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Pierce shushed me and pointed at the video. Suddenly, I wished we were watching it on a screen larger than a phone.
“Excuse me?” the host said. “I’m sorry, but I think I misheard your response…”
“I don’t have a new idea,” Pierce said, showing his hands. “I’ve got nothing.”
“Mr. Benning, I don’t want to argue with you. But we’ve talked to dozens of venture capitalists and investors who claim they have personally discussed this new idea with you.”
Pierce nodded along. “I’ve been lining up funding, this is true. I was hoping I would figure something out along the way. I considered all the industries you just mentioned, but there are already extremely smart people working in those fields. I don’t have any fresh ideas there; I wouldn’t be able to compete. So I’m not going to try.”
The host seemed completely flabbergasted. “Then what are you going to do, Mr. Benning?”
“I’m glad you asked!” He grinned widely. “I don’t want to do anything. I’m done with chasing IPOs and maximizing profits. I’m ready to settle down, start a family, and get out of the spotlight.”
“Get out of the spotlight?” The host laughed nervously. “I don’t know if it’s possible for someone with your amount of wealth to do that.”
“You’re right,” Pierce admitted. “That’s why I’m announcing the elimination of the majority of my estate. Effective this month, I will be liquidating all of my assets and making sizable donations to charities around the world. I will be issuing a press release later this week with the full list of beneficiaries.”
Pierce paused the video. “The rest is boring. The host and I go back and forth a bit, but I don’t say anything else of substance.”
“You’re giving away all your wealth?” I asked. “How can you do that?”
“Not all of it. Ninety-five percent of it. You’d be surprised how well I can live on that remaining five percent.”
I took him by the hand and sat both of us down at the small kitchen table. “Pierce, I appreciate a grand gesture. But I don’t want you to lie to the press and abandon whatever you were working on just for me. Maybe that sounds like a good idea to you right now, but you’ll eventually resent me for it.”
“It’s not a lie,” he said calmly. “It’s the truth. And I’m not doing it for you—at least, not just for you. I’m doing it for me. That’s why I started looking for surrogates: I really am ready to settle down and start a family. I want that to be my focus in life, Melinda.”
“And if you change your mind in a few years?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Then we’ll deal with it then. People change. I’m not the same man I was five years ago. I’m sure you’ve changed, too. It’s part of life.”
I didn’t have a response to that. It was eerily similar to what my dad told me yesterday.
“Everything you said to me the other day made a lot of sense,” he went on. “I completely understand how you feel. The paparazzi, the interviews, the constant attention everywhere I go… I’m sick of it. I want a simpler life.” He gestured around the cabin. “Maybe not this simple. But simpler than I’ve been living.”
“I hate to break it to you, but giving away most of your wealth isn’t going to make the media stop. If anything, they’ll follow you more closely.”
“They will, for the first few weeks,” he admitted. “But then they’ll get bored. They’ll move on to someone more interesting. There are plenty of targets out there. Elon Musk has been going off the rails lately. Bezos and Zuckerberg are always good targets.”
“Pierce,” I said gently. “I don’t know…” I glanced to my left, where Linda was standing guard. She was staring right at me.
“Maybe wait outside?” Pierce asked her.
“Of course, sir.”
When the door had closed, Pierce turned back to me. “Here’s my proposition to you.” He took my hands in his. “Melinda Norris, I love you. I’ve loved you for a while now, but didn’t realize it until the last few days. I want to have a baby with you. I want to have children with you, more than one. Not because we signed a contract, but because it’s what we both want. I want you to be their mother. Their actual mother, not just their biological surrogate. Whatever label you want to attach to our relationship doesn’t matter to me. I want you to be my partner in this. My partner in parenthood, and in whatever life throws at us from this point forward.”
The words washed over me, simultaneously a surprise and yet totally expected. Because deep down, it’s what I had wanted from him for a while now without realizing it. To be more than just the second signature on a legal contract.
I wanted it all.
“You don’t have to decide right now.” Pierce stood up. “I’ll leave and let you think it over—”
I jumped to my feet and kissed him. It took him a moment to react, but then he folded his arms around me and held me close. “Does this mean you agree?”
“I think so,” I said. “Pierce, I love you too.”
The words came easily because it was true. I did love him, but had been afraid to admit it to myself. Now that I knew he felt the same way, I wasn’t scared anymore.
