Everly
She hated being late. Although, considering she’d been up all night making love to her husband (the word husband still made her smile giddily) she’d been lucky to be up by eight in the morning.
Hands held across the console, Everly couldn’t helping at her husband of twenty-four hours. She gasped.
“What?” Zane asked, suddenly alert.
“It’s our anniversary!”
“Does this mean I can take you back to bed to celebrate?”
Everly laughed, a deep throaty chuckle she hadn’t even known she was capable of. “We’ve been married a whole twenty-four hours!”
Zane’s smile turned a trifle wolfish. “We’ll celebrate later.”
Everly sighed and tightened her hand around Zane’s. Her core still throbbed slightly as she thought about the intensity of last night.
“Zane?”
“Yeah?” Casually, he turned down the road that led to Mateo Garcia’s office. Zane had found the call for a meeting with all interested parties on his cellphone this morning.
“Do married couples, you know. Do it all the time?”
He frowned for a minute before looking back at her. “Are you asking how often we’re going to make love?”
She blushed, feeling the stain hit her cheeks and chest. “Yes.”
“How often do you want to make love to me?”
Everly lifted one shoulder, feeling put on the spot. “I liked it. A lot.”
“Would every day be okay?”
She glanced over at Zane. He seemed almost tense. As though waiting for bad news. “Well, I’m a little tender after last night,” she said slowly, suddenly unsure of herself.
“That’s probably normal.”
Everly glanced away. She wasn’t quite sure how to say what she wanted. Last night had been amazing. Everything and anything she could have ever dreamt of.
“I can almost smell you overthinking from here,” Zane teased.
She could barely get her voice above a whisper but figured it didn’t matter. Zane had excellent hearing. “Will you kiss me? Down there?”
Zane’s fingers tightened on the steering wheel, and for a moment, Everly wondered if she’d gone too far. She hated the fact that her dyslexia had been a wall between her and friendships. Hated that her inexperience and awkwardness around men might make Zane think she was an idiot.
“You will never have to ask twice,” Zane promised. His glance over to her was so heated, Everly wondered if it was legal.
She tilted her head and smiled up at him through her bangs. “I’ll get better at asking for what I want.”
Zane lifted her hand and brushed a kiss across her knuckles. “It will get easier.”
Everly sighed, feeling like she was crossing a bridge between maiden and woman. “We’ll do it together.”
“Damn straight.”
He pulled into a parking place. “Wait.”
She tilted her head and looked at him. “What’s up?”
He took her left hand in his.
“Don’t you dare try to take my ring,” she warned with a questioning look in her eyes.
Zane smiled at her and produced a little velvet box. “I needed to find my grandmother’s ring.”
With wide eyes, she watched as he took her little plastic ring off and handed it to her. Everly slid it into her purse with the mental note of putting it someplace safe.
“With this ring, I thee wed.” Hands shaking, he slid the ring home for a perfect fit.
“It’s perfect. You’re perfect,” Everly said around her clogged throat.
Zane kissed her hand and hurried around to open the door for Everly. “Mr. Chivalrous,” she teased, wrapping her arms around his neck while he lifted her out of the seat.
“Mr. Newlywed,” he replied, kissing her gently.
“Oh, please.”
Nonchalantly, Zane lifted his head and turned to smile. “Good morning, Fannie.”
“If you two are trying to convince me this is a real marriage, you’re failing. Miserably.”
“Fannie, I don’t get you. I really don’t.” Everly moved out from between the truck and Zane’s body. “We were never close as kids, but we weren’t enemies, either.”
For a moment, it looked like Fannie was going to soften. There was a gentling in the look behind her shrewd eyes. But then the sun glinted off the ring Zane gave her, and that fleeting look was gone.
“You insisted on something better than a piece of shit bubblegum ring?” Fannie asked, challenging them both.
“Another example of how unalike we are,” Everly said after a moment. She slipped her hand into Zane’s as they walked out of the parking lot and into the lawyer’s office. “As much as I love this ring? My bubblegum ring will always be my favorite.”
With a sigh, Fannie fell into step behind them. There were no more nasty comments, but Everly still felt tension wrap around her shoulders and spine.
Briefly, she wondered if the new yoga studio downtown would help with her tension.
As they entered the door into the sedate offices of Mateo Garcia, Esquire, Everly wondered what her cousin was going to say.
They had been friendly, way back when. Before Everly’s parents had kicked her out, there had been regular family dinners. Holidays with their grandparents. Even an occasional road trip to Myrtle Beach.
But everything had fallen apart when Everly went to live with Granddad. But for the life of her, Everly couldn’t figure out why that had been an issue.
She smiled when she saw Rafael Chamorro was also waiting in the foyer. “Good morning,” she greeted.
Rafe nodded and pointed to a coffee pot in one corner as he took a sip of his own dark brew.
Everly let Fannie go first at the coffee pot as she considered the breakdown of their friendship. Just as they all had a cup of coffee, Mateo opened the doors to his office.
“Won’t you all come into the conference room? I’ve got everything set up in there.”
Zane
Rafe’s part of the presentation was first. The computer monitor had an aerial view of the land with property lines filled in. His voice was calm and cool as he discussed its size and property lines.
“What about selling that part of it to the developers?” Fannie asked.
“There isn’t any egress without the land attached to the house,” Rafe pointed out. He pointed to the property line. “Everything to the west of this line is dedicated to Bobcat Alley, a rehab facility I’m developing.”
“And why do bobcats need rehabbing?” she continued.
“Part of the land I’m setting aside is to keep in its natural state. To allow for shifters to roam and for wild animals to flourish. The rehab program developed because sometimes the cats get hit by cars. Kits get found alone without their mamas. These animals can’t go to a regular vet’s office. They need special consideration.”
Fannie frowned but didn’t continue her line of questions.
Zane felt Everly stiffen beside him as they got to the value of the property. Even Zane felt his heart stutter a little. It was still below the purse for the upcoming fight his manager had for him but not by much.
“What about splitting the deed? The house and say, surrounding ten acres into one parcel. The other few hundred acres dedicated to Bobcat Alley?”
“Figures,” Fannie said with a sardonic snort. “You’d want to give away Granddad’s legacy to animals.”
“Is that what you want?” Zane asked, tightening his hand on hers to communicate solidarity.
“Well, I’m not sure how we go about selling. I know you see a run-down house, but I see memories. After my folks told me to leave, it became my home. But two hundred acres is a lot of land. I’m willing to let Rafe and the bobs use the land, but the thought of selling the house doesn’t feel right.”
Fannie’s eyes narrowed, and she glared at her cousin. “I’ll sue. I’ll contest the whole thing. You and your animal husband think you can cut me out of that much money with a sham marriage, you’re crazy!”
“That’s funny,” Zane commented, lifting one eyebrow. “You were all set to block Everly out of her inheritance.”
Everly reached over and placed a calming hand on Zane’s wrist. “Let’s hear the rest of it,” she said, looking at the lawyer.
Mateo stood and nodded to Rafe as the realtor took his seat. “I reviewed the will. And I have to tell you, I am not quite sure how the two of you.” He motioned to both Everly and Fannie. “Mixed your grandfather’s intentions up so badly.”
Fannie looked down at her hands, and Zane had the suspicion that she had been leading Everly on the entire time.
Everly gave Zane a cautious look before taking a big sigh. “Some of it may be my fault,” she said, her voice confident but soft. “I’m not always the best reader.”
Fannie snorted at her words and Zane gripped the arms of his chair to control his temper. He was usually the epitome of calm but something about Fannie Smith’s cutting his wife down tap danced on his last good nerve. He wanted to say something but remembered how hurt and humiliated Everly had been just a few days ago.
He gave them each a copy of the will with certain portions highlighted. “North Carolina is a common law property state. That’s a term we use to determine the ownership of marital property, or property which is acquired during the marriage. The common law system provides that property acquired by one member of a married couple is owned completely and solely by that person.”
Zane looked at the highlighted pages and frowned as he read over it.
“Now, in community property states, any marital property is owned by both spouses equally. Fifty-fifty. Do you understand the difference?”
Zane, Everly, and Fannie all nodded in agreement.
“Now, what your grandfather, Arthur Miller, wrote was that he wanted the physical property divided equally between his two granddaughters. Everly Ann Miller and Francine Marie Miller. If you were married prior to his passing, he wanted your spouses to have an equal say in what happened to the land. But ownership of it would only remain between the two of you.”
Everly looked at her cousin in shocked horror. “You lied to me, didn’t you?”
Fannie looked away, and Zane scented the shame she felt over her deceit.
But just as Everly was opening her mouth to go on the offensive, Fannie straightened her shoulders and attacked.
“You think you’re so special, don’t you? Granddad spoiled you. It was always you who got the nicer Christmas gifts. It was you who got to live with him when things got bad at home.
“Was I invited to live with him? Oh, God forbid! I was told I could make it on my own. But poor little Everly.” Fannie’s voice turned mocking. “Little Everly was too stupid to make it on her own.”
“This is all about my dyslexia?” Everly demanded. Her hands clenched in response. Unable to sit still, Everly stood and paced in the small confines of the conference room.
“Do you think I enjoyed my teachers who humiliated me by keeping me from recess? Forcing me to rewrite spelling words again and again? Or the ones who didn’t allow me extra time on written exams and gave me Fs?”
Zane was quiet as Everly unloaded. Years. Decades of pain lined her voice.
“How about the ones who wanted me to read aloud? They put a target on my back for everyone in school to make fun of the girl who couldn’t read.”
Everly’s pacing grew frenetic, her hands gesticulating wildly. “‘Oh, Everly is such a bright child. She would get better grades if she only tried harder.’ I tried. I tried harder than any of them! It was like none of them had any understanding of how the words would jumble and change like a kaleidoscope.”
Fannie looked down at her hands with nothing to say.
“Granddad was dyslexic.” Everly shrugged. “Or, maybe not. He was never tested like I was, but we had some of the same problems. He understood what I was going through. He never thought I was stupid and was furious with his own son for saying I was.”
“You lived there rent free!” Fannie turned to Mateo and Rafe. “Can I ask for the deduction of a year’s rent from the sale price? She got her inheritance early!”
Everly’s draw dropped. “Fannie, I paid Granddad. I can show you the canceled checks if you don’t believe me, but I didn’t get anything for free.”
Fannie blinked in response, clearly unsure of herself.
Everly took a step closer to her cousin. “Is that what this has been about this whole time, Fannie?”
Fannie’s gaze lifted. Darted between Everly, Zane, Mateo, and Rafe. Her mouth opened and closed a few times as she tried to find words.
With a sound of distress, she grabbed her purse and left the room.