“Not since she was disinherited.”
“Bea?”
She looks at me, worry lines grooving her forehead and between her eyes.
“You taught Daphne to drive?”
The barest smile tilts her lips up. “Not exactly. But you want a good script for another show? I can tell youaaaaallabout how much I had to teach Daph when she moved in with us the first time. Rich girl suddenly poor without a clue how to get along in the real world. I have some stories.”
My hand hovers over my heart, which has begun beating wildly with excitement at the scenes taking place in my head. “Don’t tease me, darling. That would be brilliant fun to write together with you.”
She taps the script in her lap. “Give this to the studio, and I’ll start talking.IfDaph agrees. Which she will. If I tell her to.”
“Beatrice Best, you are a wicked woman.”
“The stories probably aren’t really script-worthy. Especially not the one about dish soap at the laundromat. Or the one about her first time trying to dye her own hair. Or the one about when she discovered bulk beans on the internet.”
“You are a veritable smorgasbord of life experiences that belong in a television series.”
Her smile is growing, even as she glances at her phone again. “Thank you,” she whispers.
“For what, love?”
“For reminding me of all the reasons Daphne’s going to be okay. She’s come a long, long way, and if someone from her former world needs help learning the same things she did, they’re in good hands.”
I toss aside my notebook and pull her into my lap. “She will be more than okay. As she said, she’ll be home soon. She’s doing a good deed.”
Her nose wrinkles. “He better appreciate what she’s doing. And if he hurts her?—”
“As I believe I’ve recently noted, your brother has all of the resources necessary to solve that problem.”
She snuggles into me, her face in the crook of my neck, exactly where I like it. “I love you,” she whispers.
“I love—” I start, but I’m interrupted by a giant wave of cold water splashing across us.
Bea shrieks and prances out of my lap. “Oh, that’s how it’s gonna be?” she says to my boys, an impish grin taking hold of her face. “You have no idea who you’re playing with here.”
They grin back at her.
She jumps into the pool, executing the most perfect, splash-tastic cannonball that I’ve ever witnessed, making my boys and their friends shriek with glee.
My eyes mist over as I watch them all water fight each other.
I didn’t think love was the reason I came to Athena’s Rest.
But as it turns out, love is the reason I’ve done nearly everything in my life since the boys were born.
The difference is, now I choose to embrace it instead of hiding from it.
And that is how a true happily ever after is made.
BONUS EPILOGUE
IT’S A VERY MERRY FAMILY CHRISTMAS
Bea
In the fiveand a half months since Simon’s kids accidentally had me arrested, they’ve become some of my favorite people on the entire planet.
