“Who’s Molly?”
She frowned and lifted her gaze to meet his. “Molly from the shelter.”
He looked searchingly at her. Clearly this was a person he was supposed to know, but he was drawing a complete blank.
“She’s my boss at the shelter.”
“Wait a minute. I thought you ran the shelter.”
She shook her head impatiently. “I do, mostly, but she’s in charge. I mean she runs it but I do most of the legwork and fundraising. She says I have more connections and am the natural choice to go out and pound the pavement for donations.”
Devon scowled. It sounded to him as though this Molly person was taking advantage of Ashley. He wasn’t certain of the salary that Ashley drew from her position at the shelter. He assumed that her parents still helped her financially since she didn’t have a typical nine-to-five job and she’d been living in her own apartment for a while now. He hadn’t concerned himself with her finances because he wanted her to be happy and he knew he’d fully support her once they were married. But he sure as hell didn’t want her busting her ass in a job where she was being used.
“So what did Molly have to say?” he gently prompted.
“The grant the shelter had is being pulled and without it, we can’t continue to stay open. It pays the basics like the utilities, food for the animals and the salary for the vet we have on retainer. We don’t raise enough money to stay afloat without the grant.”
Her eyes filled with tears again. “If we don’t stay open, all the animals will have to be transferred to a city-run shelter and if they aren’t adopted out, they’ll be euthanized.”
Devon sighed and carefully pulled Ashley into his arms. “Surely there’s some way to keep the shelter open. Have you talked to your father about sponsoring it?”
She pulled away and shook her head. “You don’t understand. Daddy’s all business when it comes to stuff like that. He doesn’t make emotional decisions. He’s more interested in profit and return or it being a cause he sees the value in. He’s not much of an animal person.”
Ashley’s view of her father was clearly wrong. William Copeland had made an emotional decision. A huge emotional decision when he’d opted to go with Tricorp because for whatever reason he’d decided Devon would be the perfect son-in-law and candidate to take over Copeland.
“How long can you continue running as you are now?”
She sniffed. “Two, maybe three weeks. I’m not sure. We’re already at maximum capacity but it’s hard to say no when a new animal comes in. We just got in a dog and it was so heartbreaking. The poor thing is the sweetest dog ever but he was horribly neglected. I don’t understand how people can be so cruel. Would they dump their child out on the street somewhere? A pet isn’t any different. They’re just as much a family member as a child!”
Unfortunately, there were people who’d think nothing of tossing out their kid, not that Ashley needed to be reminded of that. It would only upset her further.
He smoothed his hand over her cheek and then leaned forward to kiss her forehead. “Why don’t you eat something. The lasagna smells wonderful. There’s nothing you can do tonight. Maybe a solution will present itself in the morning.”
She nodded morosely and he scooted his seat back. He picked the knife back up and cut into the lasagna, spooning out neat squares onto the plates.
“This looks wonderful,” he said in a cheerful tone. He wanted her to smile again. She’d been entirely too serious ever since they returned from their honeymoon and he was becoming impatient for her to return to her usual, sunny self.
He handed her a plate and then took his own. When he bit into the gooey cheese and the perfectly al dente noodles, and the savory sauce slid over his tongue, he moaned in pleasure.
“This is awesome, Ash.”
She smiled but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. There was still deep sadness in those big, blue eyes and it was twisting his gut into a knot.
As good as dinner was, he was anxious to get through it. He had a sudden urge to comfort Ashley and wipe away her pain.
She picked at her food and it was obvious she had no interest in eating, so he hurriedly gulped his down and then collected their plates to dump into the sink. “Come here,” he said, holding his hand out to her.
She slid her fingers into his and he pulled her to her feet. He took her into the bedroom, sat her on the edge of the bed and began taking her shoes off.
Crouching between her legs, he slid his hands along the sides of her thighs until his fingers palmed her hips. He held her there, staring intently at her, unable to believe he was about to make her a promise.
The business side of him balked and demanded to know if he’d lost his damn mind. But the side of him that cringed upon witnessing Ashley’s distress was urging him on.
“Listen to me,” he said, before he could talk himself out of it. “Let me see what I can do, okay? Don’t give up hope just yet. We have a few weeks. I may be able to help.”
To his surprise she threw her arms around him and hugged him fiercely. It was the first spontaneous show of affection he’d been treated to since before their marriage.
“Oh, Devon, thank you,” she whispered fiercely. “You have no idea how much this would mean to me.”
