Total pages in book: 173
Estimated words: 163802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 819(@200wpm)___ 655(@250wpm)___ 546(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 163802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 819(@200wpm)___ 655(@250wpm)___ 546(@300wpm)
Another round of applause lit the air—me clapping loudest of all.
“I assure you, Mr. Bryant,” she continued when our claps subsided. “We are just as determined, if not more so, to ensure that everyone who comes here, does so for the right reasons.”
“Yes, well... uh...” Bryant clearly didn’t know what else he could say that wouldn’t make him sound like an ass judging people who were down on their luck and struggling. “Very good to hear. Thank you.”
The guide tipped her head. “Any more questions before we begin the tour?”
“Just one.” A blonde woman at the head of the group raised her hand. “What made you think of this? I mean, this is truly the most comprehensive charity and social service I’ve ever come across. You’ve taken everything a person could need and brought it under one umbrella. Why?”
The guide smiled. “That is what we have done here, and as much as I wish I could take credit for this vision, the idea was born in the mind of a smart, talented, brave, honest young woman who once found herself in need of many of these services, but didn’t know where or how to get them.
“She dreamed of one place—one home—that would become the place you go, when you have nowhere else to go,” she said. “She entrusted me with her faith, and half a billion dollars—”
That set off a few chuckles.
“—to make her dream come true,” finished Mrs. Finley as she found me in the crowd, and winked. “And so, I did so in the name of her friend, and my son.” Stepping aside, Mrs. Finley gestured to the grand sign stamped bold and proud on the gates. “Together we created Colin Finley’s Home for Everyone.”
I BROKE OFF FROM THE tour group and caught the shuttle back to my car. Hopping in, I made the short drive home.
Sure, I didn’t need to visit on my off days. Mrs. Finley was the best administrator ever. She had everything in hand, along with a capable team, but still, every now and then I liked to see what we created together, and plant myself in the middle of a group of potential donors and do my best to sway them.
Soon, I was rolling up on our oceanfront mansion, the smile already on my lips.
The home I bought was night and day from the dusty, drafty haunted manor we left behind. This beauty was an all-white, two-story luxury retreat with private cabanas by the pool, a tennis court, a firepit on our private stretch of beach, home theater, exercise room, game room, and a separate guesthouse with three bedrooms and four bathrooms for when Courtney, her husband formally known as Mr. Stevens, and their two kids, Taylor and Joey, came to stay for the summers.
With everything we could possibly need inside, we didn’t have much reason to leave our haven—which was good since my husbands were all legally dead.
After leaving Lantana behind for good, we lay low in Europe while the news repeated broadcasts of the burning of Kim Manor and the quadruple suicide of Kim Manor’s inhabitants. As it happened, Sue’s body did wash ashore and they were able to bury her properly—but, as expected, finding her sealed the deal on Rhodes, Micah, and Alex. They were officially declared dead, and the Lee family was born.
Sarang became Soo Min who officially became Sarah Lee. Rhodes became Elijah Lee. Micah traded his name in for Roman Lee, and Fritz Calloway went from that to Alexander Montgomery and finally to Brooks Lee. Then, there were the kids...
I pushed inside. “I’m home.”
“Mommy, Mommy!” Two torpedoes came at me from opposite sides, blocking my chance of escape.
I laughed as Ha-joon and Ji-ho tackled a leg each—trying to fell me like a tree. “Hello, my babies, have you been misbehaving while I was away?”
“Yes!” the twins cried, more than pleased with themselves.
I looked down at my boys, my heart bursting at the seams and overflowing with love. I still remembered the day the guys and I went back for our second IVF appointment and were told that we couldn’t proceed because I was already pregnant.
That news dropped me on my ass, but it was the news that I was having twins that crumpled Micah, and then we doubled the faints when Alex and Rhodes discovered our babies had two different fathers, and they were the two.
Naturally, between an Asian mother, Black father, and white father, we gave birth to fraternal twins that couldn’t look less alike. All they shared were adorable cherub faces and big, calla lily eyes like their momma, but there was no telling the boys that they weren’t identical. The three-year-olds were the most adorable goofballs who liked to change clothes, pretend to be the other, and then shriek with laughter when they “tricked” us. But even sweeter than the innocence of babes was how much they loved each other.