A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Gracie—who's been working her butt off
with a crappy computer all day. LOL. And for the fact that she's waited
very patiently too. It's a long one—if you don't like how long it is, well
I apologize, but I really doubt anyone is going to complain. Until next
time—PCGirl.
PC: 2020
"Oh Alison—I just can't wait to show you all the new things I have planned for the fall line," said Elizabeth to her daughter over the phone.
"That's nice," said Alison as she flipped through the magazine again as she sat on the couch waiting for Rafe to get home from dropping off Leslie. She looked up to see Kate turning in the computer chair with a smile on her face as she rolled her eyes and yawned. Alison just smiled as went back to the magazine, "Mom, I meant to ask you—when are you coming exactly?"
"My plane gets in on May 1st—I need to call Chris after I get off the phone with you and see if he can pick me up."
"Don't bother Chris tonight, mother. He was having dinner guests over."
"Really? Well that's a shocker—I didn't think Leslie would allow him to date anyone."
"And what do you mean by that?" she said raising her voice loud enough to get Kate's attention again.
"I was just saying that how it seems to me that Leslie wants Chris to be alone in life."
"Leslie wants nothing more than to have her father be happy—and he was at one point," she sighed as the last phrase slipped out of her mouth and she saw Kate's jaw drop.
"I can't believe you just said that to me, sweetie. You know what happened—you know that I wanted to stay with Chris."
"Geez mother—I can't believe you still don't see what you did was wrong."
"I was being blackmailed!"
"And why were you being blackmailed? Nevermind—I'm not wanting to get into this argument tonight—let me know what time your flight gets in and I'll come pick you up. I love you mom."
"I love you too sweetie—I just wish you could forgive me for what happened."
"I have forgiven you as much as I can, which is a pretty good amount.," she said hanging up and looking at Kate, "I really didn't want to get into that argument tonight."
"I can't believe you actually said what you felt," smiled Kate.
"I shouldn't have said anything, Kate. It's just that I've got her visiting and then Jas—Elena's call earlier about the visit."
"Wait—what did you just say?"
"Elena," she smiled forcefully.
"Oh my god, Mom! You are as bad of a liar as I am—you were about to say Jasmine. That call earlier—it was Jasmine, wasn't it? That's why Dad didn't know who Elena was," she said as her blue eyes got huge and her jaw dropped.
"Fine. It was Jasmine, and she is coming to visit in a few weeks—please don't tell Lizzie or Leslie though, ok? This is going to be tough on Leslie already—let's not make it any tougher than it needs to be," she said as she stood up and stretched.
"Ok, I won't."
"I'm going to get ready for bed—don't stay on too much longer?"
"I'll just wait for Dad to come home."
"Alright," she smiled as she looked at her daughter sitting there before walking up the steps, "Oh sweetie—do you know who Lizzie's crush is?"
"Nope," she said as she half looked at her mom.
"Ok, Goodnight Kate."
"Goodnight Mom," she said as she turned back to the chat she was having with Tara on the computer and began to type again, "I just lied to my mom."
"About what?" asked Tara.
"Lizzie's crush."
"Oh."
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"You're late getting back," smiled Alison as she looked up from the bed to see him walking in the door as quiet as a mouse.
"Yeah—Ian and I chatted with Chris for a bit after Leslie went to finish her homework. I got to see Danny also. He remembered me," he smiled as he turned on his bedside lamp before going to the bathroom.
"What did you three chat about until eleven o'clock at night?" she asked as she gave out a yawn while watching him go through his evening routine in the bathroom.
"Well, at first I was talking with Danny for a bit—he's a lot like his dad. Then Danny left, and we knew that Leslie was in her room and wouldn't come out again so we discussed your mom and the missing $60,000."
"Speaking of her—she called earlier. I made her mad, but she started it."
"What else is new?" he laughed.
"You'd think after ten years I could find the rest of the forgiveness needed to put this all behind us, but I still can't—I don't know why. I mean you forgave me for—you know, why can't I forgive her for what she did to Chris?"
"Maybe because it was more than just Chris that she betrayed?"
---------
PC: 2010
Chris sat there with his hands covering his face—the PI he had hired had just called, told him what he thought was the truth. He heard the door open and Elizabeth walked in—her arms full of packages, "Hey," he said as he looked back down at the floor.
"Chris—you're home. I figured you'd be at work still. Is everything ok?"
"No—it's not. I had to take off the rest of the day. Something came up and we need to talk," he said as he motioned for her to sit next to him.
"You're scaring me Chris."
"Well, you need to be scared. Lucy is on her way over, and Alison isn't far behind. I know about the money Elizabeth—I know that you wrote the checks to an Elizabeth Tripp, and then that money was handed over to Thomas Howard every two weeks for the past six months. I also know Thomas Howard has only been working through KayCee's branch in Los Angeles for the past seven months—so fess up now before Lucy and them get here. What happened?"
"Why are you all constantly accusing me of the money? You obviously have to get a new PI Chris, because he didn't tell you the truth—I had nothing to do with that money."
"Oh really?"
"Yes—why would I do something to screw up my life? If I were to do that I would lose everything from the past six years—you, my daughter, my grandchildren, my business."
"Elizabeth!" he yelled, "Stop playing dumb with me. What is it—is he blackmailing you for something? Did you do something worse than stealing money? Please—let me help you with whatever it may be."
"Fine. I did do something worse, but you aren't going to want to help me when you hear it."
"What did you do?" asked Lucy as she came in through the door and Alison followed.
"I—Thomas Howard is blackmailing me because the night he signed the contracts we celebrated and I guess I had one too many martini's. The next morning I woke up in his bed—I told him it was a mistake.
"At first he acted like he understood, and then the profits from his retail chain came in—they were low, too low for us to keep his business. I tried to tell him we'd have to cut our losses by pulling our merchandise from his stores.
"He wouldn't let me—he said if I did that then he'd tell you Chris. Of course, unless I paid him to keep quiet—which is what I did. Please understand my actions Chris, you—you are the best thing that has happened to me. I couldn't let you find out—I knew it would crush you."
"Well, you are right—it's a pretty big blow to my heart Elizabeth," he said as he walked over to the desk and opened it, pulling out a ring box, "And to think I was going to propose to you soon. Guess I should have taken my own advice—if you want a companion, get a dog," he sighed looking at the ring and putting it up and now pulling out his checkbook, "How much was the total damage, Lucy?"
"Sixty thousand dollars," she said watching him write out the check and coming over and handing it to her then turning, "Hold on a second. Elizabeth—I'm glad you had the business sense to cut our losses with Thomas Howard and his stores before our profits became too low. I wish you could have come and talked to me about the blackmailing instead of stealing the money from the company."
"I felt like you would all look down on me like you are doing now."
"We're doing this because you've been keeping this under wraps for the past seven months, Elizabeth," she said folding the check in half and placing it in her purse.
"Well, do you want me to leave the company?"
"No—I will. I want my original investment back by Monday--you are now full CEO of KayCee Designs," she said turning and leaving and Alison, who was unable to speak and followed Lucy shortly.
"Chris," said Elizabeth as she turned around to talk to him, but saw he also had left her alone in the living room.
----------
"Alison, are you home?" called Elizabeth as she walked into the house unannounced and saw Livvie sitting on the couch with Alex, "What are you doing here?"
"I live here for the time being. If you are looking for Alison she's not here."
"Her car is here."
"Well, she's not. And besides, I don't think it'd be a really smart move right now to try and talk to her."
"Why not?"
Livvie laughed as she put Alex in the carrier and stood up, "Last night Alison came back here in tears. Do you know why? No? Let me tell you—because she feared that Lucy was going to blame her for this. That Rafe was going to lose the one Kovich family member that he has left other than his kids and her—and somehow he would blame Alison for that also."
"That's ridiculous."
"Yeah, well it took myself and Rafe a long time to tell her that. Finally we had to call Lucy at 12:30 at night to tell Alison everything was fine," she said as she saw the door open and Alison come in with Tara. "I was just telling your mom you didn't want to talk."
"Thanks Livvie, but I can fight my own battles," she sighed as she brushed her bangs out of her face and Livvie took Tara and Alex upstairs. "Mom—Livvie is right—I don't really want to talk to you because there's nothing I can say."
"Nothing? Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. Because if I did say something I think it'd be—no, nevermind—I won't do that."
"Please sweetie—be honest with me—I can take it."
"Fine, you want it you got it. Do you realize what you did? Do you realize you've ruined your entire life because of this? Don't tell me it was an accident you slept with him—I know accidents, me and Caleb were an accident—but you—I don't know if what you did with that Thomas guy was an accident or not.
"But when it happened you should have come out and said it. Should have immediately said I'm sorry to everyone, and maybe Chris would have accepted that and still be with you. I can't tell you what he's going to do now—but if he were to tell you to leave and never look at you again, well I couldn't blame him.
"As for my own feelings—I'm upset because you've caused a rip between Rafe and Lucy. Everyone else may say that it doesn't exist, but I know it's there because it has to be there. You are selfish Elizabeth—selfish because I know you have the money in your own checking account to pay Mr. Howard. Instead you stole from your own company—why?"
"I wasn't thinking—I figured if I was writing the checks out of my own account Chris would catch on. Listen—I'm sorry for what I said. I've—I've got a business meeting tomorrow in Los Angeles, I'll be gone for a week."
"Well, maybe that's a good thing—not that a week is all that it takes for me to forgive you, but it's a start."
"At least if I know you can find it in your heart to forgive me one day—." She stopped when they heard Lizzie at the top of the stairs at the baby gate calling for her mom.
"I've got to check on Lizzie—have a safe flight," she said turning and going to get her little girl.
PC: 2020
"Oh Alison—I just can't wait to show you all the new things I have planned for the fall line," said Elizabeth to her daughter over the phone.
"That's nice," said Alison as she flipped through the magazine again as she sat on the couch waiting for Rafe to get home from dropping off Leslie. She looked up to see Kate turning in the computer chair with a smile on her face as she rolled her eyes and yawned. Alison just smiled as went back to the magazine, "Mom, I meant to ask you—when are you coming exactly?"
"My plane gets in on May 1st—I need to call Chris after I get off the phone with you and see if he can pick me up."
"Don't bother Chris tonight, mother. He was having dinner guests over."
"Really? Well that's a shocker—I didn't think Leslie would allow him to date anyone."
"And what do you mean by that?" she said raising her voice loud enough to get Kate's attention again.
"I was just saying that how it seems to me that Leslie wants Chris to be alone in life."
"Leslie wants nothing more than to have her father be happy—and he was at one point," she sighed as the last phrase slipped out of her mouth and she saw Kate's jaw drop.
"I can't believe you just said that to me, sweetie. You know what happened—you know that I wanted to stay with Chris."
"Geez mother—I can't believe you still don't see what you did was wrong."
"I was being blackmailed!"
"And why were you being blackmailed? Nevermind—I'm not wanting to get into this argument tonight—let me know what time your flight gets in and I'll come pick you up. I love you mom."
"I love you too sweetie—I just wish you could forgive me for what happened."
"I have forgiven you as much as I can, which is a pretty good amount.," she said hanging up and looking at Kate, "I really didn't want to get into that argument tonight."
"I can't believe you actually said what you felt," smiled Kate.
"I shouldn't have said anything, Kate. It's just that I've got her visiting and then Jas—Elena's call earlier about the visit."
"Wait—what did you just say?"
"Elena," she smiled forcefully.
"Oh my god, Mom! You are as bad of a liar as I am—you were about to say Jasmine. That call earlier—it was Jasmine, wasn't it? That's why Dad didn't know who Elena was," she said as her blue eyes got huge and her jaw dropped.
"Fine. It was Jasmine, and she is coming to visit in a few weeks—please don't tell Lizzie or Leslie though, ok? This is going to be tough on Leslie already—let's not make it any tougher than it needs to be," she said as she stood up and stretched.
"Ok, I won't."
"I'm going to get ready for bed—don't stay on too much longer?"
"I'll just wait for Dad to come home."
"Alright," she smiled as she looked at her daughter sitting there before walking up the steps, "Oh sweetie—do you know who Lizzie's crush is?"
"Nope," she said as she half looked at her mom.
"Ok, Goodnight Kate."
"Goodnight Mom," she said as she turned back to the chat she was having with Tara on the computer and began to type again, "I just lied to my mom."
"About what?" asked Tara.
"Lizzie's crush."
"Oh."
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"You're late getting back," smiled Alison as she looked up from the bed to see him walking in the door as quiet as a mouse.
"Yeah—Ian and I chatted with Chris for a bit after Leslie went to finish her homework. I got to see Danny also. He remembered me," he smiled as he turned on his bedside lamp before going to the bathroom.
"What did you three chat about until eleven o'clock at night?" she asked as she gave out a yawn while watching him go through his evening routine in the bathroom.
"Well, at first I was talking with Danny for a bit—he's a lot like his dad. Then Danny left, and we knew that Leslie was in her room and wouldn't come out again so we discussed your mom and the missing $60,000."
"Speaking of her—she called earlier. I made her mad, but she started it."
"What else is new?" he laughed.
"You'd think after ten years I could find the rest of the forgiveness needed to put this all behind us, but I still can't—I don't know why. I mean you forgave me for—you know, why can't I forgive her for what she did to Chris?"
"Maybe because it was more than just Chris that she betrayed?"
---------
PC: 2010
Chris sat there with his hands covering his face—the PI he had hired had just called, told him what he thought was the truth. He heard the door open and Elizabeth walked in—her arms full of packages, "Hey," he said as he looked back down at the floor.
"Chris—you're home. I figured you'd be at work still. Is everything ok?"
"No—it's not. I had to take off the rest of the day. Something came up and we need to talk," he said as he motioned for her to sit next to him.
"You're scaring me Chris."
"Well, you need to be scared. Lucy is on her way over, and Alison isn't far behind. I know about the money Elizabeth—I know that you wrote the checks to an Elizabeth Tripp, and then that money was handed over to Thomas Howard every two weeks for the past six months. I also know Thomas Howard has only been working through KayCee's branch in Los Angeles for the past seven months—so fess up now before Lucy and them get here. What happened?"
"Why are you all constantly accusing me of the money? You obviously have to get a new PI Chris, because he didn't tell you the truth—I had nothing to do with that money."
"Oh really?"
"Yes—why would I do something to screw up my life? If I were to do that I would lose everything from the past six years—you, my daughter, my grandchildren, my business."
"Elizabeth!" he yelled, "Stop playing dumb with me. What is it—is he blackmailing you for something? Did you do something worse than stealing money? Please—let me help you with whatever it may be."
"Fine. I did do something worse, but you aren't going to want to help me when you hear it."
"What did you do?" asked Lucy as she came in through the door and Alison followed.
"I—Thomas Howard is blackmailing me because the night he signed the contracts we celebrated and I guess I had one too many martini's. The next morning I woke up in his bed—I told him it was a mistake.
"At first he acted like he understood, and then the profits from his retail chain came in—they were low, too low for us to keep his business. I tried to tell him we'd have to cut our losses by pulling our merchandise from his stores.
"He wouldn't let me—he said if I did that then he'd tell you Chris. Of course, unless I paid him to keep quiet—which is what I did. Please understand my actions Chris, you—you are the best thing that has happened to me. I couldn't let you find out—I knew it would crush you."
"Well, you are right—it's a pretty big blow to my heart Elizabeth," he said as he walked over to the desk and opened it, pulling out a ring box, "And to think I was going to propose to you soon. Guess I should have taken my own advice—if you want a companion, get a dog," he sighed looking at the ring and putting it up and now pulling out his checkbook, "How much was the total damage, Lucy?"
"Sixty thousand dollars," she said watching him write out the check and coming over and handing it to her then turning, "Hold on a second. Elizabeth—I'm glad you had the business sense to cut our losses with Thomas Howard and his stores before our profits became too low. I wish you could have come and talked to me about the blackmailing instead of stealing the money from the company."
"I felt like you would all look down on me like you are doing now."
"We're doing this because you've been keeping this under wraps for the past seven months, Elizabeth," she said folding the check in half and placing it in her purse.
"Well, do you want me to leave the company?"
"No—I will. I want my original investment back by Monday--you are now full CEO of KayCee Designs," she said turning and leaving and Alison, who was unable to speak and followed Lucy shortly.
"Chris," said Elizabeth as she turned around to talk to him, but saw he also had left her alone in the living room.
----------
"Alison, are you home?" called Elizabeth as she walked into the house unannounced and saw Livvie sitting on the couch with Alex, "What are you doing here?"
"I live here for the time being. If you are looking for Alison she's not here."
"Her car is here."
"Well, she's not. And besides, I don't think it'd be a really smart move right now to try and talk to her."
"Why not?"
Livvie laughed as she put Alex in the carrier and stood up, "Last night Alison came back here in tears. Do you know why? No? Let me tell you—because she feared that Lucy was going to blame her for this. That Rafe was going to lose the one Kovich family member that he has left other than his kids and her—and somehow he would blame Alison for that also."
"That's ridiculous."
"Yeah, well it took myself and Rafe a long time to tell her that. Finally we had to call Lucy at 12:30 at night to tell Alison everything was fine," she said as she saw the door open and Alison come in with Tara. "I was just telling your mom you didn't want to talk."
"Thanks Livvie, but I can fight my own battles," she sighed as she brushed her bangs out of her face and Livvie took Tara and Alex upstairs. "Mom—Livvie is right—I don't really want to talk to you because there's nothing I can say."
"Nothing? Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. Because if I did say something I think it'd be—no, nevermind—I won't do that."
"Please sweetie—be honest with me—I can take it."
"Fine, you want it you got it. Do you realize what you did? Do you realize you've ruined your entire life because of this? Don't tell me it was an accident you slept with him—I know accidents, me and Caleb were an accident—but you—I don't know if what you did with that Thomas guy was an accident or not.
"But when it happened you should have come out and said it. Should have immediately said I'm sorry to everyone, and maybe Chris would have accepted that and still be with you. I can't tell you what he's going to do now—but if he were to tell you to leave and never look at you again, well I couldn't blame him.
"As for my own feelings—I'm upset because you've caused a rip between Rafe and Lucy. Everyone else may say that it doesn't exist, but I know it's there because it has to be there. You are selfish Elizabeth—selfish because I know you have the money in your own checking account to pay Mr. Howard. Instead you stole from your own company—why?"
"I wasn't thinking—I figured if I was writing the checks out of my own account Chris would catch on. Listen—I'm sorry for what I said. I've—I've got a business meeting tomorrow in Los Angeles, I'll be gone for a week."
"Well, maybe that's a good thing—not that a week is all that it takes for me to forgive you, but it's a start."
"At least if I know you can find it in your heart to forgive me one day—." She stopped when they heard Lizzie at the top of the stairs at the baby gate calling for her mom.
"I've got to check on Lizzie—have a safe flight," she said turning and going to get her little girl.