Chelsea Rollington was puzzled by her recently deceased Mother's finances. Growing up it seemed that her father was often involved with business investments that went bad, and also liked to gamble at the casinos and the racetrack. Although her parents had wealthy parents, the family wealth had long since diminished, and money was often tight in the household. Her parents had also mysteriously sold their house in a prestigious lake community two years earlier. They had dearly loved the home, which they had lived in for decades, but suddenly told her they wanted to downsize to a small apartment nearby. Unfortunately, shortly after they sold the house, her father passed away from a heart attack.
What puzzled her was that even though her parent's finances were shaky, they always seemed to have the money to send her to prestigious private schools. She had earned a bachelor's degree, an MBA and now just completed her law degree, all from Ivy League universities, along with experience in prestigious management consulting companies in between her degrees. She asked her mother a few times over the years how they could afford her schooling, when they often had trouble paying their other bills, but her mother was evasive. Chelsea thought that maybe her grandparents had set up a trust for her education, but her mother said they hadn't.
Chelsea had her own apartment near the university campus. Her mother had cancer and passed shortly before her graduation from law school. As the executor of the estate, she was curious about what assets and debts her mother's estate had. When the lawyer read the will, she was shocked to find out that her mother had no income except her social security, as she had only kept things going financially the last two years by borrowing money, and also had debt for medical bills. Chelsea had actually co-signed for some of the debt, which she thought was just her helping her mother out with short term cash flow issues. Chelsea was turning 30 years old on Labor Day, and although she was starting a job with a law firm in mid-September after her birthday, she was worried about how she would pay off the portion of her mother's debts that she was personally liable for, as she had no money of her own.
When she went through her mother's personal papers, she found a letter from her mother addressed to her. The letter told her that if she ever needed help after her mother passed, she should contact James Peterson. The letter said that he lived in the very large house that was across the lake from Chelsea's family home. Chelsea had always admired this house, which was modern in design and had several levels built into the side of the hill rising up from the lake. Along with the letter were several pictures of her mother with James, including a picture of her mother reclining on a couch in a beautiful knee length blue nightgown.
It all made sense now. Her mother had told her stories of a mystery man that she went to college with. The man came from a blue-collar family and attended the college on a scholarship. She was madly in love with him and they had a passionate love affair. But her grandparents were against her mother dating James, as they felt he wasn't good enough for him and wouldn't be able to financially support her. Instead her mother met her father through mutual family friends. While he had the right pedigree and her mother got along with him well, you could tell there was no passion in their relationship.
Chelsea was a stunningly beautiful woman, 5'-8" tall, with auburn hair and green eyes, and a slender yet athletic figure. She had several boyfriends over the years, but she hadn't yet met a man that would send her heart racing and would be the only one for her. Men also tended to focus on her looks, not her intelligence, often wanting just a sexual relationship. Chelsea packed up her mother's belongings and put them in storage, as the rent was way past due on her mother's apartment. Chelsea's new job was several states away, so she was staying with a friend for the summer and had just vacated her apartment too.
The next day at her friend's apartment she decided to call James Peterson. She was very nervous as she called him. "Hi, is this James Peterson?"
"Yes, who is this calling?"
"It's Chelsea Rollington. You don't know me, but my mother said I should contact you after she passed if I ever needed any help."
She wasn't sure how he would answer. "Chelsea, it is great to hear from you. I thought I might hear from you someday, but I assume there is some bad news about your mom?"
"Yes, she passed last month from cancer and I am the executor of her estate. In her papers I found a letter telling me you live in the beautiful house across the lake from our home. Well it was our home, but mom and dad sold it about two years ago."
"That is surprising to me. They loved that home. I first met your mother when we were in freshman year of college, when her parents owned the home."
"James, I think they were having some financial problems over the years."
"That doesn't surprise me Chelsea. Your mother and father were far better at spending money than at making money. Why don't you come up this weekend and we can get to know each other," he said in a friendly way.
She was concerned about what his intentions were. "I would like to come meet you, but please don't get the wrong idea. I don't even know you and not sure what you are expecting of me."
"Chelsea don't be silly. I am old enough to be your father and would never disrespect the memory of your mother by making a pass at her daughter. After your mother left me, I was very sad for a while, but eventually met my late wife and we had a great 30 years together, but like your mother, cancer took her from me about a year ago. Your mother and my late wife were the only two women I ever dated, and I haven't dated anyone for the last year."
"I am so sorry to hear that and I'm sorry I misunderstood. I would love to meet you. My mom talked about you sometimes and I could tell by the look in her eye when she did that you had something very special together."
"Don't get me wrong Chelsea, I loved my wife. But your mom was the love of my life and I regret that her parents kept us apart, and that she went along with them. I spent many years trying to prove them wrong about me and ended up becoming quite comfortable financially, owning several companies. As you know, your father came from a wealthy family, but he lost it all over the years. Your grandparents eventually realized who was the better man, but by then your mom and I both had married so we didn't want to break up our relationships, as our mates were good people and didn't deserve that."
Chelsea drove towards James Peterson's lake house, through the woods on a Friday afternoon. She was planning to stay in a hotel in town after meeting with him. As she was nearing the house, a sudden heavy thunderstorm rolled through and it became very difficult to see. Lightning hit a nearby tree, and it fell across the road in front of her and she couldn't stop in time. Her car hit the tree trunk, and everything went black.
When she awoke, she was in the house laying on a couch and looked up to see James looking down at her with a worried face. "Chelsea, are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm okay. How much damage did I do to my car?"
"Well let's put it this way. You are in much better shape then your car. The roads are blocked, and it will take until Monday for the roads to get cleared enough for me to get you to town to your hotel. I took your suitcase out of the car and put in the guest room. You might want to go take a nap while I make dinner for us."
"James, thank you so much. You are everything my mom always said you were. A kind gentleman who always thinks of others. This was a strange way for us to first meet, but fate has a strange way about it."
"Well she did bring out the best in me. It is good to finally see you in person. You look exactly like your mother did at your age."
Chelsea was puzzled by that comment. How did she know anything about her if her mother was not in contact with him for the last 30 years? How would he know what her mother looked like at 29 if they stopped dating when they 19? Although he was nearing 50, he was very good looking, with brown hair with flecks of grey and piercing blue eyes that just looked right through you.
