Rewritten (Unwritten Book 2) (33 page)

“Good morning future Mrs. Ashley.”

Allison smiles brightly gabbing my arm and pulling me tighter against her chest. “Good morning my future husband.”

“God that sounds good coming from your lips. Say it again.”

She smiles turning around so she is face to face with me and placing her hand on my cheek, “My future husband,” emphasizing the word
my
.

I lean in, kissing her softly as my phone rings. “Ugh, don’t people know we have a new born,” I grunt. “What time is it anyway?”

Allison laughs, “It’s actually 9:15, you slept right through his five o’clock feeding.”

I pout my lips, “Sorry baby.”

“No worries. Who’s calling?”

I look down, not recognizing the number, “Don’t know.” I answer, “Hello?”

“Hello. Is this Charles Ashley?”

“Yeah, this is him. How can I help you?” I sit up in bed so I’m holding the phone better against my ear.

“My name is Laura Stone. I am Jacquelyn Sanders’ attorney.”

“Yes…”

“Mr. Ashley, I was hoping you would have time to come into my office today. I have some things I need to discuss with regard to your son, Lyric.”

“Whoa, why? He’s my son. We did the paternity test. Why do I need to come in?”

“I’m sorry Mr. Ashley, I didn’t mean to cause you concern. It’s nothing bad. I have something to give you.”

I sigh deeply, “Uh, ok. What time should I come in?”

“Does today at one o’clock work for you?”

“Yeah, that works. See you then.”

“Yes, see you then. And if you could bring Lyric I would love to meet the little guy. Thank you.”

We hang up and I look at Allison. “That was Jacquelyn’s attorney. She wants me to come in at one today. Says she has something for me.”

“Ok, I’ll stay here with Lyric.”

“She asked me to bring him so why don’t you come, too.”

“Ok. Now,” she grabs my arm, wrapping it around me tightly, “where were we?”

I wrap my hand around her left hand, playing with her ring in between my fingers as I kiss her lips.

Lyric is fast asleep in his car seat as we walk into Jacquelyn’s attorney’s office hand-in-hand.

“Thank you for coming. Laura Stone, you must be Charles and Allison is it? I heard Charles had a new girlfriend.” She reaches her hand out to Allison and I.

“Hello, yes, please call me Charlie and this is Allison, my fiancée.”

Laura pauses, then smiles sweetly, “Congratulations. Is this the little guy?” She smiles sweetly, whispering once she sees he’s asleep.

“This is our little man,” I look down, smiling proudly at Lyric.

“He’s such a cutie. Thanks for bringing him in. I knew Jacquelyn for years so it’s exciting to meet him. Please, have a seat.” She motions to the chairs in front of her desk. “So, you’re probably wondering why I called you here today.”

“Yes, you said you have something for me. What is it?”

“Well,” she sighs deeply. “I’m sure you know now that Jacquelyn had no family and her divorce was complete before the unfortunate incident at her home took place. So, with Lyric as her only living family member,” she pauses as her lips turn to a small smile, “her entire estate will be transferred to him and I have drawn out a schedule of payments for you to raise him in the manner that she would have, monetarily I mean.”

I sit, stunned, “Excuse me?”

Laura laughs, “Her entire estate, totaled at $50 million along with the monthly royalties she receives for her patens, will be transferred to this little guy with you and I as the executors until he turns 18, or an age that we mutually agree upon. Until then, you will receive payments of $80,000 a month in order to raise him in the manner he would have been raised if Jacquelyn was still alive.”

I sit back in my chair, running my hands through my hair before looking over to Allison who’s sitting wide eyed, staring at Laura, then me, then Lyric. Both her and I are speechless.

Laura laughs, “I know this is a lot to take in, but I know this is what Jacquelyn would have wanted. She wanted to be a mom more than anything and after seeing this little guy, I know she’s smiling down, knowing that he’s being fully taken care of.”

I grab Allison’s hand before looking up to her as my lips tilt up into a small smile. Looking to Allison I say, “We love this little guy more than anything in the world,” then I look back to Laura, “Wow, this is just amazing. I promise you we’ll do our best to give him the best life he could ever imagine. Thank you for this.”

“It’s my pleasure. We have a ton of paperwork we will need you to fill out and once we handle the sale of her home we can add that into everything as well. I have your first check made out here. It’s for two million to get you started, then your $80,000 will start next month.”

She reaches in a drawer and hands me an envelope. I grab it, not being able to hide the fact that I’m shaking.

Laura smiles, “I’ll let you get this little guy back home. It was great meeting you both. My assistant will give you all of the paperwork, please send it back to us as soon as you can.”

She escorts us out of her office and Allison and I are quiet until we get back in the car.

I go to start the car and pause, looking over at Allison who’s still silent. “Well…” I pause, smiling at her.

We both break out laughing as the shock of the moment washes over us and reality hits.

“Did she really say $50 million?” Allison asks.

“Yup, she did. Can you believe it?” I lean over, kissing her before turning on the car and pulling out of the parking spot.

A
llison and I head to Vacaville early in the morning for the annual Fiesta Days Parade. I’m so excited to bring my son to his first parade. Yeah, I know he’s only a few weeks old but I don’t care. It’s been in years since I’ve been to the parade and the thought of reliving some of my greatest childhood memories have filled me with so much hope for the future.

We are meeting Jason and Jen who have a truck set up backwards along the parade route so we can see the parade from a higher point. Allison grew up in San Francisco so this whole small-town parade thing is something that she’s never experienced.

We park a few blocks away and walk through the crowds to Merchant Street where the almost mile-long parade route runs as hundreds of people line the streets, waiting patiently for the parade to begin. Allison smiles as she watches all of the kids playing while they wait for the parade to begin.

Jen spots us as we approach and runs to give us a hug. “I’m so glad you guys could make it. Let me see this little man.” She moves in front of the stroller. “Ah, he’s gotten so big already. Come on, I want to hold this precious baby.”

She walks us back to where they’re set up and reaches down to grab Lyric from the stroller.

Jason’s mom beams from ear to ear saying, “Oh, Charlie. He’s precious. Congratulations you two.” She gives both Allison and I a hug before stealing Lyric from Jen to hold him close.

I smile proudly, wrapping my arm around Allison as a C5 Air Force jet flies over signally the start of the parade. I can’t help but have my eyes tear up at the thought of being here, back in Vacaville with my own family now.

I kiss Allison on the head as we set up our seats and enjoy the almost two-hour long parade.

Afterwards we all go to Jason’s parents house for a barbeque. The day is going perfectly and I couldn’t be happier.

I have something I want to show Allison before it gets too dark so we say our goodbyes and head out.

I drive through Vacaville out to the country, smiling about what I’m about to show Allison.

She looks around smiling, “I know that little boy grin you have on your face. Where are you taking me?”

I wink at her, “You’ll see,” as I turn up the radio smiling at the irony of
My Town
by Montgomery Gentry playing.

We pull up to a small country property and I smile to Allison, not able to hide my excitement. I turn to Lyric to see he’s fast asleep. Pulling my finger to my mouth, I whisper, “Shhhhh,” then tilt my head to the side motioning to quietly get out of the car.

Allison laughs, not sure what I’m up to but gets out of the car and follows me to the front where I grip both of her hands in mine and smile sweetly.

“Allison,” I look to the house then back to her. “This is my childhood home. I grew up here.”

Allison gasps, smiling as she looks at me and then the house.

“I haven’t been back here since I moved in with Jason after my parents passed. I couldn’t get rid of it though so I’ve had a property management company take care of it ever since. The rent I got on it originally just barely covered the mortgage so besides annual phone calls and little things here and there I never thought about it. Until the other day when the management company called to tell me the renters were moving out and it was empty.” I pause, leaning down to look straight into her eyes.

“Let’s move here.” I pause again to gage her reaction before repeating myself. “Allison, let’s raise our son here, in Vacaville. We have enough money now to where we can tear it down and build our dream home. And we can build you a separate building for your own photography studio. And you can live your dream, being an amazing photographer who never has to worry about money so you can shot only the things you want to. We have five acres. Look, the property goes from here to there.” I point at the fence lining the property. “Lyric can play outside anytime he wants when he gets older. I can teach him to throw a ball and ride a bike at the same place I learned how. And Vacaville is such a great community to raise a family in. You saw for yourself today. There are tons of things like that. And I’ve always wanted to teach kids to play the guitar. Jen said she could set me up to volunteer in the schools here within their music department. She said they’re lacking big time with funding so it’s perfect. And, I already looked into it, there’s a CrossFit Vacaville here…” I say the last line in a sweet enticing voice.