Chapter Twenty
Ryan
A few days later I was back at my office, thinking naughty thoughts about Ruby Lee. We’d sat together on the flight home—I’d talked her into allowing me to upgrade her to first class again—and talked a lot about wine. I’d promised her a tour of our winemaking facility and the vineyards if it was warm enough.
“Warm enough? You’re a rancher,” she’d said. “Any temperature you can take, I can take.”
I didn’t doubt it. She’d been on her own since her teens. She’d probably learned to exist being cold.
I hated thinking of her living like that, but I couldn’t help but admire her fortitude. She was something special, this one. Scared shitless of a relationship with me, but still special. Frankly, I was a little scared myself. I was feeling things that were foreign to me. I truly had loved Anna, but while talking to Ruby the last night at the resort, being put on the spot and having to describe those feelings, I realized I was feeling something for Ruby that was new.
Completely new.
I wasn’t scared so much of the feelings as I was that she might not return them.
What the hell? I had her number. I was going to call her. I picked up my phone to call her, when it buzzed in my hand.
Hmm… I didn’t recognize the number.
“Ryan Steel.”
“Ryan?”
“Yes.”
“Is it really you?”
“Uh…yeah. Who is this, please?”
“Oh, darling. It’s your mother again.”
My heart slammed against my sternum. Was that the same voice of the woman who’d called me before? It could have been. I hadn’t paid much attention the first time.
Who was this nutcase?
No, wait. I’d blocked the number the previous time this had happened. This had to be a different number. I looked at my phone and quickly scratched the number on a sticky note. Then I hung up.
Why would anyone do this to me?
My mother was dead. Had been for over two decades. I was only nine when she died, and I didn’t have many memories of her. I wasn’t sure why. Talon and Joe had lots of memories, but they were older. Still, nine wasn’t exactly young. Why were my memories of her so few? I had lots of memories of my father and brothers during that time. Honestly, I hadn’t thought much about her in a while. Not until Jade had uncovered my mother’s true birth certificate and we found out she was the half sister to Larry Wade.
Then, all of a sudden, Daphne Steel had invaded my thoughts, and it had hit me like a cement block. I didn’t remember much about my own mother.
Very strange.
Maybe I’d talk to Melanie about it. She’d helped both my brothers deal with the demons of their pasts. Maybe she could help me. Not that my mother was a demon. She had been a loving woman.
I thought, anyway.
How much was my own memory, and how much was me just remembering what my brothers had told me?
At any rate, the loon who’d called me was not my mother. My mother was dead and buried. At least I remembered a little about her. Poor Marjorie had no memories at all.
I had to call my brothers and let them know that this had happened twice now. Once could have been a fluke. Twice? That merited looking into.
I called Joe on speed dial.
“Hey, Ry. What’s up?”