“Then don’t,” he offered in that low voice that made my toes tingle.
“Can I talk it over with my family?” I asked, which only made him chuckle.
“Of course,” he said before he climbed into the sporty dark purple Alda convertible. “Talk it over. And when you’re ready to say yes, I’ve left a second envelope with your mother.”
“Sure of yourself, aren’t you?”
“Always,” he grinned. That sideways smirk was going to be the death of me. “Good night. Sweet Pea,” he added with a wink before he put the car in drive.
I watched him drive away, wrapping myself in a hug. This was too good to be true. I needed to think seriously about this.
I was still standing outside, looking at the gate, when Fern came to find me.
“What’d he say?” she asked.
Wordlessly, I handed her the check. When she stumbled just like I had, I righted her by the elbow just like he had.
“What are you going to do?”
“If this was seven weeks ago, I’d have said yes in a heartbeat,” I said. I thought about the kiss, and what that might have meant if my life weren’t so damned complicated now.
“He knows about the baby,” she pointed out. “If he’s okay with it, why can’t you be?”
I sighed. It was difficult to explain. “Frankly, it’s too good to be true. I mean, what’s the catch? It doesn’t feel like real life, and yet I am gambling my future on it. And my baby’s. Isn’t that just a little bit nuts?”
“Maybe,” she conceded with a shrug. “But what’s so great about real life, anyway? In real life, you get Christopher as a baby daddy.”
I shuddered. “Yeah. No.”
Fern linked her arm with mine and walked me back to the pool house, where we stayed up half the night talking over the pros and cons, until I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer.
The next day when I dragged myself out of the pool house, I found a scattering of pink sweet pea petals leading from the pool house to my family’s house. I turned to Fern, who was wiping the sleep out of her eyes as she processed the scene before her. We followed the trail to see where it ended, which was in my family dining room, where my mother sat at the table, holding an envelope. I took it as I sat down. I withdrew tickets to New York City for Fern and myself, as well as tickets for the whole family to Aldayne in August, special guests to the Queen’s Silver Jubilee.
My eyes met Mom’s. “You really think I should do this? Right now? With everything?” Of all the opinions that mattered, my mother’s was paramount.
Her only answer was a smile as she held up a pen. I saw everything in that smile. The courage to take this leap of faith, and the strength to keep standing, even if I fell flat on my face.
Without another question, I took the pen and began signing my old life away. When I was done, I placed the pen on top of the paperwork, took a deep breath and turned to my sister and squealed.
She pulled me up into a hug, where we alternately jumped and danced. Mom was quick to join, Dad, Dallas and Dash were soon to follow.
“Does this mean I get to go to Aldayne?” Dash asked, his eyes as wide as saucers.
I handed him his ticket. “That’s exactly what it means,” I said with a smile.
It was a fairy tale for all of us.
Who needed real life anyway?
Chapter Ten
Life looks a little different when there is a check for millions of dollars in your pocket. I learned this the day after I signed the contracts and had them couriered back to Auggie. But despite the many rules I agreed to adhere by in the pages among pages of legal documentation, the check in my hand made me feel anything but bound. For once in my life I felt limitless.
I also didn’t know where to start. I turned to my parents for direction.
“Should I get a house?”
Dad shrugged. “You’re going to be traveling an awful lot for the next few months. It’s not a purchase you need to rush. Besides which, you have a lot to consider now. Like school districts and safe neighborhoods. You’re not just buying a house. You’re planting roots.”
I sighed. He was right. “Maybe I can just buy this place,” I suggested.