"$12 million!? Are you being serious right now, Mom?"
"Completely."
"This…I don't even know what to say."
Lucas stood and paced, rereading the financial statement.
They were officially set for life. Their kids could have college paid for, Tuscany was a for sure trip. No more house or car payment. His dream of owning and opening a homeless shelter and soup kitchen…it was all going to happen.
Lucas sat down again and tried not to cry.
"Babe?" Beth said softly, moving next to him and rubbing his back.
"He's been gone a long time, Beth. But I miss him now like it was only last week."
"There's no rules about how long grief will last, Luke."
"He was such a good dad."
"So are you and he knew you would be. That's why he did this. He wanted to take care of you when he wasn't here anymore."
"I'll do the same for our kids. We should set up trust funds for them."
"I agree."
He nodded and got up to hug his mother. "I love you, Mom. Thank you for this."
"I can't take credit for your father's idea but I absolutely believe that you deserve every penny of this money."
Helen did stay the night because of the snow. When they woke up, they noticed it was a whole lot more than just four inches. It was more like double that.
"I can take you home, Mom," Lucas told her.
"I appreciate that son but I drove Roger's truck. I will be just fine."
He nodded and flipped pancakes on the griddle, making sure he didn't burn anything.
"Mmm something smells good," Elizabeth said, coming into the kitchen in her robe, carrying a wide awake Leo.
"Hi!" Lucas said, his face lighting up. He hugged his family, gave Elizabeth a warm, sweet kiss and then bent down to kiss Leo's forehead. "Hi, Boo. Did you sleep well?"
Elizabeth smiled at her husband and then down at Leo. "Daddy's silly. He knows how many times you woke up."
Helen held her arms out. "May I hold him before I head home?"
"Of course."
Helen walked into the living room and sat down with the baby. Lucas gathered Elizabeth in a hug. He missed her and she was right there but it had been quite a while since they had been intimate.
"I miss you," he whispered.
"I know. I miss you too."
He kissed her slowly and deeply, pulling her as close as possible, his hands gripping her robe possessively. He stepped back and sighed, fire in his eyes.
Nine weeks. Then they could see the doc to see if she was healing well.
"You're adorable," she told him, kissing his cheek. "It'll go fast."
"We need to talk about the money and go see my dad's accountant."
"We will. Let's do it after Valentine's."
Valentine's Day
"Babe, can you get the door?" Elizabeth called down the hall.
"Got it!" He said from the kitchen where he was cleaning up breakfast dishes.
Elizabeth smiled at the thought of breakfast. He had made a ham and cheddar omelet, cut up fresh fruit, made decaf and added a cup of milk because she was drinking extra calcium right now.
He had brought it into the master on a tray with a single red rose in a vase that he had managed to hide from her. All three of them ate in bed and talked about nothing serious. Lucas wanted to keep the day lighthearted.
Elizabeth finished getting dressed and getting Leo dressed and then walked downstairs.
There was a woman, a beautiful one, standing in the living room.
"Um, hi," Elizabeth said, giving a smile.
"Hi. I'm Jen."
"Elizabeth Bouchard. Do we know each other?"
"No, but Lucas asked me to come."
"You know my husband?"
"Yeah. For a few years now."
"I'm sorry. I'm confused. Why are you here?"
"I'm here to pamper you."
Lucas smiled from the doorway. "Babe, I asked Jen to come. She does nails so she's going to give you a manicure and a pedicure."
"She is? Well, that's exciting."
"I'll take Leo. You just enjoy yourself. We need some father/son time."
Lucas took Leo from her and disappeared upstairs so she sat down in the recliner and got comfortable. "So how do you and Lucas know each other?"
"I work at the bank with Lucas. Not in his department but downstairs in Security. I do nails as a side gig."
Jen pulled out a bag with about a dozen bottles of nail polish.
"Take your pick," she told her, taking out the rest of her supplies. Lotions and towels and tools and cotton thingies for between the toes.
Elizabeth chose a deep wine red color for toes and nails. Lucas loved her painted toes, since their time in Oahu when they met.
As Jen massaged her feet and legs and then painted her toes, she asked questions about anything and everything.
"So he thought Boo was a girl?" Jen laughed.
"I think we both did but the shock on his face when he realized Boo was a boy…it was priceless."
Elizabeth wondered, "Do you have any kids, Jen?"
"Nope. Haven't been blessed yet but I'd love to be a Mom."
Leo let out a squawk upstairs and she felt her milk come in. "He needs to eat. Do you mind if I feed him here?"
"Of course I don't mind. Feel free, as long as I can hold him while your nails dry?"
"Deal."
"Babe?" Lucas said, walking in with Leo.
"He's hungry?"
"Yeah. Sorry."
"Its fine. I can multitask." She covered herself with a blanket from the back of the recliner and within thirty seconds, Leo was happily eating.
"I need to head out for like thirty minutes," Luke said, leaning over to kiss her goodbye.
"What do you have planned next, babe?"
"You'll see," he told her, kissing her again. "Thanks for coming, Jen."
…..
Elizabeth took a nap with Leo after Jen left, both getting about an hour before Lucas came back.
"30 minutes, huh?" Elizabeth teased.
"Give or take."
She gestured to her toes. "You like?"
"Sexy," he grinned, hugging her. "I have something for you," he told her, picking up a bag.
"A gift?'
"Of course. Open."
Her eyes lit up as she pulled the tissue paper out of the bag and saw the contents. "Luke, it's beautiful."
She held up the burgundy wrap dress with three quarter sleeves and a lovely, feminine ruffled hem, ending above the knee.
"I saw it and immediately pictured you in it."
"Thank you so much."
"You're welcome."
They both heard noises from downstairs. Elizabeth looked concerned so he let her know of his next secret.
"That's Allesandro. He's our chef."
"Our chef?" she asked with a laugh. "What did you do, husband?"
"I thought instead of me cooking our romantic Valentine's dinner, I hired an Italian chef to serve an authentic Italian meal."
"Hm. Alright. I can get on board with that."
"Yeah?"
"Mm," she said, stepping into his space and little more. "Because that means I can have you in my sight all evening."
"Ditto, love." He kissed her and walked out of the room with an extra pep in his step.
…..
As they later sat in the candlelit dining room eating their mushroom risotto, linguine with shrimp scampi and cherry tomatoes and tiramisu, they talked about their new money situation.
Elizabeth said, and Lucas agreed, that she didn't think they should live like they had millions. Yes, pay off their house and bills, but she didn't want to make drastic changes and allow the money to take precedence. She wanted the kids, Leo, and any others they had, to grow up with a normal childhood, not having every single thing they thought they should have, any toy they saw etc. They wanted their family to be well-adjusted and content.
That being said, Lucas wanted to jump right in with finding a location near or around Ann Arbor for his homeless shelter/soup kitchen.
"When are you meeting with your Dad's lawyers?"
"Next week. I'm excited."
She smiled at him and took a final bite of linguine. "So good, Lucas. Thank you for arranging for a chef. This is incredibly romantic."
"Do you want to dance?"
He pressed a button on his phone screen and their wedding song played. "Wonderful Tonight," by Eric Clapton.
He stood and held out his hand and then pulled her close, his lips grazing her temple and forehead. "I love you," he whispered. "More and more each day."
She looked up at him and smiled, feeling the same way. She reached and brushed his hair back out of his eyes. "You gonna cut this soon?"
"My beard? Sure!" he teased, knowing what her reaction would be.
"No, Lucas Bouchard. I don't want you to ever cut your beard. Your hair."
"Oh okay. I'm not sure. I like it this way."
"I mean you always look good, but it is a bit longer than I'm used to. I could cut it."
"You can cut hair?"
"How hard can it be?"
"Uh no. I will go to the barber shop."
"Will you let me try? If I mess it up, you can always have the barber fix it."
So he agreed and that's how he found himself sitting in the kitchen with a towel draped around his neck and wet hair, trying not to cringe whenever she cut a chunk of hair off.
She stood in front of him, between his legs, running her fingers through his hair. It felt amazing. He grabbed her curvy hips with his hands and squeezed, making her look down.
"Don't make me jump, you might not like the results."
"You stand there looking so very hot in that dress and no shoes and those painted toes and you don't expect me to react? That's like asking a dog not to bark."
She giggled, tilted his head back and pressed a kiss to his lips. "I love you."
"Mm."
He waited for her to stop cutting and pulled her down on his lap. "Hi."
"Hey. I'm not done cutting," she told him, her eyes focused on his yummy mouth.
"That's okay. I'd rather have you right here."
"You smell really good," she whispered.
"You look really good."
She pressed her warm lips to his neck, just above the collar of his shirt, making him shiver. She slowly kissed her way from behind his ear to his jaw, drinking him crazy.
"How did I get so lucky?" he mumbled as she finally brought her mouth to his. "You made me a father, a husband. I'll never forget the experience of witnessing your amazing strength and determination to bring our son into the world."
"I'm the lucky one, honey. You love so deeply and your heart is so big and wonderful. Seeing you care for Leo, gently and lovingly…it fills my heart."
Leo let out a cry over the monitor so she kissed him again and stood. He just sat for a moment, watching her perfectly curvy and sexy body walk up the stairs.
Nine weeks. He could do it. While he waited, he'd find ways to make her feel loved, wanted, cherished.