Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Sebastian
The last day of term is always a joyous one. It’s a bittersweet one this year, too, because it’s my last day as a teacher.
I’ve decided not to look for a new school position when Lily and I go out West. I don’t want to explain our relationship in anything but the most glowing, perfect terms. I refuse to feel shame for how much I love her or risk putting her in the spotlight.
I may teach online or at a postsecondary school. Being a college instructor has a lot of appeal. But most of all, I want to spend the next six months tending to my wife-to-be as she blossoms with our child inside her.
That’s what is next.
Today, though, I have the smallest graduation in Edgewood Academy’s history to preside over. We have one graduate, one cap and gown to organize, and there is only one guest: her grandfather’s lawyer, who came to campus.
We do it at the end of the creative writing seminar. Eight students, one headmaster, and a little parade to the auditorium, where that lawyer now sits in the front row.
Lily’s classmates applaud as she crosses the stage, shakes my hand, and receives her diploma.
I follow her down the stairs, then introduce her to her grandfather’s attorney, who draws her to the side.
“Miss Murphy, it is my pleasure to inform you that you have met the conditions of your trust fund. Your headmaster and I have communicated about the irregular circumstances of your previous allowance dispersal. I want to assure you that you will now begin receiving your annual allowance directly. When you graduate from college, you will get access to the entire trust. There are some documents for you to sign.”
Lily glances at me, and I point them to a room just off the stage.
Once we’re in the private space, he details the current balance on the accounts and the payment options. All I can see is Lily’s face, her eyes wide as saucers, as she realizes just how much money is in her inheritance.
Money her parents can never touch. That will provide for her and her children for the rest of her life. I will do that, too, but she doesn’t need me. She’s an incredibly wealthy young woman in her own right.
My greatest hope is that she will want me by her side, but it will always be her choice to stay with this old guy because he loves her with all of his heart.
Once the legalities are out of the way, I leave her to celebrate with her classmates.
I planned the rest of the afternoon out in exacting detail: she will take her time packing up her room.
I’ll finish putting my belongings in my Jeep.
I've already shipped my bike to California. And as soon as the last student leaves campus today, she’s hopping in my passenger seat, and we’re hitting the highway.
She’s selling her car, wanting nothing to do with that memory of how her parents doled out small parts of a trust that was rightfully hers all along.
My last stop before going to my house is the office. Madeline is drinking a glass of sherry on my couch.
“Helping yourself already?”
She grins and checks her watch. “My husband is picking me up today, but I had a few minutes to say goodbye.”
“I hope you enjoy your time as head of the school.”
“Did you?” She tilts her head to the side. “Now that you’re no longer my boss, I think I can say out loud that I wonder if you did.”
I nod. “At one time, it was the most meaningful part of my life.”
“And now you’re on to greener pastures.” She searches my face for a clue, but that’s my secret.
Lily’s and mine.
I’m her man, her partner, her mate for life. Everything else pales compared to the fact that we’re going to have a family together.
“I am,” I say simply.
“Good luck.”
I won’t need luck. I have love. But I thank her anyway, gather the last of my personal effects, and head into the forest.