She nodded, biting her lower lip. “I’m having trouble with that, too.”
“I’m thrilled you had affectionate parents who loved you.” He chuckled. “Mine were a bit cold. They never really…” He shrugged. “Anyway, it makes it easier to know you were cared for. I think your mother would be thrilled to see you reunited with your family. I think she’d want you to be happy.”
“But you can’t know that. You didn’t know her. I can’t even guarantee she’d like this.”
“Mothers, Bailey, have an uncanny knack for being wholly unselfish when it comes to their children.” He gestured to himself. “Very unlike us selfish fathers.”
She sat on the end of the bed. “You didn’t have a close relationship with your parents?”
“They didn’t approve of Theresa. They disowned me when I married her.”
“Wow.” Bailey looked at the photo again. “Why?”
“Let’s just say, she was from the wrong side of the tracks, in their opinion.” He waved his hand in dismissal. “She was from a fine family, very smart, beautiful, charming. She had a way about her.” He glanced over at Ryan as if expecting him to agree.
“Did you date long before you married?” Bailey didn’t know why she asked that question. But she couldn’t help but think of her and Ryan’s long friendship and how ecstatic both their parents would be to see them married.
“No, not long. Maybe a year or so. I think my parents weren’t ready to let me go. They wanted me to wait until I’d finished school, and they never thought anyone was good enough for me. Now, as a parent, I understand their fears, but it’s taken me a long time to forgive their actions.”
“Did her parents support the marriage?”
He nodded and looked up toward the ceiling. “Yes, but they would’ve preferred we waited. We couldn’t, though. Once we decided to be together, there was no slowing us down.”
Bailey didn’t say anything. She tried to consider what it would have been like to run off and get married back in their youth.
“After the blowout with my parents, Theresa and I rented a little apartment near campus. Within a year, she was pregnant.” He smiled at the memory and glanced at the baby picture. “I swore I’d be a better parent than mine. Then I thought I’d never get the chance.”
He choked up a little, and Bailey realized, as hard as it was for her to deal with this, he had been living with it for twenty-eight years, always wondering, always looking. “I’m sorry this happened.”
“I know it’s hard to think about being my daughter when you’ve already had such wonderful parents, but I hope you’ll try. I don’t want to replace them. I just want a relationship.”
She nodded. “Of course. I want that too. It’s an adjustment.”
“That’s all I ask.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Bailey woke early and turned to watch Ryan sleep. It was her favorite morning ritual. God, she loved him. With everything they’d talked about yesterday with her family, he remained steadfast and strong next to her. He’d always been her rock, and she knew he always would be.
He cracked one eye open and looked at her. “Are you watching me sleep again?”
She nodded and grinned at him. “I am.”
“Creeper,” he muttered and rolled over to pull her into an embrace. “Good morning. How are you feeling this morning?”
She snuggled into his arms and sighed with contentment. “Good. Better, actually.”
“You’re happy with what you learned yesterday, aren’t you?”
“Not happy. Relieved.”
He kissed her forehead. “I can understand that.”
“I think most of the hard stuff is over. Now I just need to meet Nicole and get that over with.”
“Maybe she’ll surprise you. She sounds like a great person. All that stuff she did to try to find you… Too bad it unleashed a monster.”
“The monster would’ve been unleashed one way or another. There’s no getting around the fact I was seeing Dex while he was married to my sister. It would’ve come out one way or another, and it did.”
He squeezed her tighter. “You don’t have to think about that today.”
“You say that as if I could ever forget. I can’t forget that if we hadn’t gotten an earlier appointment with Agent Sharpe, I’d be dead, and no one would be the wiser.”
“I’m sorry you have to think about it. I know I can’t fix it, but I can pray it becomes easier for you over time.”
“It will. It becomes a little easier every day, thanks to you.”
“I think you underestimate yourself. You’re so strong. The strongest person I know. I wish you could see yourself through my eyes.”
She smiled at him and felt a rush of warmth. “You make me stronger. You give me courage.”
“I think we make each other better. We’re stronger together, sweetheart.”
She kissed him slowly, then pulled away and said, “I think we better get up. Nicole is actually supposed to be here this morning.”
* * *
Bailey and Ryan were heading down the stairs when Bailey heard Alex say her name. She rounded the corner into the kitchen, following the smell of bacon.
“Good morning,” she said with a big smile on her face.
Everyone was there. James and Stanley sat at the kitchen island, and next to them was a woman who could have only been Nicole. Bailey stopped in her tracks and forced Ryan to run into her from behind. Ryan’s hands landed on her hips to steady himself, and Bailey murmured an apology to him.
When the smile slipped from Bailey’s lips, Linda jumped into action with an
