A Family Reunion (28 page)

Her eyes went soft and moist. “I love him,” she whispered quietly to herself. “It’s not about good sex like I want to believe; it’s about more. I truly do love him.” And with that ardent confession her fear returned. But this fear went deeper than any she’d ever felt before. She feared the possibility of losing Quinn when he found out that she had set out to use him in the beginning to get a child, a child she was fairly certain she now carried in her womb. She was a week late and was too frightened to take a home pregnancy test to confirm what she suspected was true.

That she was carrying Quinn’s child.

Even from a distance, Rae’jean could see that Ryan Garrison’s stance was a casual one as he leaned against her car and watched her walking toward him. For long moments she wondered how he’d known what time she got off work and why he was in the hospital’s parking lot waiting for her when it had been decided that any report she was due to receive would be delivered by someone other than him. She had counted on not seeing him again for a while.

She didn’t want to worry about the strong sexual attraction between them or the fact that even now, when she was still over fifty feet away from where he stood, she could actually feel the air surrounding them hum with sensuous stimulation. She glanced down at her arms and saw goose bumps forming on them and noticed her breathing had deepened.

Seeing the only way to get out of her dilemma was to place her mind on something else, she thought about the hectic ten-hour shift she had just pulled and that the most important thing on her mind was getting home and going to bed. But moments later she found even thinking about that was impossible. Her mind was determined to remain on Ryan Garrison. Even from across the parking lot his gaze was burning into her.

With all the dignity she could muster, on unsteady legs she continued walking, determined not to let him know how much seeing him again was affecting her.

Ryan forced himself to break eye contact with Rae’jean and looked down and took a deep, shuddering breath. He needed to have his head examined. He had made a big mistake by coming here to deliver the report to her himself instead of sticking to the plan they had agreed upon. But he had wanted to see her again and this was the only excuse he could come up with to do so. Besides, for some reason he wanted to be there when she read the report about her father.

Without wanting to, Ryan lifted his head and let his gaze wander over Rae’jean once again. She was less than ten feet away now and was wearing her doctor’s scrubs. She looked tired, he mused silently. Evidently it had been a very busy night for her. But then he felt tired himself. He wasn’t getting much rest, either. Ever since he’d seen her that day in his office, she had dominated his dreams even more than before, making him wake up drenched in sweat during the wee hours of the night.

“Mr. Garrison? What brings you here?” Rae’jean asked when she finally stood in front of him, only a breath away, eyeing him with quiet defiance. She decided that had been a stupid question when she saw the big envelope he was holding in his hand.

“I thought I would drop this off with you myself, Ms. Bennett, since I was in the neighborhood,” Ryan responded, loving the way her mouth had tightened into a disapproving frown. Seeing him again bothered her as much as seeing her again bothered him. He watched as she lowered her eyes and fixed them on the package he held in his hand.

“You’ve found something out about my father?” she asked in a voice that sounded anxious but fearful of what information the package contained.

“Yes.”

“Good or bad news?”

“That’s for you to decide after you read the report,” he murmured softly.

Rae’jean inhaled a slow, deep breath, then released it. She didn’t want to read the report. She wanted him to tell her what was in it. “Tell me, please.”

“You should read it for yourself, Ms. Bennett.”

A lump formed in her throat. “Yes, I’m sure I should,” she said, just a little shakily. “But I’m afraid to. I—I’ve waited so long for this moment and now I’m…”

“Scared,” he finished for her when the word couldn’t come out. “I understand.” After a few moments he said, “If you really want me to, I could brief you on what I found out, but you still need to read the report in its entirety yourself.”

Rae’jean expelled a sigh that sounded like relief before saying, “And I will, but I’m too tense to read it now. Thanks for your willingness to go over it with me.”

Ryan’s heart began to hammer hard in his chest with the look of gratitude that shone on Rae’jean’s face. There was something about that look that was indefinable and held him enthralled. “All right,” he finally said. He glanced around the parking lot where various people were coming and going. “But not here. Is there somewhere we can go and talk privately?”

Rae’jean lifted her shoulder and let it drop, knowing the one place where they would find absolute privacy. “Yes, my apartment.”

Ryan wasn’t surprised by how the inside of Rae’jean’s apartment looked. The decor offered a telling glimpse into her character more than it should have. She had exquisite taste. Evidently she liked soft colors, and the leather furniture in her living room, that was covered with numerous large throw pillows, looked comfortable as well as stylish. There was a huge fireplace of marble on one side of the room, but what really set off the spacious room was the huge floor-to-ceiling window that took up an entire wall. The very first time he had laid eyes on her, she had been standing at that window looking at him. The immediate attraction between them had been overpowering. It still was, but they were both fighting like hell to control it.

“You didn’t say how you liked your coffee, Mr. Garrison.”

The sound of her voice floated in from the kitchen, where the aromas of freshly brewed coffee and frying bacon seeped out as well. At this very moment she was in her kitchen making them breakfast. He had followed her in his car from the hospital, and once they got to her apartment complex they had ridden the elevator up together in silence. As soon as she had opened the door to her apartment, she had surprised him by inviting him to join her for breakfast, although for most people it was actually time for lunch.

Instead of turning down her invitation like he should have done, he had consented to join her. “Black!” he called back out to her.

“And how do you like your eggs?” she called back.

His brows rose, as he tried to remember the last time someone had cooked an egg for him or he had cooked one for himself. His day began with a visit to McDonald’s to get an Egg McMuffin. “Scrambled would be fine.”

“Well done, medium, or light?”

Ryan couldn’t help but smile. He didn’t know cooking an egg could be so much trouble. “Well done will be fine!” he called back out.

“OK.” Then a few moments later she said, “You can set the table for us. Use the dishes from the china cabinet. Place mats and silverware are in the drawer.”

He shook his head, thinking that using fancy, expensive china for breakfast didn’t make much sense, but who was he to argue? He would do as he’d been told. Besides, he was thankful for anything to do other than idly wander around her living room. He walked over to her dining room and took down the dishes and mugs from the cabinet. He pulled open a drawer and found the place mats and eating utensils.

He had just completed the task of setting the table when she breezed into the room with two platters in her hand. One was filled with crisp bacon and the other with the fluffiest-looking eggs he’d ever seen.

“I’ll be back in a minute with toast and coffee. What flavor jelly do you prefer?” she asked.

He frowned. “I’m not sure. What flavor do you have?”

“Umm, just about all flavors I could imagine. For the holidays, some of my relatives who know how much I enjoyed eating jelly as a child always send me those gift packs of miniature jars. They’re always good to have on hand.”

He nodded. “Grape will do.”

She smiled. “OK, I’ll be right back. You can go ahead and start filling your plate if you like.” Before he could say anything else, she had breezed back out of the room.

Ryan’s brow lifted as he tried to wonder just what to make of Rae’jean Bennett. He glanced down at the platters she had set on the table. One thing was certain: the woman could throw down when it came to a meal, and he had to admit he was definitely hungry. Following her orders, he immediately sat down at the table. He was just about to reach for the platter of eggs when she returned with a percolator in one hand and a platter of toast and jelly in the other.

“Now, we’re all set,” she said, placing the items on the table and then sitting down across from him. “First we say grace.”

Following her lead, he bowed his head while she said a few words of thanks.

“Amen.”

“Amen.”

She smiled over at him. “Don’t be shy; just dig in.”

“Thanks,” he said as he began filling his plate, and not with meager rations, either. He couldn’t remember the last time a woman had cooked for him. In fact, he doubted one ever had. His father had raised him after his mother had died before his first birthday of breast cancer, and his ex-wife, Cherise, had not been the domestic kind. The only thing she did in the kitchen was pass through it. With her hectic schedule as an attorney she normally would eat on the run, leaving him to his own devices.

Rae’jean poured the both of them coffee. “I hope I didn’t make it too strong for you.”

“I’m sure it’s fine.” Then after taking a sip he said, “It’s delicious.” And he meant every word of it. As impossible as it seemed, the woman even knew how to make good coffee. “Who taught you how to cook?” he asked after trying the eggs and bacon. Like the coffee, they were absolutely delicious.

“My grandmother. I spent a lot of time with her while growing up, which meant I spent a lot of time in her kitchen. I enjoy cooking. In fact, I don’t do enough of it since it’s only me. Grady, being from the North, never appreciated a home-cooked meal.” She smiled. “His idea of a good breakfast was a bowl of Cream of Wheat, and dinner was a steak off the grill with a tossed salad. He was definitely not a meat-and-potatoes man.” After taking a sip of coffee, she asked, “Where are you originally from, Mr. Garrison?”

Ryan’s coffee cup stopped midway to his lips and he met her eyes. “South Carolina.”

She nodded. “I’ve visited there before. In college a group of friends and I rented a condo in Hilton Head during spring break one year. We had lots of fun. Do you still have family there?”

“No. My mother was an only child. She died before I turned one, and I didn’t know any relatives on her side of the family. My father died while I was in college. He had a brother who passed away a few years back.”

Rae’jean nodded slowly. “So you don’t have any family?”

“No.”

She chuckled. “Well, I have a bunch, more than I can count, and I’m definitely into sharing.”

Ryan nodded. He liked her voice, all soft and mellow. The sound of it was doing crazy things to his heart rate. He knew he needed to take his mind off her voice and get their conversation on course. There was information he needed to share with her about her father.

He took a deep breath, wishing he didn’t have to tell her anything, especially not during breakfast. So he decided to delay it awhile. “Where did you go to school?” he asked her as he refilled his plate with more eggs.

“I got my bachelor’s from the University of Georgia and got my medical degree from Meharry,” she replied.

He nodded. “I got both my bachelor and master’s degrees from the University of South Carolina before going to work for the FBI.”

She found that interesting. “How did you like being an agent?”

“It was OK, but I wanted to be my own boss. That’s why I started my investigative business.” He took another sip of coffee before asking, “Have you lived here in Boston long?”

She shook her head as she chewed the last of her bacon. “I’ve been here for two years now. I was working at a hospital in Maryland before transferring here.”

Rae’jean pushed her plate aside and studied Ryan. It was obvious he was trying to avoid discussing the report that was sitting on the table in her living room. That made her even more nervous about what it said. She took a deep breath and gave him a nervous glance. “Mr. Garrison, I’d like to know what the report says.”

He held her gaze. “You don’t want to wait until after you finish breakfast to talk about it?”

She shook her head as the anxiety within her began to rebuild. “No.”

He smiled faintly and nodded. “All right then.” He leaned back in his chair. “Finding your father was not hard at all. In fact, it was as easy as I thought it would be. He’s been living and working in Texas for the past twenty-eight years. The insurance company his family owned went bankrupt around ten years ago. He’s been employed with another major insurance company as one of their top executives.”

Rae’jean’s heart fluttered with the news. “What part of Texas?”

“San Antonio.”

She took a minute to concentrate on what he had said. Now that she knew where her father lived there was nothing that would stop her from going to see him and introducing herself to him. She would have to be strong enough to handle whatever his reaction would be to her. Even rejection. “I have some time coming that I can take off. Other than my cousin’s wedding next month, I don’t have anything planned. I think I’ll fly to San Antonio to meet him.”

Ryan took another bite of his food, chewed, and swallowed before saying, “Ms. Bennett, there’s more.”

She glanced up at Ryan. “What else is there?”

Taking a deep breath and holding her gaze, he said softly, “You can’t go see him.”

Her expression turned puzzled. “Why can’t I?” She felt a lump form in her throat when she felt the effort he was putting into making sure he said the next words carefully. He leaned forward. “I’m sorry to be the one to have to tell you this,” he said tightly. “But your father passed away in January of this year.”