than keepin’ it from Arlene.”
She again nodded.
“Now I’m gonna call this in to Nina. Then I’m gonna take a shower. Then we’ll celebrate this shit private-like in a way no one will know.”
She nodded again but this time with a huge smile on her face, but asked, “Can I make an alternate suggestion?”
“Give it to me,” he invited.
“We could speed up the celebration. I take a shower with you.”
That was when Reece smiled.
Then he muttered, “You’re on.”
Then he braced because she again flew at him, and landed in his arms. He had to take another step back to keep them from falling. Her hand slid up into the back of his hair, pressing down, and her mouth found his.
Which meant their plans were derailed.
They celebrated on the living room floor.
Then he called Nina.
After that, they celebrated again in the shower.
Chapter Seventeen
“Calm, cookie,” Reece muttered.
We were sitting in a booth at The Mark, both on one side. I was fidgeting, a ginger ale in front of me, my eyes glued to the door.
Aunt Wilona had not reneged.
Ham called Nina, Nina called Aunt Wilona, and the meeting was set up.
And it was set up for that day after school, or as soon as Aunt Wilona could drive Zander there after school. We were meeting at The Mark for mile-high mud pies.
After a life that was so far from a dream it wasn’t funny, this was yet another dream come true.
I’d had time to buy a new outfit, and since Nina was the only one Ham allowed me to talk to about all this, she’d gone to the mall with me. So I was wearing a new berry-red sweater, Lucky jeans, a killer belt, and a pair of high-heeled boots that were so expensive, even back in the day when things were good in the shop, I would never have even looked at them.
But now I was going to be a millionaire.
Since her impromptu meeting with Ham, Nina had actually looked at Grandpa Val’s will and she said it would take an act of God to break it. This was her professional opinion, of course, but she had added evidence, seeing as she’d also discovered from court papers that all three of Grandpa’s offspring had tried to do that at the time Grandpa died and they’d all lost.
Unfortunately, after this battle was fought, the executor of the will, one of Grandpa’s cronies, had taken a trip to the Pearly Gates. For some reason now lost with him, he’d not set the money up in trust and he’d not made provisions for his demise, so there was no one official to keep track of the money and Dad had jumped on that, taking control of it.
To keep Aunt Wilona’s mouth shut, he eventually gave her Zander and the money to keep him.
But to keep Aunt Dahlia’s mouth shut, he’d just given her money.
Money Nina was making moves to get back, either from Dad, whose money it wasn’t to give, and if that didn’t work, she was going after Aunt Dahlia, seeing as she knew this was ill-gotten gains and she accepted it anyway.
So, although Nina shared that it might be tied up while all the legal stuff was handled, I’d eventually get it.
She’d done what she had to do and, tomorrow, those accounts would be frozen until the legal issues were settled.
Therefore, since I was eventually going to be a millionaire, I could afford Zander’s school
I knew Ham thought I was insane, me being hell-bent to buy a new outfit to meet my nephew in. I knew this because he was wearing a wine-colored shirt I’d seen him wear more than once since he’d been back and his standard faded jeans that were so broken in, they looked like they’d been bought around the dawn of time.
Still, he looked great, like always, even if his outfit wasn’t new.
But to me, that day I’d be meeting my nephew.
And my nephew would be meeting the only good part that was left of his mother.
So I had to do it right. For Zander.
And for Xenia.
“I know you’re excited, baby,” Ham started and I tore my eyes away from the door to look at him. “But you gotta pay attention, all right?”
I nodded.
He kept going.
“Decisions to be made, big ones for Zander. Your aunt’s right. He grew up with her. Tearin’ him from his home. The woman who raised him. You gotta have a good reason to do that. But she’s a Cinders and she might give you one. So you got any bad feelin’ about him, you clock it, we talk about it, we share it with Nina, and we make our plans. Yeah?”
We’d already discussed the plan, at length, and I was down with the plan so I nodded again.
“She’s fuckin’ him up, though, don’t ’spect she’d walk him right to you. Also don’t ’spect this first meeting will expose if shit’s not good. This has gotta go good so we can get another meet without her there. So you play it cool.”
“I’ll play it cool, Ham,” I assured him, still fidgeting, moving my ass in the seat nervously, unsure what to do with my hands, all this saying my words were a lie.
Seeing as Ham didn’t miss much, that would be, he didn’t miss
Then he declared, “No one, man, woman, or child would not love you, Zara.”
At his words, I went completely still.
After I let them sweep through me, I whispered, “Again, awesome…
He grinned.
I heard the door open and my eyes shot to it.
Ham let me go and turned away but I sat there, hands still raised where he’d released them, staring at Aunt Wilona and the blond-haired boy in front of her wearing a private-school uniform and craning his neck to look around.
My heart started hammering so fast, so hard, if I could pull my eyes away from my nephew and look down, I would have sworn I’d see it beating in my chest.
But I couldn’t tear my eyes away so I saw Aunt Wilona put a hand to Zander’s shoulder and point our way.
His eyes came to our table.
I held my breath.
He smiled, then bopped toward us with nine-year-old-kid exuberance.
Ham slid out and I slid out after him so I was on my feet when Zander came to a halt two feet in front of me.
“Jeez, you look like me,” he declared.
I felt my eyes sting.
