Read Online Cara Colter by A Bride Worth Waiting For - Free Book Online

father’s nature had been quiet, almost shy.
    “I remember your dad seeming sad,” she said softly.
    “He loved my mom. I thought he’d never stop missing her. Sometimes raising a kid on his own just seemed too much for him. Especially a wild one.”
    “You never talked about your mom. I mean you said she had died, but that was all.”
    “I guess I never really stopped missing her either.”
    She glanced at him with surprise. Sadness had not seemed to be a part of Adam Reed, ever. But maybe sadness was where that wildness had stemmed from. It occurred to her, with more surprise, that there were things she did not know about Adam. Depths she had not explored.
    And never would, she told herself firmly.
    “So your dad’s happy? He must be retired by now.”
    Adam laughed. “He married Hanna Oldsmith.”
    She shook her head. The name meant nothing to her.
    “Old money. One of the richest women in Ontario. Possibly in Canada.”
    Somehow that picture did not seem at all ludicrous, because Adam’s father had always had a quality much like Adam’s. Dignity, despite his shyness, a way he carried himself that had belied the grease embedded in his hands. “Did you introduce them?”
    “No. He worked on her cars. You know my dad. Not the least impressed with her money. That was a first for her. She chased him relentlessly. I don’t know why he ran so hard from his own happiness. Anyway, I got a postcard from them last week. They’re driving a reconditioned Packard across North America. ”
    “I always liked your dad. He was so sweet and selfeffacing. I’m glad he’s happy.”
    “Me, too. Look, should we go?”
    “Go?” she asked suspiciously. “Go where?”
    “For a bike ride.”
    “Motorbike?” she asked with surprise.
    “Bicycle. Or as close as I could come, given the shape you’re in.”
    “Adam, are you going through a second childhood, or what? You seem to want to do all these strange things. In-line skating, bike riding—”
    “Kite flying,” he suggested smoothly.
    “Anyway, you know I can’t.”
    “If you could, would you?”
    She smiled. A safe question. If she could, yes, she’d ride bikes with him. And probably fly kites with him. And go to the moon with him.
    But she couldn’t. “If I could, I would,” she said, feeling perfectly safe in her reply. She didn’t like the light that leapt glistening to life in his eyes. Had she just walked into a trap?
    “Victoria? Are you here?”
    “It’s Mom,” she told him and then called, “Out back.”
    Her mother came through the back door, and paused when she saw Adam. “Oh,” she said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize—” and then she stopped and stared at him. And then her lip trembled and her eyes actually sparkled with tears.
    Her mother had always loved Adam as if he was her very own son.
    “Adam,” she said softly, her voice breaking. And then she smiled a smile that would have put the sun to shame.
    A smile that forgave him all the years he had not come, Tory thought indignantly.
    “Lord, what a man you’ve become.”
    Trust her mother to say it.
    “Come here.”
    He got up obediently. He towered over her mother now, and tolerated her inspection, and then he took her in his arms, picked her right up off her feet and swung her around until she was laughing breathlessly, like a young girl.
    “Do you still make the best chocolate chip cookies in all of Calgary?” he asked her putting her away from him and looking at her with pleasure.
    “So my grandchildren tell me. Tell me everything. If you’re married and have children. What you’re doing here, how long you’re staying—” she stopped midsentence. “Oh, I can’t stay. I have an appointment. Never mind. I’ll cancel.”
    “Mom,” Tory said imploringly.
    Her mother looked at her, and then back at Adam, and then smiled. “Of course I won’t cancel! Why you two must have so much catching up to do!”
    Tory stared at her mother in horror. She had not been hinting