“We have to talk,” he said.
“I know.” She circled around the desk and slipped onto his lap. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. “I’ve decided that we’re going to be all right. You need some time to come to grips with all that’s happened between us. It’s been fast and a real change. I understand that. You’ve spent the past, what, fifteen years living like some Rambo guy. Family life is going to be an adjustment. I trust you. Completely.”
“I’m glad,” he said, setting her on her feet and standing next to her. “Because we have to go over a few things before I leave.”
“Leave?”
“My trip to the Mediterranean. The Kirkman case.”
“Oh. Yeah. You told me.” In all the emotional trauma, she’d forgotten. She followed him over to the leather sofa and settled next to him. She pointed to the folder waiting on the coffee table. “State secrets?”
“No.”
“A security plan?”
“Not exactly.”
She tilted her head. “Okay. You’re not being wildly chatty. Why don’t you take over the conversation.”
“I want to talk about my will.” He opened the folder and drew out a thick document. “I saw my lawyer yesterday to get a new will. I’ve left everything to you, except for two separate life insurance policies I had set up for Maggie and the baby. You’re the trustee for both policies. It should be enough to cover raising them, along with college.”
She stared at the document, but couldn’t make it come into focus. A will? “I don’t understand.”
“If things don’t go well, I want you to be taken care of. The business is set up with an automatic sale of my half to Zane, if something happens to me, and the same if he dies. You’ll receive the proceeds from the sale, along with the house. I have a 401k, investments, checking and savings accounts. Brenda will get in touch with my financial adviser if anything happens, and Jerry can walk you through it all.”
“No.” She pushed the folder away. “I don’t want to talk about this. Not now. I told you. I’m not interested in your money.”
His gray gaze was steady. “I understand that, Ashley, and I believe you. However, if I don’t come back, I want you taken care of.”
If I don’t come back.
She slid into the corner of the sofa. “Don’t come back? What are you talking about?”
He sighed. “Probably nothing. This isn’t an extremely high-risk operation.”
Operation? “Are we talking about your business trip?”
“It’s a security detail. These men are very highly placed. There have been both death and kidnapping threats. We’ve prepared for the worst and I’m sure everything will be fine. But if something happens, I want you to have financial security.”
She sprang to her feet. “No. I don’t want financial security. I want you to come back.”
“I’m sure I will.”
She pointed to the folder. “You’renotsure. That’s why we’re having this conversation. Jeff, are you telling me that you could die on this trip?”
He shifted uncomfortably on the sofa. “It’s unlikely.”
“How unlikely?”
“Less than a thirty percent chance.”
Her mouth dropped open. Thirty percent? There was a thirty percent chance he could die? While he was gone?
“No,” she said firmly. “No. You can’t go. You cannot die. Not until we’re both old. I don’t want you to die.” She’d just found him. She refused to lose him.
“Ashley, be reasonable. This is what I do.”
“You’re crazy, then. How can you walk out on Maggie and me? And what about the baby?” She paced to his desk, then spun to face him. “You can’t. You just can’t. Dammit, Jeff, you’re not some solitary soldier giving his all for God and country. This is just some assignment. You can’t leave like this. It’s wrong. You have a responsibility to us. We need you to come home to us.”
