Page 52 of Overnight Inheritance

“Hey, that one was yours. But point taken. If it helps, there was pretty much a constant stream of complimentary thoughts in my head. I’ll have to remember to start saying them aloud.”

He chuckled, shaking his head. “I love you, Mae.”

“I love you more,” she said and kissed him, ignoring all the bustling people on the sidewalk and the traffic noise and everything else except Sebastian.

Epilogue

Mae carried two pies out the back door of Sarah’s Hamptons house, Alfie darting around her feet. Alfie’s third birthday party was underway—her mother’s family and Alfie’s grandparents had all made the trip, so the backyard next door was packed. To make up for asking people to come this far out from Manhattan, they’d offered everyone beds for the night. Fortunately, between them, they had enough space. Around the time they’d married, Heath and Freya had offered the neighbors on either side of them exorbitant sums of money to sell so they could have a strip of three houses in the family. Both owners had refused, but the people with the place across the street had heard the story and stopped by. The house’s owners had made a good profit, and Heath and Freya had landed a home over the road from the rest of the family. Sarah and Lauren spent a lot of time in the Hamptons now, and since Freya had given birth to their baby girl, Stella, she, Heath, and the baby had been out here a lot too. So Mae and Sebastian tried to get out as often as they could.

Her cell dinged, and with a bit of juggling, she saw the message from Sebastian.

Where are you? Amanda and Barry want to see Alfie.

She smiled and wrote her reply with one thumb.

On my way back. At hedge gate.

Sarah and Lauren caught up to her, their hands linked and their faces radiating the joy of new love. Well, love that was new in the sense that it had been over two decades in the making.

“Need any help?” Sarah asked.

Mae threw her a grateful smile. “Amanda and Barry are looking for Alfie.”

“On it,” Lauren said and held out a hand to the little boy. “Come on, Alfie, let’s find your grandparents.”

“Yesss!” Alfie said and grabbed both the hands offered.

Mae watched them walk through the little gate, her heart so full it barely fit in her chest. Alfie’s happiness, Sarah and Lauren finally finding each other, that little gate...

After she’d moved in with Sebastian, she’d found a pair of pruning shears and cut a hole in the shrubbery, around the exact spot where she and Sebastian had had their first ever conversation. The gap had been just big enough to squeeze through—it was harder work to cut through a thick hedge than she’d expected—but she’d been happy with her work. Soon after, Sebastian had widened the opening and installed a cute little wrought-iron gate. Mae loved that gate. It wasn’t just about the ease of access, it was symbolic of this large family—herlarge family. A shortcut to her aunt next door, with her brother and his wife just across the street. She had more people she loved, and who loved her, than she’d ever dreamed possible. Sebastian, too, had gone from a unit of just him, his son, and his father, to losing that one parent and now being surrounded by this chaotic, loving extended family.

Heath and Freya appeared with a sleeping Stella resting on Freya’s chest, snuggled tightly in a wrap, and Mae’s heart melted a little more.

“Hey,” Heath said, “Sebastian was looking for you.”

“I spoke to him,” she said, her gaze still on her sweet little niece. “He wanted Alfie for Amanda and Barry. Sarah and Lauren have taken him through.”

Heath edged closer. “Can I help with those pies?”

“I’m fine—” she began, but Heath took them anyway.

“What are they?” He took a deep sniff. “One cherry and one...?”

“Apple.” Alfie’s favorite. “A special request from the birthday boy.”

“Excellent,” he said as he turned and headed back to the party.

Knowing the birthday boy’s uncle would get the first slice, Mae shared a look with Freya.

Freya raised an upturned palm. “Sometimes I think it’s his newfound obsession with pie, not me, that keeps him in the country.”

Mae laughed, partly because it was so ludicrous—anyone who saw the way Heath and Freya looked at each other knew the truth. Even so, she slid Freya a sly grin. “Let’s hope he never has to choose.”

“Let’s hope,” Freya said, smiling, and followed her husband back to the festivities.

Alone for the first time that day, Mae took a moment to look over the party, feeling like the luckiest person in the world.

Her cell pinged.

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