“What about you? I’ve told you about my life—what about yours? I want to know all about you. Where did you grow up? What was it like for you going to school? Did you play sports, have you ever been married?” She stopped asking long enough to take a breath. “Oh, who am I kidding? I can’t catch up on all thirty-seven years in one lunch. And we haven’t even ordered.”
“We have time.”
“I hope so. Because I really want to know you.”
“And I want to know you.” He lifted the menu. “What do you think you’d like to eat? We can talk while we wait for our food.”
They ordered and talked, catching up on the big events of each other’s lives and some of the little ones that made them who they were. By the time they’d consumed their sandwiches and a couple cups of tea, Noah was more comfortable and relaxed around this woman who was his biological mother.
When the plates were cleared and the check paid, Ruby pushed back from the table. “I should get going. I’ve taken up enough of your time.” She stood and slipped her purse over her arm.
“I’ve enjoyed it and hope we can do this again soon,” Noah said, and meant it.
“Me, too. I know I can’t have back the years I missed, but there are so many more ahead of us. I don’t want to waste a single one of them.”
Noah tossed a couple of bills onto the table and escorted Ruby out to the parking area. “Where did you park?”
“On the side. The front was full when I arrived.”
At the side of the building, a small sedan sat at a slant on the sloped parking spot.
Ruby stood beside the car. “I’m really glad we had this time together.” She looked up at him. “Do you mind if I hug you?”
He smiled. “Not at all.” He bent as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and he gathered her slim body in a hug.
Although awkward at first, Noah felt the love and tenderness in her gesture and his heart swelled.
“I’ve always loved you,” she whispered. “And I never gave up hope.” Her arms tightened briefly, and then they fell to her sides. Ruby climbed into her rental car and started the engine, lowering the window.
“When will you head back to Florida?” Noah leaned against the door frame, not really wanting her to leave.
“Not for a couple more days. Do you mind if I come to visit you?”
“Not at all. I’d be honored.”
She backed out of the parking space and then stopped. She shifted into Park, opened the door, jumped out and ran back to wrap her arms around him one more time. “Please tell me you won’t disappear again. Please.”
He hugged her, holding her tight. “I promise.”
Ruby leaned back, rubbing tears from her eyes. “I just couldn’t bear to lose you again.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
She stepped back, straightening her hair. “I know that. It’s just...” With a sigh, she said, “It’s happened before.”
“I’m all grown up.”
“Yeah, and someone killed Reginald. Now that the world knows you’re related to him, you could be in danger.”
He pushed his shoulders back. “I can take care of myself.”
“I’m sure Reginald thought he could take care of himself, as well. Be careful.”
“I will.”
This time when Ruby climbed into her car, she drove away, leaving Noah staring after her.
His life felt surreal. He’d been talking to his mother all afternoon, and she was a stranger.
He wished he could talk to Emmaline, the woman who’d raised him as her son. When the DNA results had been confirmed, she’d disappeared. How could she hide at a time like this? Noah had so many questions only she could answer.
But then she’d kept a stolen baby that belonged to her brother, hiding the secret for thirty-seven years. It would explain why she’d isolated him from the rest of her family for so long. There had to be a law against doing that. When she’d been found out, she probably ran, afraid of going to prison.
His mind was churning and he didn’t want to go home. He surveyed the scene below him. The bistro was perched on a hill overlooking the beautiful harbor town of San Diego, and Noah thought of Rachel.
She lived in the city, only a few short minutes away. After he’d kissed her that afternoon, Noah wondered if she’d want to see him again. She calmed his soul at the same time she stoked the flames of desire.
The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to see her. Perhaps she could help him make sense of his life. Even if she couldn’t, he wanted to explore where their relationship was going. One kiss wasn’t enough with Rachel.
Digging his cell phone out of his pocket, he entered her number and waited.
She picked up on the second ring. “Hi, Noah? Did you have a nice visit with Ruby?”
“I did.” He ran his fingers through his hair, his pulse pounding in his veins. He’d never asked Rachel out on a date, having felt he wasn’t in her social stratosphere. She might still consider him nothing more than the hired help and turn him down. But if he didn’t ask, he’d never know. “Look, I’m still in town. Would you like to have dinner with me?”
“As in a date?”
Noah drew in a deep breath and let it out. “Yes.”
She laughed. “I thought you’d never ask. I’d love to have dinner with you, but let me do the cooking. You can come to my place. I grill a mean steak.”
“I didn’t mean for you to have to cook.”
“I love to cook. So is it settled? You’re coming to my place.”
“When?”
“Two hours.”
“Good, I have a few errands to run while I’m in town.” His heart lighter than it had been in days, he smiled into the phone. “I’ll see you then.”
His world might have turned upside down, but the one person he knew he could count on and trust was Rachel.
“Why didn’t you tell him over the phone?” Landry Adair asked.
Rachel glanced around her beautiful apartment, decorated with homey touches and cheerful artwork, unlike the estate she’d grown up in only a few miles away. The home her parents left her was large, sprawling, lavishly decorated and made her feel achingly lonely. She only lived there when she entertained others of the socially elite.
Any other time she stayed in her apartment in a quaint, older section of San Diego. The apartment was just the right size for a single woman.
Realizing that she was stalling, Rachel sighed.
“Like I said, I started to tell him while we were out riding, but...well I got sidetracked.” He’d kissed her and every thought of telling him that she’d been spying on him had flown out of her head. By the time she could think again, they were back at the barn and his mother was there. “And I refuse to tell him over the telephone. I’ll tell him tonight.”
“At least we made good progress on the plans for Elizabeth’s baby shower. Don’t forget, we need to get together soon with Georgia to finalize them. Why don’t you come out to the ranch later this evening?”
Rachel knew they needed to finish planning, but