“She is Deena’s sister and she’s a member of the staff, too,” Mark managed to get in.
“Whatever,” Virina grumpily acknowledged. “As I told Richard, all that stuff on the Simpson family has turned my investors off. They all backed out because they felt it smacked of too much promotion.”
“What kind of people were they? If the history and importance of Scenic Ridge as a minority-owned ski resort isn’t of interest to them, then it’s their loss. I’m not really interested in participating unless Scenic Ridge is in it,” Mark told her.
Virina squinted her cold blue eyes at him. “That’s what Richard told me, and frankly, that’s why he lost funding. People want to invest in you, Mark…not the Simpsons. Don’t be naive. You know how it goes.”
“Oh, yeah. I know all about sponsors and their demands, that’s one of the reasons I’m out of the competitive arena and content to teach. Now, I can wear whatever kind of ski wear I like, use the brand of equipment that I prefer and live my life exactly as I please. It feels good not to have to ask permission from anyone before I make a move. And that’s how it should be, you know?”
“In a perfect world, maybe,” Virina tightly conceded. “But you’re not living in a perfect world. I had to chase the money and then call off the project because of your demands. That was very humiliating for me, Mark.”
“Sure, sure,” Mark responded with very little compassion. “Well, you know where I stand. If you’re out of the picture, then fine. Richard can get his own money people, who will agree with our vision. Otherwise, I guess he’ll have to find some other athlete to profile. I don’t really want to discuss this again. The documentary can stay on the shelf as far as I’m concerned.”
“That’s a stupid call, Mark, but it’s yours to make.”
“Right, so drop it, okay? I’ll get in touch with Richard and see what we can figure out.”
“Fine with me. I only agreed to produce it to help you. Now. There is another matter that we need to discuss.” She took a moment to pull herself together and settle herself more firmly on the love seat, as if preparing for the next round.
“What?” Mark prompted.
“This obsessive allegiance you seem to have with Scenic Ridge is all because of that girl, Skylar, isn’t it, Mark? I don’t think she ought to…”
“Stop right there, Mother,” he interrupted. “I told you not to bring her up.”
“Why? Do you love her? Plan to marry her? Have a family with her?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact I do love her, and yes, I’d like a future with her. I’m grown. I can choose for myself and I know she’s the one for me.”
Though he was trying hard to sound convincing, he secretly wondered if there was any future for him and Skylar. For the past two weeks, she had been distant and edgy, not really eager to see him. Hopefully, it was just because she’d been overworked during the reunion, and then caught up in the chaos of having a film crew on the premises. But now all of that was over. Surely, things would get back to normal with them. He hoped so, because his feelings for her had not changed.
“Do you know why Skylar came to Scenic Ridge? Why she left Florida?” Virina was asking.
Mark gave himself a mental shake and refocused on his mother. “Yes, she needed a job and wanted a change.”
“A job? Why would a woman who is wealthy need to take a job as a concierge?”
Mark narrowed his gaze. “What’re you talking about? She’s not wealthy. She’s just a working girl who had a tough break back in Tampa.”
“Her elevator accident?”
“Right. I know all about it. Anyway, how did you find out about that?” Mark wanted to know.
“I have my sources,” Virina coyly answered. “Did she tell you that Dorchester Elevator awarded her four million dollars?”
Mark pulled back, lifting his chin. “I don’t believe you.”
“Ask her!”
Now, he shot forward, his elbows on his thighs, his face level with Virina’s. “I will!” His eyes bored into his mothers. “You’re lying! Skylar told me that she received a small amount of money and that the elevator company covered her medical expenses, but that’s all. You’re just twisting everything to make it sound so damn dramatic.”
“There’s more I could tell you, Mark, but I can see that you wouldn’t believe me. Go to her and ask her what else she’s been hiding, what she hasn’t had the decency to reveal to the man who says he wants to marry her. I’ve checked out Skylar Webster thoroughly and she is not the kind of woman you want for a wife, or I need for a daughter-in-law. She’s a deceitful, untrustworthy liar and a penny pincher, too!” Virina paused to sit back and fluff out her hair. “What self-respecting woman hides her wealth and lives like a pauper? Not one in her right mind, as far as I’m concerned. What’s the use of having money if you deny yourself the more pleasurable things in life?”
Rising from the sofa, Mark went to the hearth and stared into the blazing fire, his mind frozen in shock. Was this why Skylar was pulling away from him? Did she know her lies were about to catch up with her? But why had she lied in the first place? The fact that she had been awarded such a large sum of money was a shock, but not a big deal. In fact, he was happy for her. But what else was she hiding? What could be so bad that revealing it would destroy what they had found together?
Grabbing his jacket off the hook by the door, he pulled it on and then turned back to his mother. “I plan to get to the bottom of this, and you’d better not be lying.”
Virina simply shrugged her shoulders and widened her eyes, but did not respond.
Chapter 24
“Oh, Mark!” Skylar said, startled to see him approaching from the opposite side of the ice rink. She shifted over, making room for him to sit beside her on the bench, positioning herself so that she could see his face. Skylar could tell that he was winded, as if he’d been running. His parka was unzipped and he wasn’t wearing a hat or gloves. “Is something wrong?” she asked, thinking there might be an emergency at the ski school or the lodge.
“No, but I’ve been looking for you. We need to talk.”
“I know, and I’m glad you came,” she told him, a surge of nervous relief filling her chest as she realized it was time to have the conversation she had dreaded for so long. “I’ve been sitting here, thinking about you…about us. I’ve missed being with you, Mark.”
“Really? You gave me the impression that you wanted to be left alone. That’s why I haven’t bothered you.”
Skylar lowered her eyes, hurt by the hard edge to Mark’s words, but knowing he spoke the truth. “You’re right. I did want to be alone for a while. I had a few things I needed to sort out.”
“Were you successful?” he quipped, a bit sarcastically as he sat down beside her.
“I…don’t know.” She hesitated, sensing a definite tone of hostility in his voice.
“Want to talk about it?” he prompted.
Again, she paused, but then nodded. “Yes, I do.”
Mark crossed his arms, slipped low on his spine and stuck out his booted feet, as if settling in to listen. “Shoot. I’m all ears.”
Skylar reached for his hand, wanting to hold on to it while she talked, but he pulled it away and stuck it in his pocket. Alarmed by his reaction, she summoned the strength to plunge ahead with her confession.
“Mark, I need to tell you something about me that you don’t know.”
“Just one thing?”
“Well…two very important things,” she began, inhaling slowly. “Remember the accident I told you about?”
“Dorchester Elevator, wasn’t it?”
Skylar flinched. She had never told him the name of the company that had awarded her the settlement and wondered how he had found out. Had he been checking on her? Had Deena slipped and told him? And if so, how long had he known the truth? “Why, yes. Dorchester. How did you know?”
“That’s not important. Go on, please.”
Realizing that he was not
going to reveal his source and that he wanted to hear it from her, she continued, eyes lowered, afraid to watch his expression. “Dorchester did more than just cover my medical expenses. They settled out of court with me for a very large sum of money.”
“About four million dollars?” Mark added.
With a jerk, Skylar looked up at Mark, eyes narrowed, her heart pounding very fast. He had a smug look on his face, as if he were enjoying watching her squirm and his expression told her all she needed to know. He had known all along. He knew she had been playing a game with him. But why hadn’t he said anything before now? “So, you know all about my settlement?”
He nodded, eyes locked with hers. “Enough, but not everything, I’m sure.”
“And?” she ventured, fearful of his reaction.
“It makes me want to know what else you’re hiding.” He flexed his jaw, making the muscles in his neck move back and forth while he stared stonily ahead.
“All right. Here it is. I was seriously hurt when the elevator crashed. I wound up with a shattered right elbow and a fractured pelvis. My bones healed, but my body didn’t.”
He glanced over at her, now paying attention. “What does that mean?”
“It means that my chances of carrying a child to term are very slim, nearly impossible. You see, a piece of bone punctured my womb. It was a serious tear. The doctors stitched me up, but they aren’t sure how the injury will affect a pregnancy in the future. Every specialist I consulted told me the same thing.”
“What?”
“Better not count on ever having a successful pregnancy.”
A long pause. “I see.” A bitter sigh slipped from between his slightly parted lips. “No children for you, huh?”
“Probably not,” Skylar continued. “Mark, I wanted to tell you, but after you began talking about how much you want children and how important a family is to you, I knew I couldn’t just blurt this out. I didn’t plan on falling in love with you, Mark. When I met you, I was hurting, and you made the pain of my past disappear. I forgot about Lewis, the accident, his betrayal. Finally, I was happy again. I didn’t think about the consequences of holding on to my secrets. I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t know how, so I stepped back to take time to decide what to do. During this time apart, I’ve realized how much you mean to me. I’ve missed you so much, and I know it’s selfish of me to believe that we could ever…”
“Yes, it is selfish of you,” Mark interrupted, his voice brittle with anger.
Timidly, Skylar reached out and touched the sleeve of Mark’s jacket, trying to get his attention. “Mark. Please, don’t hate me.”
Standing, he shook her off and threw back his head, shaking snowflakes from his hair. “Hate you? No, I can’t say that, but I’m very disappointed that you felt you couldn’t trust me with the truth. I had to hear it from my mother, and you’d better believe she loved rubbing it in my face. And you know what? I have to admit that I’m glad she butted into my business this time. I needed to hear the truth and she delivered. Why couldn’t you at least have been honest with me?”
Skylar had no reply. What could she say that she hadn’t already told him? There was nothing left to do to regain his trust. She’d hurt him too badly to hope for a second chance.
Mark hunched his shoulders and looked down at his boots, a miserable scowl on his face. “How could you let me talk to you about marriage, children and a future, knowing you were playing games with me? What a pathetically childish thing to do.” He laughed now, a bitter chuckle of defeat. “And I thought you needed your job and enjoyed it. I envied the way you threw yourself into your work. And to think that I used to ask you to do special things for me just so I could give you a big tip.” He lowered his voice and shook his head. “I wanted to help you, Skylar. I thought you needed the extra money. I guess you were laughing at me behind my back, huh?”
Skylar stood abruptly and moved closer to Mark. “No, that’s not true. Mark, I never laughed at you. I made a huge mistake when I asked Deena to keep my settlement a secret. I wasn’t thinking about anyone but myself at that time. I wanted to fit in when I got here and I wanted my coworkers to think of me as a regular member of the staff. It was bad enough that I was the sister of the owner, and then to add the fact that I didn’t really need the job…well, it would have been a lot for the staff to accept. If everyone had known about my money, it would have become a distraction. But then I met you. My lie was already in place and, unfortunately, I just let it slide. I was going to tell you the truth tomorrow. I knew I had to. Can’t we try to…” She let her words drift off into the snow-filled air, fearing it was useless to try and salvage anything from the mess she had made of their love.
“No, I don’t think we can try again. I feel as if I’ve been duped. I thought you were an honest person, grateful to your sister for giving you a job. And I thought we had something special going on. But now I see that my mother was right all along. You’re not who I thought you were.” He pulled in a big gulp of air. “I’m sorry it’s turned out like this, Skylar. Really sorry.”
“Me, too,” Skylar whispered, watching his face, which had become hard and unreadable. “See you around?” she ventured, still hopeful.
Mark shrugged and walked away.
The tears that fell from Skylar’s eyes mingled with the snowflakes that settled on her cheeks. She sat on the hard wooden bench for a long time after Mark disappeared, not moving, not feeling the cold or the wind or the rapidly falling snow. All she could feel was the pain that was ripping her heart in two.
Chapter 25
From the fourth floor balcony window of her apartment, Deena watched as Mark and his mother drove away from Scenic Ridge. The early morning sunlight glinted off the roof of Mark’s Range Rover, sparking back at Deena until the vehicle passed beyond the stand of pines that marked the end of the two lane road. A great sense of loss washed through her, leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. Brushing aside a few stray hairs that had slipped from her ponytail, she let out a sigh that emptied her lungs.
She hated to see him go. He was such an excellent ski instructor and she had come to think of him as a member of her family, as she did with all of the staff at the resort. Sure, his Olympic championship status had been a bonus, but he had been more than simply a celebrity draw. He was a professional who took his work seriously, while passing on his passion for the sport. What was she going to do without him?
Turning from the window, Deena returned to the kitchen to pour herself a third cup of coffee, hoping it might give her a much needed boost of energy. A weakness that seemed to start in her feet and make its way through her entire body filled her with fatigue. She had gotten up at six o’clock that morning to finish some paperwork and had been deep into reviewing invoices related to the Slide and Glide Gala when Mark telephoned and asked if he could come up to see her.
When he arrived at her apartment, she could tell from the expression on his face that whatever he wanted to discuss with her was not going to be good news. She had not been wrong. He had nervously informed her that he had decided it would be best for him to leave Scenic Ridge due to personal reasons that he did not want to go into at that time. When Deena asked if there was anything she could do to help him with his problem he’d told her, “No. I don’t think anyone can solve this but me, and it’s going to take some time. Time away from Scenic Ridge.”
And Skylar, too, Deena had thought, certain that his decision had something to do with her sister. For the past few weeks, Skylar had refused to discuss her budding relationship with Mark by turning the conversation to other subjects whenever Deena had brought it up. That was until last night, when everything fell apart.
Mark had told Deena that he and Virina were moving to the St. Regis hotel in Aspen, where he was going to work as a private ski instructor for the wealthy guests staying at the luxury hotel. The position paid extremely well, he had said, and now that the Black Winter Sports Reunion was over, and things had slowed down enough at Scenic Ri
dge for John to handle the classes, it was time to go. Again, Deena had tried to persuade him to stay, but he had held firm with his decision to quit.
Though hurt by the news, Mark’s abrupt decision had not caught Deena completely by surprise. He had been subdued and distant for quite some time and Deena knew that he and Skylar were going through a pretty rough time.
Last night, Skylar had filled Deena in on what happened at the ice rink, between sobs and tears of regret. Skylar had been devastated, and blamed herself for messing up her relationship with Mark, confessing everything to Deena, who had not known about her sister’s inability to carry a child to term. The money was not the issue: Mark’s longing for a family and Skylar’s medical condition would be difficult obstacles to overcome.
While digesting Mark’s news about leaving, Deena had thought that things couldn’t have gotten worse, but they did when he brought up the subject of Richard Nobel’s film.
“My mother’s investors decided not to commit to the project because it focuses too much on the ski school,” Mark had told her.
“Really? That’s terrible,” Deena had replied.
“Well, it leaves Richard in debt with a half-finished film,” Mark had commented, going on to admit to feeling partly responsible for not cautioning Richard about his impulsive mother, who had a tendency to exaggerate everything. “I never dreamed she’d fall through on her commitment—not after bragging about her easy access to people with money. I don’t know what happened, but as far as I’m concerned the documentary is dead, and it’s just as well. The whole thing has become a distraction.” Then he had given Deena an awkward hug and left.
This never should have happened, Deena thought, her eyes riveted on the bright, red coffee cup in her hand. I’m partly to blame. I never should have agreed to keep Skylar’s secret. And I never should have encouraged Richard to include so much about Jerome and our family in the documentary. How did everything get so mixed up, so quickly? She worried, wondering how Skylar was doing this morning.
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