Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 25833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
Martha and I never really had a conversation where she told me she that she fully accepted me as Lucy’s husband or that she approved of me, but it became obvious as time went by that it was so. So we’ve maintained this back and forth, almost sibling-like banter over the years, where neither of us really needs to come right out and say what we mean, because the other always understands.
And of course she’s very appreciative of what I did for Henry, her father. As it turns out, the extra care and treatment he received at Hallowed Heart really made the difference. He started getting better almost immediately, and his condition started improving dramatically within weeks. It wasn’t long before he was on his feet and moving around again, “Like a kid again,” as he said with a smile when we, and the nurses, first took him out for a walk around the hospital park.
I kept my word too. I funded a massive cleanup program for all of Southern Connecticut where Rooke Industries had been illegally dumping chemicals. Thankfully, the water table wasn’t too polluted, and we were able to work day and night, along with the help of some environmental agencies, to clear it up. It still took a while, and in the meantime, we paid for everyone’s water and even had trucks brought into towns with clean water for all the citizens to share.
On top of that, I covered medical bills for people like Henry. My shareholders thought I was insane. Everyone was telling me to just cut and run – lay the blame wherever I could, let the bad press blow over, and eventually everything would just go back to normal. But I knew I could never do that.
First, I’d made a promise to Lucy – a promise I could never break. And second, that’s not the kind of man I am. I may have been a bit of a ruthless businessman on my way up, but I never ruined people’s lives, and I wasn’t about to start.
I took those people responsible for the waste dumping to court, and they’re now doing time in prison.
I used every resource Rooke Industries had to fix the terrible situation the people under me had put me in, and by the time I was finished, I’d cut our net worth more than half. But that’s not what matters to me. What matters is that I can live with myself. I can sleep at night.
What matters is that I have a wife who loves me and a son who looks up to me and who I can one day tell this story to without lying, and that he will hopefully learn something from it about how to be a man and what a man should do when faced with a tough decision.
The media eventually took my side and realized it wasn’t me that was responsible for what happened, and the last few years have been good. It looks like I may be able to build the company back to what it was before this whole debacle hit, but that’s not what I care about now.
The company used to be everything to me. But now I have more. So, so much more.
The curtain finishes rising. The orchestra is there on the stage before us, cloaked in shadow. The sound of the instruments tuning slowly fades away into silence, and then the lights go up to reveal the musicians.
The audience claps as the conductor appears and begins his walk out, politely nodding, but my eyes are not on him. My eyes are on the piano. The pianist.
My wife.
There she is. My beauty.
I can feel my entire body light up like a mile-high Christmas tree. I’ve seen Lucy perform before, and she’s always killed it, but this is her first major performance at a major venue. She was nervous all morning, so we had her parents watch Jeremy so I could be there to calm her down. But I have no doubt in my body that she’s going to be nothing but absolute perfection. As she always is.
The conductor raises his arms. We’re only seconds from starting. And it’s just then that Lucy glances in my direction. Her eyes meet mine, and I know exactly what she’s looking for, so I give it right back to her.
The look saying that she’s going to crush it. The look saying that she’s the love of my life and I’m here for her no matter what. The look saying that she has nothing to be worried about because she is talented and has practiced enough that she could play tonight’s arrangement blindfolded.
Our eyes stay locked for only a second or two before she looks back to her music, but so much is said in that moment. And so much love is sent through the air between the two of us.