The Marriage Adventure

“Maria…?” The voice was Eddie’s. It came to her dimly, through a fog of panic.

Had she just announced she was going to jump out of an airplane and bounce down a river in a kayak?

She, who had the reputation as the family chicken?

The person who didn’t tolerate even the baby roller coasters?

What was worse: an inner feeling told her she’d meant it. She was really going to do this.

“Maria?” Eddie repeated. His voice held the horror she was feeling inside. “You, rafting? Skydiving?” He laughed. “You don’t really mean that, do you?”

No, that would throw a wrench in the works, wouldn’t it? Stop him from getting his hands on Intrepid Adventurers? From practically stealing her parents? She straightened from her slouch, even more determined now. A woman’s gotta do what a woman’s gotta do. “If that’s what it takes to keep my grandfather’s company, that’s what I’ll do,” she growled at all three of them. “Give me one month. One month, and I’ll show you.”

“Maria!”

She didn’t allow her mother to get a word in. It was time to change the subject. She stood. “Now, I assume there is a birthday cake somewhere in the caverns of that fridge? Let’s go get it.”

Eddie had intended to make his getaway as soon as he politely could, as there was a dire need to regroup and replan, but Maria beat him to it. She shoveled their birthday cake down, kissed her parents and waltzed out the door with nothing more than an arctic “Bye” tossed in his general direction.

The house fell silent when the front door closed after her. Eddie stared at Harlan and Kara, not quite sure what was going on.

They had an agreement. He was already fully involved in the activities at Intrepid Adventurers—he’d started structuring his life around the future they’d been mapping out.

Now what?

Not that he couldn’t see Maria’s point. It had never occurred to him that she’d be remotely interested in running Intrepid Adventurers herself, but he hadn’t imagined her parents had failed to even mention the sale to her before, or her father’s health warnings.

But then he had the feeling Maria and her parents had been traveling separate paths for quite a while.

He cleared his throat. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but…”

Harlan waved a hand. “I know, I know. Don’t worry about it.”

“I know the lawyers aren’t done with everything, but—”

“I know, son. Don’t worry. Intrepid Adventurers is all yours. That won’t change.”

Yup. He’d definitely missed something. “Harlan, you just told Maria she could keep the company if she went through all the stunts we offer.”

Harlan grinned, the expression reminding him of Maria in her more mischievous moods. “Did I, now?”

Eddie shook his head. “What are you talking about? That’s what it sounded like to me.”

Harlan held up a finger, looking smug. “The fine print, Eddie, the fine print. That’s a very important business lesson: always read the fine print.”

“What fine print?”

“What I told her was that the company needed to be run by adventurers and she isn’t one. She said she was going to prove it to us.” He shrugged, expressing case closed. “I didn’t say she’d get the company.”

“You let her assume that!”

“Exactly. No harm in that. She’s not getting the company, though. That can’t happen. Can you imagine Intrepid Adventurers led by someone who hates everything we do?” Harlan shook his head. “She won’t go through with this. She isn’t an adventurer at heart, and it’s not something you can fake.”

Eddie groaned. “Harlan, by now you really should know how stubborn and determined your daughter is.”

Harlan snorted. “Well—can you seriously see Maria bungee-jumping?”

He thought for a moment, picturing Maria’s pale face that long-ago day she’d finally confessed that she hated adventures, and nodded. Maria had intended to kayak out there that day. She would have, if he hadn’t bailed her out. She’d gone through everything her parents threw at her for years and years and hadn’t complained, probably because she wanted to prove herself to them. “Yes. If it’s for a cause she believes in, she’ll do it.”

“Sure. Maybe one easy stunt or two. But she’ll never go through our entire repertoire. I mean—hang gliding? Skydiving? Maria? And all in one month?” Harlan shook his head. “No. She won’t do it.”

They had a point. He wasn’t sure he’d feel up to going through Intrepid Adventurers’ entire list of offerings all in one month.

“Don’t worry, Eddie.” Kara patted his arm. “Maria will come around. You’ll get the company—she’ll realize she doesn’t want it. It’s much better this way.”

Eddie stared at them both with exasperation. “Just how is deceiving your daughter into scaring herself half to death—for nothing—the better way?”

The couple looked at each other as if exchanging telepathic messages. “This is the least painful way,” Kara explained.

Eddie blinked at them in disbelief. “The least painful way? For whom?” It certainly wouldn’t be the easiest one for Maria.

“Maria is a wonderful girl,” Harlan said, his eyes now blazing as if Eddie had been the one to insult his daughter. “She’s lovely and smart and talented—we’re very proud of her.”

Eddie wondered if they’d ever actually told her that. He doubted it. Not that they were bad parents. It had probably just never occurred to them that Maria needed their reassurance.

“But she does not have the soul of an adventurer,” Harlan continued. “You do. And you’re almost a son to us. We want you to carry on the torch.” He sighed theatrically. “In Maria’s hand it would just flicker and die.”

Eddie wasn’t sure, but he thought Harlan might have just gone all poetic on him.

Just what he needed.

He fell into a chair and decided to stop talking for a while. It wasn’t getting him anywhere.

He needed to think. This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all. He rubbed his temples, wondering if it was too late to flee the state and start his adventuring business somewhere far away from here.

No. He couldn’t do that. There were Jenny and Samuel to consider. He couldn’t leave. He was stuck.

He took a deep breath, firmly pushing back the sudden claustrophobia that thought brought on. It had been his choice to come back. His choice to be there for Jenny and Samuel.

But for the first time in his life, he wasn’t free to do whatever he wanted, go wherever he wanted. He needed to be right here, right now.

He needed Intrepid Adventurers. He needed the deal to stick.

He needed Maria to get out of his way.

“Don’t you see, Eddie?” Kara said. “This is the easiest way. She’ll realize what she’d be getting into.” She smiled. It seemed the pair of them were quite happy with their little scheme. “This way, she’ll be begging you to take over the company, instead of resenting all of us.”

They did have a point, convoluted though it was. Why would Maria want to run an adventuring business when she’d turned her back on all such activities a long time ago?

He had a feeling he knew why.

The sudden fury in her gaze as she’d realized he’d be taking over had been an ever so subtle clue.

She didn’t want him to take over.

Periodically he’d had the feeling she resented the attention her parents gave him—envied him—although in between she hadn’t seemed to mind, and even welcomed it as it took the pressure off her.

But this was her heritage—and they were selling it to him without even mentioning it to their daughter first.

He had a feeling Maria would not have objected so strongly if he’d been a stranger. In fact, she might not have objected at all.

Eddie crossed his arms on his chest and scowled at the pair of them. “There’s no guarantee she’ll back out. What if she doesn’t? What do we do then?”

Harlan shrugged. “I’m not going to waste my time worrying about that. It won’t happen.”

Eddie drove back to his makeshift office feeling disgruntled. His irritation had shifted from Harlan to Maria. What was she thinking, anyway? Quite apart from the inconvenience her little tantrum was causing him, she couldn’t possibly think she was cut out to run Intrepid Adventurers.

Nothing was ever easy.

He’d come home with clear intentions: to do the best he could for his sister and her son—the godson he’d seen far too little of. It hadn’t been an easy decision, but after Samuel’s diagnosis, and the untold stories he could hear in Jenny’s lost voice after her husband left them, he’d made up his mind. He’d go home. He’d be there for them while they needed him.

And as a compromise he’d start his own adventuring company at last. He’d keep his connections to the industry—he’d still be involved.

But preliminary market research had been depressing. Intrepid Adventurers was established, successful. There simply wasn’t room for another adventuring business in the area. Not unless he was willing to actually wage war on Intrepid Adventurers.

Although he thought he might have an edge with the newer technology and a younger generation, he did not want to directly compete with his old friends—if he was successful, he might drive them out of business.

It had been an agonizing dilemma. The offer to buy the company had been a godsend he’d been quick to accept. It would solve his problems—and theirs. They’d get the company taken off their hands by someone they knew and trusted—he’d be running his own company, and be in proximity to Jenny and Samuel.

He scowled and slapped the steering wheel with his palm as he twisted in his seat to back into his usual parking space. Now what? He’d never imagined Maria of all people would object to his takeover.

The tiny office he and his partner had rented temporarily while they prepared for business was cluttered as always. Adam was still there, at the computer—as usual—two screens, two keyboards, and a whole lot of hardware scattered haphazardly over all surfaces. They were working on creating an interactive interface for their future customers, enabling them to put together their dream excursions. The plan was to bring Intrepid Adventurers into the twenty-first century.

Adventure at the click of a mouse.

The torn old sofa the previous tenant had left behind had scattered computer parts all over it. Eddie had never understood why programming had to involve ripping out the computer’s innards—but apparently that was Adam’s way.

“Problem,” he announced, pushing the junk away and flinging himself onto the tiny sofa. He winced, and dragged something from under his thigh. He waved a motherboard at his partner. “Is it on purpose that all this junk has sharp edges?”

“Sorry,” Adam said absently, reaching for the part and examining it for damage. “What’s the problem?”

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