Chapter 80 EIGHTY
"Where are we going?" Lennox asked for the third time as Callum drove them through Queens.
"I told you, it's a surprise."
"I hate surprises."
"No you don't. You just hate not being in control." He grinned, one hand on the wheel and the other holding hers. "Trust me. You'll like this one."
They'd been driving for thirty minutes, leaving Manhattan behind for residential neighborhoods with tree-lined streets and modest houses. Lennox watched the buildings go by, trying to figure out what he was planning.
"Callum, seriously. Where are we going?"
"You'll see in about two minutes." He turned onto a familiar street and her heart stopped.
"No. You didn't."
"I did." He pulled up in front of a small brick house with a neat garden and a wind chime on the porch. "I've been meaning to meet your family properly for months. Figured it was past time."
She stared at her mother's house, emotions warring in her chest. "You should have told me. I would have warned them, given them time to prepare."
"I did tell them. Called your mom yesterday and asked if we could visit. She said yes." He squeezed her hand. "I also may have apologized profusely for not doing this sooner and blamed my terrible manners on being raised by people who think family time may be equivalent to quarterly board meetings."
Despite her nerves, Lennox smiled. "You didn't say that."
"I absolutely said that. Your mom laughed. I think she likes me already."
They got out of the car and Callum pulled two shopping bags from the trunk. Expensive looking bags from stores Lennox recognized.
"What's in those?"
"Gifts. I can't meet my wife's family empty-handed. It will be terribly rude."
"Callum, they're not going to expect gifts from you."
"Good. Then they'll be pleasantly surprised." He walked up to the door, completely at ease despite the fact that he was about to meet the family of the woman he'd married in a contract arrangement that had somehow turned real.
Lennox rang the doorbell, her stomach in knots. She hadn't seen her mom and Emma in a while now, she had been so caught up in the investigation and the lies that she'd barely called.
The door opened. Her mother stood there, small and round with graying hair pulled back in a bun, wearing an apron covered in flour. "Lenny! You're here!" She pulled Lennox into a tight hug that smelled like cinnamon and home. "And Callum hii. Come in, come in!"
"Mrs. Rivers, it's so good to finally meet you." Callum offered his hand but her mom batted it away.
"None of that. I'm hugging you too." She wrapped her arms around him before he could protest. "Welcome to our family, even if my daughter did marry you without telling us first."
"Mom," Lennox groaned.
"What? You did. One day you're facing serious charges, the next you're married to a billionaire. We had questions."
Callum laughed, genuine and warm. "I don't blame you. I'd have questions too."
They moved inside. The house was exactly as Lennox remembered, cozy and cluttered in the best way. Photos on every surface, mismatched furniture that somehow worked, the smell of something baking in the kitchen.
"Emma!" her mom called up the stairs. "Your sister's here!"
Footsteps came down, slower than they used to. Emma appeared, twenty-two now and looking so grown up it made Lennox's chest ache. Her hair was shorter, professional looking, and she was wearing a blazer like she'd just come from somewhere important.
"Finally! I thought you'd forgotten about us." Emma pulled Lennox into a hug. "How's being married to Mr. Moneybags?"
"Emma," their mom scolded.
"What? I'm allowed to be curious." She turned to Callum, looked him up and down. "You're taller than I expected. And you dress like you're going to a business meeting even on weekends. Lennox said you were uptight but I thought she was exaggerating."
"Emma!"
Callum laughed, clearly delighted. "She's not wrong. I am pretty uptight. Your sister's been trying to loosen me up."
"How's that going?"
"Ohh good I’d say." They laughed.
They moved to the living room. Callum set the shopping bags down on the coffee table, suddenly looking almost nervous. "I brought some things. I hope that's okay."
"You didn't have to do that," Lennox's mom said, but her eyes were on the bags with curiosity.
"I know. But I wanted to." He pulled out the first gift, a beautifully wrapped box. "This is for you, Mrs. Rivers."
"Please, call me Linda." She opened the box carefully, like she was afraid of tearing the paper. Inside was a cashmere scarf in deep blue, soft and clearly expensive. "Oh my goodness. This is too much."
"It's not really ma’am” He smiled. "I hope you like the color."
"I love it. But Callum, really, you shouldn't spend money on us like this."
"With all due respect, I can afford it. And I've been a terrible son-in-law, not visiting sooner, not making time to meet the people who matter most to Lennox. Let me make up for it a little."
Linda's eyes got misty. "You're not terrible. You're here now. That's what matters."
He pulled out another box, handed it to Emma. "For you. Lennox mentioned you just graduated. Congratulations on finishing your teaching degree."
Emma's eyes went wide as she opened it. Inside was a leather portfolio, the expensive kind teachers used for important documents, along with a gift card to a bookstore. But underneath was something else. A check, made out for an amount that made Emma's jaw drop.
"Holy, I can't accept this."
"For your student loans," Callum said simply. "Lennox mentioned once that you had them. Consider it a graduation gift."
"This is like, this is way too much." Emma looked at Lennox, her eyes filling with tears. "This would pay off everything."
"You're going to be a teacher. You're going to spend your life shaping kids' futures for a salary that doesn't match the importance of what you do." Callum's voice was gentle. "The least I can do is make sure you start your career without that debt hanging over you."
"I don't know what to say."
"Say you'll accept it. And maybe invite us to your first classroom when you get a job."
Emma laughed through her tears. "Deal. God, deal. Thank you."
There was one more box. Callum pulled it out, hesitated. "This one's for both of you, actually. I hope I'm not overstepping."
Linda opened it and went very still. Inside were two tickets to Paris, first class, and a hotel reservation at a five-star hotel for a week.
"I know you've always wanted to visit," Callum said, looking at Lennox. "You mentioned it once. And I thought, your mom and Emma should get to see it too. When you have time off before starting your teaching job, if that works."
"Callum," Linda breathed. "This is too much. We can't accept this."
"Please. It would make me happy knowing Lennox's family got to experience something special." He glanced between them. "And selfishly, it would make Lennox happy, which makes my life better."
"I'm going to Paris," Emma said, her voice dazed. "I'm actually going to Paris."
Linda was crying now, happy tears streaming down her face. "Thank you. You didn't have to do any of this but thank you."
"You raised an incredible woman. The least I can do is say thank you properly."
Lennox felt her own tears threatening. She'd been so worried about this meeting, about what her family would think of Callum and their unconventional marriage. But watching him sit on her mom's worn couch, answering Emma's questions about what it was like running a fifteen billion dollar company, accepting a cup of tea in a chipped mug like it was fine china, she realized he fit here somehow.
"So you really have three houses?" Emma was asking.
"Three. Manhattan penthouse, a place in the Hamptons, and a cabin in Aspen."
"A cabin? Like with logs?"
"More like a very large house with a stone fireplace. But yes, technically a cabin."
"And you just bought my sister that necklace she's wearing on a random day?"
"It was actually a Wednesday. And I bought it because I love her and wanted her to have something that reminded her of that." He looked at Lennox across the room, his expression soft. "Best purchase I've ever made."
"You're disgustingly romantic," Emma said. "I didn't expect that from a billionaire."
"Neither did I, honestly." He teased.
Linda brought out cookies she'd been baking, homemade chocolate chip that were slightly burnt on the bottom just like Lennox remembered. Callum ate three of them and declared them the best cookies he'd ever had, which made Linda beam with pride.
They stayed for two hours. Callum looked at old photo albums, laughed at stories about Lennox as a kid, asked Emma about her teaching plans and listened like he actually cared. He was charming without being fake, interested without being condescending, rich without being obnoxious about it.
When they finally left, Linda hugged them both at the door.
"You're good for her," she told Callum quietly. "I can see it. Thank you for making my daughter happy."
"She makes me happy too. More than I knew was possible."
In the car on the way home, Lennox couldn't stop smiling. "You didn't have to buy them all that stuff."
"I wanted to. Was it too much?"
"Probably. But they loved it. Emma's never going to shut up about having her loans paid off."
"Good. She shouldn't have to start her career drowning in debt." He glanced at her. "Your family's great. I wish I'd met them like this sooner."
"Why didn't you tell me you were planning this?"
"Because you would have stressed about it for days. Tried to prepare them or coach me on what to say. I wanted it to be natural." He took her hand. "Was it okay? That I surprised you?"
"It was perfect." She leaned over to kiss his cheek. "Thank you for doing that. For caring about the people who matter to me."
"They matter to you so they matter to me. That's how this works."
They drove home in comfortable silence, his hand in hers. For a moment, just a brief moment, Lennox let herself forget about Victor and the investigation and the lies she was keeping. Let herself just be happy.
She wasn’t quite sure what tomorrow held, but for now, driving through Queens with her husband beside her and the memory of her family's laughter still fresh, she let herself believe that maybe everything would work out after all.