Love Inspired: March 2022 Box Set, 2 of 2 by Jocelyn McClay

Author:Jocelyn McClay
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2022-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Norma? Tessa stared at Neal, who looked as if he’d just fallen off a very high cliff. “It’s Norma? Norma Binton is your birth mother?” She leaned against the wall, feeling a bit dizzy herself.

Neal ran a hand nervously through his hair. It was clear he hadn’t planned to admit that to her right now. The moment had taken them both to places they weren’t ready to go. “Yeah,” he breathed, looking everywhere but at her. Right now he seemed as fragile as little Charlie. The metaphor of both trying to recover from the consequences of missing motherhood couldn’t be denied. If she wanted proof that God was putting her in the path of Neal’s journey, it was hard to ignore that proof now.

Norma Binton. A woman who was barely nice—more often just the opposite—much less nurturing and maternal. It seemed almost impossible, but that wasn’t true. Biology could give anyone a child. It was parenting that was a choice. Tessa had known a dozen stories that told that truth, but none so stark as the man in front of her. “I’m sorry.” It seemed both the right and the wrong thing to say.

“Yeah,” Neal said again, still looking unmoored. “Me, too.”

Tessa glanced down to see Charlie sleeping against Dolly’s side, snuggled between the furry bodies of his brothers and sisters. “How about I put some coffee on? Dr. D’s office doesn’t open for another hour, and I think we need to talk about this.”

Neal hesitated. “What’s there to talk about?”

Tessa simply tugged him into the kitchen. No way was she going to let Neal sulk back to his house after dropping a bombshell like that.

“Well, for starters, it explains a lot.” Tessa pulled the strongest coffee grounds she had out of the cupboard.

“Like what?” He sank into one of her kitchen chairs. The man looked equal parts terrified and relieved. What a whopper of a secret to be carrying around a place like Wander Canyon.

“Here I am all optimistic and introducing you to every older woman in town thinking any one of our great ladies could be your mom. I think I’m helping and you’re dragging your feet trying to be cautious because... Well, come on—who wouldn’t be if it was Norma?” She still struggled to get her head around the idea.

“She’s...” He wiped his hand down his face, struggling for a word. “Daunting.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” Tessa agreed. “Wow. How? Do you know any of the details?”

“She was an unwed mother. She never divulged who the father was. That’s about all I know. I’m not even a hundred percent sure she is my birth mother, but I know enough to go to her with what I know. That is, if I choose to.”

His hesitation in the face of all her encouragement made sense now. She set the carafe under the coffee maker and turned on the brewing cycle. “I kind of always wondered what made her such a mean old thing. I figured there had to be something in her past to turn her so sour.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.