LDING UP?"

g the leather chair that had belonged to his father around with one hand. H

sociates. Although competitors made fun of the acronym "SLAW," nobody laughed at the results they got for its clients. The attorneys were top-notch, and they covered every niche – from immigration, to corporate and env

irm, maybe go back to practicing? I know no

I will join the board; take father's

ince SLAW was founded. At least that tradition will never

nd I wouldn't want her to sit on the board out of some morbid sense of duty to me.

rington from the bush of his wise brows. "But the tradition doesn't have to die. You're still a you

I'm forty-two – beyond the age where I care to have another child, especially as the only one I have is, thankfully, grown and despera

ght he was going to have a stroke right then and there," Stuart said, slapping his knee as

rs ago, it had been none too funny. "That is the very reason I only have one child. He made sure that I should

an alternate will drawn up.

w that," Car

g to talk him out of it. I knew he didn't mean it. He was just angry and

er would have lasted. Even at eighteen, I knew tha

ay his granddaughter was born. Then he forgot all about you being a teen-aged father. He forgot that you refused to mar

mile on his father's face at his only grandchild's birth. "But he didn't forget to make me live up to my re

iled them out of every scrape they got in. Look at you now compared to a good number of them. Lazy layabouts. In and out of drug rehab. Sucking on the tit of their parent's money. Your father worked for everything he had. It would have been a disservice to his father – and all

ell. And for a time, I'm sure he did; to make sure you got the message that children are a responsibility and just because you come from wealth, it was no excus

of it more along the lines of Alexandria 's perfection. S

as as proud of her as he was of you. He didn't

guilty for push

ed what was b

sn't because he pushed me into it. I knew it was a way to provide for mysel