I would try my damndest to make sure that happened.
Every single day, until there were more smiles than frowns.
“Thank you, Malloy,” I told him. “I’ll take care of him. Mal, too, if he’ll let me.”
Malloy laughed then. It sounded rusty.
“Mal doesn’t need anybody to take care of him. Never has. What he needs is a good woman that’ll smack some sense into him.” He grinned. “One day, honey. One day, I’ll see that from up there. And I’ll be laughing my ass off.”
With that, he closed his eyes, and I stayed with him like that for a good five more minutes before I left.
I was halfway home when the call came in that he’d passed away.
I wasn’t even in the door of the Valentine house for seconds before Darby saw me, caught my expression, and threw his arms around me.
“I’m sorry, Des,” he said. “Malloy was a good man.”
I hugged Darby tight. “I hate it.”
He squeezed me for a few seconds longer and then turned me until I was in Callum’s arms.
“You okay?” he asked softly.
I shrugged.
It hurt.
It hurt badly.
What hurt even worse was knowing that this world was a sadder place without Malloy in it.Chapter 21Fuckity, fuck, fuck, FUCK.
-Callum’s secret thoughts
Callum
We attended the funeral for Malloy on a Sunday. The following Monday, we were in the lawyer’s office.
MJ had at first been unwilling to participate in the estate proceedings.
Desi hadn’t been all that interested either, but I’d urged her to go anyway, despite her misgivings at seeing Mal.
Knowing what I knew, I also knew that she would be getting quite a sizeable payment from Malloy, and I wanted to make sure that she didn’t give it all away.
Not because I was after the money, but because Desi had a soft heart, and I knew that she’d feel bad for Mal.
Which led us to now, sitting at the lawyer’s office, waiting for the lawyer to get on with the program.
“This is crazy,” Marjorie said. “What’s taking so long?”
The lawyer, Todd Masterson, shot her a quelling look.
“I’m trying to sort through this in order to read it off to you exactly how Malloy wanted it read off,” Todd snapped. “Now, sit down, shut up, and be patient.”
Marjorie crossed her arms over her chest and looked at Mal impatiently.
Mal looked sick to his stomach.
Neither one of them were close enough to speak.
“Okay,” Todd said. “Mal has left everyone in this room something.”
Marjorie’s eyes lit up like dollar signs.
“To my son MJ, I leave my house in Bermuda, my house in Virginia, and my house in New Jersey,” Todd read. “To my son Mal, I leave the house in Kentucky and eight million dollars. Eight million dollars of which will not be delivered until the birth of his first child.”
Mal sucked in a breath.
“To my first grandchild, I leave a matching eight million dollars to be paid out when he reaches the age of twenty-five,” Todd continued. “To the Valentines, I leave you all equal shares of the land that I’ve acquired since moving to Kilgore. Five hundred and forty-two acres. All taxes and property finances will be covered for the first seven years through a separate trust that my lawyer, Todd Masterson, manages. Upon that time, y’all can either sell it or continue to own it but take over the taxes.” Todd looked to Desi. “To my darling ex-daughter-in-law, Desi. I leave you the house, the new bakery, the vehicles…” and on and on he went. Overall, he listed her old house, his house, all of the vehicles—tractors, side by sides, four-wheelers, tractor accessories. Everything and anything that a person who owned acreage could acquire. He also left her mineral rights to another two thousand some odd acres that were in the city of Kilgore as well. In essence, she was a millionaire, almost billionaire.
And I couldn’t breathe.
“And to Marjorie, I leave you the keys and the title to the car you’re currently occupying.” Todd paused. “And this is from Malloy. ‘Please use the car to find your way out of my son’s life.’”
MJ snorted out a laugh.
Even Mal cracked a smile.
Desi was busy shaking.
***
Desi
“Why did he leave me that much?” I tore my fingers through my hair. “I don’t know what the hell to do with all of that!”
Todd Masterson had waited to talk to me privately—though privately also came with the Valentine boys—and smiled at my reaction.
“He said you’d react like this.” He grinned. “He also said that you were going to have a hard time of it, but that you had four strapping men at your back that were more than capable of helping you with anything that you needed help with. And he also said that when Callum asked for his permission to marry you, that he promised to help if the need ever arose. Apparently, Callum didn’t know that he was promising that at the time, but he was.”