Astor, Garfield the Next Generation, book 2

Coming July 30, 2026

Chapter 1

Astor Page picked up a beignet. The powdered sugar made her mouth water, but her stomach nearly dared her to take one more bite. It was an all-you-can-eat Friday night catfish feast at Garfield’s Lizzie’s Diner, and she had to stop right now. She returned the dessert to her plate with a sigh.

“You calling it quits?”

Wyatt stared at her from his place in the booth beside her. The look in his eyes fluttered her heart and sent his question fading into the ambient noise of the diner.

“What?”

“I asked if you—”

“Not what about dinner. What put that look on your face?”

“What look?”

Astor ducked her head as warmth spread up her neck. “That goofy, I’m the luckiest man in the world look.” Her words were an embarrassed whisper.

“You’re just so beautiful. I can’t believe that you’re finally mine.”

Astor jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow as she recovered her equilibrium. “I’ve been yours since the third grade. Why is tonight any different?”

Wyatt lifted Astor’s left hand to his lips before guiding it onto the tabletop between them. The overhead lights lit the diamonds of the engagement ring and sent tiny rainbows dancing in the reflection. “It’s official now. I’ve always loved you, I’ve always known that you loved me. But when I put this ring on your finger last week, something changed.”

Astor studied the square-cut diamond, surrounded by smaller alexandrite stones. The light glinted off the diamond, while the alexandrite did its color-shifting magic—from red to green and back. “I still can’t believe it’s mine. I always hoped it would be, but I hadn’t really thought about it since Dad died.” She swallowed back the tears that mention of her dad always carried. There’d been enough of that over the last few months. Astor missed her father with every ounce of her being. His absence had opened a hole in her heart that would be there for the rest of her life.

Through it all, Wyatt had been her rock. He’d supported her decision to leave school to be with her mom. He understood her moods and mourned as if he shared her grief. Most of all, he’d held her when she cried.

She determined that she wouldn’t cry on him tonight.

“And lucky me.” She pasted on a smile. “My June birthday makes alexandrite my birthstone. Did Dad tell you the story behind the ring?”

“I think he probably meant to. But when I met him at the bank that day, he had someplace to be. He gave me the ring, told me how proud he was of both of us, and promised that we’d talk later.” Wyatt’s voice was heavy with sadness. “There wasn’t a later. I’d love to hear it now.”

Astor held the ring up so that she could admire it as she spoke. “It’s a love story that stretches four generations. My great-great-grandfather brought it home from California in the nineteen forties. He was in the Navy, and when World War II was over, all he had on his mind was getting home to Oklahoma and proposing to his sweetheart. Great-great-grandma Evelyn passed it to her daughter Norma. Great-grandma Norma gave it to my dad for his bride, Betty. When Grandma Betty died, it went into storage and would have gone to Celeste, but we both know how that worked out. Then Dad gave it to you to give to me.” Astor closed her eyes. Did that make her and Wyatt the fourth or fifth generation? Just one more piece of confusion Celeste’s abandonment had caused.

“Do you think Celeste ever thought about the legacy she gave up?” Wyatt asked.

Astor considered the question. “I’ve never had a clue what my birth mother thought about this or anything else. I’m just glad Dad saved it for us.”

“Does that ever confuse you?” Wyatt asked. “Calling your grandparents Mom and Dad?” he clarified.

“It doesn’t confuse me. Celeste took off when I was barely a year old, so they’re the only parents I’ve ever known.” Astor did her best to imagine the face of her birth mother, but all that materialized were lifeless images of faded photos from old picture albums. “When she left, they adopted me, they raised me, they loved me when Celeste didn’t. They may be my grandparents, but they’re my parents in all the ways that count.”

***

Wyatt Nesbitt gathered Astor close and eased back into the corner of the booth with her head still on his shoulder. He’d waited months to propose, hoping to give her enough time to grieve. He’d been in love with Astor from the first day he met her. She was his angel, had been since the day on the playground when she comforted him after a fall from the monkey bars and then bandaged his knee. He wanted to make a life with her. He wanted to be there for her to lean on. Sometimes, it seemed as if that was all he’d ever wanted.

“There are some days when I don’t think about Dad as much,” Astor continued. “And then I feel guilty because I’m afraid I’ll forget him. I don’t want that to happen.”

Wyatt kissed the top of her head. “Well, that’s one of the benefits of wearing that ring. Not only does it make you mine, but it reminds you of someone else you loved.” Before Astor could respond, Wyatt changed the subject. “How’s Randy doing? I haven’t seen her the last two or three times I’ve been home.”

“You’ve got your own parents to worry about.”

“And they’re spending all their time worrying about my brain-dead brother. Something’s got to give there.”

Astor sat up. “You shouldn’t talk like that. Landon has some problems, but he’s still your younger brother. You know you love him.”

“Love him? Yes. Like him? Not so much right now.” Landon was in his second round of drug rehab. His parents hadn’t been able to afford it the first time around, and heaven knew Landon couldn’t pay for it. He had no idea how they were footing the bill, but he pictured a giant vacuum cleaner with its hose attached to his parents’ bank account, sucking every cent of their retirement fund down the drain. “Let’s not talk about Landon. You didn’t answer my question. How’s your mom?”

“As well as could be expected, I guess. Between her friends and her work at the bank, she keeps busy. I don’t think there’s a day that goes by that she doesn’t try to convince me to go back to school next semester.”

“Are you considering it?” Wyatt held his breath. The school they both attended was three hours south of here, over the border into Texas. Once she’d switched to online classes, he’d looked forward to the summer and the chance to see her more often. But a failed statistics exam had forced him into summer school to make up the course. He had classes every Monday through Thursday and drove home on Friday mornings to spend his weekends with Astor. It’d be great to have her back on campus once their senior year started so he could see her through the week. He missed her.

“I don’t know. I don’t think Mom’s ready to be by herself yet. And if I’m truthful…” She looked up at him. “I enjoyed the online classes more than I thought I would. The opportunity to be around when Mom needed me has been such a blessing, and my job at the Veteran’s Center is the most fulfilling thing I’ve ever done. The Blacks have really taken me under their wing. I’m not just answering phones and stuffing envelopes like before I graduated high school. I’m getting firsthand experience at some of the things they only lecture about in our business classes. We lost the best operations and event coordinator we ever had a couple of years ago. We’ve had two people in that position since Monica moved to Arizona, and no one is as good as she was.”

Wyatt studied his fiancée’s expression as a flicker of worry shone in her eyes. She licked her lips.

“What would you think if I said I wanted to apply for that position?”

Wyatt struggled to keep a smile on his face. “Would that make you happy?”

“I think I’d love it. Monica traveled to all these great events to raise awareness and funds for the center. She used to talk about all the interesting people she met.” Astor straightened in her seat. “Just this morning I had the most awesome experience. Some woman came in off the street and handed me a thousand dollars. She said she wanted the money to go to whatever need the center had. She wouldn’t even give me her name. She said her name wasn’t important, that the only thing that mattered in life was what we did to help others. She left before I could even get Kate or Nicholas out of their office to thank her.”

“Wow,” Wyatt said. “You don’t see that sort of generosity every day.” He motioned to the crowded restaurant. “We should probably let them have the table.”

Astor looked at the line at the door. “You want to come to the house? Mom’s home this evening. She made your favorite cookies yesterday and told me to make sure you stopped by. I think she misses you too.”

“My favorite? The peanut butter with the little—”

“Like you ever met a cookie you didn’t like.”

He chuckled. “You’re right, but some motivate me a little more than others.”

“You need motivation to come to the house and visit with Mom? You just said you didn’t see her often enough these days.”

“A situation I need to correct right now.” Wyatt dropped money on the table and pretended to shove her from the booth.

Astor scooted out and snagged her bag. “Wait till I tell Mom that you had to be bribed with cookies to come say hello.”

“I’ll deny it, even in the face of torture.”

“I’m sure you will.” She took his hand. “I do have one quick errand to run before we can go home.”

“You’re going to get me all worked up with talk of my favorite cookie and then put an errand in my path?” He held the door for her as they stepped out into the humid June evening.

“Just a quick trip to the post office. Mom asked me to pick up the mail. It won’t take but a second.”

Wyatt dug the car remote out of his pocket and pointed it at the red Chevy truck sitting at the curb.

Astor held her face up to the sun, dipping toward the horizon. “It’s just two blocks. Let’s walk.”

***

Celeste scrunched down in her seat as the couple walked past her car. She wasn’t worried about being recognized. Her trip into the Veterans Center earlier in the day had proven that her daughter didn’t know who she was.

Her stomach did a little flip-flop at the memory. That was a thousand dollars she’d never stop thinking about. Money she could barely afford, gone to a cause she couldn’t care less about. Then there’d been that whole helping others speech. It was enough to make a sane person gag.

Hopefully, if she played her cards right—she giggled at the apropos cliché—she’d get the money back, and plenty more to go with it, before this was all said and done.

Celeste had been in Garfield for several days, getting a feel for the town she’d called home for so many years, keeping a low profile until she felt the time was right, and keeping an eye on her daughter’s movements.

Astor might not have recognized her, but Celeste knew plenty about her daughter. People these days were entirely too trusting, plastering every detail of their lives on social media. All it’d had taken was a few clicks to know where she lived, where she worked, and who she was involved with. Celeste had even spent a few minutes at her father’s grave—but no one needed to know that.

She watched the couple enter the post office a block and a half away. Celeste sat up a little straighter and licked her lips. Excitement pinged off every nerve ending in her body. Let the games begin.

***

Astor shoved a pile of junk mail into Wyatt’s hands. “Here, take this. I cannot believe the amount of trash we get in a week.”

“I can’t believe you guys still use a post office box. Wouldn’t it be easier just to have the mail delivered to the house?”

Astor continued to sort through the personal pieces. “How many times do you think you’ve asked that question over the years?”

“I know, I know. Security, flexibility, privacy, habit, someone’s in town every day anyway… Did I miss anything?”

Astor barely heard him as she studied a plain white envelope.

“What you got there?”

“I’m not sure.” She held it out so that Wyatt could see. “We still get plenty of mail with Dad’s name on it, but it usually fits in the category of junk mail. Some things come addressed to both Mom and Dad. Mom gets those. But this is addressed to me and Dad. That’s never happened before.” She turned the envelope over in her hands. There was no return address, and the contents couldn’t be more than a couple of pages.

“Are you going to open it?” Wyatt asked.

“I don’t know. It’s got Dad’s name on it.”

“And yours.”

Astor shrugged, gave the rest of the personal stack to Wyatt, and tore open the envelope. She pulled out the folded, handwritten pages.

Dear Dad.

Astor froze at the salutation. Some sound must have escaped her throat.

“Astor?”

She looked into Wyatt’s eyes and back to the letter. A quick shuffle of the pages brought her to the ending signature. Astor’s hands began to shake as her vision clouded with tears.

“Angel, what is it?”

Her hands shook as she held the pages out to Wyatt. “It’s from Celeste.”

“Who… Wait. Your mom? That Celeste?”

“Randy is my mom,” Astor mumbled as she continued to hold the papers out to Wyatt.

“Are you going to read it?”

“I don’t think I can. Will you?”

Wyatt studied Astor’s stricken face, placed the rest of the mail on the lobby table, and took the letter.

“Dear Dad,

Oh, what I wouldn’t give to see your face after reading those two words. I can only imagine how surprised you are after all of these years. I hope it’s a happy surprise. I wanted you to know that I’m coming home. I know I have a lot of time and plenty of mistakes to make up for. I can only hope that you’ll give me a chance to do that.

How is my baby? I know she’s not a baby anymore. I’ve imagined her at every stage of life. It’s hard to think about all I’ve missed. I have no one to blame but myself. I hope you didn’t let her forget how much I loved her. As much as I long to see your face, it’s knowing that I’m going to see hers that keeps me going.” Wyatt paused. “Look at this, there’s a smudge, like maybe a teardrop.”

“Just get on with it.” Astor’s words were a choked whisper.

“Astor, if you’re reading this, please give me a chance to explain my absence in your life. You’ve got no reason to believe me when I say that I never meant for you to grow up without a mother. But I swear to you, it’s the God’s honest truth.

“Will one of you please call me?” Wyatt looked up. “That’s it. There’s a phone number and her signature.”

Astor turned in an absent circle. “I think… I need…”

Wyatt took her shoulders in his hands. “Angel, look at me. Take a deep breath. Tell me what you need.”

Astor drew in a shaky breath. “I need my mom. I need to go home.”

The walk back to the diner was a blur. The ride home seemed to take forever. The whole time Astor clutched the letter in a white-knuckled grip with one hand and grounded herself to reality by holding Wyatt’s hand in the other. Celeste wanted to see her? That didn’t make any sense. Why now, after all of these years? Why, when it felt like her life was nearly perfect?

She’d always known that Celeste was out there somewhere. Her life had a solid foundation built on the love of her mom and dad. Celeste was the opposite of that. Mom and Dad were security, safety, and reliability. A place to land when life got tough. They’d created a home she could count on. They were like gravity. Even if she didn’t know the science of it, she could trust it was always there.

Celeste was none of those things. When Astor heard the name Celeste, all she felt was abandonment, betrayal, and sand shifting under her feet.

When the passenger side door opened, she allowed Wyatt to help her down, then she bolted for the front door. She burst into the living room with the pages held in front of her like something vile and alive.

Mom surged to her feet from where she’d been seated on the sofa in the living room. “What in the world?”

“It’s from Celeste. She wants to see me.”