Chapter Three #2
“Because you’re awesome. You’re Thea’s best friend, and she says you’re a true sister since she didn’t get one.
You got thrown a curveball in high school, but it sounds like you’re doing all right, and you have a kid who I’m guessing you love.
” At my nod, he flashed a quick grin. “I never knew my mom helped you. What did she do?”
“I don’t know how your mom knew her, but she knew a woman who did fundraising for some program in Boston.
Your mom took me to meet her, and that woman set me up with this program.
They had housing, and I got to finish high school and do job training too.
By the time I left, I had two years of college credits.
Then I got a scholarship as part of a work-study program. ”
“In all that time, you knew you wanted to keep the baby?”
That was the first stutter in his questioning. I sensed his hesitance.
“Sort of, but it wasn’t easy to decide.” I rubbed my fingers along the edge of the fuzzy knitted throw draped over my lap.
“The program supported us with whatever we wanted to do. It wasn’t like one of those homes trying to make you have the baby.
They set me up with a counselor and sent me to educational seminars on parenting, adoption, and even abortion.
I wasn’t sure what to do, but I was already four months along when I got there.
I actually thought I was going to give her up for adoption.
” I wrinkled my nose, twisting my lips a little sadly.
“Even though I wanted to keep her, I thought that was best because I didn’t have a lot of money.
But when I had Quinn and held her, I just couldn’t do it.
I felt really bad about it. Fortunately, the way they had the adoption program set up, you weren’t supposed to meet the prospective parents until after you had the baby.
About two months later, one of the other girls in the program did go through with an adoption, so the same family adopted her baby.
It was weird feeling bad about that, and I was so relieved it worked out for them. ”
Noah stared at me intently and then nodded. “Damn. You are one strong woman. I don’t know how you did it.”
“With a lot of help. It all started because your mom made a phone call and knew somebody. Life is funny like that.”
“Mom was adopted. She donated money to stuff like that all the time.”
“She was? She didn’t tell me that.”
“She was pretty private about it. She loved her parents, but it was a thing for her, to make sure mothers had the support they needed. She found her bio mom later, and it turns out, that her mom was young and totally overwhelmed. It worked out differently for you. So yeah, two out of four.”
I rolled my eyes. “No need to count. I am doing okay. Quinn’s an amazing daughter, and I love her to pieces. Honestly, it played out the way it was going to play out. My parents were never that supportive. They lost their shit when I got pregnant.”
“What about now?”
“They both died. My mom and I sort of reconciled. Dad had liver cancer. Not a shocker because he was a functioning alcoholic his whole adult life. My mom reached out to me. I went to see him, and it was okay. I wanted Quinn to meet my mom, so that was good. She passed away only two years ago after she had a stroke. That was it.”
“Did they leave anything for you?”
I shook my head. “My parents did okay, but my dad blew through their retirement money. He got sick before they were old enough to be on Medicare and didn’t have health insurance.
My mom used what little money they had left to pay off his medical bills, and then she was gone.
Thank goodness the hospital couldn’t chase me for anything they owed because Lord knows what charges they racked up in the end. ”
“Wow. You’ve just been making it work all by yourself,” Noah said softly. “I’d love to meet your daughter sometime.”
“Well, if you don’t get sick of me this week, we can get lunch or something in Boston.” It was strange to realize we’d both been living in the same city and hadn’t seen each other in all these years.
“I’m not going to get sick of you. This house is big enough to hide from each other. Should we meet for coffee in the kitchen tomorrow morning?”
I laughed. “Of course.”
“Let me check to ensure that the bedroom’s warm enough.”
A few minutes later, I was standing in the bedroom, the one and only room with a bed in the house, and it suddenly felt small despite being large and spacious. Noah had one hand curled on the doorframe above as he looked at me. “Are you good for the night?”
His stance was relaxed, but his shirt had ridden up slightly with his arm lifted, revealing a strip of skin above his jeans. That, and one side of the well-defined V that disappeared behind his waistband.
When he arched a brow in question at my silence, I managed to nod, trying to get a breath in, but my lungs were doing a poor job. “All set,” I squeaked.
With a quick smile, he left, closing the door behind him. I listened to his footsteps retreat down the hallway as I sank my hips on the bed and wondered how to wrestle my body under control. If this was how I reacted to Noah every time I got close to him, it was going to be a long week.