Hannah Bernard - The Marriage Adventure

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.”

Harlan grinned, the expression reminding him of Maria in her more mischievous moods. “Did I, now?”

Eddie shook his head. “What are you talking about? That’s what it sounded like to me.”

Harlan held up a finger, looking smug. “The fine print, Eddie, the fine print. That’s a very important business lesson: always read the fine print.”

“What fine print?”

“What I told her was that the company needed to be run by adventurers and she isn’t one. She said she was going to prove it to us.” He shrugged, expressing case closed. “I didn’t say she’d get the company.”

“You let her assume that!”

“Exactly. No harm in that. She’s not getting the company, though. That can’t happen. Can you imagine Intrepid Adventurers led by someone who hates everything we do?” Harlan shook his head. “She won’t go through with this. She isn’t an adventurer at heart, and it’s not something you can fake.”

Eddie groaned. “Harlan, by now you really should know how stubborn and determined your daughter is.”

Harlan snorted. “Well—can you seriously see Maria bungee-jumping?”

He thought for a moment, picturing Maria’s pale face that long-ago day she’d finally confessed that she hated adventures, and nodded. Maria had intended to kayak out there that day. She would have, if he hadn’t bailed her out. She’d gone through everything her parents threw at her for years and years and hadn’t complained, probably because she wanted to prove herself to them. “Yes. If it’s for a cause she believes in, she’ll do it.”

“Sure. Maybe one easy stunt or two. But she’ll never go through our entire repertoire. I mean—hang gliding? Skydiving? Maria? And all in one month?” Harlan shook his head. “No. She won’t do it.”

They had a point. He wasn’t sure he’d feel up to going through Intrepid Adventurers’ entire list of offerings all in one month.

“Don’t worry, Eddie.” Kara patted his arm. “Maria will come around. You’ll get the company—she’ll realize she doesn’t want it. It’s much better this way.”

Eddie stared at them both with exasperation. “Just how is deceiving your daughter into scaring herself half to death—for nothing—the better way?”

The couple looked at each other as if exchanging telepathic messages. “This is the least painful way,” Kara explained.

Eddie blinked at them in disbelief. “The least painful way? For whom?” It certainly wouldn’t be the easiest one for Maria.

“Maria is a wonderful girl,” Harlan said, his eyes now blazing as if Eddie had been the one to insult his daughter. “She’s lovely and smart and talented—we’re very proud of her.”

Eddie wondered if they’d ever actually told her that. He doubted it. Not that they were bad parents. It had probably just never occurred to them that Maria needed their reassurance.

“But she does not have the soul of an adventurer,” Harlan continued. “You do. And you’re almost a son to us. We want you to carry on the torch.” He sighed theatrically. “In Maria’s hand it would just flicker and die.”

Eddie wasn’t sure, but he thought Harlan might have just gone all poetic on him.