Page 103 of Sweet Poison

“How did you know who I was?”

“Your photo was always by her bedside. You didn’t know, did you, that fine woman kissed it every night before she went to sleep.”

I shook my head. “No, I didn’t know.”

“I suppose your father is dead.”

“Yes.”

She snorted. “Good riddance.”

“Would you like to go visit my mother?”

She grinned. “Thought you’d never ask, child.”

“Thanks for taking care of my mother, Mabel.”

“No need for thanks. She is my friend.”

I held out a USB stick to her. “This is for you.”

She looked at it suspiciously. “What’s that?”

“Half a million dollars in bitcoin.”

“What?”

“Take it and keep it safe. Tomorrow, I’ll send someone over to your house who will teach you how to turn it into half a million American dollars.”

She pushed her head forward and stared at me. “Are you joking, young man?”

“No. It’s yours. You did a kind thing and I wanted to show my appreciation.”

She hooted with sudden laughter. “Who’d have thought? Hanna’s son giving me a half million dollars for a bit of fried chicken and some hot dogs. Ha, ha, ha.”

Her laughter was infectious. “Yeah,” I said and laughed with her.

“I never knew my fried chicken and chips was that good,” she gasped, her whole body jiggling with uncontrollable laughter.

Epilogue

Montana

I really shouldn’t have been doing this. It was completely out of tradition, but so far, everything in our relationship had been out of tradition. This, I reckoned, shouldn’t be that big of a deal. In fact, it was only the presence of the girls that was making it a big deal, and I decided then to rectify that before he came over.

“Hey guys,” I said boldly. “I need a little bit of privacy now.”

“Of course,” Kelly said and started to leave, but as I expected Natalie and Pearl gave me a look.

“The bride is not supposed to see the groom before her wedding,” Pearl said.

“Who made that rule?” I asked.

“People smarter than you,” Natalie retorted.

“I’m nervous, and I need to see him.”

Kelly laughed. “I’ll go and tell him. No reasoning with this one. She's been hungry for this man from the moment she met him. Why should we expect any different now?”