The Bachelor Auction(94)
His grandfather had never sat anywhere but behind his desk.
It was too familiar.
Not as threatening.
Stunned, Brock watched as his grandfather wiped a tear from his eye and shook his head at Brock. “Nadine asked for my help.”
“Wait, what?”
“After you came up with your harebrained scheme to have Nadine sponsor Jane, Nadine knew that the only way to rig the whole damn thing was to call out favors with each of the wealthiest families bidding. If you haven’t noticed, Nadine is a complete mastermind of manipulation. She didn’t want to stop with Jane, though—no, that woman’s bloodthirsty—the minute she forced me to confess the problems I’d been having with you boys and the shareholders, the entire plan exploded into what I’d like to think of as world domination.” He chuckled. “Though Bentley and Brant were never supposed to be a part of the auction—I see now why I wasn’t told. I’m surprised they didn’t flee the country.” He sighed. “I shudder to think of the plans that Nadine has for those two. I do hope you know what you’re doing, because they didn’t seem happy when they left—though God knows they need someone to straighten them out. They’re beyond my reach.”
“Why?” Brock blinked in confusion. “Why help Jane? Why help me, for that matter? Why allow Nadine to sponsor Jane in the first place?”
“Oh, son.” Grandfather’s smile was sad as he reached over and patted Brock’s hand, “Did you really think I was such a horrible person for trying to make things easy on you? For taking the choices away from you, the stress? What I thought was a blessing ended up being your curse, and for that I will never forgive myself.” He stood. “Asking Nadine to help was smart—the shareholders are pleased, but most of all, I’ve never been more proud of you in my entire life. You stood up for what you loved—I know that if your parents were here, they’d say the same.” He inclined his head. “Last night, I was proud to be your grandfather. You risked everything. For love.”
“Yeah.” Brock smiled, just thinking about Jane. “All for love.”
Grandfather’s lips formed an amused smile. “Exactly as it should be.” He chuckled and shook his head. “All right, now leave an old man in peace. And don’t think I’m not still watching you!” Grandfather got up and moved to his chair, pointing a strong finger at Brock. “You better make an honest woman out of that Jane. Marry her, give me great-grandkids to spoil. Now you’re dismissed.”
Someone knocked loudly on the door then it flew open, and Nadine came stomping in.
She ignored Brock completely, stepped up to his grandfather and kissed his cheek. “Ready to get those twins settled down?”
“Take notes, Brock,” Grandfather’s eyes never left Nadine’s. “This is what it looks like to sell your soul to the devil.”
Nadine and Brock laughed while Grandfather wrapped an arm around her waist, and kissed her on the mouth.
“Everyone needs a little sin in their lives,” she whispered. Then she looked at Brock. “Shoo! Go find that woman you won, you!”
At that, Brock held up his hands and walked out.
Feeling the lightest he’d felt in years.
Chapter Forty-Nine
Three months later
It’s beautiful!” Jane’s eyes filled with tears as the sign in front of her old home was finally revealed. She and Brock had decided it would be best to sell her family home, especially once she found out that her sisters were in such heavy debt that there was no other way out. She knew her parents would understand, and even though the house had memories there was no better charity organization to sell it to.
Her home now belonged to the cancer charity that Wellington, Inc. and Titus Enterprises were working on together.
Her sisters never said thank you.
In fact, they hadn’t said much since the ball.
For a while she’d been sad, but then she looked at her new family, the one surrounding her, and realized what a true family was about: Support. Love. Kindness.
The best part was that the charity was using her old house as Rosie House, a place for families to stay while going through cancer treatments in Phoenix.
And all because of a grandfather with a cold and a keen sense of wisdom when it came to his grandsons and what they needed out of life.
She still had Cinderella Cleaning, but after some encouragement from Brock she hired more staff and took a step back so that she could focus on Rosie House—something she realized she enjoyed because it was about helping people
Just like her cleaning business, sometimes you needed to pull back the dirt and muck, to get to what was underneath and make it shine. She wasn’t a cancer expert by any means, but she knew people, and there was something so satisfying about meeting all of the families and helping them on such a basic level.