Sierra had put a nice little dossier together on Clarence’s crooked attorney Mr. Acker, managing to get him kicked off every state bar association in the United States. His file also made its way into the hands of the FBI, and they were currently investigating him for misappropriation of funds, wire fraud, and obstruction of justice. To say, he’d be going to federal prison for a long time was an understatement.
This meant, I was free to access the money Clarence had left me, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.
“Yes. I want to pay off the diner.”
“Good plan.”
“But I want to give it to Monty. He deserves it. I want to buy Dusty a house, then I want to pay off your mom’s mortgage.”
“Baby, you don’t need to do that.”
“I know I don’t, but she had to borrow way more than she should have to pay for your sister’s treatment and I know she won’t take money from you, so if it just gets paid off secretly then she can’t say anything about it, right?”
He chuckled. “Yeah, that’s true.”
Jill and I had grown incredibly close. I couldn’t imagine my life without her and having a mom around to help with the baby was something I could have never dreamed of.
“Good,” I said. “We need a house, obviously.”
“I’mbuyin’ our house, Twinkles.”
“We’rebuying our house, Frankie. It’s our money, so we’ll be doing all of this together.”
“Jesus,” he said. “Fine.”
“I definitely want to give some to Indigo and Bellamy for the Walker House.”
“Okay,” he said.
“And then, I’m not sure about the rest, I just know I want to help people.”
“We’ll put it in a trust and make sure it earns a shit ton of interest so we can do that.”
I smiled. “That sounds like the perfect plan.”
“I love you, baby.”
“I love you too.”
“I’m keeping you forever. You’ll never know what it’s like to lose anyone ever again.”
I smiled through happy tears. “Same.”
I sat up and straddled his hips.
“Whatya doin’?”
“Well, I’m awake now, and those pills are doing their job, so I’d appreciate it if my man could remind me exactly why I call him ‘sir.’”
Scooby flipped me onto my back and did just that.
When I met Scooby, he was a man consumed by guilt and driven by rage. But the man before me now radiated pure love and peace. He still burned with the same intensity, but his passions were redirected.
And those passions had been redirected to me and I was the luckiest woman alive.
Rowan
One year later…