Page 21 of Axel
He came back after a few minutes bearing two plates. “Would you prefer to sit at a table?”
“I am fine right here. As long as I am not in the way.”
“Not at all.” He placed the plates in front of her. “I am enjoying the view,” he added with a grin.
*****
“Darling, are you okay?” Caitlin asked her son anxiously as he left his position on the comfortable sofa to go and look out the window.
She had surprised him by stopping by on her way back from a church social and as usual had brought him some pastries to enjoy with his coffee. “I baked too much for the social and had leftovers,” she told him. He doubted that was the entire story, but he took them with a smile.
Turning to look at her, he smiled slightly. “Just thinking about the sacrifices, you made. I had the interview with Ms. Logan this afternoon. It brought back some memories.”
“I never think of it as a sacrifice,” she admitted softly.
He smiled as he stared at her. She was wearing a peach dress with a matching cashmere sweater. Her thick coffee brown hair threaded through with gray was styled in a neat chignon at the back of her head and she looked lovely and graceful.
He recalled her wearing faded dresses that always looked too big on her. But they had shopped in the thrift stores and the items there were not exactly brand new.
“You are a very beautiful woman, why haven’t you ever met anyone else?”
His grin widened as the blush stained her smooth cheeks. “Why mother, don’t tell me you have a secret beau? Who is this gentleman that I am going to need to vet carefully?”
“You are too bad,” she chided, shaking her head at his teasing. “He is not a secret beau, just someone at church.”
“How serious is this and why am I just hearing about it?” The teasing note had disappeared from his voice as he continued to stare at her.
As far as he knew, she had only been with one man, the worthless excuse for a father and husband and even though she was almost sixty, she was very inexperienced when it comes to relationships. He was also aware that because of who he was, people were going to want to find ways to get piece of the action.
At the same time, he could not begrudge his mother for wanting to seek companionship. She had been without one for years and he suspected that in the past, she had been too busy and too broken up to even think of having a relationship.
“We are just friends, that’s all.”
Finishing his drink, he walked over to where she was seated and sat next to her. “You deserve to be with someone who is worthy of you.” Taking her hand in his, he linked their fingers. “I never thought of you as wanting to be in a relationship.
Hell, you are my mother, and we prefer to think that you are not human, at least when it comes to that sort of thing. But you deserve someone who is going to look past…,” he stopped abruptly as he searched for the appropriate word.
“Look past the fact that my son is a multi-billionaire.” She supplied with her serene smile.
“I hate that word,” he muttered.
“Even though it is true? I am not an idiot, darling,” she squeezed his hand, “I know that there are unscrupulous people out there who would want to be with us because of the money.”
She was anxious not to remind him of his past relationship with that greedy and immoral woman. “Why do you think I have been so careful? Bert and I are just friends. He lost his wife to cancer some years ago and they never had children. As a matter of fact, you know him.”
“I do?”
She nodded with a smile. “Bert Granger owns the hardware store in town.”
“Ah.” A smile touched his face as he brought up the image of skinny man with the bushy head of steel gray hair and a pleasant smile. “We have been ordering supplies from him ever since we started the renovations.”
“And he is very grateful for the business. He has been a fixture in this town for a very long time and is a decent man.”
“I am sure he is.” Lifting their joined hands, he kissed hers tenderly. “In spite of that and the fact that I happen to respect him, if he hurts you, he answers to me.”
This time the blush was even more evident, and her eyes moistened as she stared at him. “I think he knows that.”
*****