Chain of Title (6 page)

The bird’s eye view of Lake Indigo
from the deck was stunning.  Almost a million people lived on the other side,
and the skyscrapers were just visible against the backdrop of the mountain
range.  At night, the sparkling cityscape was spectacular in its vibrancy as was
the Mt. Pleasant Bridge that jutted across the deep expanse of water, illuminating
the passageway between the two worlds.

As they settled in to eat,
Sean asked, “How’d you find this place, Shay?  I would’ve pegged you for a city
girl.”  He chewed his omelet and waited for her response.

“I am a city girl; one who
likes to unplug and enjoy quiet time, too.”

Mt. Pleasant had grown
rapidly during the last fifteen to twenty years.  Some of that city life had
started seeping across Lake Indigo.  Suburbanites didn’t like having to cross
the bridge after their long work weeks or on weekends to travel back into the
city for shopping, dining, the arts, and entertainment.  So Shayna knew that, at
some point, what had begun as a well-kept secret, an oasis, would be overrun
with eco-friendly cars, minivans, churches, strip malls, chain restaurants,
tract housing, and school crossings.  Of course, her ex-husband was a prominent
land developer, and was responsible for most of the sprawl.

“Frank and I actually bought
a lot of property on this side of the lake about twelve years ago.  The parcel
my house sits on is prime real estate now.  It’s the highest point on this side
of the lake, so the views are incredible.  This house was one of the few things
that I wanted out of the divorce.  We started building it about four years ago
and then not long after, everything went to hell in a hand basket.  I moved in
as soon as it was ready.  Frank never stayed here.  I’d already left him at
that point.”

When she glanced at Sean, he
quickly looked down to scoop up more of his omelet.  She saw the expression he
tried to hide—a look of relief that Frank had never stayed here with her.

“I’m surprised you’d want to
be this far out by yourself,” he commented, without looking at her.

Shayna silently reviewed the
last forty-eight years of her life.  She often wished she’d had more time alone
when she was younger.  Maybe she could have worked through the last three years
more efficiently if she had known herself better.

She had tied herself to men
her whole life, never really understanding who she was without them.  After she
had abruptly cut ties to her ex-husband three years ago, it took many, many months
before she recognized herself in the mirror without the trappings of Frank
Chastain’s life weighing her down.

“The time alone has been good.
 Necessary, even, I think.  Anyway, I love it here.  We were going to downsize
from the estate home that Frank still lives in and move in here once he retired—this
year.”  She puffed softly.  “I don’t know if he’s still retiring or not.  He
probably thinks he’s going to need to work the rest of his life to make up for
my half of the settlement.”  Shayna shook her head skeptically.  “Although, I
think that would just be an excuse.  A man like Frank never really retires.” 
Shayna noticed a peculiar look on Sean’s face.

“So, your ex was going to
retire
early
?”

Shayna stopped chewing for a
moment and then swallowed.  Ah, that’s right.  She had never gotten into their
age difference or much about the personal details of Frank’s business.  They
had only discussed the banalities of divorce, not the specifics, and looking back,
Sean had shown no interest in the man she was divorcing.  She picked up a
napkin and dabbed at her mouth before placing it on her plate and settling back
in her chair.  She was full.

“Frank is sixty-five.” 
Sean’s jaw dropped before he could contain his reaction or even say anything.  “It
didn’t seem like a big deal at the time.  He’s never looked his age, and he’s
always stayed physically fit.  But when I think about the fact that my daughter
is the same age I was when I married Frank, I sure as hell wouldn’t be happy if
she told me today that
she
wanted to marry a forty-year-old man.”

If she was honest with
herself, Shayna knew why she had married Frank.  Oh, it wasn’t his money.  He
didn’t have much when they met and later married, but he enjoyed a lifestyle
that was beyond his means nonetheless.  Eventually, during their marriage, his
means caught up with his high-end tastes.  No, she was wiser now, and she
understood that she had married him to stem the desperate grief that had
threatened to consume her back then.  He had enabled her to avoid what she
didn’t want to face—herself, alone.

“You’ve told me your mom
wasn’t around, but your dad couldn’t have been happy, was he?”

Shayna’s eyes trailed off
into the distance, back in time.  Ben Montgomery—Big Ben as the locals
affectionately called him—closer in age to Frank Chastain than she was.  No, he
couldn’t have been overjoyed, but he never said otherwise.  After what had happened,
he just wanted his little girl to be happy, taken care of, loved.  It was
obvious even to her dad that Frank was crazy about her.

“He never said he wasn’t.” 
Shayna’s focus skipped back to Sean, who was clearly trying to reconcile this
new information.  “I wish that he had, maybe.  I don’t know if it would’ve made
a difference, though.”

She glanced across the dark
blue titan of lakes.  “I had to grow up faster marrying someone that much
older.  Frank was a grown man—playtime was over for him.  He was unhappy in his
career and wanted to start his own business.  So, we didn’t really have free
time.  When we weren’t working in the business, we were entertaining in our
home, attending the
right
events, rubbing shoulders with the
right
people, traveling to the
right
destination spots.  We were
constantly
busy.  He’s one of those people who doesn’t need much sleep.  He always said
there’d be plenty of time for that when he’s dead.”  She snorted softly.  “He could
never live the way I have for the last three years.  No daily agenda.  No plan. 
No minute-by-minute itinerary.”

Sean sat staring
contemplatively at her, clearly assessing the woman across from him.

“So, what business were you
and your ex in?”

Shayna sighed softly.  “Ever
heard of CCL Properties?”  Unless Sean Parker lived under a rock, she knew he
had.

“Uh, yeah,” he said
dumbstruck, looking at her skeptically.  “They’ve pretty much developed Mt.
Pleasant and single handedly renovated and revitalized the downtown.  The
building my loft is in just to name one.”  The expression on his face said, “That
can’t be you.”

“
Chastain
, Coombs, and
Logan,” she enunciated.

His brows shot up and he
rubbed his palm against his jaw line as he tried to piece everything together. 
He was probably thinking the same thing that most people did, including
herself, when a younger woman married an older man.

“There was
no
CCL
Properties when I married him, Sean.  I’m not a gold digger.”

He sat up quickly.  “No!  I
never thought that, Shay.  I just wasn’t expecting—”

Shayna stood, effectively
cutting him off, and started to fill the serving trays with the remnants of
their breakfast.  Sean stopped her, encircling her wrists with his hands and
pulling her away from the table to stand in front of him.

“Look at me, Shay,” he
demanded.  She lifted her eyes to his.  “I did
not
think that for one
second.  I just can’t believe that after the last year and half I’m just now finding
this out, that’s all.  I can’t believe I never considered the possibility. 
Chastain
is a big name around here.”  Sean huffed, looking up at the cloudless sky
before refocusing his eyes on Shayna’s.  “I was clearly just thinking about
myself,
my
good fortune.”

Shayna’s brow knitted.  “Mmmm?”

He answered her quizzical
expression.  “I was just damn glad that some moron let you slip through his
fingers.  I didn’t care who he was, or who you were.  I just knew I wanted you—for
myself.”  Sean skimmed her cheek with the back of his fingers.

Shayna felt rattled by the emotion-filled
look in Sean’s eyes.  She swallowed and decided to lighten the mood a bit.

“It took you a year and a
half to figure that out?” she teased, softly, biting at the corner of her
mouth.

Mission accomplished.  He
grinned, bringing her hand to his mouth, kissing the back of it, never taking
his eyes from hers.

“I didn’t want to be the
rebound guy, Shay.  The guy you used just to get back at your husband before
you decided to change your mind and go back to him.”

He framed her face in his
hands.  “If all I wanted was sex that might’ve been okay.  But it didn’t take
me long to figure out I wanted a helluva lot more from you than that.”

With that admission, Sean
leaned down and kissed her hungrily.  She felt his strong hand slide slowly
down her throat, trace the opening of her robe, linger over her breast, and
then glide down to deftly untie her sash.  He drew her robe open, and she felt
the cool morning breeze feather across her bare skin as he reached around to
cup and squeeze her backside, drawing her closer to his hard heat, before smoothing
his hand up to claim her breast.

She began to feel a little
dizzy, winded, and pulled away before the emotions could overwhelm her.  When had
a man last made her feel this way?

Oh, she remembered.

Then she wanted to forget.

As their passion escalated,
Sean carefully began guiding her back toward the house while continuing to tease
her pebbled peaks.  Tasting and touching, they swallowed each other’s soft
moans.

“Mother!  What do you think
you’re doing?”

Before
Shayna could even think to move, Sean had drawn her robe closed and tied the
sash.  She smiled up at him apologetically, and he shook his head faintly.  She
felt like a kid caught doing something wrong and was now seriously considering
the wisdom of having given Dani a key.  Shayna inhaled deeply and turned to
face the music.

“Good morning, Danielle.  I
wasn’t expecting you,” she said evenly.

“Obviously not,
Mother
,”
Danielle quipped, harshly, clearly disappointed and disgusted by what she had
stumbled upon.

Shayna had grown impatient
with her daughter’s increasingly judgmental attitude over the past three
years.  It was time for Danielle Chastain to grow up.

“Dani, this is Sean Parker.” 
She felt his hand come to gently rest at her lower back and she calmed a bit. 
“Sean, this is—obviously—my daughter, Danielle.”

In her peripheral vision,
Shayna saw Sean nod at Danielle in acknowledgment, but he smartly didn’t speak
or extend his hand.

The blue-eyed beauty remained
mute, only shooting a bitter, dagger-filled look at Sean and then her mother. 
Shayna clasped Sean’s hand to lead him off the deck and toward the sliding
glass panels near where Danielle stood.  “I’ll call you later, Sean.  Thanks
for breakfast.  It was delicious.”

As they passed by Danielle,
Shayna leveled a blistering stare at her daughter.  The young woman flinched
and noticeably backed down.

“I can show myself out, Shay,
it’s all right,” he offered quietly.

“No, it’s not all right,” she
said as they strode casually into the contemporary styled great room, with its
shades of gray, white, and aquamarine.  When they finally reached the
frosted-glass, double doors, Shayna turned to Sean and smiled softly up at
him.  “I’m really glad you stopped by this morning.  We’ll definitely have to
pick up where we left off.”

She saw the curl of a grin at
one corner of Sean’s lips.  He reached out and gently brushed the side of her
cheek, his expression turning serious.

“I’m afraid I couldn’t have
made a worse impression on your daughter.  I’m sorry about that, Shay.”  The
concern in his eyes was evident.

Shayna sighed resignedly.  “The
circumstances wouldn’t have mattered.  Trust me.  You
couldn’t
make a
good impression with her, Sean.  Any man that’s not her father will always be suspect
and inferior.”  Shayna shrugged in defeat.  “It’s just the way it is.”

Sean tilted her chin up
toward him and then lightly pressed his forehead to hers.  “Well, I’m sorry if
I embarrassed you in front of her, Shay.  I’m sure things won’t be pleasant
with her after I leave.”

Shayna clasped his square jaw
in her hands and pulled him down for a kiss.  “I’m a grown woman, doing what
grown women do in their own homes.  I wasn’t embarrassed, just caught off guard. 
So, don’t let this ruin your day...it hasn’t mine.”  She winked and moved to
open the door.

Before exiting, Sean leaned
down for a kiss and whispered against her lips, “Call me later.  I want to see
you.”

She nodded, and watched as he
walked away and drove off.  Sighing loudly, Shayna turned and made her way back
to the patio, gliding smoothly past her visibly agitated offspring, and over to
the table where she began clearing breakfast dishes onto the serving trays.

“Grab the other tray for me,
would you, Dani?” Shayna asked, unperturbed, as she walked past her daughter
and back into the house.  The flabbergasted look on Danielle’s face suggested
that she had been expecting an explanation and probably an apology from her
mother. 
Not happening today, kiddo
, Shayna thought to herself as she
entered her bright, sky-lit kitchen; she was done playing the bad guy.

As she scraped the unfinished
food into the trash, the other tray slammed onto the countertop, rattling and
shaking the tableware on top of it.  Shayna straightened and turned, looking impassively
at her angry child.

Danielle’s brow furrowed. 
“Really, Mother?  You’re going to act as if
nothing’s
wrong?”

Danielle Chastain was a
beautiful young woman—beautiful in the way that youth tauntingly afforded; a
beauty fleeting and taken for granted until it was gone far too early.  Wasn’t
that when most people truly appreciated what had once been in their grasp?  Her
shiny, long ebony hair was the same color as her father’s, inherited along with
the gift of his sapphire blue eyes.  Danielle bore no resemblance to her
mother.  Sometimes Shayna looked at her daughter and wondered if any part of
her DNA had comingled with Frank’s to create this angry, self-entitled child in
front of her.

“What exactly do you think is
wrong, Dani?”

The raven-haired girl scoffed
and her hands cut through the air.  “Are you kidding me?  What daughter or son
wants to walk in on
that
!” she gestured pointedly toward the deck
outside.

Shayna’s eyes narrowed and
she shook her head deliberately.  “There’s a time and place for everything,
Dani, and
my
home
is
the time and place for
that
.  You
don’t live here and you’re not a little girl that just stumbled across
something you don’t understand.  I remember having
that
talk with you a
long time ago.”  Shayna crossed her arms under her chest and waited.

Danielle huffed, “I can’t
believe you, Mother.”

Ah, yes,
Mother
.  A
recently minted, derogatory term that Danielle had taken to flinging the last
few months to let Shayna know that she had failed in her obligation to maintain
the bubble of her daughter’s idyllic life.

Shayna’s history didn’t leave
her with much tolerance for people who refused to accept that life was paved
with bumps, potholes, and complete washouts.  Her daughter had experienced none
of those, had had it easy so far.  Apparently, too easy.

“Daddy tried calling you last
night and so did I.  We were worried about you!  That’s why I came by—to check
on you and make sure you’re okay.  Now I know why you couldn’t be bothered to
answer your phone!”

Shayna’s eyes pinched
together.  She had forgotten about powering off her phone yesterday.  Hadn’t
wanted any interruptions or anyone trying to talk her out of signing the
divorce papers.  Then with Sean later, well, she felt everything inside her
warm at the recent memories, she had completely forgotten about the rest of the
world.

“I’m sorry that I worried
you, sweetheart.  That wasn’t my intention.  I had my phone off yesterday and
simply forgot to check it for messages.  That’s all.”  Shayna glimpsed the
sadness behind Danielle’s angry eyes and then shook her head.  “Why was your
father trying to call me?”

Danielle looked at her with
slack jawed incredulity.  “Because he still loves you!  He was hoping you
wouldn’t really go through with it.  Daddy didn’t think you’d really sign those
papers when it came time.”

Daddy
.  It made Shayna cringe to hear her grown daughter
call Frank,
Daddy
.  Oh, Danielle was definitely Daddy’s little girl, all
right.  He could do no wrong, or at least nothing that could be seen as wrong from
below, when he was up on that high pristine white pedestal he’d been placed on
long ago.  Whereas,
Mother
, apparently, only served as an aggravation in
their fairytale. 

“Your father and I’ve been
separated for three years, Dani.  My signing those papers and making official
what’s already been in place, was merely a formality.”

“I don’t care.  I still can’t
believe you’d leave him alone like that after all those years together.  Why
couldn’t you have at least given him another chance?  Why didn’t he
deserve
another chance?”

Shayna felt blindsided. 
Wow.  It was as if Frank was here and speaking through Danielle.  Her ex
certainly wasn’t wasting time turning their daughter against her.  However, she
was certain that Dani didn’t know the whole story, didn’t need to as far as
Shayna was concerned.  Even Danielle would be repulsed to find out that
Daddy
had been banging a girl her own age—and probably still was.  No,
Mother
was not going to be the one that spilled that fetid detail.

Shayna said compassionately, “You’re
going to have to accept reality, sweetheart.  Your father and I have been
living separate lives.  We’ve moved on.  Now you need to do the same.  We’re
not getting back together, love.”  Shayna reached out to stroke Dani’s flushed
cheek, but she jerked back at the advance.

“No,
you
need to
accept reality.  Daddy
hasn’t
moved on.  He thinks you’re just punishing
him by going through with the divorce and that you’ll come to your senses now
and realize that you’ve made a mistake.”

Shayna’s brows knitted
together.  “
I’ve
made a mistake?  Look, Danielle, I’m not going to
involve you in the details of our marriage, but just understand something:  your
father is not blameless.”

“I know that!  He said he
messed up big.  Said it was the worst mistake he’s
ever
made.  Damn it,
Mom! 
He loves you
!  Why doesn’t that matter to you?”  Danielle stepped
further back, assessed Shayna, and then said coolly, “Maybe he’s right.  He
said it’s your mother’s fault that you’re this way.”

Shayna felt the blood
coursing through her turn to ice.  She had talked very little over the years
about her mother to anyone.  Frank knew the details, but Danielle didn’t, at
least not from Shayna.

Trying to maintain her
composure, she asked through gritted teeth, “And what
way
is that?”

Without realizing it, Shayna
had stepped closer to her daughter, hovering above her.  Danielle seemed to shrink
a bit, as Shayna glared down into her eyes.  She swallowed hard and backed away
from her mother.

In a softer tone, she
replied, “Daddy said it’s easy for you to cut people out of your life.  That
you’re unforgiving and cold because of what
she
did.”

Shayna exhaled sharply.  “I’m
unforgiving and cold?  That’s what he said to you?”

The sharp words her daughter repeated
didn’t hurt nearly as much as the knowledge that Danielle hadn’t been blessed
with a father like Ben Montgomery. 
He
would’ve been justified in any
number of disparaging comments where
his
wife was concerned; however, he
had never spoken an unkind word about her to Shayna or her brothers.

He was a better dad than that...a
better man.

“Why would he say that to
you?” she said more to herself than Danielle.  Shayna hadn’t said anything
uncomplimentary about Frank to their daughter, so this wasn’t tit for tat.  He
just wanted to hurt her, while driving a bigger wedge between her and Danielle. 
That sonofabitch.

“Are you going to do that to
me?  Cut me out, because I agree with Daddy and don’t like what I saw here
today?  Is this
Sean
Parker
the reason you won’t give Daddy
another chance?”

Shayna just stared at her
daughter for what seemed like an eternity, powerless to speak.  She inhaled
sharply and shook her head.  This day had certainly spiraled down and
crash-landed.

With preternatural calm,
Shayna admitted, “I don’t like being hurt, Danielle.  And I
don’t
give
people a second chance to hurt me.  It’s that whole ‘shame on you the first
time, shame on me the second time’ thing.  Yes, your father made a mistake. 
That word hardly covers it though.  It makes it sound more like he forgot to
pay a bill or what day to take out the trash.  If you really want the details,
you’ll have to ask him.  And,
no
, Sean Parker has
nothing
to do
with why I won’t reconcile with your father.  So, just leave him out of it.  As
far as cutting
you
out of my life,” Shayna sighed, feeling deep, overwhelming
love swell inside, “
You
are the one
and only
person I would
never,
could never
, cut out of my life, no matter what you did or said
to hurt me.”

Shayna saw the emotion
register in Danielle’s eyes and then the earlier combative demeanor and anger
quickly masked it.

“You’re a twenty-three-year-old
woman, Danielle, start acting like one.  And here’s a suggestion:  stop calling
your father ‘
daddy
.’  You’re not a toddler anymore.”

Danielle’s eyes popped open
and she blurted, “Why do you have to be such a bitch?”

Shayna reflexively slapped
her daughter hard across the face.  It wasn’t until she saw Danielle cover her
red cheek and saw her shocked expression that Shayna even realized what she had
done.

With a firm tone, Shayna scolded,
“Don’t ever talk to me that way again, Danielle.  I know I’m far from the
perfect mother or wife.  I have no illusions about that.  But I also know,
without a doubt, that I’ve been
far
better at both those things than
my
mother
ever
was.”

She saw the tears threatening
to spill over Danielle’s lush, dark lashes—and the remorse in her eyes for the
epithet.  Danielle, clearly embarrassed and flustered by the altercation, moved
quickly to scoop up her purse and car keys, unable to make eye contact with her
mother.