he had no doubt what she was saying was true. She’d give it all back to have them with her again. His children probably couldn’t, wouldn’t say the same.
“You know, I came out here because the doctors all say I don’t have much time left. The family has been up in arms and making life miserable. I thought I’d just go for a sail on my friend’s boat and sleep with the fishes. It would serve them right to wonder what happened to me and have to wait for my body to wash up somewhere, if it ever did. The lawyers would tie up my estate for a long time if I did.”
He looked out over the water again. “The storm kept me from one fate and brought me another. The captain I hired said he wouldn’t take me out. Too dangerous. Can you imagine what I thought about that? It’s too dangerous to sail an old man out to sea so he can kill himself.
“I figured the waves here at the pier were rough enough they’d either carry me out to sea, or I’d just drown right here in the harbor. You came along and made me think maybe I should rethink my troubles. You’re an interesting woman, Marti. You’re a woman I’d like to get to know better. Would you consider having dinner with an old man like me? I’ll even argue with you about politics and business deals if it pleases you.”
“Nothing would please me more, mister . . .”
“Knight, George Knight.”
She smiled and leaned up on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. “We have a lot to talk about, Mr. Knight, for you are my grandfather’s most worthy adversary. I’m Martina Fairchild, granddaughter to Sofia and Martin Fairchild, founder and once CEO of Fairchild Industries. How fares Knight Enterprises?”
Fate had a way of working in mysterious ways. He hadn’t been able to sail on Cameron’s boat, and none other than his old enemy’s granddaughter had saved him. Granted he and Marty Fairchild were long-time business rivals and had spent a great deal of time and energy pretending to dislike one another. In actuality, they had been reluctant friends because they’d admired each other’s determination and business prowess.
“Marti, you must call me George. Your grandfather told me stories about you from the time you were born. I saw you grow up through his eyes, and whenever I’d see you at a function. He was so proud of you. I think he talked about you more than he talked about your father or uncle combined.”
“He was an amazing man. I think we argued strategy against Knight Enterprises over many a meal.”
“You were named for him?”
She smiled. A funny story, one only appreciated fully by someone who knew her grandfather well. To say he was proud to have sired two boys was an understatement. Ending up with a granddaughter instead of a grandson was unthinkable. Even more unthinkable, him raising that girl child.
The man born to a family of eight boys had no idea how to raise a girl. The thought never occurred to him that he’d ever have a daughter or granddaughter. And yet she, Marti, had become both to him.
“I was somewhat jokingly named after him. When he arrived at the hospital to see my mother after I was born, he came into the room and asked to see his grandson. It never occurred to him he’d be cursed with a granddaughter.”
“He would think that, wouldn’t he? He was a man among men. Everything about him was male, right down to his chauvinism.”
George thought he had some old-fashioned values, but he thought children were a blessing, no matter what their gender.
Disappointing, when the blessing of children turned sour and they grew to be their own people. His children had proven it. Well, except for one. But he didn’t even know George was his father.
“Yes, he was very much like that. My mother was very much a woman and she had learned not to let my grandfather get away with his cantankerous ways. I’m told my mother was very much like my grandmother, a woman who could stand on her own and go toe-to-toe with any man, including my grandfather.”
She smiled warmly. It was nice to talk about her grandparents and parents with someone who had known them. “Anyway, my grandfather saw my mother holding a pink-blanketed bundle. He looked at my father and said, ‘Well, that’s a disappointment. What are we supposed to do with a girl?’