He took my hand and tugged me into the living room.
“What’s that?”
A beautiful, red cedar Spanish guitar was lying on the coffee table.
“Your friend Nicole dropped by.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, apparently you told her I wanted to learn guitar. She said she didn’t need this, so she’s given it to me. We talked for quite a long time—seeing as I’d pissed you off and you weren’t here…”
He arched an eyebrow.
I decided to ignore that comment.
“Nicole isn’t quite the ball-breaker you thought she was?”
“I didn’t say that … but she was … okay.”
“Praise indeed.”
“Yeah,” he said, with a smile. Then he paused. “Baby, when did I tell you I wanted to play guitar?”
“A long time ago,” I said, softly. “Ten years ago.”
He stared down at me, his eyes filled with love.
“You take my breath away, Caro.”
He pulled me into a tight hug and I stood there drinking him in. He kissed my hair, nuzzling me softly.
“Oh, hey. You got mail.”
He let go of me and reached over to pass me an envelope that had been tossed onto the table.
“On a Sunday?”
“Yeah, it went to Mrs. Levenson’s house by mistake; she just got back from her grandson’s today and she brought it over.”
I turned the envelope over, looking at the sender’s address.
“It’s from England.”
I frowned. I didn’t know anyone in England—not any more.
I tore open the thick, parchment-type envelope and read the typewritten letter. As I took in the meaning, I couldn’t help gasping with surprise.
Sebastian looked concerned. “What is it, baby?”
I slumped down onto the couch, and handed him the letter without speaking.
“Lawyers?”
He sat down next to me and read through the pages.
When he’d finished, he set the letter down and wrapped his good arm around me, pulling me against his chest.
“I didn’t know,” I whispered. “She never said anything. I knew Liz didn’t have any family, but I never thought…”
“It’s a lot of money, baby. What are you going to do with it?”
I shook my head. I was still trying to process the information.
The letter was from Dougal and Bright, Liz’s lawyers. She’d named me in her Will and had left me everything—her entire estate. She hadn’t owned much, but her small apartment in north London was worth over $550,000.
“Why did she leave it to me? We were friends, but … I don’t understand.”
“What don’t you understand, Caro? She loved you. Why do you always have a hard time realizing that, baby?”
I shrugged.
“This is good news,” he said, stroking my hair. “Out of all of this shit, it’s something good.”
“I know. It’s just … so unexpected.”
He hesitated before he spoke again. “It’ll pay off your mortgage. You wouldn’t have to work overseas … if you didn’t want to…”
I knew what he was trying to say, but I couldn’t make a decision like that here and now.
“Anyway, it’s our money,” I said quietly.
Sebastian shook his head angrily.
“I’m not going to take your fucking money, Caro!”
I placed my hand over his mouth, cutting off his stormy words.
“I mean it, Sebastian. Either we’re in this together, or we’re not. If you won’t accept it, then I won’t accept it. I’ll give it to the Journalism Without Borders charity before I let this money come between us. You said yourself we deserved some good luck.”
He ran his hand through his hair in frustration.
“She didn’t even like me, Caro. There’s no way she’d want me to have anything to do with your inheritance. Hell, as far as she was concerned, I was just fucking you for something to do and…”
“You’re wrong. She knew all about us.”
His rant ground to a halt; he looked stunned.
“She did?”
“Of course. I told her everything—and I told her we were going to get married.”
Sebastian leaned back and stared at me. “You told her? Everything?”
“Yes, tesoro.”
He scratched his eyebrow thoughtfully. “What did she say?”
I gave him a small smile. “She wanted to know if you were as good in bed as she’d heard.”
I thought he was going to choke, but then I saw a wicked gleam in his eye. “And what did you say?”
I gave him a prim look. “Nothing, of course … although…”
“Although what?”
“I may have winked at her.”