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“I wasn’t part of the family then, and there was nothing I could do to help them since I had no influence. I watched as they were driven further and further into the margins. I cheered at their resourcefulness. I’m happy you know the story of how lovely and real their love was.
“Mathias, can you bring the box I brought in?” she asks, her nose red but her eyes so warm.
Quiet and calm, my husband gets up to retrieve it. When he returns with the large box, I immediately remember it from my childhood. Daddy said he was sending it to my fairy godmother during one of his highs, and though I begged him not to, he would not be deterred. I gave up on ever seeing it again.
“You had it,” I say, greedily looking at the box that held so many of my family’s treasures I thought were lost.
“Yes. The night we met, this is why I asked to visit with you.” She smiles, patting the top of the box. “Your daddy asked me to keep it safe because y’all were moving around so much.”
Unable to stop myself, I come to my feet, removing the box’s top. Inside are photo albums, letters, notebooks, and journals. I pick up a framed picture. It’s my mom—pregnant with me—beside Daddy and my sisters.
“Thank you for keeping these memories safe.” I ask, “Why didn’t you give it to Kandie? She’s right at the bakery.”
“I tried several times, but she didn’t trust me, with good reason.” She looks apologetic. “My husband’s family has done more than their part in this blood feud. Hopefully that will change. I don’t know if you want to claim us or not, but you mother’s inheritance is yours. My husband, for all his disappointment that Natalie was not marrying Mathias, took one look at you and knew you were his sister’s little girl. He’s already given Kandie her part, though she won’t touch it. This is your paperwork, conferring Vivianne Spencer’s inheritance to you. You and your sister own thirty percent of Spencer Wood’s stock and have seats on the board of directors.”
My mouth hangs open as I take the manila folder from her hands.
“It is yours to do with what you will, but it is our hope that you will join the ranks of the Spencer family,” she says, hope brewing her eyes.
“Why didn’t your husband come if he’s so on board with everything?” I ask doubtfully.
Mrs. Spencer looks away, pressing her lips tightly. “He’s still struggling with Natalie’s death. He blames himself.” She turns back to us with an unwavering gaze. “We knew what she was. Knew she would fixate on things. We urged her to use it for good. Spent thousands on private therapy. When she became great at everything she tried, we thought of it as a gift, a testament to proper treatment. We didn’t know the depth of her fixations or how destructive they turned until we gained access to her Birmingham apartment.” She shakes her head in disbelief, then rummages through her phone. “This is just a snapshot of what she had going on.”
“Oh my goodness,” I say when the phone screen fills with images of Natalie’s apartment. It shows just how disordered her mind was. There was not a single clear wall. Pictures of Mathias and me going back years. My face or eyes were scratched out or outright replaced by us. There was a picture of her hand wearing the sapphire, withFAKEscrawled over it. The picture Mathias and I kissing by the truck was blown up to life-size proportions, with stab punctures all over my body, the knife hanging out the final one, which was one plunged into my head.
She pulls the phone back, her face flaming with embarrassment and shame. “After her mother passed…” She presses her lips together as though there is more of a story there. “Spence vowed never to marry again. I was in college and already in love with him—my best friend’s older brother—when I became his nanny. Eventually we grew closer, and he fell in love with me. We got pregnant with Atticus, and he married me.” She blushes, dropping this little bit of tea. “His heart is broken because he lost his daughter, and then there is guilt that he could have done more.” Tears fill her eyes as she looks from me to Mathias and back again. “We are so sorry all this happened. We think Natalie’s ‘accident’ was on purpose because she failed to kill you and you were due to wake up. Yes, we know she tried to kill you. We are so sorry and hope that, one day, you’ll forgive us for our part.”
“There is nothing to forgive. You did everything you could for your daughter.” Reaching out, I cover her hand with mine. “Tell Mr. Spencer there are no hard feelings. I grew up with a parent who struggled with his illness all my life. He was courageous and strong, but I know how seductive the darkness can be.”
“Okay.” She nods, standing. “I will let him know.”
After she and I embrace, Mathias and I walk her to the door.
“Natalie was evil. It’s nothing to do with her illness,” I say, watching Mrs. Spencer pull off. “My daddy and mom never hurt no one. I just didn’t have the heart I tell Mrs. Spencer. Natalie was just evil. There was no excuse for what she did to Joi,” I whisper, thinking of how my cousin is still struggling, closing herself off. She says it’s self-care, but it feels more like isolation.
“She’ll find her way to healing and love just like we did,” he says, turning me to him.
Tilting my head, I let his kiss consume me. “You know what I’m in the mood for?” I give him a cheeky wink, then giggle when I feel the immediate rise of his interest between us.
“Yeah, what, little wife?” he growls, sexily pressing his mouth against my ear, nipping my lobe.
“Peanut butter and chocolate chip pancakes.” Putting everything I can into my doe eyes.
“Yeah, I’m always ready for peanut butter chocolate chip pancakes,” he says, sweeping me into his arms. “But how about I get a before-breakfast snack, pequena esposa?”
“I guess.” I giggle, burying my head in his neck, inhaling the clover, earth, spice, and sugar of him. So much sugar. Yum.
Epilogue
Senator Mathias Shelby ~Six months later, opening day of the Isabella Shelby & Astra Love Women’s Center.
“Your mom would be soproud of you,” Angel says as I step down from the podium at the re-dedication of my family’s historic home and it’s repurposing to a women’s wellness center.
I pause looking at him for a moment thinking of the man I am not sure that is true. “Maybe in another ten years of loving this woman to distraction.”
“I get that.” He nods clapping me on my back as we walk toward our wives, who are sitting at one of the tables set up on the lawn. Easy’s watching Judah pull up only to topple onto the banket strategically placed on the grass to catch him.
Nikki watches him in amusement off and on as she chats with her cousin.
