Page 75 of Chase

“Oh, come on, Iz, you know that, I know that, anyone with a pair of eyes could have seen that.”

“Yeah, but you don’t say it out loud,” I reply with an embarrassed smile.

Just as I’m beginning to relax into everyday function mode, the doorbell rings and it automatically puts me on edge. It can only be one of the attendees from our earlier meeting and I don’t fancy seeing any of them. Theo kisses my temple before looking at me with a reassuring smile.

“You want me to get it?” he asks, and I waste no time in nodding; I certainly don’t want to. Stella jumps up in his place on the sofa as soon as he vacates it to answer the door. She senses my sudden anxiety and nuzzles her head into the crook of my neck.

“Hello, Izzy,” a quiet, sheepish looking Frankie calls over to me from the door. I whip my head up to look into the eyes of the woman who abandoned me to my own personal hell, and with her husband following silently behind her.

“Iz, I can ask them to leave if you want me to,” Theo says when he returns to the room, and I can’t help but see the flash of hurt in Frankie’s eyes. I almost feel bad for her, to hear her own son say such a thing over the top of her head.

“No, it’s fine,” I utter, “this has to happen sometime, doesn’t it. But will you stay with me?”

“I’m not going anywhere,” he says as he crosses the room to sit with me, “you don’t need to even ask anymore. Mom, Dad, take a seat.”

Both of them shuffle over to take up an armchair sitting on either side of the fireplace, while Stella makes it very difficult for Theo to cuddle up to me. He eventually decides to give up, but not without giving her a rather disparaging look.

“So,” I begin, as if trying to give them the invitation tospeak.

“So,” Frankie replies, “what do you want to know, Izzy? I’m here to give you any information you need from me.”

“Why did you leave me with them, Frankie? You saw how horrible they were to me, and you left me there; your own flesh and blood!”

“I didn’t realize it was as bad as it was until the day we had to leave for America. I just thought it was sibling rivalry and the fact that maybe Alex wasn’t quite as maternal as I first believed.”

She fiddles with a stray thread between her fingers, but I don’t buy into her weak excuse. My expression says as much, so she continues.

“I talked to Wyatt about it, told him my concerns, but he said it would be a horrible idea for everyone if I told you the truth. You and Theo had been developing feelings for each other and to tell you both that you were step-siblings would have been a huge shock. It would have, wouldn’t it? I didn’t want to destroy the chance for you both to be together one day. This way, I might be your biological mother, but you and Theo aren’t connected in any way by blood or circumstance. There is nothing unnatural or strange about you being together. As much as it pained me, Izzy, what Wyatt was saying made sense. Short-term pain for long-term gain.”

Theo and I instantly turn our hard stares onto Wyatt. He squirms a little in his chair but offers nothing in terms of an apology or explanation. To be fair, Wyatt is nothing to me, not even an uncle really, so I leave him there to feel guilty or self-justified, I don’t really care which. How Theo feels, I’m not entirely sure, though from his expression, it’s not good.

“Did Nonna tell you what happened to Izzy when we left?” Theo asks and I immediately suck in a sharp intake of air.

“No,” she says, “she refused. She told me I had to go and find out for myself so I could forge my own relationship with you.”

“Theo…” I warn him before he begins to tell the whole room about my sordid past.

“What?! They should know what they left you to,” he cries, looking at me as though I’m insane to not want to tell them. But I don’t trust them enough with that information. Besides, it’s not his story to tell.

“What difference does it make? It’s the past and I’m a compulsive liar according to everyone, including your brother, by the way,” I say to Wyatt, “also known as dear old Dad.”

“Isobel,” Wyatt croaks, sounding as if he hasn’t used his voice in days. I instantly glare at him for using that name with me, the man who helped destroy me. “You don’t think I know what my brother is capable of? Spinning whatever he wants to get his own way? He’s always been like that, ever since I can remember. And your siblings? It used to make me sick the way they treated you, especially Ethan. I know there’s something not entirely right with him.”

“Well, gee, thanks, Uncle Wyatt,” I reply with a tight smile. “You’ve just pretty much admitted to knowing that you were leaving me to the monsters, but you left me there anyway. I’m sorry I caused you to feel some discomfort, what a bitch!”

“I’m not proud of myself, Izzy, but we made a decision, and I thought it was best that we stick to it.”

“Sounds likeyoumade the decision, Dad, a decision thatwas best for you,” Theo says, no longer able to keep quiet.

“What did happen, Izzy?” Frankie cautiously asks, but I offer her nothing. “Please, I’m frightened to know but at the same time, I need to.”

“I’m not ready to tell you,” I answer her bluntly, “so is that all you came for? A good horror story to stew over?”

“No! Izzy, I want to have a relationship with you,bothof you. I know it will take time for you to trust me, but…” She pauses when I scoff over the idea of me ever trusting her. “Izzy, I will do whatever you need me to; I just want to get to know you again. Whether it’s here or in the States, I want to do what I’ve always wanted to do, I want to get to know you as a mother.”

“I don’t know if you’ll ever get that from me, Frankie,” I tell her truthfully. “I can’t promise I’ll ever get over what you did, what any of my ‘parental’ figures did.”

“And I’m willing to take that risk, but I want to try, Izzy.” She leans forward with the same expression Stella gives when she’s asking for a walk or scraps from the table. “Will you try, Izzy?”

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