Finding Family

Her expression, which fell somewhere between regret and reprieve, told him that she was having a very similar internal dialogue. Sliding away from him, she reached for her phone and glanced at the caller ID screen. A sigh escaped her, and she set the phone down without bothering to answer. “I’ll let voice mail take it.”

“Don’t miss a call on my account.”

She shook her head. “It’s my ex-husband. I’m not particularly interested in talking to him right now.”

He knew she’d been married; she had mentioned it briefly during their first dinner together. He had not known that she stayed in contact with her ex.

The mood was most definitely broken. He pushed a hand through his hair and stood. “It’s getting late. I’d better go. Thanks again for going with me tonight.”

She walked him to the door. “So you and Ethan are going to have your tests Monday morning?”

He nodded. “They’re heading back home after that. Apparently, he’s led everyone to believe he’s on a business trip.”

“You still think it would be best for him not to mention you to the rest of the family until the test results are back?”

“Yeah. I still want him to wait.”

“How long will it take?”

“A couple of weeks, most likely. If the lab’s backed up, it could take three.”

“That’s a long time to ask him to keep such a big secret.”

“It’s been thirty years,” he said with a shrug. “They can wait another few weeks.”

She didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t argue with him. “Do you think you and Ethan will stay in contact while you wait for the results?”

He smiled slightly. “I won’t hang up on him if he calls. I don’t think Ethan’s much of a phone chatter, though.”

“No. Neither do I.”

He reached for the door.

“You know what the test will say, Mark,” she said quietly as his hand fell on the doorknob.

He paused without looking back at her. “I’m not psychic like Aislinn.”

“You don’t really have to be, do you?”

He sighed. “No. I’m pretty sure I’m exactly who Ethan said I am. I just need to see the test results before I make any decisions, you know?”

“You should do what feels right to you.”

He wished he knew what that was. “I’d like to schedule another meeting with you about my house. I’ll look at all the samples and drawings you left there and I’ll try to be more informed and coherent next time we talk.”

“I’m free for a while tomorrow afternoon. Or would you rather wait until—”

“Tomorrow sounds good,” he said, jumping on the offer before she could change her mind. “What time?”

“What about Ethan and Aislinn? Don’t you have any plans with them tomorrow?”

“Not really. I think they’re going to do some sightseeing around Atlanta tomorrow. We’re meeting for breakfast Monday morning before the DNA test.”

She frowned a little, and he suspected he knew what she was thinking. She probably thought he should have offered to entertain the other couple in his town. To be honest, he felt a little guilty about not doing so. But the truth was, he just hadn’t known what to do with them—not while he was still struggling to think of them as family. He was well aware that he was using the DNA test as a way to stall for a few more weeks before he had to fully face the looming changes in his life.

To his relief, she decided to follow his lead and concentrate on her work rather than his complex personal situation. “Two o’clock?”

“I’ll be ready,” he promised.

He was in a surprisingly good mood as he headed back to his car. It had nothing to do with his newfound family. Little to do with his renewed decorating plans. And everything to do with the fact that even after this not particularly spectacular evening, Rachel still seemed to be interested in him.

“Where have you been? I’ve been trying to call you all evening,” Dani scolded her sister, less than half an hour after Mark left.

“That’s why I called you back,” Rachel answered with forced patience. “I couldn’t talk earlier, but now I can. What do you want?”

“I need to talk to you. What have you been doing all day, anyway?”

“I spent the day with a client.” She saw no need to go into any further detail.

“You work too hard, Ray-Ray. All day on a Saturday?”

There was no mistaking the genuine concern in Dani’s voice, and Rachel softened in response. “Don’t worry about me, sis. You know I enjoy my job.”

She felt a little guilty for leading her sister to believe she’d been working all day, rather than sharing a strictly personal dinner with Mark, but she didn’t give in to it. She wasn’t anywhere near ready to confide in Dani that there could be a new man in Rachel’s life. Dani would tell their mom, and then the two of them would hound Rachel for details and start offering unwanted advice.

“I know. But you should leave time for yourself, too.”

It was eerily reminiscent of what Aislinn had said earlier. Rachel cleared her throat, her guilt intensifying. “Um, Dani—”

“Besides, I really needed to talk to you today. Mother’s driving me nuts. You’ve got to help me convince her to get off my case about Kurt.”

Guilt dissipated in a puff of exasperation. “This is really between you and Mother. I don’t want to get in the middle this time.”

“But you have to talk to her. She’ll listen to you. She’s never listened to me.”

“Maybe because you get too defensive and argumentative with her. If you would just stay calm and discuss her concerns and then quietly present your own position, it would be so much more productive for both of you.”

“She’s the one who won’t stay calm. She starts ragging on me about Kurt and then trying to tell me how to live my life, and then when I calmly tell her that I’m old enough to know what I’m doing and I don’t really need her to make my decisions for me, she tries to make me feel guilty and irresponsible.”

Amazing how oblivious Dani could be about her own behavior, Rachel thought with a shake of her head. Anyone who’d heard that aggrieved speech would think that she was completely innocent in her frequent disagreements with her mother. Rachel, who had been a spectator for all too many of those head-to-heads, knew better.

Dani was always the first to raise her voice, the first to burst into tears, the first to claim that no one cared about her or what she wanted. Clay hadn’t dubbed Dani the drama princess for nothing. Their mother, he had added, was still the queen. When Dani asked what that made Rachel, he had merely shrugged and said Rachel was the “executive producer”—frantically putting out fires behind the scenes.

“And where do you fit into this scenario you’ve created?” Dani had asked pointedly.

With a shrug, Clay had replied, “Me? I’m just a member of the audience.”

That response still bothered Rachel when she thought about it. Losing his father in his teens and being raised in a household of strong-willed and very vocal women had not been particularly easy for Clay. As a result, he had searched for his identity outside the home—and she wasn’t thrilled about some of the places in which he had looked. Where he was still looking.