Page 68 of Finding Love

“Montague?” he asked.

Faith nodded. “Yes. Now that I know you exist and who you are… I’ve sort of been stalking you,” she said with a nervous giggle. “Trying to catch up on the twenty-some years we’ve missed together. First things first, Edith is a third cousin of ours. But still, if you think about it, it’s a good thing you called the wedding off.”

“Yeah.” He relaxed a little. “Still, it really pisses me off that dad knew. It makes me wonder why he pushed the wedding despite it.”

“Who knows.” Faith shrugged. “Second thing you should know.” She glanced over her shoulder and nodded. “My mother found out about our meeting.” Ryder tensed. “She’s at the bar.” Faith motioned with her head to the bar area behind Ryder’s shoulder. “She says that if you want, she’s there. If not, you can simply ignore her, and she won’t be hurt.” Faith lowered her voice. “She’s been crying nonstop since she told me about you. She keeps worrying you’ll sue her for breach of the gag order she signed during the divorce with your father. She may be a member of the Montague family, but she’s a black sheep. She’s been divorced and doesn’t conform to the family’s image.” Faith sighed and looked over his shoulder again. “She tries to fit in. Really. Like I said, she wasn’t the best parent, but since my father’s death, she’s been trying harder.”

Ryder could see Brook looking over his shoulder but he had yet to turn around and get a look at the woman. He had no memories of her. Nothing.

All his life, he’d believed that if she’d loved him, she would have fought for him. She would have hunted him down and tried to be part of his life.

Then he thought about her leaving after the divorce—single, pregnant, worried that his father would swoop in and take away that baby as well. Something he could totally see his father doing without even blinking an eye.

And maybe if his father had taken John away from Grace, he would have ended up better off. Or maybe it would have just fueled his psycho behavior further. Either way, looking at it now, he could see that his mother’s actions had all been because she’d been afraid.

His father had lots of money and power and if she’d been turned away by her family, she would have been all alone. The hate and hurt he felt towards her had dwindled in the past year and especially in the past few days. It was still there, but was far less than it had been in his youth.

He stood up and made his way across the room.

She was younger looking than he’d imagined. Maybe it was because his father had always looked old. Even when Ryder had been younger, his father appeared ancient. He had been almost fifty when Ryder had come along. His mother must have been in her twenties or thirties when he’d been born.

Her sandy blonde hair color matched Faith’s but was cut and styled in a shorter fashion. She was wearing black slacks that hugged a very fit figure, and she wore a white blouse with long sleeves. The jewelry that flashed around her neck and wrists could have been real, but something told him that she didn’t care one way or another.

As tears streamed down her face, he engulfed her in his arms and allowed her to cry against his shoulder.

“My boy,” she kept saying over and over. “My boy.”

What would it have been like if she’d been in his life? If he’d grown up knowing about his brother John and his half-sister Faith? Could he have stopped the criminal activity and eventual downfall of his brother?

Then he realized that if that had happened, he most likely wouldn’t have taken his yearlong trip and met Brook.

Glancing over his mother’s head, he saw Brook wipe the tears from her eyes as she smiled at him.

No matter what, one thing was clear. He wouldn’t wish away that chance meeting a couple of months ago on that stormy beach. Brook was his life now. Everything he wanted was because of her.

He had no future if she wasn’t in it.

Pulling back, he smiled down at his mother. Here, as with Faith, he could see the similarities.

“Would you like to join us? I’d like to introduce you to the woman I’m going to marry,” he added with a smile.

“Oh,” his mother gasped, and then she wiped her face with her hands. “I’d like that very much.”

He took her hand and walked with her back towards their table. He held out a chair for her and then sat down next to her.

Looking around to the three women watching him, he realized how full his life felt versus how empty it had been last year at this time. How could so much change so quickly?

He’d questioned his sanity over the last year whenever he’d fallen off a wave or spent a lonely night with only a dog as company. Now, however, he realized that he’d been searching for something he hadn’t known was possible. Finding love was the best thing that had ever happened to him.

The four of them talked for more than two hours. Only after he’d promised to stay in contact and after Brook had invited them down to Pride for a visit, did they finally climb back into the van and continue their journey towards home.

“Well?” Brook asked him once they were on the highway.

“Yeah,” he sighed, rolling his shoulders. “Is it possible to be exhausted because of too many emotions?”

“Yes,” she said, taking his hand. Willy nudged their joined fingers until they both gave him attention, and they laughed.

It was nice having someone he loved more than anything to talk to on the trip back to Pride.