Hitched (Hitched #1)(45)

"Would you prefer to be left alone? Or might I join you?"

I gesture to the seat next to me. "I'd love the company." It's true. I've wanted to spend more time with Sebastian's mother, but it's been such a busy weekend.

She hands me a cup of coffee. "Figured we could all use one after so much champagne and wine."

My head is still a bit buzzed from drinking, and I accept the coffee gratefully. The first sip burns down my throat in that oh-so-delicious way that only coffee can. I sigh with contentment. "This is excellent coffee," I say.

"Thank you. I worked as a barista in college. Guess my time there paid off."

The shock of imagining her working in a coffee shop must have shown in my eyes because she laughed. "We haven't always lived like this. This much opulence... it's a gift, but we started out modest, struggling, like most people."

"Clara said you're the one who made enough for… all this? Through your programming?"

She nods. "Yes. It was a combination of hard work, talent and luck. I had an idea, made it happen and became one of the few female dot-com billionaires of my time."

"I can't imagine growing up like this." To imagine this house as my childhood house seems impossible.

"I can't either, to be honest," she says. "We've tried to instill an ethic of hard work in our kids, to make sure they know not to take this kind of wealth for granted. Clara and Sebastian took to it. Matt… well, he has other challenges, but he's a good kid."

"What was Sebastian like as a kid?" I ask, dying to know more about this man I'm falling in love with.

She offers a sweet smile full of motherly love. "He was always such a nurturer. We weren't surprised when he chose medicine as his vocation, and I was glad, then, that we had the money to get him the best education. I didn't want my kids weighed down by college debt."

"He said it was partly because of Clara's heart condition?"

She takes a sip of her coffee and nods. "Yes, but I think he would have chosen medicine regardless. He definitely picked pediatric heart surgery because of his sister. They were all very young when we found out Clara needed a new heart. She was just a baby, and Matt and Sebastian doted on her as if they'd made her themselves. Those boys fought about everything, even when they were little, but when it came to Clara, they found common ground. They'd do anything to protect her."

Her words sound thick, and her eyes gloss over as she discusses the past. "It was a close call. We almost lost her. It was then that Sebastian came to us with his plan. With a little face so serious, he told us he'd decided to donate his heart to Clara so she could live." Her voice chokes at this, and I can feel tears burn the back of my eyes as well.

"He said he knew he couldn't live without a heart, but he was okay with that. He'd had a longer life, he argued. And he wanted his sister to have that too."

I lay my hand on hers, and she squeezes it and half-smiles at me. "Of course our hearts broke at this, and we had to tell him that's not how it worked, that people who are still alive and healthy can't donate organs they need to survive. You should have seen his face when he realized he couldn't save Clara. I cried myself to sleep that night, for all of our children. But the next day, we received our miracle. They found a donor for Clara."

Someone else had to die to give up that heart. I'm sure that's a thought that weighs on Clara and her family. What a blessing that person and their family gave to save the life of a stranger.

"When Clara came home the first night with her new heart, Sebastian insisted we get him a stethoscope so he could listen to it. Again, with his very serious little boy face, he put it on and held it up to her heart. After a few moments, he took it off and smiled. ‘Her heart is strong,’ he said. ‘She's going to be okay.’"

"Sebastian never told me any of this," I say, picturing it all so clearly in my mind.

"I'm not surprised. He's very private with some things in his life. That was a challenging time for all of us, something we don't often revisit."

"How did you manage it all?" I ask. "Three kids, one of whom was so sick, a husband, and such an intense career."

"The way you handle anything," she says. "Every day I made choices about how to prioritize my time. There were times, when Clara was the most sick, that my work took second place to being with my children. But there were also times when work drove me. I didn't always do it well, the work or the family stuff, but I did the best I could with what I had. My husband has always been very supportive, both as a husband and a father, and he knew when he married me that my career mattered a lot, and I would need time and attention to build it."

"Did he mind? That you had this career that ended up making more than he does?"

She laughs. "Not in the least. He's never been one to care much about money. He was just glad we didn't go broke from the medical bills. He's always appreciated the privileges my career has given us, even if it's not something he would have sought for himself."

"Do you think Sebastian is like his father in that way?"

She smiles knowingly and pats my hand. "If you're worried that Sebastian will put his career before yours, don't. I know my son, and he would want the woman he marries to have her own life, her own dreams and hopes and aspirations. And I also know that he's hoping that woman is you."