Page 64 of Light Up My Life (Forbidden Heat 3)

, or they were here because they felt guilty for not caring more when my father was alive. He was a ruthless businessman, but he had done a lot of good for a lot of people. He donated heavily to charity, he was a loyal friend, and he never did business that he felt didn’t serve the greater good of humanity.

I wished I’d been more like him at times, or that I’d taken time to understand my father before it was too late. Now it was. These were regrets that I would have to deal with forever now. It was stupid that I didn’t work harder to bury the hatchet with my father earlier.

The day after the funeral, Kat went with me to see my father’s attorney, David Drysdale. He was a younger guy, a bit stuffy and skittish. I wondered if he was not used to being in the presence of a woman as attractive as Kat was. That would have been enough to put him on edge, I guess. Kat looked particularly stunning. She always did.

We sat down with him in his large office and I kept wondering when the air conditioning was going to be turned on. This was brutal. The heat was making me sweat from the moment I entered the office and sat down. I wiped my brow with the back of my hand.

He tried to make some small talk at first, but I told him to dispense with the pleasantries. Mostly, because I was tired of dealing with the heat. It was so damn hot.

“Ok, well basically, your father left you a huge part of his estate, twenty five percent of the real estate business, and three of his luxury automobiles. And of course, the shareholdings of the business.”

I blinked several times as I stared at him. I was waiting for him to bring it up, but he basically told me that my father had left me the equivalent of about three hundred million dollars. There was no mention of any deal or contingencies. No, I was just supposed to have that money.

“Wait a minute,” I said. “That’s it? It’s just mine?”

“Yes, it was willed to you. Is there a problem?” David asked.

“My father told me that I would not get a dime if I didn’t meet certain criteria. None of that is in the latest version of the will?”

He scanned it over again quickly. “No, there is nothing about any… um… a deal? I’m not following…”

I sighed. “My father told me just weeks ago that I would not get anything if I didn’t marry and have a child within three years. He was going to put that in the will. Are you telling me he didn’t do that?”

“That’s what I’m telling you. Maybe he didn’t get around to it, yet.”

I couldn’t believe it. I was so happy to hear this. I turned to Kat who was also smiling. “He never put it in the will. There is no stipulation.”

Kat placed her hand on my shoulder and smiled at me. “I told you everything would be ok.”

I wiped a tear from my eye. “Maybe he never really intended to do that. He thought it was just the thing I needed to get my butt in gear and get my life in order.”

I signed the acceptance and that was it. I was now officially richer than my wildest dreams. And I owed that to my father. I wasn’t sure if I would have given Kat enough of a chance for us to fall in love without knowing I needed a wife to be granted my inheritance.

But then again, maybe I would have. I would probably never really known otherwise. And that was ok. I was with the woman I loved, and I was inheriting a fortune.

“So, what are you going to do next?” Kat asked me when we got back to the car.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I can’t believe this. I’ve been so nervous and so stressed about this for so long. And it was all for nothing.”

“Well, now you get to have all of your dreams come true.”

“I think they are coming true. All of them. Well, I do wish that we were closer together. The long-distance thing is a hassle, but with my father gone, I will be able to use the private jet whenever I need to. He travelled all the time for business. My mother is going to appoint someone to take over that role in the company, but they can just fly commercial for the time being. It will be cheaper for her anyway.”

“Well, you could always move to Cleveland. It’s not like you need to keep working at all,” Kat said.

“No, but I love what I do and that isn’t going to change.”

“So, you are still not willing to be inconvenienced. You could get a job with a fire company in Cleveland.”

“I could, but I love the crew I’m with. That is important to me. It’s lifesaving to trust and love the crew you are working with when you fight fires for a living. That’s crucial. You need to understand that.”

“I do understand that,” she replied. “But you also need to show me that you are willing to commit to this relationship. Do you even want to marry me still?”

Those words were cold as ice. They hurt badly, especially when I realized that while I loved Kat so much, I still did not want to get married. That was hard to change.

“I have not changed my position on marriage,” I said. “I don’t want to get married.”

“You said you loved me.”

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