Page 59 of More Than Anything

“And you’re wondering how much ‘plenty’ is, I’m sure,” he added.

“I wasn’t going to ask. That would be rude.”

“No. It’s not rude. We love each other. We’re contemplating a future together.” He stopped. “Wearecontemplating a future together, aren’t we?”

“Contemplating? No. I’m pretty sure we have one if you want one, because I certainly do,” she said, her voice firm.

“I do. So no, that’s not rude. Lydia,” he started, then sighed loudly. “Baby, I’ve got about two and a half million dollars in my account.”

“Two and a half million?” Lydia shrieked.

“Yeah. Two and a half million.” Avery couldn’t help but chuckle, but he sobered pretty fast. “Don’t get too excited. If I don’t get this place up and running profitably, it won’t take long to run through it. But yeah, it was my paternal grandfather’s money, and he left it to me, my brothers, my dad, my uncle, and his kids. It’s how my dad started the factory.”

“Factory?”

“Yeah. My family owns a factory in Clarksville. We manufacture auto parts, mostly custom. It’s a big business. That’s where I worked until I came here.”

“So your dad runs it.”

“No. My dad passed away several years ago.” Avery could feel his face heating up as his temper flared. “My brother runs it. My younger brother, Ben.”

“The one who took your wife?”

“Yep.”

“And you worked there?”

“Yep.”

“What did you do?”

Avery sighed again, trying hard to manage his emotions. It seemed that topic would always be a sore spot for him. “After I got out of college, I started out running the whole shebang, but I didn’t really like it. When my brother graduated, he took over the property, personnel, all of that stuff, and I took all of shipping and receiving. The nuts and bolts of the operation came much easier to me. Then my brother moved me from there to the floor, third shift, with a welding torch in my hand, so he could bang my wife.”

“That’s horrible!”

“Yeah.” Avery could feel that same heartbreak, not over Shannon, but over the way he’d been pushed out of the business. “And worse yet, my mother thought it was A-OK.”

“Beverly said that?”

Avery nodded. “Yeah. She told me I wasn’t ‘applying myself’. That’s what Ben told her as a means to justify what he’d done. And she never questioned him, even when I went to her and told her what he was doing. She claims it was all my fault. I had nobody in my corner, Lydia. Nobody. I was completely alone.”

“And what happened to your dad?”

“He died with a heart attack several years back. Mom ran the company until Ben and I graduated, and then we took over. If I’d known he was the kind of despicable bastard he turned out to be, I never would’ve ceded control of any part of the business to him. But I couldn’t have known. He’s always blamed me for our younger brother’s death, and now he’s taken everything from me.”

“Gosh, that’s horrible,” Lydia whispered, cuddling up beside Avery and kissing the knuckles of the hand that had wrapped around her.

“So when you say I don’t understand how you feel about this place, know that I do. I knowexactlyhow you feel,” he told her, grazing the fingers of his free hand down her chest and across one of those beautiful nipples just to watch her breath hitch.

“I’m so sorry, baby. But I promise you I’ll never just throw you under the bus like that, no matter what. Avery,” she said, sitting up suddenly and turning to look down into his face as he lay there, “I promise you now that whatever I can do to make this place profitable and help you make a living here, I’ll do.”

Avery had been turning something over in his mind, and he knew it was right. Without hesitating, he looked into Lydia’s eyes and smiled. “As long as we’re together, and I hope it’s forever,” he said with a grin, “this is as much your farm as it is mine. We’re in this together. I make a profit, you make a profit. Deal?”

Huge, hot tears rolled down Lydia’s face. “Deal! I love you so much. I’m so happy right now, you just can’t know.”

“Yes. I do know. I know with all my heart that this is right and we’re supposed to be together.”

“Me too,” she sniffled and gave him a big kiss. “Me too.”

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