didn’t know what to do with this place when we finally decided to retire. We couldn’t bring ourselves to sell to a stranger or close it down and there wasn’t anyone to take it over, so we never thought about retirement. Now don’t say anything yet. Hear me out.” Herman interpreted Kate’s expression correctly.
”You know we love you. You’ve become like a daughter to us. And you’re so smart I know we can trust you to do what’s best for this place. Amy and I have more money than we’ll ever use in two lifetimes. We love the house we built here but we’re getting a little tired of all this cold. We’re ready to think about retiring, seriously. Turn the business over to someone we can trust and go see the country. You know all those places we’ve never had the chance to visit before. Maybe even go overseas and —”
“What my sweet husband is trying to say,” Amy interrupted him, “is that we’ve had our attorney draw up all the papers. We want to leave the diner to you. Now, just wait a second, before you refuse. We know you’re going have your hands full with the little one for a while. We weren’t talking about dropping everything right away. Just maybe slowly over the next few years, we’ll start turning over the running of the place to you. We’ll still help until you feel comfortable running it alone. We plan on spoiling our grandchild an awful lot as well. I know we won’t be able to stay away for too long. But we both want to do this.”
Kate stared at them too stunned for words. She adored them, but there was no way she could accept their generous offer.
She bit her lip trying to keep back the tears as she reached for each of their hands. She couldn’t tell them the truth. The fear she carried every day. Kate knew in her heart that Josh was dead. Yet late at night when she was alone, her thoughts reeled with the terrifying possibilities. What if her child inherited her father’s mental illness?
Matt’s her father now. He won’t let that happen.
She swallowed the fear and looked toward the future. “You know I love you guys, right? I just can’t accept such a generous gift from you. It’s too much. This place has been your life, I could never—”
Herman stubbornly shook his head. “Yes, you can. We’ve given this a lot of thought, and we can’t think of anyone we’d rather have carry on the business. You’re smart. We want you to have it.”
“Amy.” Kate turned to the woman, hoping to make her understand.
“Herman’s right. We weren’t sure until you and Matt were married that you were going stick around our small town after the baby was born, but now, well, we know this is an answer from God.”
Kate couldn’t speak. She was moved by their love. She could only shake her head and wonder how on earth she would ever be able to live up to all their expectations.
****
Matt was staring at his computer, his mind miles away thinking on the woman that just yesterday had become his wife.
Kate believed he’d spent the entire night working. He hadn’t. Finally, out of sheer exhaustion, he’d collapsed on the sofa just a few short hours before she'd awakened him. He wondered what she'd say if she knew, his sleeplessness had everything to do with her.
Kate was his wife.
She was being so careful not to give anyone even the smallest hint that there was anything between them but friendship, yet nothing could be further from the truth for him.
He wasn’t sure when his feelings had changed. N ot that it mattered though, because he’d made a promise to Kate. He wouldn’t let her know just how wrong she was about this friendship of theirs.
The phone broke into his unhappy thoughts. Denny's call a welcome release.
“I can’t believe you let your bride of less than twenty-four hours go in to work today. You’re slipping, my friend.”
“Shut up, Denny.” He’d explained it carefully, made sure Denny understood all the reasons behind their marriage, but
”You know we love you. You’ve become like a daughter to us. And you’re so smart I know we can trust you to do what’s best for this place. Amy and I have more money than we’ll ever use in two lifetimes. We love the house we built here but we’re getting a little tired of all this cold. We’re ready to think about retiring, seriously. Turn the business over to someone we can trust and go see the country. You know all those places we’ve never had the chance to visit before. Maybe even go overseas and —”
“What my sweet husband is trying to say,” Amy interrupted him, “is that we’ve had our attorney draw up all the papers. We want to leave the diner to you. Now, just wait a second, before you refuse. We know you’re going have your hands full with the little one for a while. We weren’t talking about dropping everything right away. Just maybe slowly over the next few years, we’ll start turning over the running of the place to you. We’ll still help until you feel comfortable running it alone. We plan on spoiling our grandchild an awful lot as well. I know we won’t be able to stay away for too long. But we both want to do this.”
Kate stared at them too stunned for words. She adored them, but there was no way she could accept their generous offer.
She bit her lip trying to keep back the tears as she reached for each of their hands. She couldn’t tell them the truth. The fear she carried every day. Kate knew in her heart that Josh was dead. Yet late at night when she was alone, her thoughts reeled with the terrifying possibilities. What if her child inherited her father’s mental illness?
Matt’s her father now. He won’t let that happen.
She swallowed the fear and looked toward the future. “You know I love you guys, right? I just can’t accept such a generous gift from you. It’s too much. This place has been your life, I could never—”
Herman stubbornly shook his head. “Yes, you can. We’ve given this a lot of thought, and we can’t think of anyone we’d rather have carry on the business. You’re smart. We want you to have it.”
“Amy.” Kate turned to the woman, hoping to make her understand.
“Herman’s right. We weren’t sure until you and Matt were married that you were going stick around our small town after the baby was born, but now, well, we know this is an answer from God.”
Kate couldn’t speak. She was moved by their love. She could only shake her head and wonder how on earth she would ever be able to live up to all their expectations.
****
Matt was staring at his computer, his mind miles away thinking on the woman that just yesterday had become his wife.
Kate believed he’d spent the entire night working. He hadn’t. Finally, out of sheer exhaustion, he’d collapsed on the sofa just a few short hours before she'd awakened him. He wondered what she'd say if she knew, his sleeplessness had everything to do with her.
Kate was his wife.
She was being so careful not to give anyone even the smallest hint that there was anything between them but friendship, yet nothing could be further from the truth for him.
He wasn’t sure when his feelings had changed. N ot that it mattered though, because he’d made a promise to Kate. He wouldn’t let her know just how wrong she was about this friendship of theirs.
The phone broke into his unhappy thoughts. Denny's call a welcome release.
“I can’t believe you let your bride of less than twenty-four hours go in to work today. You’re slipping, my friend.”
“Shut up, Denny.” He’d explained it carefully, made sure Denny understood all the reasons behind their marriage, but
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