Page 56 of Last Wish Wedding

“Until what?” Kelsey asked. “Until I’m bankrupt? Until Noah thinks I’ve abandoned him?”

“Until you give up,” Mac said quietly. “That’s their game. They know you can’t match their war chest.”

“This is just about money,” Amy said bitterly. “They’re using a child as a pawn in their sick game.”

“It’s about power,” Truman rasped from his chair, speaking for the first time. All eyes turned to him. “Jason Prescott wants to prove that no one can stand against him.”

A painful coughing fit seized the old man. Mac crossed quickly to his side, supporting his grandfather as his thin frame shook. Mrs. Henley appeared from the kitchen with a glass of water, her face creased with concern.

“You need to rest, Mr. Costigan,” she murmured.

“I’ll rest when I’m dead,” Truman wheezed, waving her away. “And that’ll be soon enough.”

The blunt statement hung in the air, heavy and undeniable. Mac felt Kelsey’s eyes on him, knew she was thinking of her promise to stay until the end. That end seemed closer today than it had last night.

“What do we do, then?” Kelsey asked, directing the question to the room at large. “How do I fight this?”

Harrison shifted uncomfortably. “Ms. York, the odds are not in your favor.”

“There has to be a way,” she insisted, looking from Harrison to Sandra. “I can’t just give up.”

“There is a way,” Truman said. His voice was quiet but steadier now. “But it requires a sacrifice.”

Mac looked sharply at his grandfather, recognizing the gleam in the old man’s eye—the same calculating look he’d worn during high-stakes business negotiations.

“What sacrifice?” Kelsey asked.

Truman’s gaze shifted to Mac, then back to Kelsey. “Marriage.”

The word landed like a stone in still water, ripples of shock expanding outward through the room.

“Excuse me?” Amy was the first to recover.

“Marriage,” Truman repeated. “To my grandson.”

Mac felt all eyes turn to him, but he kept his own fixed on his grandfather. The old fox had been thinking along the same lines Mac had—the radical solution that had occurred to him last night.

“I don’t understand,” Kelsey said, though the slight tremor in her voice suggested perhaps she did.

“It’s quite simple,” Truman continued, gaining strength as he warmed to his subject. “As Kelsey York, you’re a nurse with modest means fighting Boston aristocracy. As Kelsey MacCormack, you become part of a family with deeper pockets and a longer reach than the Prescotts.”

“That’s…” Sandra began, then paused, looking thoughtful. “Actually, that would significantly change the equation.”

Harrison nodded slowly. “Marriage to Mac would give you immediate financial stability and negate the recent allegations—rather than neglecting Noah for an irresponsible tryst, you were pursuing a rounded family. The court would have to consider the changed circumstances.”

“And Mac could petition to adopt Noah,” Truman added. “Creating a legal relationship that would supersede Jason’s connection.”

“This is insane,” Amy protested. “You can’t just get married as a legal strategy!”

“People do it all the time,” Harrison countered. “Green cards, tax benefits, inheritance rights.”

“We’re talking about my sister’s life,” Amy snapped. “Not some transaction.”

Mac finally spoke, his voice quieter than he intended. “We also have another weapon.”

Everyone turned to him.

“Do you mean…?” Kelsey asked.