He turned toward her office, only to nearly run into a half dozen middle-aged women. They were staring at him purposefully, which wasn’t a good thing.
“Hi,” the one in front said. “I’m Denise Hendrix. Dakota’s mother? We met at the Fall Festival.”
He held in a groan. “Yes. Nice to see you again.” He nodded at the other women. “Ladies.”
The other women stared at him without responding. He noticed Bella in the crowd, but she didn’t look as happy as she had the day she’d also helped rescue him from the overaggressive tourists.
“We need to talk to you,” Denise told him.
“This isn’t a good time for me.”
“Do we look like we’re getting any younger?” the oldest in the group snapped. “You’ll listen, young man, and you’ll listen good. We have ways of making your life a living hell. Do you really want to test us on that?”
Like any good sportsman, he knew when he’d met a superior opponent. “No, ma’am.”
“I didn’t think so.” She sniffed. “Go on, Denise.”
“We’ve been talking,” Dakota’s mother told him. “We looked you up on the Internet. I don’t know what went wrong with your first wife, but she wasn’t anyone we would trust.”
The other women nodded in agreement.
“You’ve been single a few years now, so you’re obviously over her. You came here to settle down, which shows you’re intelligent. You seem like a nice enough man.”
Obviously these women hadn’t been talking to Mayor Marsha, he thought grimly.
“But you’re stuck.”
Bella pushed through the other women and moved in front of him. “Pia loves you, so we want her to have you.”
Denise patted her friend’s arm. “Bella, I think we need to be more delicate. Raoul might not know he’s in love with Pia. We might have to explain things.”
“He gets it,” another woman said. “How could he not? She’s wonderful. If he doesn’t love her, he doesn’t deserve her.”
“I agree,” someone else said. “But I’ve said it before. If we wait for the man we deserve, we’ll never get married.”
“At least he’s handsome.”
“And rich.”
“He has nice, thick hair,” Bella told them.
“And a great butt.”
The last comment was Raoul’s tipping point. “Ladies,” he said loudly. “I appreciate the intervention. I know Pia will be grateful when she hears of your very vocal support.” Humiliated, he thought while smiling for the first time in hours, but grateful.
“However, this is between me and Pia. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go talk to her.”
Denise grabbed his arm in a surprisingly strong grip. “Not so fast. What are you going to say?”
He stared at them all. While he could easily tell them it wasn’t their business, he hadn’t changed his mind about settling here. Fool’s Gold was going to be his home for a very long time, and these women were his neighbors.
“The truth,” he said simply. “That I’m desperately in love with her and I’m begging her to give me a second chance.”
Several of the women sighed.
Denise gave him a shove. “Don’t just stand there,” she said. “Go find her.”
He took off at a jog, trying to figure out where to go first. It was midafternoon. He would start with her office and spread out from there.
He took the stairs two at a time and burst onto the landing. Her door stood partially open. He hurried toward it, aware of voices down by the first-floor entrance. Ignoring them, he pushed open Pia’s door and found her alone in her small office.
She looked much as she had the first time he’d seen her. Pretty with curly brown hair and bright, hazel eyes that showed every emotion. The difference was now he knew that she was kind and loving, funny and smart. That she was rational and compassionate, even when panicked, that she gave with her whole heart and that he could search the world and never find anyone even close to her.
She looked up, startled. “Raoul. Are you okay? I heard about Marsha’s visit and I want to tell you I had nothing to do with that.”
“I know.”
“She’s upset, but no one wants you to leave town.”
“Good, because I’m not going.”
“Really? Well, that’s great. I mean of course you can live where you want. This is a free country. Sometimes small towns have an inflated sense of themselves.”
He moved around the desk and drew her to her feet. Her gaze flickered, as if she was afraid to stare directly at him.
“Pia?”
“Yes.”
“Look at me.”
She sighed, then did as he requested.
He knew her face. He’d seen it hundreds of times. But he would never get tired of seeing her and touching her. Only her, he thought. He would take the chance with her, because he didn’t have a choice. Without her, he was only half-alive.
“I offered you a marriage of convenience,” he began. “Because I wasn’t willing to get involved again. My first marriage ended badly. I’d made a mistake and I didn’t know where I’d gone wrong. Rather than figure that out, I decided to never take the chance again.”
Her fingers were warm against his. He felt her faint trembling. While he wanted to reassure her, he knew he had to tell her the truth, first.
“What Caro did was wrong, but I don’t believe she meant to betray me. Her career mattered more than anything else. I’d known that, but I didn’t think through what that meant. I wanted a wife and a family. She said the right words, and I took them at face value because it gave me what was important to me. I think she knew I wouldn’t like hearing that she wanted to wait to start a family.”
He brought one of Pia’s hands to his mouth and kissed her palm.
“I moved here, thinking it would be easy,” he continued.
“Foolish man.”
“Tell me about it. It wasn’t easy, but it was where I belonged. This is home. But it’s an empty, cold place without you.” He stared into her eyes. “I love you, Pia O’Brian. I was too stubborn and scared to admit it until now, but I love you. Please marry me. Not because it’s convenient, but because we can’t imagine life without each other.”
Hope brightened her face. Her lips curved into a smile.
Everything inside of him relaxed. She still cared. They could be together. Except…
“But it won’t just be us,” he told her. “You, me and the twins. There’s also Peter. I can’t leave him in the group home. I want to talk to Mrs. Dawson about adopting him.”
She bit her lower lip. “And if I say no to that?”
He tensed again, feeling the fist hit his gut. “We’re a package deal.”
Everything he’d ever wanted and needed hung on what she would say next. He wanted to tell her that he would take care of her forever. That he would always love her and their children. But he couldn’t bribe her into accepting. They both had to follow their hearts.
“Right answer,” she whispered. “And yes.”
Happiness exploded inside of him. He hauled her against him and kissed her with all the love and passion he had. Behind them he heard something that sounded like both cheering and sniffing. After a few seconds, he raised his head and glanced over his shoulder.
The women he’d met on the street all stood there, joined by the mayor and Mrs. Dawson.
“I’m so happy,” the social worker said, dabbing at her eyes. “You were cleared as an emergency foster parent when Peter went to stay with you the first time. You can go get him now.”
The other women nodded. Marsha smiled. “I knew you had it in you.”
“You didn’t say that earlier.”
“It wouldn’t have helped.”
Note to self, he thought, kissing Pia again. Do not get on the mayor’s bad side.
Pia wrapped her arms around Raoul’s neck and leaned against him. She’d hoped, prayed and done her best to believe it would all work out, bu
t she’d also been scared. Scared that she would spend the rest of her life loving a man who wouldn’t love her back. It was nice to be wrong.
He kissed her again. Her insides started that melty thing, which was also very nice.
“We’ve got a lot to do,” he said, his forehead resting against hers. “Approve the house plans, get married, start birthing classes.”
She laughed. “Don’t worry. I’m really good at details. Right now there’s only one thing that matters.”
He nodded. “Peter.”
“Yes. He should be home from school by now. Let’s go tell him the good news.”
Raoul hesitated. “You’re sure about this? We’ll have three kids.”
“I’m sure.”
There were other considerations. Like the fact that being a mom to newborn twins and Peter probably meant she was going to need an assistant to help her with all the festivals. And that until their new house was built, things were going to be a little crowded in the rental. And that they should get married right away so she could move in with Raoul and Peter. But those were for later. Now they were off to make a little boy’s dreams come true.
PETER SAT ON THE NARROW bed he’d been assigned. This was the same group home he’d been in before, but the kids were different. Not so mean. No one teased him about crying himself to sleep every night.
He tried really hard not to be scared all the time. He told himself he was bigger now. He didn’t need anyone. He was strong. Except when he thought like that, his chest hurt and his throat got tight and then he started crying.
He knew what would happen next. He would be sent to a foster home where he wouldn’t know the rules and the other kids would stare at him. He would try to do everything right, but he wouldn’t and then he’d get yelled at and maybe hit. And he would be alone.
From downstairs, he heard voices. Adults talking. For the first couple of days he’d waited for Raoul to come. To say he’d made a mistake, that he’d changed his mind. That he wanted Peter with him forever.
He’d thought…he’d hoped…
He shook his head. He’d been wrong. No one was coming for him. Not ever.
“Peter?”
He heard Mrs. Goodwin call his name.
“Peter, would you please come downstairs?”
Peter stood and wiped his face so no one would know he’d been crying. He moved to the landing, his head down, his shoulders hunched.
He took one step, then another. When he glanced up, he saw Raoul and Pia standing in the living room, watching him.
Without meaning to, he came to a stop and stared at them. They both looked kind of funny. Not mad, exactly but… Scared, he thought at last. Only adults didn’t get scared, did they?
Raoul walked to the bottom of the stairs and looked up at him.
“I’m sorry,” Raoul said. “For making you come here. I messed up.”
Peter shrugged. “Whatever.” He knew people were supposed to apologize, but he didn’t know why. Saying you were sorry didn’t change anything.
“No. Not whatever,” Raoul said, his gaze intent. “All I could think about was getting you away from the Folios. But there was a next step. You didn’t just need to be away from them, you needed to find your way to a real home.”
He cleared his throat. “Pia and I are getting married. We wanted to know if you’d like to come live with us.” Raoul paused. “No, that’s not right. We want to adopt you, Peter. If you’ll have us as your family.”
Peter’s whole body felt hot and cold at the same time. The words were like magic, making everything okay again. Okay for the first time in forever. Tears filled his eyes, then he was coming down the stairs so fast, he was practically flying. He launched himself at Raoul.
Raoul caught him and held him so tight it was hard to breathe, but that was okay. Peter was crying, then Pia was there, hugging them both. She was saying something about babies and puppies and his own room.
Peter didn’t understand it all and he knew it didn’t matter. All he cared about was that he’d finally found a place to belong. A family with people who loved him. Raoul’s strong arms held him. Pia kissed his cheek and smoothed away his tears.
For the first time since the car accident, he looked up at the ceiling and knew his parents really were watching him from heaven.
“You can stop being sad now,” he whispered. “I’m going to be okay.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-6554-1
FINDING PERFECT
Copyright © 2010 by Susan Macias Redmond
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