Page 119 of An Adventure For Aster

“It’s not a secret,” he said. “Well, kind of.”

“I get it now,” she said. It just hit her. “You didn’t want anyone to know.”

“Daphne does,” he said. “She’s the only one that knows the full amount. And I’ll tell you. It was two million. They wanted me to have enough after having been taxed on it to start any life I wanted. If that meant going to college I could do it comfortably.”

“Dang,” she said. “Even better for you.” She stopped and then her jaw dropped. “Your parents know, don’t they? Is that what a lot of this is about? They want you to give them money?”

He threaded their fingers together. “They don’t know the amount. They have guessed it’s over a million and I’ve never verified. They only knew because I didn’t want anything. You know my father works for Tucker’s company. The company attorney got all my personal information from my father and he put it together for them to set up the account. You know what my parents are like. Even last month they thought I was going to give them money to put a down payment on the place they wanted.”

She had heard bits and pieces of that. Not from Aster, but rather from Daphne.

She felt that Aster would be embarrassed over his parents’ behavior and didn’t want her to know. Daphne had been disgusted over it.

“I’d never tell you what to do with your money,” she said. “If you want to give it all to your family, that is your choice.”

“I know,” he said. “And I’d never do it. Daphne barely takes anything, but I’ve helped her through the years. Before I got Tucker’s money.”

“As is your choice,” she said. “We’ve helped my parents for years too. Me not as much as my brothers.”

“Your family is great,” he said. “If my parents had been as loving and giving, I would gladly help them, but they weren’t. Maybe I’m jealous over it now that I’ve seen how you all are with each other.”

“They are pretty great,” she said. “And they’ve accepted you into our family. No one judges. Least of all me. Are we good? Anything else we need to confess?”

“No,” he said. “Just know I love you. What I feel for you is nothing I’ve ever felt before. Maybe I’m not the best at expressing my feelings, but I feel as if I’m getting there.”

“You are,” she said. “I’m good at teaching people things.”

He laughed and pulled her over onto his lap. “Yes, you are.”

EPILOGUE

One Month Later

“A picnic by the water,” Raine said. “What a romantic thing.”

“I thought I could do the activity this time,” Aster said. “You always come up with everything.”

“I have fun doing that, but I’m glad you did this,” she said. “Wish I’d thought of it. I do love it here.”

“I do too,” he said. “But I know it’s not a lot of space. At some point, I’m going to want to buy something. You’d want to be on the water, right?”

She lifted an eyebrow. “If I had a choice, sure, but it’s way out of my league.”

“We know it’s not out of mine,” he said. “Though I wouldn’t empty my accounts for something. I figured if I started to look now I could find the right place. Maybe a fixer-upper. I’m pretty handy.”

She smiled and opened the picnic basket. “You are. Yummy. You got fried chicken and not just sandwiches. Did you make this?”

He grimaced. “I’ll be honest and say no. I picked it up from Mona’s yesterday before I got out of work and put it in the fridge. But I did make the pasta salad and fruit salad. Does that count?”

“That counts a ton,” she said. “I wouldn’t have cared if there was fast food in here. It’s just the thought of us together on this beautiful day. Not a raindrop in sight even though they said there was a chance of it.”

He looked up at the sky, the sun beating down on top of them, almost casting a halo over the woman he loved.

“There will be some raindrops today,” he said, holding back a grin.

“Hopefully not until later,” she said.

She put a drumstick on her plate. She’d carried the plates and silverware out while he’d had the basket in his hand.

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