Read Family Matters (DiCarlo Brides book 4) (The DiCarlo Brides) for Free Online Page A

turn. “Mike doesn’t like kids and Scott treats me like a baby who is too stupid to figure anything out.”
    Mike glared at Rosemary as if she were responsible for the ruination of all his hopes and dreams. He put his hands on his hips and narrowed his eyes. “She didn’t want you before. What makes you think she wants you now? She’s probably just after the money.”
    Rosemary felt all the blood drain from her face at his words. How had he known about her? She hadn’t thouht the Markhams had told anyone. “Money doesn’t matter to me.”
    “Sure.” He sneered.
    “We’re getting off topic here,” the attorney stated, a little exasperated. “The point is what Cleo’s parents had in mind for her.”
    “But the state will have the final say, of course,” Mike said.
    “Unless there’s a solid reason for Cleo to go elsewhere, her parents have named Rosemary as her guardian.”
    Cleo threw her arms around Rosemary and buried her face in Rosemary’s torso. “Good. Can we go home now?”
    Rosemary realized Cleo thought they were going to live in her family home, where she’d grown up. Her heart sank. “What else does the will say?”
    “All assets go to Cleo through a trust that can’t be touched until she’s eighteen except for expenses related to extra educational opportunities, which have to be signed off by the firm. After that, she will need two signatures to get money out, hers and yours until she’s twenty-five. They did this to ensure that she’d use the money for college or something similarly sensible. At age twenty-five, the balance is hers to do with as she pleases.” His lips lifted slightly. “It’s not a huge amount, but with appropriate investments should ensure her education and something to start her adult life with.”
    “Good.” Not that it mattered, Rosemary would be well able to provide for Cleo on her own, but it would be good for her daughter to know her parents loved her and made sure she was taken care of.
    “You really don’t care about the money? You have to raise her on your own dime,” Scott stated.
    “I have a few to go around.” Seeing the glint in his eye, Rosemary clarified, “Even without my inheritance—which was substantial—I could name my price in any of two dozen cities and get a job. I don’t need anyone’s financial assistance to raise Cleo.”
    “So now you want a kid. Now she’s half grown,” Mike said. “Are you just not into babies?”
    Rosemary didn’t want Cleo to learn about their relationship like this, but didn’t know what to say except the truth. And she didn’t want her daughter to think she hadn’t been wanted. “I’ve always loved Cleo. I haven’t always been in a position to be a parent. I am now.”
    If Cleo understood, she didn’t react.
    He seemed unimpressed. “ Right .”
    “You’ll probably need to stay in town for a week or so,” the attorney interrupted. “It’ll take that long to get everything in order and have her school records transferred.”
    That made Cleo lift her head, puzzlement on her face. “School records. Why do I need to move them?”
    Rosemary wrapped her arms around the girl. Her daughter. “Because I live in Colorado, honey.”
    “But I have a house here. We can live here.” Panic showed on Cleo’s face. “I don’t want to move. I want to stay with my friends. You just said you can work anywhere.”
    It broke her heart. “Sweetie, I have a job there. Responsibilities. I can’t just leave them.”
    “You left here without any trouble,” she accused.
    Rosemary felt her heart breaking. She didn’t want to upset Cleo any more than she had to, but she had to live in Colorado, it was the terms of her contract, and the will. And there was no way Rosemary could ever live in her old neighborhood again, no matter how nice it was. Especially not with her mother still living nearby.
    “I have to go back to Colorado. At least until the end of August. Then we can talk about coming back out