“No, sweetie, you weren’t.” You will be now. “But there’s often money set aside in case one of your parents dies, to protect you and take care of your needs while you’re growing up. Your uncle must think whomever takes care of you will get that money.” Don and Cecelia had been frugal, but he didn’t make more than enough for a comfortable life, and court costs for the ‘estate’ would probably eat up most of what was left.
“I don’t like Mike much. I don’t want to live with him.” Cleo’s brow furrowed and her jaw set.
So no one had seen fit to tell her the truth. Rosemary nearly did, but decided she better wait until after everyone left and she had a chance to talk to the attorney. “I don’t think that will be a problem, sweetie. Now eat some more. It’s been a crazy few days for you.”
Cleo ate, quietly, wearing her thinking face. “I miss my parents.”
Rosemary put her arm around the little girl and pressed her cheek to Cleo’s hair. “Oh, sweetie. So do I.”
People milled around. A few stopped in to say hello, talked to Cleo—or talked down to her, which was more often the case. Her uncle Mike made a show of being solicitous, but Rosemary could smell insincerity a mile away. Cleo was right about them. Rosemary could see it. She’d been through it with half a dozen of her mother’s live-in boyfriends over the years.
She was happier than ever that Don and Cecelia had thought to make her the guardian instead of either uncle.
When they met afterward for the reading of the will—a term which made Rosemary want to laugh because they couldn’t have had much besides their daughter and their home to settle—only the two brothers, Cleo and herself were in the room. Rosemary was glad she’d had the heads up about the will stipulations regarding guardianship, because finding out about their wishes in front of these people would have been disastrous.
“I know you’re all here today because you’re concerned about Cleome’s welfare,” the attorney began.
“Cleo. Just call me Cleo,” she said in a low voice. “Cleome’s a stupid name.”
“Sorry, Cleo,” he said. “This must be a very scary time for you. But your parents wanted to make sure you had the best person to take care of you.”
“I want Rosemary.”
The room went quiet.
“But, honey,” Mike interjected. “Why would you want to live with her? She’s practically a stranger. We’re family.”
“Back less than a day and you’re already sinking your fingers into things,” the other uncle, Scott, said.
“I never talked to her about staying with me,” Rosemary objected. “But I’d love to have her if that’s what’s best for her.”
“That’s what I want. I don’t want to live with them.” Cleo pointed to both uncles in turn. “Mike doesn’t like kids and Scott treats me like a baby who is too stupid to figure anything out.”
Mike glared at Rosemary as if she were responsible for the ruination of all his hopes and dreams. He put his hands on his hips and narrowed his eyes. “She didn’t want you before. What makes you think she wants you now? She’s probably just after the money.”
Rosemary felt all the blood drain from her face at his words. How had he known about her? She hadn’t thouht the Markhams had told anyone. “Money doesn’t matter to me.”
“Sure.” He sneered.
“We’re getting off topic here,” the attorney stated, a little exasperated. “The point is what Cleo’s parents had in mind for her.”
“But the state will have the final say, of course,” Mike said.
“Unless there’s a solid reason for Cleo to go elsewhere, her parents have named Rosemary as her guardian.”
Cleo threw her arms around Rosemary and buried her face in Rosemary’s torso. “Good. Can we go home now?”
Rosemary realized Cleo thought they were going to live in her family home, where she’d grown up. Her heart sank. “What else does the will say?”
“All assets go to Cleo through a trust that can’t be touched until she’s eighteen except for expenses related to extra educational opportunities, which have to be signed off by the firm. After that, she will need two signatures to get money out, hers and yours until she’s twenty-five. They did this to ensure that she’d use the money for college or something similarly sensible. At age twenty-five, the balance is hers to do with as she pleases.” His lips lifted slightly. “It’s not a huge amount, but with appropriate investments should ensure her education and something to start her adult life with.”
“Good.” Not that it mattered, Rosemary would be well able to provide for Cleo on her own, but it would be good for her daughter to know her parents loved her and made sure she was taken care of.
“You really don’t care about the money? You have to raise her on your own dime,” Scott stated.
“I have a few to go around.” Seeing the glint in his eye, Rosemary clarified, “Even without my inheritance—which was substantial—I could name my price in any of two dozen cities and get a job. I don’t need anyone’s financial assistance to raise Cleo.”
“So now you want a kid. Now she’s half grown,” Mike said. “Are you just not into babies?”
Rosemary didn’t want Cleo to learn about their relationship like this, but didn’t know what to say except the truth. And she didn’t want her daughter to think she hadn’t been wanted. “I’ve always loved Cleo. I haven’t always been in a position to be a parent. I am now.”
If Cleo understood, she didn’t react.
He seemed unimpressed. “Right.”
“You’ll probably need to stay in town for a week or so,” the attorney interrupted. “It’ll take that long to get everything in order and have her school records transferred.”
That made Cleo lift her head, puzzlement on her face. “School records. Why do I need to move them?”
Rosemary wrapped her arms around the girl. Her daughter. “Because I live in Colorado, honey.”
“But I have a house here. We can live here.” Panic showed on Cleo’s face. “I don’t want to move. I want to stay with my friends. You just said you can work anywhere.”
It broke her heart. “Sweetie, I have a job there. Responsibilities. I can’t just leave them.”
“You left here without any trouble,” she accused.
Rosemary felt her heart breaking. She didn’t want to upset Cleo any more than she had to, but she had to live in Colorado, it was the terms of her contract, and the will. And there was no way Rosemary could ever live in her old neighborhood again, no matter how nice it was. Especially not with her mother still living nearby.
“I have to go back to Colorado. At least until the end of August. Then we can talk about coming back out here, if that’s what you want.” Please, no.
“But that means I’ll spend school and summer and my birthday away from my friends.” Tears overflowed onto her cheeks.
“You’ll make new friends and have a lot of chances to learn new things, like how to ski and stuff.” Rosemary felt lame even suggesting it. She hated skiing, but if Cleo wanted to go, she’d suck it up and deal with it. “And in the summer there are lots of mountain bike trails and hiking and um, other cool things.” She’d have to look into those things, since she hadn’t really paid any attention to them before.
“But I want to stay here.” Cleo pulled away and ran to the door, yanking on the knob until she got it open.
Rosemary was a step behind her as she entered the hall and snatched Cleo into her arms, though she was way too big to lift. “Sweetie. Hey, come here. I’m sorry. I know this isn’t what you want. This is a bad time for you. I was way older when I lost my dad, but it was really hard for me. It must be really tough even for a strong kid like you to deal with.”
Cleo turned and wrapped her arms around Rosemary’s shoulders, holding on tight, her tears dripping onto Rosemary’s black dress. “I just don’t want anything else to change. Too much is changing. I just want to stay here. Where it’s the same.”
Rosemary held her c
lose, snuggled up against her and felt her throat tighten with emotions. “It’s never going to be the same again. I’m sorry, Cleo, but sometimes when things change, they change forever. And I don’t just mean losing your parents. Other things won’t ever feel the same, no matter how hard you try to make them be.”
Her throat clogged up as she thought of how she’d felt when she learned she was pregnant, feeling her baby grow inside her, then having to give her up. She went back to school and did her best to act as if nothing had changed, but really, everything was different. “I bet you’ll like it in Colorado, though. It’s beautiful, and the hotel is really cool and my sister Sage is building a big house with a huge indoor pool.”
Cleo sniffed, pulling back and wiping at her face. “Really? A pool in their home? Is she rich?”
Rosemary smiled. “Something like that. Her husband really likes to swim. He used to be a Navy SEAL, so he’s this super-tough military dude. And my sister Lana is having a baby around the first of May. And Cami’s husband has lots of nieces and nephews and I bet they’d love to do stuff with you.”
She had Cleo’s attention, so she pushed on, talking about everyone in Colorado. “Vince is Cami’s husband; he’s a landscaper, so he knows everything about growing plants, and Jonquil plays with flowers in her shop and makes bouquets and stuff all day long. And I just know everyone is going to love you.” She pressed the hair back from Cleo’s face, glad to see her calming down.
“So I’ll have a whole bunch of aunts and uncles?” She looked doubtful.
“Yeah. But I promise, they’re nothing like those guys.” She hitched her thumb toward the office. “They’re way nicer, even Delphi and she’s a bit of a poop head.”
Cleo smiled a little at the comment. “I still don’t want to leave my friends.”
“I know. But there’s always email, and Skype. I bet we could set up a time you could video conference with them to catch up.” Rosemary was stretching now, trying to find a way to make Cleo accept the inevitable. And Skype would be a reasonable option—much better than running her cell phone usage into the ten-thousands.
Cleo looked intrigued. “Is it hard?”
“Nope. Really easy. We do it all the time with the guys from the main office.”
Cleo sniffed. “Well, maybe it would be okay. Until the end of the summer.”
Step one, Rosemary thought with relief. “Good girl. Now, let’s go inside and see what else we need to know before we go back to your home, okay?” Cleo had been staying with neighbors, but that was only until Rosemary could take over.
The two uncles stalked out before Cleo had done more than put her hand in Rosemary’s.
Mike stopped on his way out to glared at Rosemary. “You aren’t a fit mother. If you were, you wouldn’t have given her up in the first place.”
Rosemary felt Cleo’s hand tighten in hers and she froze as the men disappeared.
“What did he mean?” Cleo asked.
Rosemary closed her eyes for a couple of seconds. Cleo knew she had been adopted, just not who her birth mom was, until now. “How about if we talk about that when we get back to your home?”
“You promise?”
“Cross my heart.” Rosemary did the actions as she spoke.
Cleo studied her for a moment, then nodded. They went in and sat again, though this time Rosemary pulled Cleo onto her lap so she could wrap her up tight in a hug.
“Are things okay?” the attorney asked.
“Yeah. We’re fine. Or we will be fine,” Rosemary amended. Maybe not anytime soon, but eventually. “Is there anything else you need to tell us?”
“I’ve been in contact with your attorney.” His brow lifted. “Family law isn’t exactly his specialty.”
She chuckled. “No, but I want him involved even if he passes the bulk of it off to someone in his office. He understands the unusual dynamics of my situation better than anyone.”
“That’s understandable. It looks like the house still has a balance owing, and there are a few bills that will need to be discharged out of the insurance.”
“No problem. Tell me where to send a check and how much and I’ll make sure the bills get paid until things are settled.”
He nodded. “I’ll send that all along in an email.”
“Thanks.” Rosemary accepted the rest of the papers and stood. They put on their coats, then Rosemary took Cleo’s hand again and led her out to the front where they caught a cab. She just had to remember to take one step at a time and she’d be okay. And if that didn’t work, there was always the elliptical.
They had been back at her home for only a few minutes when Cleo looked up at her. “What did Uncle Mike mean, you gave me up already?”
Rosemary had hoped to have more time to consider this. She wanted to strangle Mike. She sat on the sofa and patted the spot beside her. “You know I met your parents when I was about your age.”
Cleo squinted at Rosemary. “You’re not really going to tell me, are you? Are you my birth mother?”
She felt her chin muscle twitch. “Yes. I am.”
“Why did you give me to my parents?” Cleo’s forehead wrinkled.
“I thought that was what I was explaining when you interrupted me.” Rosemary forced a little smile to show she wasn’t mad.
“But, you weren’t talking about that. You were trying to distract me with stuff that’s... irrelevant.”
Rosemary smiled in delight. She loved how precocious Cleo was. A big reader, the little girl had always used words far beyond most kids her age. “Nope. But it might have sounded like it. Just sit back and listen.”
When Cleo was settled, Rosemary began again. “Your parents moved here when I was ten. I remember it was Thanksgiving the first time I met them, so it was right after my birthday. Your mom was really sweet and always had something nice to say to me. I lived around the corner.”
“Your mom still lives there. She’s not very nice to me.” Cleo pulled a face.
Rosemary debated for a moment, then leaned in so she was almost nose to nose with the girl. “Do you want to know a secret? She’s not always very nice to me, either. But your mom was. She always made me feel welcome and she taught me to cook. My mom was gone from home a lot with her boyfriends, and when they were there, the guys never seemed to like me much.”
“She had more than one boyfriend?” Cleo’s eye were wide as pies.
“Not at a time, silly.” Rosemary tapped her nose, though she had wondered sometimes if her mom had strung more than one guy on the line at a time. She was deceptively sweet and she was beautiful, so it often took guys longer than you’d expect to look below the shallow exterior and realize the person beneath wasn’t nice. Not nice at all.
“Oh, okay. Go on.”
“I didn’t like being at home, so I was here a lot. I think your mom liked that because she wanted to have children so bad, and they tried everything, but it wasn’t working.” Rosemary remembered catching Cecilia crying one afternoon. She had said she was sad she couldn’t have kids of her own, but then brushed it off as if it wasn’t a big deal. Rosemary had known better, and watched when they were around little kids, seeing the pain and wistfulness in her face.
“I sometimes make bad decisions,” Rosemary admitted, not sure how else to explain. “And when I was in college, I got pregnant. I was still really young and I loved my baby almost from the first moment I found out I was pregnant.” She kept careful watch on Cleo’s gaze, making sure she understood this was the truth.
“I wanted to keep her, but I was still in school and I knew if I became a mom then, that I wouldn’t be able to finish school. Then I would end up in a really bad job where my little girl would be in daycare all day long and we wouldn’t have anything. I would probably be really stressed and ornery all the time and that would make me a terrible mom.”
She brushed a lock of hair back from Cleo’s face. “I saw your mom. She wanted a baby so badly, and I knew she would be the most awesome mom ever and that she w
ould let me watch my baby grow up and be part of her life so I didn’t have to wonder what happened to her. Then I could be a sort of big sister to her.” There were tears in her eyes now, though she managed to keep them from falling.
“It was the hardest thing I ever did,” Rosemary admitted, “deciding to let your parents adopt you, but I knew you would be happier with them.”
Cleo looked as though she wasn’t sure if she believed it. “So you did want me?”
“Always. I always wanted you.” Rosemary wiped tears from her eyes. “I love you so much.”
Cleo started to cry and leaned against Rosemary. “I miss them. I want my mommy back.”
“Me too, honey. Me too.” She held Cleo tight, just letting her cry and soak in the changes in her life.
“What do I call you?” Cleo asked after a while.
“Rosemary, just like you always have. I know Cecilia and Don will always be your parents, and I’m so grateful they were so awesome. You can call me anything you want. Even Queen Rosemary, if you want.”
That made Cleo giggle, as it was an old joke between them. “You’re not a queen.”
“I’m the queen in the kitchen. And you better believe it.” She sucked in a breath. “Now, did you want to visit your friends or anything? We won’t have much longer before we have to move to Colorado, so you better see them while you still have time.”
Rosemary was surprised at how well Cleo took the news, but then little kids did have a way of bouncing back. On the other hand, issues tended to resurface. She ought to know.
Harrison rubbed his sweaty hands on his pant legs and pulled the key from the ignition. He’d taken the excuse to visit Rosemary as Sage suggested.
He and Rosemary may not always see eye to eye, but she often pretended nothing was bothering her even when she was upset about something.
Now he worried that showing up on her doorstep would make the gulf in their relationship worse, though. Funny how that possibility hadn’t seemed so real until he had arrived in DC and turned the car toward the address Sage had tracked down for him.
He stared at the white stuccoed rambler, well maintained and inviting in a neighborhood that was starting to show evidence of neglect, but had obviously been quite nice a decade or two before. Would she even let him in?
Family Matters (DiCarlo Brides book 4) (The DiCarlo Brides) Page 4