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She sighed and held out a carrot to Grey.
“Ward had a turbulent childhood. He came to the ranch when he was twelve. I raised him as my son, and I love him dearly. But I can’t give you the answers you seek. You can trust him with your emotions, pains, and bare your heart to him. Talk to him about your fears, your past, and he will in return learn to trust you. That’s how I built a relationship with him.” She smiled at me genuinely. “I know you are in love with him, and believe me, he’s in love with you too. I have never seen Ward look at a woman the way he looks at you.”
“Do you really think Ward is in love with me?”
“Oh yeah!” Her face showed fine lines of wisdom and age. “Now, go have that talk with him.”
“Thank you, Maggie.”
She hugged me close to her
bosom.
“Mira, you should give your parents a call too,” she advised. “There’s nothing more important than family.”
“Maggie…I don’t know what to say to them.”
"Your heart will know the words to say when the time comes," she said.
“Thank you for this talk. I appreciate it,” I told her as I prepared to leave.
“Just repay me by taking care of Ward.”
I smiled. “I will,” I promised her and left the ranch feeling like I knew Ward a little better, but more importantly I knew I also needed to reach out to my own family.
Chapter Eighteen
Ward
It was past 10 p.m., and no one had seen or heard from Mira since she left the hospital this morning. I called the detectives to inform them she was missing, and I called her secretary who hadn’t heard from her all day. I went to the police department and was told nothing could be done unless she had been missing for twenty-four hours. So I went to the hospital again, thinking she would have shown up, but she wasn’t there.
“Did she tell you where she was going?”
“No,” Joe said. “Have you tried to call her?”
“I have, and she’s not answering,” I said, upset that I wasn’t by her side to keep her safe. “God, please keep her safe… I can’t lose her,” I said.
“You love her, Mr. Levine?” Joe asked with a sheepish look on his face.
“She means the world to me, Joe. I don’t just love her, I’m in love with her,” I said. “And call me Ward. We’re past the Mr. Levine stage.” I cracked a small smile.
“Ward, she’ll be fine. She’s a tough cookie,” Joe said.
“You said you saw the person who tried to burn down the building?” I asked, searching for a shred of light on what was going on.
“Yes, it was a hot female. Wait… I just remembered something! She drove into the mall opposite the building site. Maybe we can check their camera, and I can identify her.”
“Let me get Detective Jones on the phone, so you can tell him that.” I called the detectives and passed the phone to Joe. He handed the phone to me when they were done talking.
“Detective Jones said they will go to the mall tomorrow. I hope they catch that criminal. They tried to take Mira down and almost killed me.”
“Yeah, I hope they catch them, especially for what they did to you,” I said and sank down into the chair next to Joe’s bed. “Man, where could she be? I’m about to go crazy.” I stood up and started pacing. I just couldn’t be still without knowing where Mira was. “I’m going to drive to her house again to see if she’s back.”
As I headed to the door, the fragrance of Mira’s perfume wafted into the room and assailed my senses. When I saw her walking toward me, I ran to her and embraced her.
“Mira! Where were you? Why didn’t you tell anyone where you were going?” I said.
She placed her finger on my lips to silence me.
