“I can’t believe this crap. After all she’s been through. She broke up Crane’s worldwide criminal syndicate, the FBI looks like heroes, they confiscated all his property, billions of bucks into the Treasury, and she winds up with nothing. Not even a pat on the back. It’s not fair!”
LuAnn put a hand on a seething Charlie’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Charlie. I didn’t deserve any of that money. And I wanted to pay what I owed. I just want to be LuAnn Tyler again. I told Matthew that. But I didn’t murder anyone. All the charges against me are gone, right?” She looked at Riggs for confirmation.
“That’s right. Federal, state, everything. Free as a bird.”
“Yeah, and poor as a church mouse,” Charlie added angrily.
“Is that it, Matthew? They can’t come back on me later? The IRS, I mean? For more money?”
“All the papers are signed. They dropped everything. It’s over. They confiscated all your accounts, they foreclosed on the house. Anyway, even if they came after you, which they can’t, you don’t have any more money.”
Lisa looked at him. “Maybe we can move in here, Mom.” She added quickly, “I mean for a little while.” She looked between LuAnn and Riggs nervously. LuAnn smiled at Lisa. Telling her daughter the entire truth had been the hardest thing she had ever had to do. But the second she had finished, she had never felt greater relief. Lisa had taken the news admirably. Now at least their relationship could take on a semblance of normalcy.
Riggs looked at LuAnn, a little nervous himself. “I was thinking along those lines myself.” He swallowed hard. “Can you excuse us for a minute?” he asked Charlie and Lisa.
He took LuAnn by the arm and they left the room. Charlie and Lisa watched them go and then exchanged smiles.
Riggs sat LuAnn down by the fireplace and stood in front of her. “I’d love for all of you to move in here. There’s plenty of room. But—” He looked down.
“But what?” she asked.
“I was thinking about a more permanent arrangement.”
“I see.”
“I mean, I earn a good living and, well, now that you don’t have all that money.” She cocked her head at him as he blew out a deep breath. “I just never wanted you to think I was after you because of your wealth. It would’ve driven me crazy. It was like this big roadblock I couldn’t get around. I don’t want you to think that I’m happy you’re not rich anymore. If there had been some way for you to keep the money, that would’ve been great. But, now that you don’t have it, I just want you to know...” Here he stumbled again, unable to continue, suddenly terrified at the deep waters he had ventured into.
“I love you, Matthew,” LuAnn said simply.
Riggs’s features fully relaxed. He didn’t look terrified anymore. In fact, he couldn’t remember ever being this happy before. “I love you too, LuAnn Tyler.”
“Have you ever been to Switzerland?” she asked.
He looked surprised. “No. Why?”
“I always thought about honeymooning there. It’s so romantic, so beautiful. Especially at Christmas time.”
Riggs looked troubled. “Well, sweetie, I work hard, but small-town, one-man-shop general contractors don’t make enough money to do those sorts of things. I’m sorry.” He licked his lips nervously. “I’ll understand if you can’t accept that, after all these years of being so rich.”
In response, LuAnn opened her purse and took out a slip of paper. On it was an account number at a bank in Switzerland. The account had been opened with one hundred million dollars: Jackson’s return of her principal. It was all there, just waiting. It cranked out six million a year in interest alone. She would retain her lottery prize after all. And she wasn’t feeling any guilt about it this time around. Right now in fact, it seemed like she had earned it. She had spent the last ten years trying to be someone she wasn’t. It had been a life of great wealth and great misery. Now she was going to spend the rest of her life being who she really was and enjoying it. She had a beautiful, healthy daughter and two men who loved her. No more running, no more hiding for LuAnn Tyler. She was truly blessed.
She smiled at him, stroked his face.
“You know what, Matthew?”
“What?”
Right before she kissed him she said, “I think we’ll be just fine.”