Page 46 of There I Find Hope

“I’d rather do that than have you get hurt. We’ll have enough trouble getting Ricky back. If I have to carry you and save you like a damsel in distress, that would be terrible.”

“It would be even worse if I had to carry you like a knight in distress.”

“That doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.”

“Give me a few minutes, I’ll think of something else. Duke in distress?”

“I have no royalty in my bloodlines.” His lips pulled back. “At least none that I know of.”

“Me either.” She seemed a little sad about that.

“Are you sure? Maybe you do. Lots of people have been surprised when they looked into their ancestry and found that they have famous people as great-great-grandparents or something.”

“I think it would go further back than great-great, but I suppose it’s possible.”

“Yeah, I don’t know. It’s a little overrated. I mean, what does it matter if you have famous people in your ancestry? You don’t ride on their laurels. You ride on your own. You make your own life. It doesn’t have to be a famous life. Doesn’t have to be a life of everyone thinking you’re something and you end up missing out on all the important things.”

She looked like she thought about that for a little bit. “That’s true. I’m thankful for every minute I spent with Blake. I would really regret it if I had lost him, and all I had to look back on were times that I didn’t have enough time for him or times I pushed him aside so I could do whatever it was that was making me money or fame or whatever.” She laughed, like the idea of her being famous or having a lot of money was silly.

“There were times in my life where I wanted to make more money, be famous, maybe even have a TV show where cameras followed me around and everybody took my business advice to heart, but... That just doesn’t seem like a good life. I mean, always being in everyone’s eye, having them watch everything you do. On one hand, you have a real platform to help people, but on another hand, you sacrifice so much in order to do it.”

“Like time with the people that you love. Giving attention to the people who want it from you. I think that’s a better life.”

“Yeah, I agree.”

“You don’t have to say that you agree. Just because of the way you’re handling the hotel in Strawberry Sands, I can see that you do. It’s obvious that you’ve wanted to make sure that the community is impacted in a positive way and that you don’t take business from, for example, my mom.”

“Actually, I want to buy her business. I think there is great potential for growth there.”

Her eyes narrowed, and his stomach twisted. He wasn’t sure he liked that look.

“It just occurred to me that...you must have a lot of money.” She laughed, a soft, derisive laugh. “I know that seems like an obvious thing, but you’re just so...unassuming. I was thinking you were just like me, but you’re not. You...build hotels for a living. You buy bed-and-breakfasts as investments. You... You’re rich.”

It didn’t sound like it was a compliment. And he didn’t know what to say about it. People probably did consider him rich.

“It’s not like I have a million dollars in the bank.”

“But you do have a million dollars.”

He lifted his chin in assent. “In assets, yes. Much more.”

“Why did I not see that?”

“Does it change anything?” he asked gently. “Does it make me a different person? Does it change the way you see me? Does it change my character?” He had to ask those questions. Because he felt like it didn’t. The money didn’t have anything to do with anything. He was the same man, with or without it.

She put an elbow on the table and set her chin in her hand, studying him. “I told you that you think about things I don’t. I guess I just automatically assume that you are rich, so we are completely different and couldn’t possibly have anything in common. But you’re right. You were rich when you helped me feed Hope this morning, and you were rich when you held her mom’s head so she could be born. You’ve been rich when we saddled the horses and went for a ride today. I guess you’re right, it doesn’t change anything. I just...didn’t see it.”

“I’m sorry. I should hang a sign around my neck that says ‘I’m rich,’ that way I won’t shock people when they find out.” He was only partially joking. After all, sometimes when people found out he was rich, it was almost the same reaction that folks might have when they found out that someone was poor. Or a convict, or a child molester. It just wasn’t a good reaction.

“Is there something wrong with being rich?” he asked, knowing what he thought the answer was but also knowing that the answer that Sunday gave was important as well.

“No. There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s your character that counts. There’s nothing wrong with not having money, any more than there is something wrong with having money. It’s how you act that matters.” She lifted her head and set her hand down on the table.

She smiled a little, and as lightning brightened up the room for just an instant and thunder cracked right behind it, he put his hand down and covered hers with it.

She jumped a little at the sound of the thunder, and he squeezed.

Her hand flipped under his, and before he knew it, their fingers had threaded together.

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