Mary: Did you get mad, because of what Brian told Bea and Joey? You shouldn't. There's no harm in it. Chase: They were laughing at me. Mary: So what? It's just a funny story. Don't you understand that Bea likes you? I don't understand why, after what you did to her, but she does. - Chase, why do you hate Brian? At least you've got a father who knows what you were like as a kid. Chase: He didn't stay around for long.
Mary: He's back now. He's not perfect, but who is? Don't even try to tell me that you are. Chase: Why are you doing this? I thought you don't like Brian. Mary: I don't dislike him, he's just, sort of... irrelevant to me. He's not my grandpa, but he is your father. And you never know how long he'll be around. Chase: You're right about that. I bet he'll disappear again in no time. Mary: I wasn't thinking of that. I mean that nobody lives forever. Chase: You're thinking about your mother. It's an entirely different matter. You loved her.
Kitty: I guess you know why Chase is so angry. Anika: It's the money. She's afraid that Callie will claim her part of the inheritance. I haven't told Chase, but there's no fear of that. Your grandfather's will is very clear on that point. Only his descendants inherit. That's why I got it only for my lifetime. Kitty: I didn't know that. Why haven't you told Chase? It would make her treat Callie better. Anika: Because Chase deserves it. Don't worry, Callie will be fine. I'll make sure I won't invite her for a visit when Chase is around.
Kitty: I wouldn't mind if you gave Callie something. Although, I got the impression that she's fairly well off. Anika: I knew you wouldn't mind. I've been thinking... I've got some money that originally came from her grandfather. It would be the right thing to do to leave it to her, or Joey. Kitty: It's up to you. - Grandma, are you mad about the TV plan? Anika: No, you're right, it has to come out. Kitty: You know, times are different now. Anika: Yes, they are, and that's exactly why people are not going to understand why I did it.
Mary: Chase is in the top floor. Brian: So? Mary: I think you should go and talk with her. Brian: What's there to talk about? She hates me. Mary: She hates everybody to some degree. I think she hates herself the most. Brian: I know the feeling. All right, I'll try, but don't expect too much. She probably won't even listen to me.
Brian: Chase... Chase: What do you want? Brian: I just... maybe I shouldn't have told the kids that story, but Bea insisted and it was the only one I could think of that was suitable for kids. Chase: I can imagine what the other stories are like. Brian: Chase, I'm sorry I left you. Maybe things would have been better for you, if I had been around, but I wasn't cut out to be a father. Or a husband. It took me a long time to figure that out.
Chase: What makes you think you'll be any better at being a grandfather? Brian: I have changed. I'm not sure if I'll be better, but I'm trying my best. Chase: You better, because if you dump Rosie like you dumped us, you're going to regret it. That's a promise. Brian: Chase, could we... try again? As friends, if you don't want me to be your father. Chase: Friends? I don't have... I mean, I don't think so.
Bea: Uncle Maurice, what's schizo... schizoph... Maurice: Schizophrenia. Where did you hear that? Bea: It was in a book I'm reading. I know it means you're crazy, but in what way? Maurice: It makes you imagine things. Actually, I just wrote an article about it for a medical journal. Most interesting case. The patient thought he saw a clown wherever he went... Toffee: Maybe you shouldn't be talking about that. Maurice: Why not? The patients are referred to as numbers, so... Oh, I see. Yes, medicine probably isn't the most fascinating subject for kids. Bea: But it is! I'm going to be a pysch... psychist... a shrink!
Later: Kitty: I guess that went as well as you could expect. Callie: Chase hates me. Kitty: Of course she does. She'll get used to the situation. Anika: It's getting late. Where are the kids? Kitty: Upstairs with Riddick. Rosie should be sleeping already and Riddick promised to keep the others entertained while we talk a bit more. Anika: About what? Callie: Old history.
Callie: What was my grandfather like? Anika: That was so long ago. I don't think about it all any longer. Kitty: I'd like to hear the story too. What's the harm? There's only us three here and Callie and I won't talk to anyone about it. Right, Callie? Callie: Of course not. Well, maybe I'll some day tell some of it to Joey, when he's old enough to understand, but that'll be years from now. Anika: All right, I guess Callie has the right to know. But first, could I get something stronger than this?
Anika: My parents died when I was 16. They left just enough money for me to get proper training. There were very few jobs women of my class could have in those days. Basically, the choice was between a secretary, teacher, governess or nanny. I didn't want to look after other people's brats, so I became a secretary. I managed to get a job as a typist in Robert's firm, but I soon got promoted and after a while I became Robert's private secretary when the previous one got married and left. Then his wife died. She had been sick for a long time and everybody knew it was only a matter of time. By that time, Robert had come to depend on me. So, after a proper time had passed, he asked me to marry him.
Callie: Just like that? Anika: You forget that most marriages at the time were out of convenience and financial security. He wanted to make sure I wouldn't leave him to marry someone, like his previous secretary had done, and he offered me the kind of financial security most girls could only dream of. Of course he was a lot older as there were grownup children from his first marriage, but he was a nice and decent man and had always treated me well, so I said yes. Kitty: And I thought he must have been the love of your life. Anika: Love? That was a luxury very few in my position could afford. No, there was no great love, but we were fond of each other. I made him feel young again and he taught me how to be a real lady.
Anika: We had only been married a little over a year when Robert died in a car accident. His children inherited most of the fortune, but I got enough to live comfortably without working. I had to leave the house, of course. The older son got it and he hated me. The children never forgave their father for marrying me. I don't know why they were so much against him having a bit of fun after all those years of living with an invalid, but that's how it was. Callie: What about ma? Anika: Yes, your mother. About a month after the funeral I realized I was pregnant, three months, the doctor said. I didn't get too worried as I had enough money and being a widow, there was no social stigma about raising a child on my own.
Anika: Also, the marriage had improved my social status substantially. It's quite another thing to be a wealthy widow than it is to be an orphan working as a secretary. Kitty: When did grandfather come into the picture? Anika: A couple of months after the funeral. Of course I had to play the part of a grieving widow, so it took some time before we could be seen together in public. Fortunately, it was quite normal for a widow, especially a woman, to get married again as soon as a proper time had passed, so nobody thought it odd that I had a fiancee less than a year after my husband's death. That almost didn't happen, because of the baby.
Callie: Because she wasn't feline? Anika: Yes. Francis was ready to raise a half-breed child as long as it looked like a feline, but this was too much. Even though we were madly in love, he said I had to choose. I chose him. I'm sorry it had to be that way, but I'm not sure I would choose differently today, if I had to do it all over again. You see, Francis may have been a bit of a bastard, but he was the one for me, the love of my life, like Kitty said. And anyway, the orphanage was a good place, unlike most others at the time. Children who went there got adopted to wealthy families. We even made a sizable donation to them to make sure they would do their best.
Callie: Grandma and grandpa were good parents. They couldn't have children of their own, so they decided to adopt. They did tell ma about it as soon as she was old enough to understand, but otherwise they were just like any parents, maybe even better than biological ones, because they had to go through so much grief before they finally got a baby. Kitty: Grandma, your timeline doesn't match. Anika: What do you mean? Kitty: You've always told us that you met grandfather in the races and you were both racing and you won. And that you stopped racing after you married grandfather, because you wanted to be a lady. If you met him two months after the funeral and you were already pregnant, let alone a grieving widow...
Kitty: So? Anika: It doesn't match, because it isn't true. I had to rearrange things a bit to erase Robert and the baby from the story. Actually, Francis and I were already married at the time we participated in the races. He was wild and so was I. We had the best time of our lives during the first two or three years. Then I had an accident and it was so close call that I decided it would be best to give up racing. Also, there was press to consider. Kitty: Press? Anika: Yes, they always remembered to mention Robert when they wrote about my racing career. I had to get out of the public eye long enough for everybody to forget.
Callie: How did you explain the disappearing baby? People must have known you had been pregnant. Anika: We said the baby had died. Common enough in those days. Nobody asked any questions after that. Kitty: I have one more question. How does all this go together with what you told me before? If I remember correctly, you said the first marriage was a big mistake. It doesn't sound like it. Anika: You wanted the whole truth, didn't you? What I said earlier... well, how was I to know you'd find Callie and it would all have to come out?
Riddick: Have you finished or do I need to continue telling stories about cops and robbers and amazing escapes? Kitty: Riddick! Riddick: Take it easy, they're just stories, right? You know, the names of the persons in the story have been altered to protect the guilty and all that. Callie: What are you talking about? Anika: Better not ask. And yes, we have finished. At least, I'm not ready to tell anything more tonight. I think I'll be heading home now. I feel a bit tired.
Kitty: Did you have fun tonight, Joey? Joey: Yes, I did! Riddick's stories are the best! Johnny always tells stories where cops get the robber. That's so boring. Kitty: Who's Johnny? Callie: A friend who sometimes spends time with Joey. Sort of a surrogate father. - I think we need to be going as well. It's well past Joey's bedtime. Joey: Can we come again some other time? Kitty: Of course. In fact, I would be very offended if you didn't come.
Mary: Kitty will bring the rest. Riddick: Where's Bea? Mary: She wanted to help, but Kitty told her to go to bed as it's so late. - These are all that's left, if you don't count the sweet stuff. Kitty said she didn't want any. You? Riddick: No thanks, you can have them.
Mary: Dad, about those stories you told... Riddick: What about them? Mary: They weren't true, were they? I mean, they're just stories, you haven't done all that stuff, right? Riddick: Where did you get the idea the stories were about me? Mary: I'm not stupid, you know. Riddick: I know. All right, let's just say that some parts might be true, some gross exaggeration and some entirely fictitious. I'm not going to tell which one is which. Mary: I'm not sure I'd want to know.