Page 92 of The Grump I Married
“It gives the estate to you outright, with no conditions. If you hadn’t married within thirty days and Jasper tried to claim the estate, I would have simply produced this version.”
“Simply?” I said, my jaw tightening. Nothing about this process had been simple.
“Thankfully, it didn’t come to that,” Craig said, somewhat amused. “And up until the day of the festival, I would have said that Pete was looking down on you, full of joy, thrilled that his plan had worked out. Now, of course, he’s probably lookingdown and grumbling about daft grandsons who can’t tell a good thing when they have it.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. “Well, if not for his bloody meddling, I wouldn’t be in this mess!”
Craig sighed. “Look, son, your grandad and I had been friends for a long time. And I know all he wanted was what was best for you. He believed that doing things this way would make you open your eyes and reach out for someone who could make you truly happy.”
I shook my head, jaw set. “If I’ve learned anything, it’s that love will never make you truly happy.”
“Not if you let that young woman walk away from you,” Craig pointed out.
“I have a right to protect myself,” I argued, irritation prickling at the back of my neck. Why did everyone think they knew better than I did? “The way I loved Lena…it would have only led to disaster in the end. Loving someone that much…that passionately…it’s dangerous.”
“What a complete load of mince,” a familiar voice said. Jo stuck her head through the door from the back room.
I blinked at her. What the bloody hell was she doing here?
She walked into the room, coming to stand behind Craig. She put her hands on his shoulders, and for the first time I clocked the framed photos on the wall behind Craig. Jo featured in many of them. “I presume you’ve met my wife?” Craig said.
“Oh, we’ve met,” I assured him.
“Now, I don’t make a habit of getting into other people’s business,” Jo said.
I snorted at that.
“Okay, maybe I do,” she amended. “But only ever for good reason.”
“And you think this is a good reason?” I said.
“I do, in fact. Because if you carry on walking through life this stubborn and hardheaded, you’re going to ruin every good thing you have coming. When two decent, honorable people love each other, there’s no such thing as too much love,” Jo insisted, squeezing Craig’s shoulder. “Loveisn’t the problem. The problem comes when the people involved are selfish—all they know how to do is love selfishly. That kind of lovecanbe destructive, but it doesn’t mean that all love is.”
“It is as far as I’ve seen,” I said. “It always creates trust issues, and without trust, what’s left to build on?”
“Now that’s a lie if I ever heard one.”
I frowned at Jo.
“Your grandparents were the most besotted couple I ever saw in my life,” Jo pointed out.
I blinked at her.
“The fire didn’t go out of their marriage until the day your grandmother died. Their love made them better and stronger. That’s what passionate love can be.”
I opened my mouth but found myself pausing. I’d truly never considered how much they’d loved each other. When I thought of them, I usually thought about how much they lovedme,doting on and supporting me. But that love and support had grown from a place of togetherness. It had been a product of the strength and passion and depth of theirownrelationship.
“All I’m saying is that when you find a love like that, a man with any sense in him isn’t going to just let it walk away. Or…” Jo added pointedly, “let it fly back to the other side of the world.”
She was right. Maybe things hadn’t worked out with Narissa or my own parents, but that didn’t mean that deep, passionate, messy love wasn’t worth fighting for. If I could have a love like the one my grandparents shared, then maybe I didn’t need to be afraid of it. But first, I needed to embrace the depth of my feelings. I needed to give into my passion for Lena.
My grandparents had loved like that until the end of their days, and it would be a great dishonor to their memory if I didn’t at least try to fight for something similar. I turned on my heel, a flash of adrenaline surging through me as the path forward became clear.
“Where are you running off to?” Jo called after me.
I paused in the doorway, giving her and Craig a grateful smile over my shoulder. “I’ve got an apology to make.”
29
