Family Bonds- Ava and Seth (Amore Island Book 5), Natalie Ann [world of reading TXT] 📗

a pretty special person and I can’t for the life of me understand why you are still single.”

“Not everyone obviously thinks I’m that special of a person,” she said, laughing.

“Then you can tell me more of that after I say a few things about Ellen.”

She wasn’t sure she knew what to say, but if he was willing to talk then she would let him. “We can answer questions for each other then.”

“Ellen and I met our senior year in college,” he said. “I was from Boston and planned on moving back. My mother was there, and though she is one of the strongest women I know, I just felt the need to return and live by her.”

“Family can be strong that way. I know that feeling well. I guess if anyone could, it’s me and the Bond family.”

“I figured you’d get that.”

“Where did you go to college?”

“Springfield College. Not that far. Just under two hours, but Ellen was from Ohio. Not sure what brought her there, but it did.”

“And Adele said she was a teacher?”

“Elementary. She loved kids. She taught second grade. She took a year off after Adele was born and the plan was for her to do the same with our second child.”

Ava hesitated, not sure if she wanted to ask this. “Did you name your son?”

“We did. Anthony Robert after Ellen’s grandfather. She was close to him as a kid.”

“Did she not want to move to Boston?”

“She was okay with it. Her family is still in Ohio. She wasn’t as close to them as I was with my mother. As you are with your family. Her parents divorced when she was young. She was an only child and they both remarried and had other families.”

“Ah, so she might not have felt like she belonged with either of them after?” she asked.

“That was it. There weren’t hard feelings that I was aware of. It’s just she felt she came second to their new families. I’m not sure if it was in her head or not, but it made it easier for her to move here and they were fine with it.”

“So they either accepted her independence or were fine because their other kids were around?” she asked.

“That was always my thought. I figured they were fine with her independence, but she felt the other way. It was one of those things we didn’t talk about much. When Adele was born, she was the first grandchild for both of them, but no one really ooh’d and ahh’d like you’d think. They came and visited. They called and they sent gifts, but it’s not what my mother did with the first grandchild.”

“So she had a reason to feel the way she did,” she said.

“Most likely. And when Ellen died, they were there for me in the beginning. They’d check in on Adele now and again, they’d send gifts for holidays. But they haven’t seen her in two years.”

“They don’t want to come visit the island?” she asked. “It’s a great vacation spot.”

He smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I brought her to Ohio for a week. She didn’t stay by herself. I made it a vacation visit for the two of us. I was there for them to spend any amount of time they wanted with her. But they were too busy to do more than each take a day with her. So Adele and I had a great time and we came back. I haven’t offered to do it again and they haven’t brought it up.”

“That’s too bad,” she said. “It’s their loss.”

“It is. So you can see why Adele is pretty much with me at all times,” he said.

“And again, I’ve got no problem with that.”

“What else do you want to know? I’m sure you’ve seen the pictures of Ellen in the house.”

She had. There were pictures of Ellen in Adele’s room. A wedding picture on the wall of Seth and her too. “How long were you married?”

“She moved to Boston with me after graduation and we got an apartment together. I had a job lined up, she was waiting tables until school started. She managed to land a job pretty fast and we were thrilled. We got engaged a year later and then a year after that married.”

“So engaged at twenty-three, married at twenty-four?” she asked. “That’s young by today’s standards.”

“It is. But we were happy and in love.”

“Married about nine years?” she asked.

“Yes. You’re pretty good at math,” he said, tapping her nose with his finger. At least he wasn’t acting distressed over this conversation.

“I am. Science too.”

“I bet. As you can tell, we didn’t have children right away. We wanted to put some money away since she knew she was going to take time off to be at home with them. I think she wanted to be the parent she felt she never had. My parents didn’t have the best marriage and I guess I try to be the father I never had growing up too, so I had no problem with that plan.”

“Sounds practical,” she said. “My mother never worked once she was married. A lot of the women in that generation in our family don’t work. My generation, not so much. Money doesn’t mean anything, but happiness does. I guess back to happiness. You know Hunter, and he got married earlier this year. They have a baby, but I don’t see Kayla working anytime soon. Drew is engaged and Amanda a hairdresser. She has plans to continue to work, but I’m not sure when she has a baby what will happen.”

“Everyone makes those decisions in life. Money helps ease it, but it’s a personal one too. Not everyone is meant to do that.”

“I’m not,” she said. “I’ve worked too hard to get where I am and I’m just starting. I want children someday, but I will go back to work. My cousin Emily got engaged a few weeks ago. She is one of the owners of Atlantic Rise Hotel. I expect