“Hey.” I grab my towel and mop the sweat from my face. “Did you sleep okay?” I take several swallows out of the bottle of water I retrieved earlier from the small mini fridge in here.
“Yes. They told me you were up here. The agents.”
“Yeah, I haven’t been working out the way I should. I woke up early and I didn’t want to disturb Jordan and Leo, so I figured I’d be productive.”
“I’m not bothering you, am I?”
“No. I was almost done. Are they up yet?”
“I haven’t seen them. Your father’s still sleeping.” She settles into one of the chairs by the wall. “But I wanted to talk to you alone, so that’s fine.”
Uh-oh.“About what?” I transfer into my wheelchair and roll over.
“Your father and I decided something last night. About all that…stuff.” Her left hand flutters in the air. “Stella’s estate stuff Leo told us about when we arrived.”
Oh, yeah.Thatstuff. The probate went through. Some of it’s still being disputed by Ellis’ family, but there was a partial judgment awarding some of it to my parents.
Over nine million dollars’ worth.
“What about it?”
She looks me in the eyes. “We want you to have it. You and Leo and Jordan.”
I blink. “What?”
“You heard me. What do we need with all of that?”
“Um, you could donate it, if you want.”
She shakes her head. “No. We want you boys to use it for building your house. If you want to donate it somewhere, that’s up to you. Or start a scholarship in Mimi’s name. Donate it to your friend’s foundation. Use it for the presidential library. Anything. We don’tcarewhat you do with it—wedon’t want it.”
I drape the towel around my neck as I think about the implications. “I don’t know the legalities of that, Mom.”
“I’m sure Leo can figure it out with help from your attorneys.” She smiles. “He’s a pretty smart guy.”
‘You’re sure?”
“That Leo’s smart?” Her smile widens and it eases some of the recently etched lines drawn there by the events of the past several months.
I roll my eyes at her. “About themoney.”
Her smile fades. “We’re sure. You have been more than generous, honey. Before the stuff with Stella happened, your father was at peace and really happy for the first time in his adult life. You blessed us by finding a way we could keep our home and the farm in the family while also taking care of our money worries. If you really don’t want it, we’ll just give it to Jordan and then you won’t have a choice. I know our youngest son won’t argue with us.” Her smile returns, playful and knowing.
She’s right—he won’t. Jordan adores her and Dad. Now with the secret eliminated, he’s free to openly love my parents and they’ve showered him with love in return. If he was straight and not my hubby, I have no doubts they’d be trying to pair him with Kayley, who’s long been an adopted daughter to them.
Still, that’s…alotof money.
But yeah, it would allow us to not only complete the house but even add some extras we weren’t going to spend money on. Plus give us a more than adequate nest egg for paying taxes, insurance, all of that.
And there are three other undeveloped woodlands properties surrounding our property that are available for purchase. We could buy and merge them with ours to give us even more privacy, room to roam outdoors, as well as preserve it for wildlife.
“Okay. Thank you, Mom.”
She nods, a pleased smile on her face. “Good. Thank you for not fighting us on this.” She stands. “Because you weren’t going to win anyway once I tattled on you to Jordan.”
God, it feels good to really laugh again and mean it. “That’s not playing fair, Mom.”
“Who says I need to play fair?” She leans in and kisses the top of my head. “I’m playing to win.”
