and extracted a small photograph from it and held it out to him. “This is a picture of you taken a couple weeks before—well, before it happened.” She handed him a photograph of a baby boy with blue eyes and a tuft of bright blond hair.
Noah stared down at the photo. “It looks a lot like the ones my mother, er, aunt had in an album. I can’t understand how she could steal a child and live with herself.”
“From what I was told, Emmaline didn’t steal you. Your grandparents did the stealing and gave you to her.”
“I know. But she knew I didn’t belong to her. She should have returned me as soon as my grandparents handed me over.”
Ruby took the photo from him and stared at it, her gaze far away. “She’d just lost her own baby. I know how awful that feels. I can understand her wanting to keep you. You were probably like a gift that she couldn’t bear to give back. Not after her baby died. Postpartum depression can be bad, but giving birth only to lose your baby afterward had to have intensified her grief.”
Noah shook his head. “You of all people shouldn’t be so forgiving. There’s no excuse for taking and keeping another family’s child.”
“I’d have done anything to have my baby back,” Ruby said, her voice breaking on the last word. “There’s nothing worse than losing your child. God, I left you outside to go answer the stupid telephone.”
Noah reached across the table and took Ruby’s hands. “You can’t blame yourself. You couldn’t have known someone would take your baby.” Though he was talking about himself, it felt as if the child that had been stolen was someone else. And though the woman whose hands he held was his mother, he hadn’t had the benefit of growing up with her. She was a stranger. And that saddened him.
He couldn’t change the past. All he could do was accept the present and build a future with the knowledge and the people he now knew were his family.
Gently squeezing her hands, he urged, “Tell me about you.”
She sniffed and glanced up at him. “What do you want to know?”
“Everything.” He smiled. “From the time I disappeared until now.”
She laughed and pushed the fine hair out of her face. “There’s not a whole lot to say. After you disappeared, your father couldn’t forgive me for leaving you unattended. For that matter, I blamed myself. I don’t know if you are aware, but Reginald and I married because I was pregnant with you.”
Noah nodded. “I’d heard as much.”
She shrugged. “Since you were gone, there wasn’t any reason for us to stay married. We divorced, I moved away from North Carolina to Florida and he moved to California. In Florida, I met a wonderful man I fell in love with and married.” Her smile was wistful and happy.
“What about other children?” he asked. “Do I have any half brothers or sisters?”
Ruby shook her head. “My husband had a daughter he brought into our marriage.” Her smile widened. “She accepted me as her mother from the moment I came to live with them. Georgia isn’t like a stepdaughter—she’s more than that. I think you’ll like her.”
Noah was still awed by his newfound family. Going from a man with only a mother who kept him secluded from the rest of his relatives to having an entire family and extended family, he was blessed. “Georgia is your daughter? Is she Carson’s fiancée?”
“She is.” Ruby grinned. “Such an unlikely pair. But so in love.”
Noah chuckled. “She’ll give Carson a run for his money. They seem happy together.”
Ruby’s face brightened. “I think so. Carson needed her and she needed him. And now that I’ve found you, I have my entire family in one place. I couldn’t be happier, myself.”
“Will you be going back to Florida anytime soon?”
Ruby nodded. “Yes.”
Disappointment knifed through Noah. “I’m really sorry to hear that. I’d hoped to get to spend more time with you.”
She laughed. “I’m only going back to sell my house. I have nothing to keep me in Florida. Since my husband passed away, it’s just me. Georgia isn’t leaving California and now that I’ve found you...”
Noah found himself leaning forward. He didn’t want distance to keep him from knowing this woman. “Does that mean you’ll be moving?”
“It does. I want to be close to my children.” Her voice caught. “You don’t know how happy that makes me to say that—children.” She patted his hand. “Don’t worry, I won’t move in with you or Georgia. You have your own lives. I’ll get a little place of my own. But with any luck I’ll see you sometime?” She glanced across at him, her eyes wide, hopeful.
He was touched by the warmth in her gaze. “Count on it.”
“What about you? I’ve told you about my life—what about yours? I want to know all about you. Where did you grow up? What was it like for you going to school? Did you play sports, have you ever been married?” She stopped asking long enough to take a breath. “Oh, who am I kidding? I can’t catch up on all thirty-seven years in one lunch. And we haven’t even ordered.”
“We have time.”
“I hope so. Because I really want to know you.”
“And I want to know you.” He lifted the menu. “What do you think you’d like to eat? We can talk while we wait for our food.”
They ordered and talked, catching up on the big events of each other’s lives and some of the little ones that made them who they were. By the time they’d consumed their sandwiches and a couple cups of tea, Noah was more comfortable and relaxed around this woman who was his biological mother.
When the plates were cleared and the check paid, Ruby pushed back from the table. “I should get going. I’ve taken up enough of your time.” She stood and slipped her purse over her arm.
“I’ve enjoyed it and hope we can do this again soon,” Noah said, and meant it.
“Me, too. I know I can’t have back the years I missed, but there are so many more ahead of us. I don’t want to waste a single one of them.”
Noah tossed a couple of bills onto the table and escorted Ruby out to the parking area. “Where did you park?”
“On the side. The front was full when I arrived.”
At the side of the building, a small sedan sat at a slant on the sloped parking spot.
Ruby stood beside the car. “I’m really glad we had this time together.” She looked up at him. “Do you mind if I hug you?”
He smiled. “Not at all.” He bent as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and he gathered her slim body in a hug.
Although awkward at first, Noah felt the love and tenderness in her gesture and his heart swelled.
“I’ve always loved you,” she whispered. “And
