Shocked, Cole responded sharply "Abigail, stop behaving like that."
Hearing the rebuke from her grandfather, and worried about what might happen if she refused to at least listen to her adoptive grandmother, Abigail shrunk back in the seat.
Spotting Abigail's physical reaction, Cole softened his tone and said "Abigail, I should have said I would like you to marry him. We both know that your adoptive grandmother, the only one who treated you well in that family, does not have long to live. The treatment she is receiving is not curing the problems, it is just giving her a few extra months. Every expert in the world that I have gotten to come and see her as told you and I the same thing to our faces."
"But there is one thing that I have not told you. I was diagnosed with cancer several years ago. It was successfully treated at the time but has come back in the last six months. My oncologist, after consulting with colleagues, including some from overseas, determined this time it was not treatable, and all I could do is make plans for when I die. At the time of the initial re-diagnosis, he gave me three to six months, but revised that a couple of months ago to be a further six to twelve months."
"Given both your biological and adoptive parent's attitudes towards you when something happens to your adoptive grandmother and I you will be on your own. Both families will cast you aside. I do not want that for you, and while there are somethings, I can do to help you when I die, that does not prevent my son and daughter-in-law doing everything to thwart my wishes."
"Daniel can help you, and that is why I want you to take a leap of faith and marry him today. He knows how to and will be able to fight my son and daughter-in-law for what is yours. While he can do that as my friend to help you, he will not have the strong position as he would have as your husband, my grandson-in-law. He will be family."
Abigail looked at Cole and said "You are asking a lot of me. I want to finish my education. I want to become someone. Why should I say I do and be locked into a marriage at such an age that will give me no options, just like I have now."
Calmly Cole responded "Abigail, sweetheart, the option to marry Daniel is yours and yours alone. If you say no, I will respect your wishes, and Daniel has promised me he will do what he can to protect you. But he also promised me, and it is in one of the documents for you to sign, if you agree to marry him, that if you wish separate and divorce any time after the third anniversary of my death, he will not stand in your way."
"You want to trap me for three years?"
"Not trap you Abigail but provide the space for you to secure your position with Daniel's assistance and to prevent my son, daughter-in-law and Sara attempting to get around my wishes."
Abigail, stared at Cole before saying "You are making it hard for me grandfather. What eighteen-year-old wants to get married on their birthday? Let alone get married at all?"
Sighing Cole calmly said "I get that you are being resistant to the idea of an arranged marriage, which if I am honest with myself is what I am asking you to agree to, but as I have said I just want you to consider taking a leap of faith that your life will change for the better. At least it will be an improvement in what I set in motion when I started my search for you and brought you back."
Cole looked at Abigail and said "Stop worrying. If you say no, I am not going to going to punish you, nor will I do anything to your adoptive grandmother. She will have all the treatment that can be given to her, to give her as much time as possible in a way that makes her comfortable. The only time that will be stopped is if she makes a decision to refuse all treatment."
Quietly, Abigail said "Why should I believe you? Everyone lies to me, so why should you be different?"
Cole, having anticipated Abigail's reaction, in the stack of folders beside him, quickly flipped and pulled out a folder, handing it to Abigail, saying "Abigail, this should show you that you can trust what I am saying. I figured that you might have this view, so I have paid the next five years hospitalisation and treatment fees for your adoptive grandmother. The hospital in taking the payment, put in the agreement which your adoptive grandmother has signed, that the only people who can cancel her treatment are you and her, and when she dies or goes to another hospital, the funds go to you."
Abigail, read the two-page agreement, seeing the signature of her adoptive grandmother, that she knew well.
Cole said, "How about you confirm this with your adoptive grandmother?"