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“It certainly was nice of Uncle Bart to remember us
this way. What made him change his mind?” Sharlene
asked gently.
Edwina blinked back a tear. “I don’t know. After
you two left he told me one night it was high time for
him to stop being the hard-nosed type. He’d made his
fortune, enjoyed it, now it was time to stop worrying
about the future of Pincher Industries. A direct
descendant would inherit it or not, but it really wasn’t
important in the grand scheme of things. Then he told
me what was.”
Sharlene tenderly patted Edwina’s hand. “What
did he tell you?”
“He told me love was all that mattered in the
world. You and Zack loved each other—that was
obvious—and seeing how happy you two were made
him feel like he’d done the right thing by helping you
out. He said he realized how throwing money at
Jeffrey wasn’t the kind of love the boy really needed.
He wanted to make sure Jeffrey would always
remember him each and every day for the rest of his
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Scrambled Eggs
life, and what better way than by making him run the
company?”
“I always suspected Uncle Bart was a sentimental
fool under all that gruff exterior.” Sharlene winked.
“What did Jeffrey say about the changes in the
will?” Keith wondered.
“Surprisingly not much.”
Edwina turned to Sharlene, and lowered her voice.
“After he told me about how your divorce hadn’t
been processed correctly but that he was still going to
let you go, I got the feeling Jeffrey had lost interest in
the money.” She glanced over her shoulder at Bunny,
animatedly talking about the virtues of hybrid car
seats-baby carriers with Connie Michaels and several
of the other guests. “Maybe Jeffrey’s found true love,
too?”
“I don’t know about that.” Zack carefully handed a
hungry, lip-smacking Junior over to his mother. “But
I do think Jeffrey may have found his emotional and
intellectual equal in Ms. Bread.”
“It’s ‘Byrd.’ And don’t be so hard on the woman,”
Sharlene gently chided, adjusting her shirt for Junior
to nurse. “Bunny’s got lots of good qualities.”
Liza rolled her eyes. “Like what?”
Sharlene bit her lip and thought a moment. “I don’t
know exactly, but she’s probably got a few. It’s just
difficult to see them clearly because her plunging
neckline gets in the way.”
“No problem breastfeeding there,” Keith muttered,
checking out the adult film actress from head to toe.
Liza promptly clobbered her husband with a throw
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Cynthianna
pillow.
“Hey! I was only kidding,” he cried, raising his
arms in self-defense.
“You’d better have been… Don’t you think it’s
time for the toasts, Sweet Lips?”
“Yeah, you’re right, Sugar.”
Keith stood and loudly cleared his throat.
“Attention, everyone. I’d like to propose a toast to the
bride and groom and new parents alike, Sharlene and
Zack Richmond. May their lives be filled with love
and happiness, never be lacking in joy—” He quickly
glanced over at his wife. “And never be lacking in
plunging necklines.”
Liza playfully socked him again with the pillow.
“Pervert!”
“What do you expect from the man who cataloged
the Internet’s entire listing of porn sites?” Zack
laughed, lifting his drink high.
“I’m never going to live that one down, am I?”
Keith raised his glass and sighed. “Cheers everyone.
And please, everyone help yourself to the food. It
looks like Junior over here already has.”
Sharlene flashed a disgusted glance at their host
and gently kissed her baby’s forehead before
switching sides. “Junior, that’s your Uncle Keith
talking. You’ll have to learn to ignore him when he’s
being rude.”
Keith frowned. “Hey, don’t go telling Junior things
like that. I want the kid to talk to me sometime during
his life.”
Bunny Byrd approached and tentatively tapped
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Scrambled Eggs
Keith on the arm. “You didn’t happen to see any of
my photos online, did you?” she asked, wide-eyed.
“The answer had better be no,” Liza said through
gritted teeth.
“I—I don’t recall if I did or not,” Keith replied
diplomatically.
“That’s too bad.” Bunny frowned. “I thought I was
rather popular.”
Zack grinned at Keith as the model strolled toward
the food table. “Good answer, bro.”
“Good woman,” Keith replied, hugging Liza close.
Zack put an arm around Sharlene and Junior and
tenderly kissed them both. “Same here. Same here.”
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Cynthianna
ynthianna (Appel) is a multi-published author
who
enjoys
writing
contemporary
romantic
C
fiction. An avid sci-fi and Doctor Who fanatic, she
recently branched out into fantasy romantic comedy [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]