But he had her heart. That had to count for something....
The folder stared up at him.
“Either we go to Arizona together, or I go there.”
Slamming the folder down, Mark crossed his arms and glared at her.
“You are not going into a nursing facility, Nonnie. You are staying with me until the end. We’re family you and I. We stick together. Take care of each other. That decision was made fourteen years ago. And revisited when you gave me medical power of attorney...”
And then he got it.
That agreement, his promise to her, was what she was counting on.
She had him.
Ella was right. He was moving to Shelter Valley, Arizona.
To become a thirty-year-old college student.
CHAPTER THREE
“HI, WILL, IT’S Adrianna Keller returning your call. I can be reached—”
“Addy?” She recognized his voice as he picked up, interrupting her midsentence. “It’s so good to hear from you.”
It had been a couple of years. She should have called more often. “How are your folks?”
“Fine. They’re trying to arrange a trip to Disneyland with all of the great-grandchildren before school starts.”
Will’s family—his parents, three brothers and sister—were lovely, not that she actually knew any of them anymore. She hadn’t been in touch with his parents, other than exchanging annual Christmas cards, since she was in high school.
“Are they still in the big house?”
“Yes, though Dad finally consented to hiring a full-time landscaper and live-in housekeeper.”
The elder Parsonses had bought the desert mansion fifteen miles outside of Shelter Valley when Will was in high school. And ten years later Addy had been a very brief member of their household.
“And how’s Bethany?” Addy asked of the baby girl Will and his wife, Becca, had conceived after twenty years of marriage and numerous miscarriages. Becca had finally given birth at forty-three.
“Twelve going on twenty,” Will drawled, but Addy heard the adoration and pride in his voice.
“Getting nervous about the next few years, Papa?” she asked, grinning.
“No more so than I’ve been for the past twelve. In this town she’s not going to get away with much without her mother or me hearing about it.”
“Becca’s still mayor?”
“Reelected by a landslide.”
“And Kaelin?” The Korean boy Becca and Will had adopted four years after Bethany was born.
“Just made first baseman on his Little League team and can’t wait for play-offs so that he can spend every waking hour on the field at the park.”
A flash memory of summer days spent at the park in town, watching Elijah play ball with his friends, and then going across the street for ice cream, haunted Addy. She sipped he
r tea.
“How are you doing, Addy?” Will’s tone softened.