Free The Contract: Sunshine by Shiree McCarver

to admit.  Like me, your personality gets swa l lowed up in the strength of the two women in our lives.  Your mother will have you depleted of funds before you know it. 
    I chose a year because I think that would be long enough for you to know if it’s a real marriage or not.  If you have a child in the first year, all the better, but I won’t push it. 
    Decide on a career of your own.  If you don’t want to be a part of the running of the stores, then don’t and don’t let your grandmother order you to do it.  This is why I did this where not even she, with all her infinite power and self imposed wisdom, can intervene what is to be your ticket to independence and happiness.
    Sweetheart, don’t marry a cuckold man like your father.  Take your time and search for a strong man that will allow no interference in your lives from your grandmother and mother.
    I hope what I have done is for the best, because that was my i n tention.  Forgive me if I was wrong.  It would kill me all over again to know I only made things harder for you.  I love you and I will always be watching over you, Princess Sunshine.
    Sunshine thought she had come close to fulfilling her father’s wish at least twice in her thirty years.  But her grandmother had proved to her she was a bad judge of character.  It was the second time she thought she was in love she found out her mother was the reason these men had come into her life.  She didn’t realize telling them about her inheritance was defeating instead of helping her in her quest for a good man.
    Why should these men take a year out of their lives, taking care of you in a loveless marriage waiting for money and you may not choose to stay with them after you gain your inheritance? Her grandmother said.
    With my offer they have a sure thing.  Now, Sunny Girl, if you tell your bitch of a mother to stay out of this matter, you might actually find a man that really loves you, but if she goes around telling every man about it, what is the point of the matter?  You should have never told her that your father left you anything.
    Oh, my.  Child, you didn’t know your mother was behind this rash of men so interested in you.  Plain as you are, you should have known better.  I thought I taught you better than this.
    Tears slid out of the corners of her closed eyes leaving a wet trail along her cheek.  She kept her head turned away from him.  Behind her lids it seemed as if extra light was now streaming through the car wi n dows. 
    She opened her eyes and saw they were no longer on the main highway. She hadn’t felt it when he veered off.  Sunshine quickly wiped her face dry.  Had she snoozed off?
    Yoon slowed and stopped for the light to change.  She looked at the clock on the dashboard and wherever they were it was about twenty minutes from the downtown area.
    “Sunshine, were you sleeping or are you so quiet because I hurt your feelings by saying I know you’re lying about being the Dupree Food’s heiress?”  Yoon asked. 
    The light changed and she looked down at his strong thickly veined hand shift the gearshift from one gear to another.  Her heart flu t tered as her thoughts revisited the intimacy of his touch.
    What could she say?   If she denies it’s a lie, he wouldn’t believe her.  If she said it was the truth, she would be the liar he thought she was.
    “I’m not upset about it,” he assured her.  “What right do I have considering my approach?  I sincerely apologize.”
    Covering her hand resting on her knee with his own hand, he squeezed it briefly before removing it to shift gears again.  Her hand felt warm and tingly from his touch and she found herself wanting him to touch her again.
    “I understand how it feels to be desperate,” Sunshine spoke so softly she saw him lean more towards her in the bucket seat.  Louder she said, “Especially today when I was hiding out in the ladies room before I ran out.  I was so scared; I also stayed in there