“I made a trip to Portland yesterday. You’re holding papers signed by Lance, releasing total custody of Kallie to you. I need to file them with the state, but after we’re married, I can adopt Kallie.”
Amy’s chest swelled, taking her breath away as effectively as Ben’s kisses did. She, Ben, Kallie, and Cassey were going to be a family. “How did you get him to sign them? I know he wants nothing to do with Kallie, but I didn’t expect him to sign over his rights so easily. Knowing Lance, I expected him to try to get money from you.”
“He did, and I reminded him that was illegal. I told him if he wanted to bring up money, I would draw up child support papers outlining exactly what he needed to pay you each month for Kallie’s support. He signed the papers without argument after that.”
Amy hugged him. “Thank you, Ben. There’s nothing I want more than for you to adopt Kallie.”
“I have one more present for you.” He stood and pulled her up with him.
“But I haven’t given you any of yours.”
She wanted to give Ben something extra special, but he already had everything.
In fact, he’d spent a lot of money refurnishing his spacious house after Debbie moved out. Amy had told him the furniture was fine—much nicer than any she had ever owned, but he’d insisted it needed to be replaced.
She suspected there were too many memories linked to the furniture he’d shared with Melanie. She’d never asked, and he hadn’t said as much, but she’d selected an entirely different style when he insisted she help choose the new furniture. Even so, Amy wasn’t sure he’d slept at the house yet.
“I’ll open my presents in a minute.” Ben pulled her toward the kitchen. He paused at the door to the garage. “You’ll think I’m crazy, but I want you to know how much I love you and the girls, and how important your safety is to me.” He opened the garage door and turned on the light. “Merry Christmas!”
Amy gasped. There in his garage was a shiny red Ford Expedition. Her stomach dropped.
“I understand your desire to keep us safe, Ben, but this...” She waved her hand at the SUV. “It’s so expensive, and on top of my ring and the furniture and... and everything.” Nausea swamped her as she thought about how much money Ben had spent lately.
She’d finally paid off the credit card Lance had maxed out.
“Relax.” Ben put both hands on her shoulders. “I made decent money at the garage, with few expenses, and things are picking up at the law office since Uncle Brent has decided to retire. Besides, Debbie has been paying double the mortgage for the past year. Even though I’ve spent a lot of money recently, I want you to know I’m nothing like Lance. I’m actually very good with money. Everything is paid for, and I still have a little nest egg in savings.”
“How? I mean, you’ve spent a lot of money.”
“Remember the reward money you refused to accept?”
Amy thought about their first argument. Three days after she found Cassey. Ben had insisted she’d earned the ten-thousand-dollar reward with everything she’d gone through, which made her angry. Robert had helped Ben see that by insisting she take the money, Ben had belittled the whole reason Amy put herself in danger to find Cassey.
Amy nodded, and he said, “I tried to give my parent’s portion back to them, but they refused to take it. They told me to find a way to give it to you that you couldn’t refuse.” He picked up Amy’s hand and touched the ring on her finger. “What I didn’t use for your ring, went toward the SUV, which is used, not new, so it didn’t cost as much as you think.”
She smiled. “You’re sneaky. I could never refuse this ring, nor will I refuse the SUV, because I know how important this is to you.”
She turned to step into the garage, but Ben stopped her. “Amy, being a small-town lawyer, I’ll never be able to give you the kind of life I could if I worked for a large firm in the city, but I promise to take care of our family. Even if it means working at the garage as well as the law office.”
“I know you will. And I’m content to continue working at the diner for now. In fact, Charity has asked me to be the afternoon manager. She wants me to help redesign the menus, adding in some new recipes.”
“Faith finally convinced her to slow down, huh?”
“I’m not sure she’s ready to slow down, but I’m hoping I can convince her to ease up a little.”
“Will your chocolate cake be on the menu?”
“Faith insisted.”
“Hmm...” Ben pulled her into his arms. “Promise me you’ll make me my own cake occasionally, so we can have a frosting fight.”
Amy giggled and promised, sealing it with a kiss.
Ben pulled her into the garage, and they climbed in the SUV. He showed her all the features that sold him on the vehicle.
When they returned to the house, Amy grabbed the bag with Ben’s gifts and waited for him to sit beside her. “It’s your turn to open presents.”
Her gifts for Ben, consisting of a silver tie with tiny blue diamonds in the pattern, that reminded Amy of his eyes, and a fancy, gold, monogrammed pen set for his office, felt inconsequential compared to the gifts he’d given her.
