Michael

I awakened with a sense of being on top of the world. Strange that I should feel that way when my own father had just tried to murder three innocent people. All was in hand, though. The detective I'd hired to intercept Dad worked strictly for me, strictly off the record. The entire episode had been filmed with nighttime video equipment, so I had Dad where I wanted him. One word from me and his future would likely be behind bars. At the very least the revelation would be so scandalous as to make it impossible for him to do business locally ever again. As it was, it would be kept private and he would know the guillotine was always hanging over his head.

In my weaker moments, I felt guilty for having pulled this on him, but he'd been running the clock, not me. If he'd left well enough alone, there'd have been no need for such drastic measures. I knew he was getting desperate. Desperate men can do cruel things.

I rolled from the bed and showered, pulling clean clothes from the wardrobe before I went in search of Callie or someone else in the household. I found her out the back door by the pool, feeding the baby as he sat in a booster chair at the table. What a beautiful picture they made.

"Good morning, lassie."

"Happy birthday again, Michael."

"Thank you. And how are you this morning?" I asked young Josiah as I tousled his short locks. He grinned at me, and I felt the burn of jealousy. I knew I could eventually come to love the child, but Clayton's memory would forever eat at me when I saw what he'd chosen to leave behind.

"Did you sleep well, Callie?" I asked her, and she smiled.

"I slept just fine," she said in a somewhat defensive voice, to mock me for inviting her to share my bed. "Dad's still in his room, though. I think it was a bit too much excitement for him. I asked that nice woman in the kitchen if she could make him up a tray and I'll take it up to him."

"She can do that. That's what she's paid to do, Callie."

She put down the spoon and wiped Josiah's chin. From nowhere, the nanny appeared and pulled him from the booster chair, carrying him upstairs to discover the joy of new toys. I was supremely happy.

Callie laid the napkin down onto the table and looked up at me. "Now, would you possibly tell me what's going on and what sort of devious plans are rolling around in that head of yours?"

"In a minute, but I need to ask you a question first."

"Okay...?"

"Will you marry me?"

Her hand went over her mouth and she fell back in the chair but said nothing.

"Well? Would you like me to get down on my knees, or shall I take your silence as a rejection?"

"Are you really serious?"

"Of course I'm serious. I'd be a pretty big jerk if I asked you to marry me and then made a joke out of it, don't you think?"

"I suppose so, but Michael, I don't understand. What's changed? You've never even mentioned marriage before."

"I love you. I know I've mentioned that. Do you love me?"

"Well, of course I do, but marriage is something else altogether different."

"Isn't that what people do when they love each other? Don't they get married?"

"Yes." She was leaning closer toward me now, and that made me hopeful.

"Is that a yes that you'll marry me?"

"Yes, Michael, I would love to marry you." Her face was flushed and tears formed in her eyes. I got up from my chair and went around the table, pulling her to her feet and kissing her as I pulled her against me.

"Not to sound like a stereotype, but you've made me the happiest man on earth. Are you surprised?"

"Frankly? Yes, I am. To tell you the truth, I hoped you might ask me when we graduated high school. Of course now I know why you couldn't have, but at the time we were so close. We've gone through so much since then, and we've spent most of that time apart."

"Well, I'm asking you now, and you just said you would, so it's all decided. When you have time, get a calendar and we'll pick out a date. You're going to have the biggest wedding you can imagine, and definitely don't worry about the expense. The Michael you see before you is a different man than you've known prior to this. But you know what the most important change is?"

"No, what?"

"It's you. You thought you needed me in high school, when we graduated, in the times that you reached out in between. But all along, Callie Tucker, you've been taking care of yourself. You never did need me. So now I know it's safe to ask you to marry me. You won't feel as though I'm doing it for any other reason than because I love you and want to spend my life with you."

"Michael, that's so beautiful, thank you for saying that. Gosh, you take me by surprise. I hardly know what to say."

"You've already said the most important thing. Not to rain on the parade, but we need to talk about something else more pressing. I want you to understand what you're getting into and what I'd like to see you do."

"Okay, go ahead. I'm ready." She refilled her coffee cup from the decanter on the table, laid her napkin across her lap and settled back to listen.

"I don't have to tell you that midnight was critical in my plans. I think I mentioned to you before that I had hired a law firm to look into my inheritance and they'd discovered that someone had been moving my funds into long-term investments, strangling me, essentially, with an absence of liquid cash. We both know who that person was. At my instruction, they froze those assets until midnight today so that no one, including myself, could touch them."

"I see why you're becoming a lawyer, Michael. That was brilliant."

"Well, I don't know about that, but it was necessary. Now, let me go on. I've made some major changes. For one, I've ended my classroom attendance at U of L and am finishing out my degree online, so I will be around here most of the time."

That made her smile.

"Now, with regard to my father. He had dipped into my inheritance to acquire the finer horseflesh he's raising over there. He's been to Keeneland and taken my cash reserves to shop with - that was one way he could pretend he was investing for me and yet all the time he was draining my liquidity. So there are some very nice yearlings that need to be trained and ridden. This is where you come in. I will be moving those animals here - as a matter of fact, they should be en route already. The sheriff went in with a court order this morning, and of course, as you know, my dad isn't in a position to argue."

"I don't even want to think about what would have happened if you hadn't realized he was sick enough to do such a thing."

"Let's not even go there, lassie. I'll also need your guidance to run this farm and to build it up. I want more horses, a track, more stables, and a complete equine fitness center. You and your dad know this stuff - me, not so much. Will you help?"

"Of course I will!"

"One more thing, well, actually three. First, your dad will always have a home here with us, so don't you worry about that. Second, I want you to train and ride one of our horses in the Derby if we can get him through qualification. Third... after we're married, I'd like you to consider allowing me to adopt Josiah and raise him as my own son and heir."

"Michael! I... I don't know what to say. Truly?"

"Lassie, I told you, I have your back, and we're going to become a family in the right way."

"I really do love you, Michael," she exclaimed and came to sit on my lap. I didn't mind a bit, as it afforded me a very healthy view of her breasts through the three buttons that were open at the top of her blouse.

"Michael, that's a lot to ask of me. How can I run a farm, become a jockey, and be a wife, mother and daughter all at once?"

"It's called delegation, lassie. You pick and choose what you'd like to do and hire people to do the rest or to help you. We already have a nanny for Josiah, assuming you approve of her. Rodney is going to help your dad, and when he's not needed for that, he'll do maintenance around the house and help with errands, etc. He'll also be in charge of taking your dad wherever he wants to go, including to physical therapy."

"You've thought of everything, haven't you?"

"I've thought of nothing but you, lassie. For almost eight years, not a day has gone by that I didn't wish I could do more for you. Believe it or not, until midnight, I probably had less money than you. Everything I had was given to me by my father, like an allowance. I've never held a job, remember."

She nodded. "True. You think you can handle the bankbook?"

I laughed. "I'm sure you'll teach me if I can't. Anyway, we have a cook, and you're free to hire whomever you want for both inside and outside the house. But I want you to focus on what you want most - becoming a jockey. Because as soon as you win the Derby, if not the Triple Crown, you're going to be busy giving me babies."

She blushed and kissed my ear, blowing in it and nipping at the lobe with her tongue. "Yes, sir, I accept. With pleasure."