“I do!”
“You don’t,” the three of them said in unison, and for lack of a better option Maria chose Eddie to glare at.
“I do! You don’t know anything about what I want!”
“This way is much better, Maria,” Kara said soothingly. “Eddie is willing to take over. It’s a relief not having to sell to a stranger.” She patted Maria’s shoulder. “The company is worth quite a bit, you know. We’ve decided to give you your share. You’ll have enough to support yourself while you work on your books.”
Was this supposed to be good news? Money? They were giving her part of the money Eddie would pay them for the company? That was supposed to help? “What?”
“Yes. Isn’t it wonderful? You can quit your library job and focus on your art without worrying about putting bread on the table.” Her mother was beaming now. “See? This is best for all of us.”
“I don’t need any charity,” Maria muttered. “My work supports itself.” It wasn’t accurate, of course. Her books weren’t even keeping her in paints and paper yet, but they would. Someday.
It wasn’t a hobby. It was a career. An embryonic one, but still a career.
“Grandpa built up Intrepid Adventurers. We can’t let it go to…” She waved a hand in Eddie’s direction. “To a total stranger!” What else would she lose? Would Eddie take her parents’ affections along with the company? Would she have nothing left? She bit her lip, realizing she was being overly melodramatic. But this was serious, damn it!
Her mother cast an apologetic look to Eddie and reached out to pat his arm. “You know she doesn’t mean that, Eddie. You’ve always been like a part of the family.” She looked at Maria, face stern now, and Maria felt her heart sink. They were serious about this. Very serious. “Maria—if we’re selling to anyone, we want it to be to Eddie.”
“Then don’t sell to anyone at all!”
Her parents stared at her. Finally she seemed to be getting through to them. “I can do it,” she said softly. “I can take over the company. I can make it work. I know I can. Will you let me try?”
“Look—maybe I should leave,” Eddie said, and about time, too, Maria thought grumpily. “This is a family discussion.”
“No!” her father said. He looked relieved at the interruption, glad to escape the question Maria had just asked. “As Kara says, you’re almost a part of the family anyway.” He looked at Maria and winked. “Even if our daughter refuses to make it official.” He snapped his fingers as if a brilliant thought had occurred to him and Maria groaned, knowing what was coming. “That would be the perfect solution of course. How about it, kids? Get married? It would solve all our problems in one strike, and might give us grandchildren, too.”
Great. Dad the jokester, with terrific timing as usual. Maria rolled her eyes, noticing that Eddie just smiled. Obviously he was over the acute embarrassment this joke had caused him at twelve. “Very funny, Dad. Hilarious. I can’t stop laughing.”
Dad chuckled. “Ah, well. Can’t blame a man for trying. But what’s done is done. Eddie’s taking over.”
Her mind was blazing with thought. There had to be a way to stop this from happening. Some way. “Done? Is the sale official yet?”
“Not yet. There’s no hurry. Eddie’s already working for us—we’ll get the details settled soon. There’s an avalanche of paperwork to go through first.”
“So the sale is not final yet?”
Dad glanced at Eddie. “Well, no, if you mean the legal aspects, nothing’s final yet…”
“Good.” She took a deep breath, as if preparing to dive into the deep end. Yes. It was the only way.
“Why is that good, Maria?”
Eddie had asked the question, sounding rather suspicious, but Maria stared at her parents as she answered. “Because I’m going to show you that there’s no need to sell to Eddie. I’m going to show you that I can give the company soul.”
Her father sighed. “Just how do you intend to do that?”
Maria got the notepad and pencil from beside the telephone and plopped back down into her seat. Her feet weren’t altogether certain they wanted to carry her through this. “Watch me. What’s the name of your top private instructor?”
“Maria?” Her mother was staring at her, looking almost frightened. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m going to do it,” Maria said through gritted teeth. “If that’s what it takes to prove to you I can give Intrepid Adventurers a soul, I’ll go through all the extreme sports. Skydiving, rafting, bungee-jumping, hang gliding—whatever. I’ll do it all.”
There was stunned silence in the room.
“Maria…?” The voice was Eddie’s. It came to her dimly, through a fog of panic.
Had she just announced she was going to jump out of an airplane and bounce down a river in a kayak?
She, who had the reputation as the family chicken?
The person who didn’t tolerate even the baby roller coasters?
What was worse: an inner feeling told her she’d meant it. She was really going to do this.
“Maria?” Eddie repeated. His voice held the horror she was feeling inside. “You, rafting? Skydiving?” He laughed. “You don’t really mean that, do you?”
No, that would throw a wrench in the works, wouldn’t it? Stop him from getting his hands on Intrepid Adventurers? From practically stealing her parents? She straightened from her slouch, even more determined now. A woman’s gotta do what a woman’s gotta do. “If that’s what it takes to keep my grandfather’s company, that’s what I’ll do,” she growled at all three of them. “Give me one month. One month, and I’ll show you.”
“Maria!”
She didn’t allow her mother to get a word in. It was time to change the subject. She stood. “Now, I assume there is a birthday cake somewhere in the caverns of that fridge? Let’s go get it.”
Eddie had intended to make his getaway as soon as he politely could, as there was a dire need to regroup and replan, but Maria beat him to it. She shoveled their birthday cake down, kissed her parents and waltzed out the door with nothing more than an arctic “Bye” tossed in his general direction.
The house fell silent when the front door closed after her. Eddie stared at Harlan and Kara, not quite sure what was going on.
They had an agreement. He was already fully involved in the activities at Intrepid Adventurers—he’d started structuring his life around the future they’d been mapping out.
Now what?
Not that he couldn’t see Maria’s point. It had never occurred to him that she’d be remotely interested in running Intrepid Adventurers herself, but he hadn’t imagined her parents had failed to even mention the sale to her before, or her father’s health warnings.
But then he had the feeling Maria and her parents had been traveling separate paths for quite a while.
He cleared his throat. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but…”
Harlan waved a hand. “I know, I know. Don’t worry about it.”
“I know the lawyers aren’t done with everything, but—”
“I know, son. Don’t worry. Intrepid Adventurers is all yours. That won’t change.”
Yup. He’d definitely missed something. “Harlan, you just told Maria she could keep the company if she went through all the stunts we offer.”