Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
I feel him smile against my mouth. Pecking my lips, he asks something that makes me go rigid. “Want to meet my mom?”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Parental Units
Two weeks later…
Lily
Nox drives up to the place I used to call home, and I smile remembering this is where we first met.
My fiancé didn’t like the fact that my dad and I have grown apart, so he came up with an idea that will, hopefully, bring us all together again. He requested a family dinner.
That’s right. Nox requested a family dinner.
He also filled me in on a little secret that no one knows about. His mom always knew her son was alive. And I came to know this when we went to visit her last week. I was nervous and a total mess. Nox laughed at me, “Babe, seriously. She knows all about you. I send her letters every week. She already loves you.”
I scoffed, “Oh, sure! She loves the little harlot that almost got her son killed!”
He gave me the stink eye. “Don’t ever say that again. Ever.”
Rolling my eyes, I turned my head and wore a secret smile.
Every day I was getting a piece of the old Nox back. More bossiness and less doubt. I was loving every second of rediscovering my man.
We had yet to do the deed again, but I was willing to be as patient as possible, especially after witnessing a full-blown anxiety attack that was so bad, that I had to strip him and wipe his shaking body down with a cool cloth.
It seems Nox has nightmares. He says they’re getting better, and I’m inclined to believe him because in that first week, he had three, and this week, he hasn’t had a single one.
But watching my man be all determined and strong is seriously winding me up. I can’t wait until we get back to the bedroom.
As soon as we exited the car, a small woman with coifed hair, dressed in a sweet, pastel pinafore dress under an apron, and wiping her hands with a dishcloth, came running out of the house screaming, “You’re here! You’re finally here!”
What shocked me even more was that this little woman basically pushed her son out of the way to scoop me up in a warm hug, and said in the best southern twang I’d ever heard, “Lily, child, I wondered when I’d be seeing you! Oh dear. The things you’ve gone through,” she clucked. “Come inside and let Mama feed you.”
Ignoring her now-laughing son, she smacked him with the dish towel, took me by the hand, and led me inside her gorgeous house in the middle of nowhere.
Trudging behind us with his cane, he called out, “Mama, you make your biscuits?”
She puffed out her chest. “Darn tootin’ I made my biscuits. Gravy too, baby.” She turned to me. “Just the way he likes ‘em,” she said, patting my hand.
We visited with Clare, who insisted I call her Mama, for two days. By the end of the visit, I was seriously sad to go. I loved having someone to talk about Nox with.
We sat for lunch that last day, and I poured some iced tea for us all. When I went to add sugar to Nox’s, he shook his head and grinned, “Sweet tea’s for pussies, babe.”
Both of us scrunching our noses at his crudeness, Clare uttered, “I know you’re not a child anymore, Adam, but you’re not too old for your mama to smack you upside the head. You’d do best to remember that.” Then she eyed her son as she said, “Pass me the sugar, sugar. Mama likes her tea sweet. And I’m no pussy, thank you very much.”
Later that day, Clare and I sat out on the porch while Nox rested. He was still at the stage of becoming exhausted pretty quickly, and the travelling really took it out of him.
Finally having some time alone, I asked her, “What was he like as a kid?”
A wistful smile graced her face. “He was a fussy baby. Even back then, he was demanding.” She chuckled. “I always knew he wouldn’t lead a regular life. He was always protecting or helping someone. Always knew he was destined for bigger things, my Adam was.” Turning to me, she said in complete awe, “He was exceptional. Good at everything. Learned at a quick pace. Like a sponge. Just soaking up information. Sharp as a tack,” she laughed. “Lord knows he didn’t get that from his mama. I’m a simple girl, from a simple town, with simple needs. My Adam…he was much more.”
I sat there listening with a smile until she said, “That’s how I knew you were special.”
My eyes started to burn, but she went on, “Adam has a way of surrounding himself with special people. Rock and Boo are special, just like him, and when he said he’d met a girl…” She looked over at me with a knowing smile. “I knew he’d met her. That one person everyone looks for. They search and search, and some die trying to find ‘em. And when you finally meet them, something inside of you says ‘Oh, there you are. I’ve been looking for you. And I didn’t even know it.’”