perfect daughter-in-law material?” Rick called Raina on her obvious train of thought.
Her hazel eyes twinkled with delight. “Well, now that you mention it . . .”
“Wasn’t it that kind of thinking that got you into trouble in the first place?” Chase asked her.
She shrugged. “Two down, young man. Do you really think I’m going to give up on the notion of having you settled and happy like your brothers are? My methods may have been suspect, but my motives were pure.
He groaned. So much for hoping Raina’s now-precarious health would have her backing down from her quest to marry him off. “This isn’t a discussion I’m willing to have.”
“Because you have your priorities in order?” she asked.
He gave her a curt nod. “Exactly.”
She pursed her lips and let out a sound of pure motherly frustration. “If you had those priorities in order, you wouldn’t stay here with me now that you know I’m fine.”
He knew exactly where she was leading, yet he was powerless to prevent the conversation. “Where would I be?” he asked resignedly.
“With Sloane.”
Rick chuckled, not bothering to disguise his laugh as a throat clearing or anything else.
“Sloane can get along just fine without me,” Chase muttered.
“Why should she have to?” Raina asked.
His mother’s dirty look reminded him of the times he’d been caught doing something wrong as a young kid. Times that had ended quickly when he’d assumed his role as head of the Chandler house. “So I can take you home?”
“That’s something Eric can do. Even Rick is going home to his wife, aren’t you?”
Rick nodded. “I sure am. After I hear you read Chase the riot act about his life.” With a smirk on his face, he leaned against the wall, clearly enjoying watching Chase on the spot.
“Take a hike, young man. I want to talk to your brother.”
“Oh man. I miss out on all the fun,” Rick said.
“Now that was a perfect imitation of yourself as a kid,” Chase said, recalling the times he and his mother would have serious discussions that precluded his younger siblings. Only today, Chase’s love life was the topic.
“Chase just nailed the problem. He’s spent too much time being the parent to you boys and not enough time enjoying his own life,” Raina pronounced. “It’s not natural.”
Chase blinked in surprise. That Raina would realize how unusual his life had been was shocking. “Let’s drop the subject.” He didn’t want to delve that deeply into his psyche.
“No. I’ve ignored your needs for too long,” Raina said in a more determined voice than he’d ever heard before.
“I’m out of here before she starts focusing on my needs,” Rick muttered, making for the door.
“Coward,” Chase called after him.
“Better a coward than the subject of Mom’s analysis. See you at home tonight. Kendall and I will drop off dinner, so don’t even think of lifting a finger to cook,” he warned, then blew his mother a kiss and disappeared out the door.
Chase faced his mother and, in doing so, faced his past. She appeared as frail and wan as she had in the early days after his father had died. He’d seen the need to take care of her then and had stepped in without thinking twice. He saw that same need now.
His wants, his desires, didn’t matter. Not in the face of a family crisis. And despite the fact that she was being released today, Raina’s health was a true family crisis. Feigned or not, the last time had sent all three sons reeling into a coin toss that changed Roman’s life.
Though Chase understood the severity of the situation, he wouldn’t be letting Raina manipulate him this time around. “Mom, it’s time to drop this subject.”
“After I have my say.”
Knowing she’d talk no matter what, he settled into Rick’s abandoned chair. “I’m listening.”
Raina turned toward the window, giving Chase the chance to study his mother some more. She’d aged but still had maintained the beauty she’d had in her youth. She’d also kept the wisdom and heart that led her to do impulsive things in the name of protecting her family. Chase couldn’t imagine his life without her in it.
“I’ve made many mistakes,” Raina said finally. “And manipulating you boys into thinking I was sick was a doozy. But it wasn’t the biggest mistake I made.”
Chase couldn’t help it; he laughed. “Sorry, but I’m hard pressed to find a bigger one,” he said
“Aah, but I can. Letting you take over as parent when your father died. That was an error I can’t ever take back.” She sighed, slowly turning toward him.
He could see how difficult she found it to face him but didn’t understand why. “What else could you have done?”
“Sent you off to college, for one thing. Run the paper myself, for another. Raised your brothers like a single parent without relying on you, when you were just a boy yourself.”
She shook her head and he was shocked to notice tears falling from her eyes.
“I was more than capable of handling things,” he reminded her, at a loss over what to do about her emotional state. Women and tears had never been his thing.
Which, he realized now, was probably why he’d stepped in so quickly and taken over when his father had passed on, not giving Raina the chance to make her own decisions or control their futures. He’d seen himself as the man of the house and acted accordingly.
But in doing so, he’d denied all of them different paths. “What’s done is done, Mom.”
“I agree.” She pulled a Kleenex from the tissue box on the side table and blotted her eyes.
“But the future doesn’t have to be a replica of the past. That’s what I need you to understand.
He pinched the bridge of his nose, wondering how to explain. “I’ve come to terms with things. I have a great life. I have a great family. So what if I gave up a few things on the way? Who doesn’t make sacrifices?” he asked. “But it’s my time now and I intend to reach for my dreams.”