“To this fine gentleman, I take it,” the man replied, displaying an unexpected smile.
“Correct,” Ryan growled.
“What is it that I can do for you, Mr . . .?”
“Max is good enough. Just Max.”
“Okay. What can I do for you, Max?”
“I know you don’t remember me. I haven’t seen you since you were a very little girl. I was a friend of your mother’s. We went to school together and she helped me a lot when my wife was sick.”
“Okay. What brings you here, Max? Did you come here just to reminisce?” Ryan quipped.
“Ryan,” Lucy said quietly in his direction before turning her attention back to Max. “Would you like to come in?”
“That would be good if it’s not an inconvenience. I recently had a bypass and even standing here takes a lot of my energy. Sitting down for a spell would be good. I won’t take long.”
Ryan shot Lucy a look of disapproval, but she ignored him, standing back and allowing the man to come in. He lumbered into the door and limped toward the chair she guided him to, sitting down with a thud.
“I’m a bit slow. Before the bypass, I had hip surgery. It’s my lucky year, apparently.”
“Sounds like it,” Lucy said, smiling at him.
She didn’t remember him and yet, there was something oddly familiar about him.
‘Well, anyway. Let me get down to business and get out of your hair.”
Ryan stood, on alert, despite the man seeming completely harmless aside from his imposing looks.
“Your mother. She put money back for you. Money she didn’t tell your father about. She put it with me. I know I look like some sort of mobster, but I’m really just a banker.”
“I don’t understand,” Lucy began to say.
“She made me promise that I would get the money to you once you were of a certain age. Twenty five, to be exact.”
“But I’m not twenty five.”
“Yes. I know, but I’m sick and the money, it’s in stocks – stocks in your name. I’m not doing so well and I’m afraid I may not make it until then. I could set them up to be delivered as requested, but I don’t trust people so much and I made a promise to your mother. I think she’d forgive me for showing up a little early.”
“I, um, I don’t know what to say,” Lucy replied, her brow furrowed. “I’m so sorry you are not well.”
“Thank you,” but I’ve had a full life. “I’ve made peace with it and I’m looking forward to a nice long sleep. Anyway, this is yours,” he said, grimacing as he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a thick brown envelope and handed it to her.
Lucy looked at the envelope uncertainly, finally reaching out and taking it from him. He stood and smiled at her again.
“Your mother was an incredible woman. She’s helped more people during her brief time on this earth than most people do in a lifetime. She would have loved to see you have grown up to be happy and so beautiful. Take care, Lucy.”
“Thank you, Max.”
“That was weird,” Ryan said after he had left.
“Very,” Lucy agreed.
She lay the envelope on the table and opened it. It was old. He’d had this for a long time it seemed. Inside were stock certificates with her name on them. In the center of them was a letter addressed to her.
My dearest Lucy,
I guess I’m gone or you wouldn’t be getting this letter. I can only hope you’ve had a good life and grown up strong and proud. You always were full of a pride that few Omegas possess. Your father thinks it is a bad thing, a thing that should be squashed, but I disagree and I hope you’ve managed to persist in becoming a strong, independent woman.
I’ve set aside these bonds for you. They aren’t a fortune, but hopefully they will help you with your life in some small way or at least afford you a nice day at a spa, depending on how well my friend Max chose for me. Just know that I love you and I always will.
Mom
Lucy had tears in her eyes as the read the letter and lay it aside, looking over at Ryan, who was looking at the stock certificates.
“Are you okay?” he asked her.
“Yes. I just didn’t expect this.”
“Do you want me to put these in the safe?”
“No. I don’t think they are worth very much from the sound of it, but she meant well,” Lucy smiled.
“Okay. Shall we go work on that naughty nap then?”
The sound of a baby crying, soon joined by another interrupted their conversation and she shrugged at him.
“Sounds like that isn’t an option, after all.”
“Fine, but I’m putting in for a raincheck at bedtime.”
“Consider it renewable.”
The two of them went upstairs, collecting all four of the boys while Rebecca continued to get her beauty rest it seemed. They changed each of the boys and brought them downstairs to play on their toy mat. Today they were wearing the new sweatshirts his mother had brought them, each with a name embroidered onto the shoulder, but with the same words printed across the chest.