I head downstairs and meet everyone for breakfast. The men stand and wait for me to sit as Zander pulls my chair out. Avery says, “We heard you had a rough morning, how are you feeling now?”

“I’m feeling better. Thank you for asking.”

Once breakfast is almost finished, Catherine tells me, “I thought I would go to work with you today. I would like to discuss some business.”

“Wait, I thought I would still oversee my casino?”

She looks at me ready to attack but then changes her mind. “You are in charge of our family casino. But I would like to discuss plans for the improvements you were telling me about. Now that the casino is no longer in debt, we can start making plans for the future. I think we should work together on making it one of the best casinos in the state.”

“As long as I have final say.”

Catherine stands. “Fine, shall we go?”

I stand to walk out and Zander is following us.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“With you, wife. Now that we’re married, I take my responsibilities very seriously.”

I don’t even try to argue. I walk out the door with them both behind me.

When we make it to the casino, people start congratulating us on our wedding. Damn, news travels fast here. Zander shakes everyone’s hand and looks thrilled at all the attention. I just nod and keep on walking to my office.

Catherine and I enter the office. She closes the door and asks, “Are you ever going to ease up on my son?”

“Why? It’s not like it’s a surprise I didn’t want to get married. Did you think I would change my mind overnight?”

“No, but I hoped you wouldn’t be such a bitch to the man you’re having a child with.”

I look at her wanting to shout, but instead I take a page from her book and give it to her nice and slow. “You think this is me being a bitch? You haven’t seen anything yet. Now I don’t want to talk about things I obviously can’t change, can we start discussing the casino?”

She sits when Zander enters the room. He decides to lounge on the couch.

“Is that all you’re going to do today?”

“Yes babe, this is it. Now get to work.”

I start off showing Catherine all the financial reports and then I show her the improvements I have planned. She points out some things that I never even thought of. She then suggests some ideas with the financials that aren’t what I would say legal but would be very productive. Overall the meeting went better than I thought. She then asks to walk around so she can point out some things that she has in mind for improvements.

As we go to stand, Zander pops up. But Catherine tells him, “Zander, Murphy has a problem on a collection, I need you to handle it for her. Don’t worry, though, I have arranged for Bobby to personally escort us around for the rest of the day.”

She grabs a piece of paper and pen, she writes down the information, then hands it to him. He looks at me, almost waiting for me to give him permission. “Go, I’ll be fine. Bobby will be with us.”

He nods and leaves. “Catherine, what collection were you talking about?”

She grabs my ledger and points to an initial. “You see this mark? That is money owed to the casino. Someone has been behind on their payments, in fact, a lot of people have been. See all these? That is your father’s markings. Every casino has different ones. The one I sent Zander out for is the largest amount you have on record. He owed twenty thousand, but now with interest he is in debt over twenty-five now. Did you really not know what those marks were?”

“No, I didn’t.” I look over the ledger, and sure enough, I have quite a few markings. “How will I ever get the money back?”

“You won’t. That’s Zander’s job and he is very good at it. Shall we start our tour now?”

“Yes.”

We go through the casino with a fine-toothed comb. I’m actually impressed by all her observations. If we can pull it all off, there is no way the casino will be in trouble in the future.

When we return to the office, lunch is waiting for us. Catherine said she had it delivered from one of her favorite restaurants.

We start eating and then I look up to find her staring at me. I wipe my face with my napkin and ask, “What’s on your mind?”

“I like you, Murphy. I think together we can make this casino work better than it could ever have separately.”

“Thank you.”

“I don’t want your thanks. I want you to realize that I am not a woman that gives away compliments like this. You are everything I saw for my son. I want you to know that you are my family now and that baby is my grandchild. But I also need you to know, I will not sit back for long and watch you hurt my son. He is not your father.”

“I never said he was.”

“You don’t have to. I see it written all over you. You’re waiting for him to hurt you, in fact, you’re depending on it. Am I wrong?”

I don’t say anything. She is reading me right and she knows it.

“My son will not disappoint you. He is not like the other men in your life. Trust me, I have known a lot of those men. He is more like his father. He is strong and faithful, and he is loyal beyond reason. You might see him and think he doesn’t hurt easy, but trust me, you are and will continue to be the one hurting him.”

“I don’t want either one of us to hurt.”

“Then you better wake up. Because when he can’t take any more hurt, he will not forgive you and neither will I.”

Zander walks in as soon as she threatens me. He looks at both of us and asks, “Is there a problem?”

I answer first, “No, no problem, Catherine and I were just discussing our lunch. It’s fabulous.”

Catherine smiles and says, “I hoped you would love it. This is the restaurant I was thinking of having us go into partnership with here in the casino.”

This woman is good. “I think we should jump on that right away.”

“Great, he will meet with us tomorrow. Zander, how was your visit?”

Zander digs into his suit pocket and throws a huge envelope onto my desk. “It was successful like always.”

I grab the envelope and see it’s filled with cash. I look up at him and he smiles back down at me.

Catherine stands and says, “Glad to hear it. Murphy has some other collections for you, she can make you a list. I’m heading out. You two have a great day, I will see you both tonight.” She kisses Zander on the cheek and walks out.

He sits down and asks, “So, what were you two really discussing?”

“She was warning me not to hurt her precious son.”

Zander laughs out loud. “You should heed the warning, then. What can I say? My mom loves me.”

He sees the face I make and then says, “Don’t worry about it. She knows I would never let her hurt you.”

“Even if I do hurt you?”

He gets serious now. “Even then.”

I can’t take the pressure anymore so I change the subject, waving the envelope in the air. “Do I want to know exactly what it is you do to collect?”

“Do you really care?”

I clear my throat and say, “I’ll make you that list your mother was talking about.”

“Fine, I’ll go tonight once I return you home.”

“I’ll be working late tonight.”

“Fine, then I will go tomorrow night.”

I don’t want to argue so I let it go.