spoons for Zoe to handle, never mind a young girl like Sam. Zoe wondered if the place settings were so intricate on purpose, to test Zoe's breeding and Sam's place within this family. She chided herself for thinking the worst and plastered a smile on her face for Sam's sake.
'Zoe's an unusual name,' Vivian, Ryan's mother said.
Zoe waited for the help to serve their salads before replying. 'It's Greek,' she explained.
'Her sister's name is Ariana,' Uncle Russ said, surprising Zoe.
That he remembered her sister's name was a shock. A sign that he'd been interested enough to take note of it.
'That's right,' she said, forcing a smile. For Ryan's sake she wanted to give the man a chance.
'Which fork do I use?' Sam whispered.
In reply, Zoe picked up her outside utensil on the left and Sam followed suit.
'I guess your family doesn't dine together often?' his mother continued.
'We eat as a family every night,' Sam chimed in. 'Elena makes the best mousse cocka in the world.'
'Heavens!' Ryan's grandmother, who sat at the head of the table, turned pale beneath her heavily caked foundation.
Ryan coughed and Zoe tried not to laugh. 'She means moussaka,' Zoe said. 'If you saw the movie
'Well I'd prefer we don't speak that way at the table.' Ryan's mother shot Sam a stern glare.
'Sam's got a great sense of humor. Don't you, Sam?' Ryan defended his niece for the umpteenth time tonight, regardless of her outrageous words or shocking behavior, Zoe thought approvingly.
Unfortunately, each time he sided with Sam against his family, Zoe fell a little harder for the man.
Sam grinned. 'I sure do. Bet I can tell you where you got them shoes,' she said, falling back on the old boardwalk joke.
Everyone around the table looked at one another with blank expressions, except for Ryan's grandmother who frowned and mumbled something about the child's deplorable grammar.
'I give up,' Uncle Russ said.
Zoe sensed he sought to make Sam more comfortable and she silently applauded his attempt.
'Where'd I get my shoes?' Russ prodded Sam.
'You got 'em on your feet!' Sam laughed and slammed her hand on the table for emphasis, knocking over Zoe's glass of red wine by mistake.
Zoe jumped up to avoid being soaked by the liquid, but the white tailored blouse she wore had already taken the worst of the spill.
'Oh jeez!' Sam grabbed for her napkin and helping Zoe, they began to blot the mess.
Suddenly Ryan's grandmother yelled at them both. 'Stop!'
They paused.
'Those napkins were stitched by my mother and aren't meant to be used as dishrags.'
'But they're napkins,' Sam said. She looked at Ryan, who also stood. He surveyed the table and the situation, his cheeks turning a ruddy color.
'Then pardon me, ma'am, but why put them on a table where there's food, drink, and their designated use is for cleaning?' Zoe asked with the same mock sweetness she'd been treated to all evening.
'Clearly we're going to have to teach the young lady table manners if she's going to fit in.' Ryan's mother picked up a bell Zoe hadn't noticed before and rang for the help to clean up.
Zoe clenched her jaw. 'I wonder what good table manners will do her in a house when all other form of manners are missing.'
Ryan placed a hand on her shoulder. 'Relax,' he said softly.
She couldn't begin to know how after all she'd endured.
'I'll handle this,' he promised both with his words and his touch.
'Ryan, there's no need to handle anything. I understand Samantha hasn't been raised in the best of homes, so rest assured we'll cut her some slack,' his mother said.
Zoe's temper flared. 'How dare you insult my family and my home- '
Ryan's easy touch turned harsher, cutting her off. 'This was a mistake.' He strode over to Sam and Zoe. 'I wanted you to meet each other,' he said, facing the table. 'You've done that. Now we're leaving.'
His dark eyes flashed angry sparks. He was obviously pained with emotions Zoe had never seen in him before.
Without realizing her intent, she reached up and covered his hand with her own, offering him the only support she could.
As they turned to leave, Uncle Russ spoke. 'Wait. This situation has been difficult on all of us, can we at least agree on that?'
'He's got a point,' Ryan's father said.
The older women, Ryan's mother and grandmother, nodded their agreement.
'Zoe?' Uncle Russ asked.
She pivoted, met the older man's gaze and forced herself to nod as well.
'Samantha?'
'It bites,' she muttered, only to receive an elbow on either side from both Zoe and Ryan.
'The kid does have a point, albeit a colorful one,' Uncle Russ conceded with a smile. He gestured to their empty chairs.
For the sake of Ryan's relationship with his family, Zoe decided to follow Uncle Russ's lead, and grabbing Sam's hand, she sat back down.
'I think we need to start over,' Uncle Russ said, his pointed gaze settling on his nephew. 'Tonight we get through this meal and as a thank-you, tomorrow we do something Samantha would enjoy more.'
Although Zoe hadn't liked Russ upon meeting him, she admitted that it was because she'd feared his effect on his nephew. Instead, he'd proven to be an unlikely ally and she admired how he pulled the family together, forcing her to reassess her opinion of the man. Besides if Ryan liked him, Zoe was determined to give him a chance.
'You always were the voice of reason, Russ.' Ryan's elderly grandmother smiled. 'Ryan, please sit.'
Ryan stiffly and warily took his seat.
While they had been arguing, Zoe realized, the help had cleaned up the mess and replaced everything like new.
'So, Samantha, that's an interesting necklace you're wearing. Care to tell us about it?' Uncle Russ strove for a nonthreatening topic and Zoe was grateful.
'It was my mom's,' Sam said, her fingers playing with the keys that always dangled around her neck.
'Why, I don't think Faith would wear something so- '
Ryan coughed loudly, clearly warning his mother to tread lightly or they were leaving for good this time.
The other woman flushed and said, 'I meant, I don't remember Faith owning those.'
Sam shrugged. 'It's all they let me keep of hers when I went to my first foster family.' She glanced down, picked up the proper fork, and began to eat her salad.
The rest of the family did the same. Somehow disaster had been averted for tonight, but Zoe's stomach was in complete knots when it came to the notion of Sam coping with these people on a daily basis.
She glanced at Ryan's strong profile, the mask behind which he hid his pain. Zoe knew he'd placed unspoken hope in his parents' ability to come around and they'd disappointed him. Meanwhile she'd placed no faith in Ryan's ability to stand up to his parents. If he knew that, he'd be disappointed in her, as well. Heaven knew she was disappointed in herself. She shouldn't have needed to see evidence of where his loyalties would lie.
Ryan had proven himself tonight and the thought ought to give Zoe pure joy. Instead she was forced to acknowledge that it brought her and her family closer than ever to losing Sam for good.
Chapter Ten
IT WAS MIDNIGHT and Ryan lay in his bed, channel surfing because he couldn't sleep. Couldn't forget the awful
