The Right Bride

Chapter Five


MARTI CONSIDERED THE rain fitting for her last morning onboard her beloved ship. She felt as gloomy as the day.

Captain Finn would see to it her packed bags arrived at the Four Seasons. She had her backpack ready with all the folders and papers she needed for her meeting with her grandmother’s attorney. She didn’t want to go to the meeting, but she didn’t have a choice. She’d fulfilled her grandmother’s last request, and now she’d have to sit through the reading of her will.

The terms of the will dictated Marti take the yearlong trip before the final settlement of the estate. Although her grandmother requested the trip be for one year, Marti could end the trip at any time for whatever reason. She designated the ports of call and stayed in any one place as long as she liked. Her grandmother simply asked she take a year to see the world. Marti did just that and saw everything she possibly could in that short time. Everywhere she wanted to visit, she went with an eager heart. Many times the ship had sat in dock for weeks while she traveled inland by train or plane. She had the experience of a lifetime. Exactly what her grandmother wanted for her only grandchild.

Marti understood the trip was to repay her for being virtually trapped in San Francisco with an ailing grandmother. She’d taken care of Sofia for five years, since the time she was seventeen. Her grandmother took ill and become very frail. She spent much of her time in bed due to a bad heart. Any strain could set off another attack and leave her in bed for months.

Raised privileged, they employed a maid and cook, but Marti had been taught from an early age that her grandparents expected her to learn to take care of herself.

Her grandfather had been a hard man. She learned to get around him and his cantankerous ways. In the end, he loved her without having to say he did. She knew she was loved, even when he was ranting about a paper she’d written for school, or a position she’d taken on an issue. He loved to discuss business and politics over dinner and, ornery kid that she was, she often took up the opposing side just to set him off. He knew it, she knew it, and they enjoyed the exchanges. Her grandmother often joined in—on Marti’s side, of course—and the two of them would drive her grandfather nuts for an hour.

Her grandmother spent a great deal of her good days painting and teaching Marti to paint. They’d often set up their easels in the solarium and paint for hours.

She’d attended college through correspondence courses. When her grandmother was well, she’d attended classes at the University of San Francisco and Stanford.

A promise fulfilled for her grandfather, she graduated with a double major in business management and finance. Not her first choice, even if she did have an aptitude for it. She’d finished it because her grandfather had wanted her to have a secure future.

Her grandmother had taken care of her art education and her grandfather her business education. She’d used what she’d learned from both and found an outlet for her varied skills.

She sat on the board of her grandfather’s company along with her uncle. Often in direct opposition to her uncle’s agenda. More often than not, when she really took a stand against a business decision, the board backed her and let her take the brunt of her uncle’s displeasure. She didn’t mind. She was usually right, and when she was wrong, the other board members let her know it and why. She’d learned a lot serving on the board. Many of her classmates had been jealous she had such a prominent position even before she graduated.

Her grandfather appointed her to the board upon his death. The board had approved her grandfather’s appointment because of her inheritance of his shares in the company. Actually, she inherited half the shares and the other half went to her uncle. Together they held controlling interest.

Although her uncle inherited part of the company, he wasn’t happy she controlled the rest of the estate. Sofia’s paintings alone were worth millions, and Uncle Anthony wanted them. He’d sell them for easy cash when his penchant for gambling got out of hand.

The other assets were property and trusts and financial accounts her grandfather amassed over his seventy years on this earth. Her grandparents had left her in charge of everything, knowing their oldest son would either squander it away or mismanage it until nothing was left. The only thing he had control over was the company. Because he answered to the board, and the other executives did the majority of the work, her uncle sat back and collected his sizeable paycheck and did as he pleased.

Most of the time he just liked to make her life miserable, because he felt like she’d stolen his birthright. After all, she was just a woman. What did she know about running a company and managing an estate the size of the one her grandparents left behind?

She didn’t care about the money. She cared that it allowed her to have nice things and the education she’d promised her grandfather. She had the money left to her by her parents. She didn’t need to have her grandparents’ estate too. In fulfilling their wishes, she’d managed to find her own way of making money that allowed her to dabble in the business world and use her artistic ability. She loved creating her books and getting them published. It was her way of honoring both her grandparents and her parents.

She stood on deck and surveyed all the boats in the harbor. Her ship was so large it had to remain anchored away from the docks. Captain Finn finished launching the zodiac and hollered for her to hurry up. She looked around the deck one last time and out to sea and silently said her goodbye.

She’d take short trips, but it wouldn’t be the same as living on board and being out to sea for months. She promised herself she wouldn’t let time slip away before she set sail again. She realized that was her grandmother’s intention for the trip. Marti had let five years slip away. It was for a good reason, taking care of her grandmother, but life had gone on for others while hers stood still.

She wouldn’t let it happen again. She had plans. Unfortunately, those plans couldn’t begin until she met with the lawyers.