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“The hell it is,” Wes said. “We’re partners.”
“You’re not just partners,” Dad cut in. “You’re married, which means half this business is Beckett’s no matter what the paperwork says.”
Wes hesitated. “But that’s not the same. I mean, think of how this makes Beckett feel. You always say he’s your son too. I thought you meant that.”
Dad looked stricken. “I do mean it. Beckett, son, this is not about playing favorites.”
“Then what is it about?” I couldn’t resist asking. Yes, I could accept it if the business passed only to Wes. I knew he’d always treat me as a partner. But I would always feel that I hadn’t measured up in some way. “I’ve worked so hard to prove that I’m worthy.”
“Of course you’re worthy. Goddamn it.” Dad stood suddenly, face stormy, and I half expected him to yell at me. Instead he circled the desk and yanked me up into a hug, squeezing me. “I fucked this all up.”
“So make it right, Dad,” Wes said, his tone firm.
I widened my eyes at him over Dad’s shoulder. If he wasn’t careful, the man might tell us to shove it and keep his business to himself. Wes had worked too long and hard to lose everything over me. Putting my name in the papers was really only a symbol at this point. It wasn’t worth risking Wes’s birthright.
“No, Dad’s right,” I said. “We’re married, so it doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter,” Wes insisted.
Dad released me and returned to his side of the desk, keeping his eyes on the papers, seeming unable to meet our eyes. “We’ll change the paperwork. The last thing I want is for Beckett to think I don’t value him.” He cleared his throat and finally looked at us again. “It seems so obvious now that I should have done it long ago, but… Well, I drew these papers up with Wes’s mom. The money to start the business came from her parents, and she wanted the business to pass to her son.”
Oh.Oh. I suddenly understood, and it changed everything.
Nathan could view me as a son, but Wes’s mother had never met me. It was her inheritance being passed on, in a way.
“It’s no excuse, but I was sentimental,” he said. “This was the last plan we ever made together.” He gave a gruff laugh and blinked hard. “If I’m honest, that’s why I took my sweet time doing this at all. You two have been ready to take over for a while now. I’m just an old man who wasn’t ready to let go of the last piece of my life with Vickie.”
“I didn’t know,” I said. “It makes sense now. If this is her gift to Wes, then of course it wasn’t meant for me.”
“Oh, but it is,” Dad said. “I see that now. Because you’re his brother—” He stopped short and shook his head. “Or his husband. I guess the point stands, either way. You’re his family, which makes you her family, even if she isn’t here to see it. We’ll change the paperwork, because it’s what she’d want too. I feel that in here.” He tapped his heart. “She was very giving.”
Wes nodded. “She’d have loved Beck.”
“She absolutely would have.” Dad picked up the papers and handed the sheaf to me. “We’ll add your name, son, but why don’t you two take a couple of days and read through all the fine print before we make changes.” He paused and shook his head with a chuckle. “I guess we would have had to change them to update Wes’s name anyway, huh?”
“What do you mean?”
He looked between us. “Well, the marriage certificate said Wes took your name of Monroe. I assume you would only sign it that way if you intended to legally change it?”
“Uh, right,” Wes said. “I better get that done before we sign everything.”
“All right, then I think we’re done,” Dad said.
I stood up, my head reeling, and followed Wes through the door, the sheaf of papers in my hand. We were halfway across the parking lot before I’d marshaled my thoughts into anything coherent.
“Wes, are you sure you want to take the name Monroe? I mean, my dad was an asshole. I don’t need to carry his name on.”
“He might have been a dick, but you’re not,” Wes said. “I signed it Monroe for a reason, babe.”
I scoffed. “You were drunk, so I doubt you knew what you were doing.”
“Maybe, but this feels right. You’ve always felt a little like the odd man out among all us Potters. Now you won’t be the only Monroe. You’ll have me.”
I was floored by how easily he put aside his name—the one better known in this town, the one associated with his business—just to make me feel less alone.
“I’ve always had you, haven’t I?”
He grinned. “Yeah, but you know what they say.”
