A Mommy in Mind by Arlene James

Author:Arlene James
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Romance, General, Religious, Fiction
ISBN: 9780373874484
Publisher: Harlequin Love Inspired
Published: 2007-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

Monday had been insane for Ramon. One of his community projects had suddenly developed a crisis requiring hours of meetings broken only by personal appointments. His mother had called, but he hadn’t had a spare moment in which to speak to her. He’d finally locked the office door after nine o’clock, too late, he’d told himself, to call Lori, who would already have put Lucia to bed.

Tuesday had followed the pattern of Monday. He’d finally gotten to his mom about six in the evening, but when the conversation had turned to Lori, as he’d known it would, he’d quickly made an excuse and gotten off the phone.

In truth, he didn’t know quite what to say to her. He felt alternately guilty for allowing her silent but very public prayer to bother him and resentful that she’d put him in that position. Yet, they somehow had to get past this juncture—or he had to forget all about her. As the latter seemed impossible, he must find a way to manage the former.

Concluding that a frank discussion was in order, he’d called her on Wednesday, both her cell and home numbers. She’d answered neither, so he’d left a message on her answering machine saying that he would see her around seven on the following evening.

Despite receiving no reply, he rang her buzzer at precisely 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. His hands filled with a DVD and a box of microwave popcorn, he waited as long seconds ticked into longer minutes. He began to wonder if she might have gone out of town on assignment without telling him. Nothing obligated her to inform him, of course, but he couldn’t help feeling hurt that she might have ignored, or worse, forgotten, their date.

After what seemed an eternity, the door finally swung open. Lori offered him a wan smile. Dressed in sweats and fuzzy house shoes, her satiny hair swinging from a ponytail on the top of her head, she appeared pale and haunted, with dark blue smudges beneath her eyes. Concerned, he didn’t wait to be invited inside.

“Querida, are you all right?”

She ducked her head and cleared her throat. “Oh, um, I haven’t been feeling very well. I’m sorry, Ramon, I should have let you know that I wasn’t up to cooking dinner tonight.”

He brushed that aside. “Don’t worry about that. Just tell me how I can help. Do you have a fever?” Shifting the DVD into the same hand as the popcorn, he reached out with the other to feel her forehead, but she quickly stepped back.

“I’m okay, really, just…not myself.”

“How’s Lucia?” He wanted to know.

“She’s fine,” Lori muttered. “It’s not communicable.”

Nodding, he moved far enough into the narrow entry to close the door and slip a companionable arm around Lori’s shoulders. “I know just what you need. Popcorn. Popcorn with butter. Lots of butter. Please tell me you have butter.”

She chuckled. He took encouragement from that tiny, timid sound, and he was right to do so, for a moment later she looked up and softly told him, “I think you may be the answer to my prayers.

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