Carnal looked further away than it actually was. Seeming small across the plain, it was only a ten minute drive.
Chace’s mother’s parents had set up a trust for him that he could access when he was twenty-five. To buy this house and land, he’d accessed part of it for a hefty down payment that would leave him with a manageable mortgage on a cop’s salary. Living room, dining room, family room, huge-ass kitchen, butler’s pantry, walk-in kitchen pantry, two and a half baths, study and four bedrooms, the master having one of the bathrooms and a big walk-in closet. There was an old fashioned front porch, a large square deck out back and a massive two car garage that could easily fit two SUVs, two snow mobiles and an ATV.
The rest of the money, he never touched.
This was because, since he could fathom the concept, he decided he’d have three kids. This was mostly because he’d never had a brother or sister and he wanted one, the other, or, better, what Faye had, both. Not having it, he decided that whatever kids he had, they’d have siblings and live in a house full of people, noise and love. Therefore the rest of that money he’d set aside for their college educations. If they wanted to go to trade school, be beauticians or plumbers or got into Harvard or Stanford and became doctors or lawyers, he didn’t care. Whatever it was, they wouldn’t worry about paying for it.
He’d done this because his father refused to pay for Chace’s education because Chace hadn’t taken business courses but instead law and political science with a view to becoming a cop, not an attorney. In his usual fashion, Trane Keaton tried to use money to manipulate. Chace just got grants, loans, worked while taking classes and during the summers, paid his own damned way and took whatever courses he wanted.
He didn’t complain, it was no use and he had to do it to get what he wanted. But it wasn’t easy. He remembered the late nights studying, the exhaustion in classes and dragging himself to work after them and he’d paid off his last student loan five years ago. He wasn’t going to put a child of his through that.
He also, back in the day when he allowed himself to think of this shit, didn’t intend to marry a debutante or socialite with a Daddy who could spend a mint on her wedding. He’d marry who he fell in love with and whoever she was, she would have the wedding of her dreams even if Chace had to use his trust fund to help her. So the money was left alone for that too.
Last, his house was fucking fantastic. Big rooms. Lots of windows. Lots of places to be inside and out. Fabulous views. It’d been dated when he bought it so he updated all the baths, the kitchen and the flooring. His mother wanted to decorate it so he let her but went with her to guide her hand. Shopping was something he could give or take, usually give, but his mother loved to do it, she loved to be with her son, he enjoyed being with her so it was something they could do together. He couldn’t say he wanted to do it again. He could say it turned out well.
That said, the woman that he decided to put in his house would be encouraged to make it a house she wanted to live in. If she wanted a new state of the art kitchen, the trust would cover it. If she wanted to add on a room where she could sew or knit or whatever the fuck (in Faye’s case, a place where she could have quiet to read), he’d use the trust to give it to her. Whatever it was, she’d have it and he kept the money aside for that purpose as well as the two others.
A family, a wife who had what she wanted, a home.
All Chace ever wanted. Something his grandparents, both dead, would have been pleased as fuck he used the money they gave him to have.
When Misty lived there, she’d put her stamp on it. This was another attempt to win Chace, making what she said, “his house theirs”. Along with all her other attempts, this backfired.
She hadn’t worked when they were married but Chace didn’t give her money to keep herself. The money she had was from nefarious sources. It was soiled money.
They did not share her soiled money in a joint account. She bought herself what she wanted and Chace had no input.
When she’d died, Chace was left with everything. Her money, her belongings, all of it. He’d given it all away. Her parents took her personal belongings and the rest went to a couple different charities.
His thoughts made him sigh, he took a sip from his coffee and scanned the landscape he had long since memorized but it didn’t mean he didn’t still gain some peace or wasn’t quietly moved by the scenery.