Bound By The Baby

He said it matter-of-factly, but his grip tightened on his mug and his jaw hardened. “Suddenly?” she asked.

“He had melanoma, but it wasn’t caught until it was too late. He died right before graduation.”

“It devastated you.”

He nodded.

“So how did the lodge come about?”

“Hunter left instructions in his will. He created a foundation to have the lodge built in time for our pact to be carried out, then at the end of the six months, the lodge will become a respite house for cancer survivors and patients, plus twenty million dollars will be disbursed to charity. The only requirement is that the six remaining Samurai each stay here a month, as we all promised.”

Amazing. Twenty million dollars given away, just like that. And the lodge must have cost millions. “That’s a lot of money.”

“Hunter’s family is in pharmaceuticals and personal-care products. You’d recognize the brands.”

It felt nice having a regular conversation with him, Nicole thought, leaning back, sated with cake and cocoa. “Why didn’t you all remain friends? I would think that would bind you even further.”

“I don’t think we knew how to deal with it. No one expects a twenty-two-year-old to die like that. Plus we all graduated immediately after and went our separate ways, onto lives and careers. We exchanged Christmas cards for a few years, but even those stopped.”

“Are you looking forward to seeing them again?”

“In some ways. It seems like taking a step back instead of forward.”

“So, you don’t know if they’re married or have children or how their careers have gone?”

“After I got my letter from Hunter’s estate lawyer in January I checked them out on the Internet. Everyone is successful.”

Awareness clicked on a light of understanding in her head. “You got your letter in January?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll take a wild guess and say it was the day we met.”

He laid a hand on top of hers. “About that night…I think—”

“Hi!”

Intent on Devlin, Nicole hadn’t noticed Ann-Marie come up to the table.

The young woman stuck out a hand toward Devlin. “I’m Ann-Marie. Nicole and I work together.”

He released Nicole’s hand to stand and shake Ann-Marie’s. “I remember seeing you last night.”

Nicole noticed he didn’t introduce himself. She glanced at her watch. “Oh, look at the time. We need to get going,” she said to Devlin, standing up. “See you tomorrow, Ann-Marie.”