With this segment of Chapter Nine of Repairing the Legacy, we continue the serialization of Repairing the Legacy. This is a rough draft work in progress and may not reflect the final form. Time period: set after the ending of The Martiniere Legacy main trilogy. I’m breaking longer chapters into sections for readability. This is the first part of Chapter Nine. There will be three parts to this chapter.

New to the series? Chapter order:

Return of the Prodigal Son (2 parts)

Conversations and a Dinner (2 parts)

Dancing into Change (2 parts)

Sisterly Compromises (3 parts)

Conspiracies at the Rodeo (3 parts)

Passing the Baton (4 parts)

Research Complications (3 parts)

Chasing After Shadows (3 parts)

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FIFTH ANNIVERSARY PRESENT

July, 2064

RUBY

“Want to do something special for our fifth anniversary?” Gabe asked, leaning on the doorframe of Ruby’s farmhouse office.

Ruby looked away from the spreadsheet projection of the ranch end-of-quarter financials.

What had been a grim duty when single and trying to keep the family ranch afloat while trying to launch the RubyBot was no less onerous now. But losing the ranch was no longer a dread concern lurking in her thoughts every time she eyed the financials. Remarrying Gabe—and discovering that he was an exiled heir of a wealthy and powerful family, not a broke and brilliant ranch hand evading student loan indentured servitude—made a big difference.

“Five years is longer than we lasted the first time we married,” she answered, grinning at Gabe. “I think that’s cause for celebration.”

Gabe chuckled as he came into the office, hobbling a little. Ruby suppressed a concerned frown. Was he limping worse today?

It’s just a limp, she told herself. You have much worse things to worry about when it comes to Gabe’s health.

Like his cardiac problems.

“If you want to add the two marriages together, it’s eight years, but all the same—” He came around the corner of her desk and leaned against it, arms crossed. “We should treat this as a landmark anniversary. I promised you we would play and have fun when we remarried, and again when I retired. I’ve been slacking at doing it.”

“What do you have in mind?” she asked.

Uh-oh.

When Gabe pronounced that I’ve been slacking at something, that meant his contemplated remedy involved some form of overcompensation for his perceived slighting of—whatever bothered him. Not that she usually minded, but these days, she worried about him doing too much.

Gabe tilted his head from side to side. “Oh, I don’t know. Lots of possibilities, but I wondered what you might want.”

She shrugged. “I’ve enjoyed what we’ve done on our anniversary so far.”

“Hey. We can go anywhere in the world. Do anything, within reason. What would you really want to do that would be special?”

Ruby considered how they had celebrated their anniversary previously. Special dinners, special outings. Most of the time with Mike. Often with Brandon and Kris, Justine and Donald, and other Family members. Never just the two of them, except for the dinners. And that was, what? Two, three hours at most?

I want more.

“Something with just us sounds pretty good,” she said. “Mike can stay with Brandon and Kris, and this is enough advance notice to warn them.”

“Just us, hmm?” Gabe rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“Yeah. I love the Family, but—” she sighed, letting her voice trail off.

Five years as part of the Martiniere Family—always with a capital F. It wasn’t the novelty of extreme wealth that bothered Ruby as much as the togetherness of the Martinieres.

Family Christmas with all the high-level Martiniere heirs was fun, but exhausting. Gatherings with the British or French Martiniere Family branches which involved lots of relatives. Business meetings of the Martiniere Group, which also incorporated non-business Family decisions and turned into social occasions. Even though Brandon was now the Martiniere, Gabe’s position as the Martiniere Emeritus meant that she and Gabe were the leaders of the non-business Family affairs.

Sometimes their Family-related responsibilities were just plain tiring.

“Yeah,” Gabe said after a few moments. “I hear you, Ruby.” He took her hand. “I’ve been having the same thoughts. Thirty years away from the Family has an impact, and now—” he sighed, an echo of hers. “I’ve been wanting to get away for a while. Completely disconnect.”

“That sounds really good to me.”

“So—urban? Mountains? Ocean?”

“Someplace quiet.” Ruby glanced outside. “It’s been a long, dry summer so far, and we’re only getting started. It would be nice to go someplace cool. Where we can be by ourselves for a few days. Read books and relax. Maybe do some hiking but nothing more than that. Just quiet. Just us.”

“Coastal, then. Atlantic or Pacific?”

“Pacific. Not California—I love the excursions to Anacapa Island with Justine, but that’s always a Family thing. Not on a boat, either. Or swimming. That’s not what I want to do, at all.”

“Got it,” Gabe said, nodding. He snapped his fingers to bring up his computer display. “We’re thinking alike, once again. I’ve found several possibilities. Rank them, and I’ll make reservations.”

Ruby flipped through the choices and made her selections. “Do you think we’ll actually get any of these places? It is only a month out.”

Gabe shrugged. “We’ll see. I suspect that farmhouse on the river estuary will still be available. The coastal ones, especially that one—” he flipped back to her first choice, a house isolated on a rocky point above the ocean. “Might prove to be challenging.” He grinned. “But I’ll sure do my best.”

“That’s all we can do,” Ruby said.

He kissed her and left.

Ruby turned back to her spreadsheet with renewed energy, though the occasional thought of a few days on the coast in August kept popping back up.

Much as she loved the Double R and the mountains and prairies of Thunder County, there were times when really hot, dry summers got on her nerves. They’d had a run of dry springs followed by hot, smoky summers over the past five years. Fire was a constant worry.

Normally, she shunned even the idea of the coast in August because of crowds. But if Gabe could find them a quiet, private place to stay, it sounded like a really nice break—and they had the money to buy isolation these days.

Too bad it was a month or so before they could do that. She was ready for cool weather now.

*************************

Like what you’ve read so far? Check out the other stories in The Martiniere Legacy—all links here, both Amazon and other sources.

Justine Fixes Everything: Reflections on Mortality is now available at Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo!

What’s it about?

EVEN THE MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE HAVE TO START SOMEWHERE....

Over the years, Justine Martiniere has become the fixer for the Martinieres. Have a problem? Go to Justine to get it remedied.

But it wasn't always that way.

First, Justine needed to escape the abuses of her father, Philip. She didn't expect to fall in love with the man she married, Donald Atwood. But she did–and then she faced the choice between remaining married to Donald, or stopping her sociopathic, megalomaniac father.

Justine Fixes Everything is in part the unusual love story of Justine and Donald–and in part the saga of her rise to power, viewed in retrospect as she tells the history to Philip's clone Mike, as he recovers from surgery. It's about what she sacrificed to become powerful—and, at the same time, how that past comes to haunt the challenges she faces toward the end of her life.

Want more? How about an alternative Martiniere world where Ruby and Gabe meet in a different manner and meet more challenges?

ANOTHER MARTINIERE LEGACY STORY ON KINDLE VELLA—A DIFFERENT LIFE—WHAT IF?

https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/story/B09LH72GQG

One of the turning points of the Martiniere Legacy series is the death of Gabriel Martiniere's family in a plane crash when Gabe was twelve. That put Gabe's biological father, Philip, into the leadership of the Martiniere Group and the Martiniere Family, and expedited Philip's megalomaniac ambitions. But what if that crash hadn't happened? What would Gabe's relationship with Ruby, the love of his life, look like?

Billionaire nerd with a conscience, unlucky at love, striving to overcome the shadows of his past while trying to find agritech means to fight climate change.

Former rodeo queen, just trying to get her degree in agricultural robotics and make her mark on the world while trying to find agritech means to fight climate change, also unlucky at love and struggling with a shadowy past.

Can Ruby and Gabe successfully negotiate the complexities of the Martiniere Group and launch Ruby’s world-changing biobots without interference from competitors, while maintaining a relationship?

A DIFFERENT LIFE IS NOW COMPLETE ON KINDLE VELLA. WATCH FOR A DIFFERENT LIFE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED IN APRIL.

SERIES TWO OF A DIFFERENT LIFE—LINDA’S STORY— WILL BE SERIALIZING ON KINDLE VELLA SOON