Page 97 of Fake It Till You Make It

“Bethany’s on her way down. I wanted to show you all something first.”

Amarie looked at him. “I want to say I’m sorry about the contract. I did print it.”

Leah gave her a barely there smile. Tears gathered in her eyes. “I want to show you something.”

“Momma?” Eli dropped to one knee beside her chair. “I’m so sorry for keeping the secret about the Pendletons. The college fund. All of it. I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

“Shh, your father made you swear not to tell me.” She ruffled his hair like she did when he was a kid. “Not even heaven could save him from the earful he got from me last night about trying to control everything. We raised this family together and if he had trusted me with what the Pendletons were trying to do, you would’ve never been torn in two trying to protect us both. Levi is gone. So, you live your life for you, not for Levi. That’s what your father would tell each of you if he were here. Whether we rise or fall, we do it together, not out of responsibility, out of love. That’s the real legacy, son. Not the land. It’s the love and trust of the family on this land that gives it value.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ve learned my lesson.” He looked atAmarie, but her eyes were focused out the window, like she didn’t want to intrude on a family moment. She was his family.

“Good. You better not give me any more trouble this lifetime, Eli Calvary. I swear you got the craziest parts of both me and your father, loyal to a fault. And stubborn as a pee stain.”

“Whoa,” he came to his feet. Chuckles sounded from around the table.

“You ever been compared to a piss stain, Tobias?” Noah teased.

“Can’t say that I have, brother.”

“Guess that makes us the good sons.” Noah chuckled.

“You can have it.” Eli mimicked tossing a ball in the trash can. “It’s impossible to hit the mark.”

Their momma said nothing, just pulled a crumpled piece of paper from the side of her cowgirl boot and placed in the center of the table.

“What’s this?” Eli frowned.

“It’s the Kitty Kibbles contract. Amarie did exactly what she said she did. It was that snake of an ex-wife who tried to sabotage you and this family again. I found it in Cara’s tote bag yesterday after you kicked your family out of the family business. Oh, and she is pregnant. Eight weeks.”

“I was never worried.” He had acted a plum fool with Amarie and his family, the kind of stupid that took years of practice.

“But you were rude, ungrateful, accusatory and—” That was Amarie, her voice ten octaves higher than usual.

“Yep,” everyone said in unison.

“Sorry,” Eli said, chagrined. He looked at Amarie. “I’d lost someone important.”

She quickly looked away. Darn it. Easygoing Amariehad been replaced with a hard nose, and she hadn’t budged on allowing him back into her good graces.

“I’m glad you found the contract. Should’ve suspected Cara from the start. But it was too late by then anyways,” Eli murmured.

Amarie’s eyes shot to his. “The auction money will come through. The site is back online.”

“That’s great. Makes my news even better.” His mom vibrated with happiness.

Eli reached for the open envelope in his mother’s hand. He read the address. “Kitty Kibbles Corporation?” he questioned, reading the accepted agreement inside twice. Amarie burst up from her seat, rounding the table at Leah’s other side.

“What—how?”

Leah did a little two-step in her fall festival outfit. “I signed the contract and sent it back in the computer.”

“But I thought we missed the deadline?” Eli insisted.

“Nope. The parent company is in the central time zone, one hour behind us.”

“Alright!” Noah and Tobias erupted from their chairs next. “We got ourselves a home and a business,” they cheered, squeezing into the family circle.

“The twenty-five-thousand-dollar check can be deposited. The final documents will arrive via express delivery within three business days,” Leah announced.