A Forever Love

by Maggie Marr

  “I’ve got my stuff. I’m packed.” Max looked from his mother to Justin. “Yes, sir, I want to go home. I want to get to know you.”

  “Excellent,” Justin said.

  And with those words, the new world order in Aubrey’s life began.

  Chapter 14

  The next week, Aubrey grounded herself with work. Many things had changed, but the consistency of The Red Barn and the two seatings every night and the preparation for the next wedding on the calendar and the ordering and the payroll and the farm kept her mind from straying too far from the day to day. When she allowed herself to think about the future, her chest tightened and her breathing shortened and she simply would begin to shut down with an overwhelming feeling that she was losing her son, that Max was on the verge of leaving and that their world, her world, would never be the same.

  She clicked on her to-do list for the week and checked off another line. The vet had been out that morning for a routine inspection of their milk herd, and all was well according to both the vet and Bob.

  “How you doing, mama?” Nina stood in the doorway of Aubrey’s office. She carried a tray with two bowls, both filled with greens and heirloom tomatoes and what looked to be fresh cheese. “Thought it might be time for you to eat.”

  Aubrey glanced at the clock on her wall. Past time. She’d been trying desperately to stay busy during the day so that Max and Justin could have those hours together. So far they’d gone fishing, worked in Dad’s woodshop, taken a trip to Lawrence and one to Kansas City. Nothing too far afield, but still, with each event and each outing and each burst of enthusiasm from Max, a piece of Aubrey’s heart saddened. She wanted Max to love and be with his dad, but she didn’t want him to leave her.

  “Thanks,” Aubrey said. She scooted her chair from behind her desk and rolled it over to where she could sit beside Nina.

  “So where were they off to today?” Nina opened a cucumber soda and placed it on the windowsill.

  “I think they were heading to the Future Farmers of America meeting.”

  “Oh, that will be new for Mr. Travati. I’m quite certain he was never a member of FFA.”

  Aubrey smiled. “No. Not much room to show cattle on Wall Street.” She took a bite of the greens and chewed. Of course the salad was delicious. Everything Nina touched was delicious.

  “Thank you for this,” Aubrey said. “I haven’t been eating much.”

  “I’ve noticed. Tough thing for a chef, to watch her sister not eat.”

  “Sorry.”

  “You’ve got a lot on your mind. Anything you want to talk about?”

  Nina had given her a lot of room. Hadn’t pressed, hadn’t offered up opinions, hadn’t even asked many questions. Her little sister had been just a steady presence with a ready smile and a hug whenever Aubrey walked through the kitchen or came out of her office. Even Dad had been pretty quiet about the whole host of events that was taking place.

  “Max seems happy,” Aubrey said. She speared a piece of kale. “That’s what’s important.”

  “He does, and of course Max’s happiness is what’s important. But I’m not asking about Max, I’m asking about you. How are you? This is”—Nina took a sip of her soda—“this is a big change. For all of us, but especially for you.”

  “They fit each other. There’s this natural camaraderie between the two of them. I couldn’t have asked for this to go any better for Max.” Aubrey sighed. How could she give voice to her fears? They all seemed so selfish, and hadn’t she been selfish enough?

  “You won’t lose him,” Nina said. “You know that, right? Max loves you—he will always love you.”

  Aubrey set down her fork. “It’s not so much about losing him. I know it may seem like that.” She stared out the window of her office. “It’s more about not being able to protect him. I can’t control what’s going to happen to him. I mean, Justin seems focused on Max now, but he is type A in every way. This is a blip in his life. I mean, I know here, now, the two of them are having a great time, but what about when there’s a big deal or Justin has to be gone for business for weeks or—”

  “Then you’ll handle it. We’ll handle it. Max and you and Justin will find a way to handle it.”

  “I shouldn’t even worry about those things, right? I mean none of it has happened yet, and here I am obsessing over possibilities.”

  “You’re a mom. That’s what you do. At least, that’s what I think you do from observation. Mom did that with us, you do it with Max—it’s in the job description, I think. You’re supposed to worry about all the ‘what ifs’ and contingencies so that the kiddies only have to worry about learning to fly.”

  Aubrey turned to Nina. Often her sister just nailed it. Completely nailed what Aubrey couldn’t seem to put into words. “Yes, I’ve spent the past fourteen years trying to make certain Max had a solid foundation so that he can fly, and now I’m passing some of that responsibility to someone else. Another person, and that scares the bejesus out of me.”

  Nina nodded. “I understand. Can I help?”

  Aubrey smiled and took a swig of her lemonade. “Just keep feeding me. I think that’s probably good. And listening.” She locked her gaze with Nina’s. “Thank you for listening and not judging.”

  “Oh, Aub, that’s what family is for.”

  *

  The rest of the day jetted away. Earlier in the day, Aubrey had asked Cassidy to help with both evening seatings. She’d told Justin and Max she wanted the three of them to have dinner together away from The Red Barn. They’d both agreed to be back to the farmhouse by seven so that the three of them could sit down together for a meal. Aubrey was cooking. Well, not really cooking as much as moving all the dishes that the cooks at The Red Barn had prepared into serving dishes. Tonight there were caramelized brussels sprouts, whipped potatoes with chives, fresh beef tips braised in a honey-lavender sauce, kale salad, and a chocolate mousse that Aubrey was having a hard time not eating right that minute.

  “Mom!” Max burst into the kitchen, excitement pulsing through his body. “Oh my God, you’re never going to believe who I met today!”

  No. No, she wasn’t, because she’d thought they were going to an FFA meeting. But with Justin’s connections it could be anyone from the Queen of England to the President of the United States. She put on her excited smile and set the whipped potatoes on the center of the table.

  “Who?” Her gaze trailed to Justin, who had followed Max into the farmhouse. He held a bouquet of fresh wildflowers and handed them to her.

  “Thank you for fixing dinner,” he said. His eyes danced with happiness. “We had a great day.”

  She pressed her hand to her curls. She and Justin hadn’t been together since Max had returned from camp, but that didn’t mean Justin wasn’t tormenting her in her dreams every night. Heat climbed her neck under the rake of his gaze.

  “Thank you.” She walked to the kitchen sink and pulled down a cut-glass pitcher she used for bouquets. She willed her breathing back to normal. “Max, who did you meet?” she called as she filled the pitcher with tap water.

  “Shaquille O’Neal. Can you believe it? Dad had a meeting in KC with this sportswear company and out walks Shaq, and he knows Dad.” Max’s eyes were wide, as though he couldn’t even begin to believe he was actually related to a person who knew a sports god.

  “Really?” Aubrey said. And so it began. Wait until Max sorted out that there wasn’t a person on the planet Justin couldn’t get a private number for.

  “And he invited us to his house! The next time we’re in Miami.”

  “The next time?”

  “Well, I mean, the first time for me,” Max corrected himself. “But like the millionth time for Dad.”

  “Of course.” Aubrey maintained her smile because she really was excited for Max, but she was also a bit leery of all the new things Max was going to be exposed to.

  “And they gave me all this stuff!” Max threw down a giant backpack that Aubrey knew he’d been
eyeing for nearly a year, but one she had absolutely refused to buy because it cost more than most things she ever purchased for Max. He unzipped it and dumped a giant mound of swag onto the kitchen table.

  Aubrey’s pulse picked up. There quite possibly was ten thousand dollars’ worth of merchandise in that bag. The highest of high-end sneakers and shorts and shirts and even socks, all of which were way too expensive, in her opinion, for a fourteen-year-old boy.

  “We didn’t have to pay for any of it.”

  Aubrey turned her gaze to Justin, who leaned against the kitchen doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest and a giant smile on his lips. His gaze flickered to Aubrey, and a question entered his eyes. Sincere confusion, it would seem, as though he could not understand why she wasn’t as overjoyed about Max’s haul as Max was.

  “Max, will you take all that upstairs and wash up for dinner, then come back down?”

  “Sure, Mom.” He was too enamored with all the new things to even notice that she wasn’t nearly as excited as he.

  She pulled out the scissors to trim the ends off her bouquet and stood at the sink, snipping each stem. Once she heard the thud of Max’s feet on the stairs, she looked at Justin. “Do you think that was appropriate? Ten thousand dollars’ worth of new clothes for free?”

  “Aubrey, seriously?” Justin pushed off the doorframe and came to stand beside her. Damn the scent of him, that musk and clean soap smell. The hairs on her arms stood up, and the electrical impulse that caused her stomach to tumble and turn every time he was near cascaded through her body.

  “I didn’t ask them to give Max those things, they just did. Told him to go through the showroom and pick out what he wanted.”

  “Of course they did,” Aubrey said and placed a purple iris into the water pitcher. “Because you’re you and he’s your son.” She took a deep breath. “I just … I’ve worked very hard for Max to understand the value of work and how you earn things and the value of money and now … it feels as though in one afternoon you wiped all that away.”

  “I’ve not wiped anything away.” Justin’s mouth tightened. “You know I missed fourteen Christmases and fourteen birthdays and every sporting event Max has ever had. Yes, maybe I’ve indulged him a bit, but Aubrey, come on, I can and I want to. And surely to God you can understand why?”

  Her chest tightened with her words. Yes, there was the guilt again. She had taken all those memories not only from Max but from Justin. They only had now and the future.

  “I …” She took a deep breath. “I understand what you’re saying and I’m … you’re right, but Justin, I feel very strongly that he not become one of those trust fund kids who thinks life is for free.”

  “I don’t think he will,” Justin said. He reached for the pitcher of lemonade on the counter and poured himself a glass.

  “Oh, you don’t?”

  Justin shook his head. “Nope. Made me wait for an hour while he did chores this morning. Even dragged my sorry ass out of bed so that I could gather eggs. Me, a Travati, gathering eggs. Please don’t ever tell my brothers.”

  Aubrey smiled. “That makes me feel better. Manual labor is good for the soul.” She put the final flower in the pitcher and turned toward Justin. “But seriously, before you leave we should have a long discussion about what gifts will be appropriate for you to send Max once you’re back in New York.”

  Justin’s eyes clouded for the briefest moment. Then his smile hitched upward and he nodded. “Of course. I want all of us to be on the same page when it comes to Max’s future.”

  “Mom.” The thud of Max’s footsteps sounded on the stairs. Aubrey turned away from Justin just as Max bolted into the kitchen. “Dolby and the guys just got back from Camp Willow, and they’re going to camp out tonight at his parents. Can I go? After dinner?”

  Aubrey turned to Justin. She’d never done that before—checked in with another person about what Max could or couldn’t do—and it felt oddly reassuring. “I say yes, but maybe your dad …”

  “Whatever your mom thinks. Besides, tomorrow I need to do some work early in the day. Didn’t think we’d get to any fun stuff until late afternoon.”

  Max nodded. “Think you can chore without me, Mom?”

  “Oh, I think I know exactly who can chore without you.” Aubrey smiled and hitched a thumb over her shoulder toward Justin. “Didn’t you teach Dad today what needs to be done every morning?”

  “Hmm.” Max squinted his eyes and smiled. He made a show of rubbing his chin and examining Justin, considering whether his dad could actually do the necessary work. “I don’t know, Mom. He’s kind of a city boy, and his hands are awfully soft.”

  “Soft? Soft!” Justin reached out and tagged Max on the shoulder and then the stomach. They both jumped around like two teenage boys. “You watch me, Mr. Max, I’ll run rings around what you do in the morning.”

  “Excellent!” Max pumped his hand and ran back up the stairs to get his camping gear together.

  “I think you’ve been had,” Aubrey said as she carried the pitcher of flowers toward the table.

  “A Travati always does get his way.”

  Chapter 15

  “My God, but there are more stars in the sky over Kansas than New York.” Justin ducked his head and looked out the driver-side window.

  “The light pollution in New York really drowns them out.”

  “And the air? The first three days, I didn’t know what I was smelling, and then I realized it was actually fresh air. That was the difference.”

  Justin looked across the darkened Range Rover toward Aubrey. They’d just dropped off Max at his friend’s house, where Max had excitedly introduced Dolby’s parents to his dad and then dashed off with his friends to set up tents, leaving a confused and quiet couple to look at Aubrey and Justin, wondering if they should ask questions.

  “I think we handled that well,” Justin said. “With Max’s friend’s parents.”

  “Oh, do you? Well, you don’t live here. By tomorrow we’ll be the talk of Hudson, and it won’t take long for someone to figure out just exactly who you are, and then life changes for Max.” Aubrey sighed. She hadn’t really considered how things would change for Max in Hudson once his friends and his friends’ parents sorted out that Max was the son of one of the world’s richest men.

  “How so?”

  “Let’s just say there aren’t a whole lot of billionaires in Hudson. Or Kansas. Probably the closest one is Warren Buffett in Nebraska.”

  “We should definitely take Max to meet him. Talk about staying grounded. That man knew how to raise kids,” Justin said, only half joking.

  He glanced toward Aubrey. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and her lips were in a tight line.

  “Aubrey, what? I am who I am, and Max is my son. Yes, his life will be different, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There’re a whole lot of benefits that my success can provide him.”

  “Right, I know that.” She glanced out the passenger window. “You missed the turn. You needed to take a right back there to get back to the farm.”

  “I have a bit of a surprise.”

  “I’ve had a few of those in the past couple of weeks,” Aubrey grumbled.

  “And have they all turned out badly?”

  “No … not badly.” Aubrey continued to look out the passenger window. “Just not sure how many more I want to entertain.”

  “Ah, I see,” Justin said and continued down the gravel road heading north. “Well, I think this one you might enjoy. It’s a little place our son showed me earlier in the week.”

  These were big changes for all of them. He was trying. Damn, if he wasn’t trying to squeeze himself into their little family without causing a huge upset, and he knew that Aubrey was trying too. But still, he was the outsider. He guessed he’d become even more of one when he told her of his plans for Max. Plans that Max seemed thrilled about participating in, but he didn’t think Aubrey would like. Justin took a right. He’d paid careful attenti
on to Max’s directions the other day, as this spot really was lovely. Even then he’d known he wanted to share it with Aubrey, though he doubted this would be the first time she’d been to Flathead Rock.

  The Range Rover climbed the hill. Once it crested, he made a sharp right and pulled to a stop. “Familiar?”

  “Yes,” Aubrey said, a smile spreading over her face. “One of my favorite spots. Especially for seeing stars.”

  “My thoughts exactly.” Justin jumped from the SUV and walked around to the back where he liberated a picnic basket and a blanket.

  “Seems you’re prepared for this outing,” Aubrey said as he rounded the front of the car.

  “I do plan. But if memory serves, so do you, Miss Hayes. Still have those infernal to-do lists?”

  Aubrey smiled. “A new one for the day, the week, the month, and the year. How could I run a business if I didn’t?” She led the way up the path to the outcropping of rock, which was beneath a maple tree. Or so Max had told him.

  “As a business owner, I keep the same type of lists.” He spread the blanket out beneath the tree on a patch of grass so Aubrey could sit down. He pulled the basket toward them and opened it. “Your sister prepared this little snack.” He lifted a magnum of Veuve Clicquot, already chilled, and two glasses.

  “Looks like Nina’s doing.” Aubrey pulled out the cheese and the strawberries and grapes as well as a fresh baguette. “Can’t say I’m very hungry after that dinner she fixed.”

  “She fixed?” Justin stopped twisting the cork from the champagne. “I thought you were cooking dinner?”

  “Come on. With a Michelin restaurant forty feet away and a full kitchen staff? How much cooking do you think I actually do?”

  “Smart woman,” Justin said and filled her champagne glass. He filled his own and set the champagne back into the cold bucket in the basket, then held out his glass toward hers.