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“Incredible,” Hannah said. “We don’t get anything like this in Texas.”
The couple laughed. “I guess not,” the man replied.
When they reached the ground floor, people milled about. The restaurant was doing steady business and they put their names on the waiting list.
The couple disappeared into the hotel gift shop.
“Forty years,” Noah said glancing at them. “My parents would have killed each other if they’d stayed married.”
She’d forgotten that his parents divorced. He never really talked much about them. When they were alone, she needed to ask him about that time in his life. She’d met him in medical school in a study group.
At graduation, she’d met his father, but at the time, the older man lived in Houston. Now he had returned to his hometown Whitefish. And that was the reason they were here, plus to meet his new stepmother.
The hostess called Noah’s name and they hurried into the restaurant. Big glass windows lined one wall and they could see the patio area outside had at least four feet of snow covering it.
“We could play on the patio,” she said. “I bet we could make snow tunnels.”
“You’re crazy,” he said laughing. “We could take the jeep out and test it in the snow. I’ve never driven in the stuff. Might be good for me to practice before we get out on the highway.”
“Did you check to see if the highways were open this morning?” she asked.
“Not with the snow still coming down like it is,” he said.
Her brows raised. “We could take the jeep out and let you practice. That way you’d be more prepared when we drive to Whitefish.”
“If we get to go,” he said.
“Did you call your father?” she asked suddenly thinking he hadn’t done it in the room.
“Yes,” he replied as the waitress hurried over.
“Coffee?”
“Yes, please,” Hannah said as she turned back to Noah. “Was he all right with us not arriving for a couple of days?”
He nodded. “He said he understood. To let him know when we could leave.”
“Do you know anything about your birth father and mother?”
“Not really,” he said. “I know my adoptive mother didn’t want to talk about them. She said they were my parents and that’s all I needed to know.”
Hannah couldn’t imagine not knowing anything about where she came from. Sure he’d had his adoptive parents, but that didn’t seem to have been the best environment to raise a kid.
What would his life have been like with his birth mother and father from the very beginning?
“Do you regret that you weren’t raised by your real mother,” she asked.
He shrugged. “My adoptive parents loved me. I never doubted that. They just hated each other. As for my birth mother and father, I don’t know anything about them. Not everyone had a wonderful family growing up like you did.”
That was true. She’d been lucky. And she also wanted to give her children a safe, warm, loving home. She hoped that Noah would be a good, capable father, but sometimes people who were raised in a bad environment created what they grew up with. That was a concern.
The waitress walked back over. “Folks, we’ve got eggs and pancakes. That’s about it.”
“I’ll take two eggs over medium with a side of hash browns,” Hannah said.
“I’ll take the same,” Noah said and the waitress turned and walked off.
“You don’t think they’ll run out of food, do you?” she asked gazing at Noah with concern. “Maybe we should take the jeep out and see if we can find a grocery store.”
