Daddy Dearest

Chapter Twenty-One

Melody

My mind is a hornet’s nest and I can’t find a minute alone to get my thoughts in order. Someone out there is utterly devoted to destroying my reputation and/or pushing me into having a nervous breakdown. Why?

How have I managed to gain someone’s enmity? I’m not popular; I don’t show off in class. I don’t even brag about the library donated to the school by my father and named after my mother. I rack my brain, searching for a candidate who could hate me this much that they would go through all this trouble, but come up empty.

Mrs. Davenport offers to call Nancy to pick me up from school, so I could take the rest of the day off, but I decline. I don’t want to go home and have to deal with a stressed-out, high-strung Nancy who’s convinced we need to move to East Anglia or something for my safety.

She’s been talking to my Aunt Sylvia every day, who agrees that we should move to England posthaste. Aunt Sylvia says I could matriculate at the university prep school which would gear me up for Cambridge next year. It would be really easy for me to just move there because I have a British citizenship as well as an American one. Harry made sure of that.

Nancy has also spoken to a couple of her real estate agent friends about possibly putting our house on the market.

I said no. We would move to England if we have to, but we are not selling my house. My father left it to me and the deed is held in a trust under my name, so it’s mine. Harry built the house for my mother from the ground up. It’s the only thing I have left of my parents.

Nancy isn’t used to getting any pushback from me, so she was surprised by my vehemence. I think I got my point across, however, because she dropped the subject.

I tell Mrs. Davenport that I want to see Father Sidney in the rectory. She calls him to make sure he is available to see me and writes me a pass to excuse me from my next class, which I share with Alex. She writes him a pass, too, so he could walk me there.

Ben stares at the two of us with an unreadable expression on his face. I drop my gaze to the carpet, but when I look up again, I see that he’s in close conference with Mrs. D. Alex, Tessie, and I leave the office.

“This is bananas, Mel,” Tessie exclaims once we’re outside again. “Who could be doing this?”

I give Alex, who has my hand in a death-grip, a sidelong glance. “Ask Chambers. This stuff started happening right about the time he began a-wooin’ me.”

A vein in his square jaw ticks and his tiger’s eyes light up with fury. “Are you implying that the person doing this is someone who is actually obsessed with me and not you?”

Tessie snorts and makes a face. “Newsflash, Chambers. You’re kind of the BMOC. Freshman girls swoon when you walk by. Drop the false modesty.”

Alex appears genuinely annoyed by this. His face is flushed and his breathing is erratic. “I don’t care. They can simper and swoon all they want as long as they leave my girlfriend out of it.”

My mouth drops slightly open, but I immediately snap it shut.

Tessie looks at me with wide eyes and raised eyebrows, mouthing, “What the fuck--?”

I shrug and stare at Alex in horror. “Oh, that’s a thing? Have we made it a thing?”

He turns around to face me, looking slightly embarrassed, and shoves his hands into his trouser pockets. “I mean, yeah. You know how I feel about you, Mel, and… well, I think you like me, too, yeah?”

My face heats up and my lips dry out. For half a moment, my tongue is stuck to the roof of my mouth, disabling my speech process. It soon occurs to me that he’s expecting some kind of response, so I say, “Sounds about right.”