He owned a catering company with his younger brother, Graham. Cole Family Catering. His grandfather had started it in 1962 with one barbecue smoker and a pickup truck. Richard told me that story the night we met, and his eyes got wet when he talked about his grandfather, and I thought, Here is a man who loves his family.
I was right about that, as it turned out.
I just didn’t understand yet that his family didn’t include me.
Ezoic
We married a year later, in my backyard, under the magnolia tree.
Before the wedding, my attorney insisted on a prenuptial agreement. Richard signed it without hesitation. He even joked about it.
“I’m not marrying you for your money, Claire,” he said, kissing my forehead. “I’m marrying you for your pie crust.”
Ezoic
His daughter, Madison, was fourteen then. Her mother had left when she was small. She was skinny and sullen and wore too much eyeliner, and she didn’t speak to me for the first three months.
