“Oh, I read about him!” Then her tone dimmed a little, obviously recognizing his surprise. “When I was, uh, using the computer in Utah. There was a thing on the municipal website about the hotel he’s trying to get approval to build.”
“The Hotel Fortune. That’s just the latest project.” He switched lanes, accelerating past a slow-moving semi. Their rental car didn’t offer the height of luxury, but it did have an engine with a respectable amount of pickup. Long as he managed not to score a speeding ticket along the way, he intended to take advantage of it.
“Kane’s been working on the plans for the inn, too, since we moved there a couple months ago. He tells me they’re finally making some progress. Rodrigo has also teamed up with Fortune Brothers Construction—that’s Callum and his brothers’ company that’ll be building the hotel. It’s Callum’s baby sisters—Ashley, Megan and Nicole—who own Provisions. I’ve heard talk that Nicole—she’s our sous-chef—will be heading over to the inn’s new restaurant as the executive chef. She’ll be working with a local woman who has a really loyal clientele they’re hoping will follow her.”
“Ashley’s your cousin, too?”
“I told you. There are lots of cousins. Can’t swing a cat in Texas without hitting one of them and particularly in Rambling Rose. My dad and their dad and Gerald didn’t know anything about each other, but they’ve all inherited the same knack for populating the earth. We’ve all got huge families.”
“As big as yours? I remember you telling me there are six of you. And I remember Kane.”
“How about the twins?”
She hesitated. “No. Sorry, but I don’t—”
“I think you only met them once,” he assured. “Brady and Brian. They were still in high school when you and I were toge—when we met. Josh was learning to drive and Arabella was—” he thought a moment “—fourteen.”
“The only girl,” she murmured. “Driving all of her overprotective big brothers positively mad, no doubt.”
He smiled wryly. “Something like that.”
“And your parents? Your mom? I feel like she was a teacher or something.”
“Not a teacher, but she did work at a school.”
“They’re well?”
“Mom’s good. Dad’s the same.”
“Same as what?”
He shook his head ruefully. “Doesn’t matter. Callum’s family is two bigger than ours. And Gerald’s—Well, let’s just say there are a lot of them from that particular uncle. Legitimate and otherwise from what I’ve heard.”
“I can’t imagine what that’s like,” she murmured. “My parents were only children. I’m an only child.”
Was Linus going to grow up as an only child, too? he wondered.
Adam told himself that it didn’t matter. As long as Linus had a chance to grow up.
He loosened his death grip on the steering wheel. “There were plenty of times growing up when I wished I was an only. Most of Callum’s brothers and sisters have landed in Rambling Rose. The only one there who isn’t involved that much with the development end of things is Stephanie. She works at the vet clinic.” He drummed the steering wheel with his thumb a few times. Hell. Putting it off wouldn’t keep Laurel from learning it soon enough and it would be better if it came from him. “She was Linus’s foster mom for a while.”
Laurel’s silence was weighty. Too weighty to think she’d suddenly dozed off in the middle of their conversation.
“Don’t know for sure,” he added, feeling like he was handling a live explosive, “but I believe she was hoping for a more permanent deal. When... After you—”
“—abandoned him.” Her voice shook.
“You left him at the pediatric center.” He flexed his fingers again.
“Oh, that makes it all perfectly all right, then.”
He ignored the facetiousness. “You left a note in his car seat. It was kind of cryptic.”
“Meaning what?”
He flexed his fingers around the wheel again. “The note said something about him belonging at Fortune’s Foundling Hospital.”
“Foundling! Like an orphanage?”
“Assume so. It used to stand where the pediatric center is now.”
“That doctor talked about that on the news story. So there were Fortunes in Rambling Rose before now who were taking care of babies without a mother.”
“You’re making me wish I hadn’t said anything.”
She sighed heavily.
So did he.
They drove in silence again.
He finished the lukewarm coffee. She tossed the empty cup in the back seat and replaced it with one of the water bottles she’d brought. She opened another for herself. “So you were bored in New York.” Her words were abrupt, as if the thick silence between them hadn’t occurred. “Decided Texas sounded more exciting?”
“Something like that.”
“And the restaurant fits the bill?”
Not even remotely. “Provisions isn’t the worst gig I’ve ever had.”
“Faint praise,” she murmured. “You haven’t said anything about brewing.”
He gave a surprised jerk. “Brewing?”
“Beer.”
“I know what you meant.”
She shifted and he could tell she was looking out the side window to hide her yawn. “On my birthday that time, up in the balloon, I remember you said engineering was the smart choice. Good field with lots of potential. But what you really wanted to do was open your own craft brewery. You said there was too much risk, though. More chance of failure than success.”
His chest ached. “Anything else you remember?”
He felt the weight of her gaze when she shifted again. “I guess you’re right,” she said instead of answering. “About it being a small world. You being in the right place at the right time to help my son.” Her plastic water bottle crinkled softly in her hand. “Who could have predicted that?”
Truer words, he thought.
“Climb in the back seat.” Aside from the occasional long-distance truck, there was no traffic to speak of. He wouldn’t even need to pull off to the side of the highway first. “You can stretch out and sleep.”
“You’re not going to sleep. So neither am I.” The declaration was somewhat ruined by the yawn that followed.
“Laurel, please. Just—”
“Why did Dr. Granger say she’d refund your credit card?”
It came out of the blue and he frowned at her. “What?”
“In her office the day
