NYC Angels: The Wallflower's Secret

At Battery Park, Ryan paid the cab driver and grabbed Lucy’s hand. “We better run for it.” He loped so she could keep up with his longer stride. As they raced across the park to where the ferry was docked, he glanced back to check on Lucy. Her bright smile and rosy face made him grin like a foolish kid. She looked happy.

“I’ve not run like that in a long time,” Lucy said, panting as they stood in line to go through security.

“Neither have I. It felt good.”

Lucy looked up at him. “It did, didn’t it?”

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick hug. “We’ll run back after we see Liberty if you like.”

She grinned. “I think I’d be just as happy with a walk.”

He laughed.

They made it past security and Ryan fished their tickets out of his pocket as the powerful engines of the ferry started to boil.

“Where did you get those? Do you have an ‘in’ with the port authorities?”

He waved the papers in his hand. “The internet is a wonderful thing.”

They walked aboard and found a spot on top. Out in the open they could get a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the city, the bay and New Jersey.

“It’s amazing,” Lucy said as she stood beside him and looked towards the statue.

“I love this city.”

“You’ve never wanted to live anywhere else?” She looked at him as if his next words would be committed to memory.

“No. How about you? Anyplace special you’d like to live?’

“Not really. Other than my sister’s I’ve not had a place to call home in a long time.”

Her words drifted away on the wind as they crossed the harbor. He might have had it rough with his mother dying so young but his dad had always made sure that Ryan had a home. Just as he’d made sure his sisters had known they had one when his father had gotten sick. He didn’t know what he would do without his family…

Lucy shuddered. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. She didn’t resist but relaxed against him. Ryan liked the feel of her next to him. “Having fun yet?” he asked as they closed in on Liberty Island.

“Yes. More than I thought I would.”

He studied her a moment. “What exactly does that mean? You didn’t think it would be fun to spend the day with me?”

“I wasn’t sure.”

“You could damage a man’s ego.”

“I think you have enough of one that it can take a hit.”

He squeezed her tighter in retaliation. When she giggled he let her go. “Did you really think you wouldn’t have a good time with me?”

“I’m not going to get the cold shoulder again after we share something personal, am I?”

“Funny, very funny. Coming from a woman I couldn’t get a smile out of a week ago.”

The ferry docked and they followed the other passengers down the gangplank. They spent the next two hours exploring the grounds of the statue and listening to a park ranger tell the history of the lady.

“Can we climb to the top?” Lucy asked.

“They’re doing repairs. I’m sorry, it’s closed. We’ll come back when it opens.”

“Oh, I had hoped to look out of her.”

She had the sweetest pout on her face. He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss, unable to resist her pucker.

Lucy put her hand to her lips. “Why did you do that?”

“Because you look so sad.”

“Oh.”

He looked up at the top of the statue. If he didn’t focus on something else he was afraid he’d kiss her again. She looked so adorable in her confusion. “My father brought my sisters and me here when we were kids. It was an experience to remember. Every year my father let us take turns picking some place in the city that we would like to go. This was mine. I wasn’t nearly as happy with one of my sister’s picks.”

“What was that?”

“She wanted to go to the Met.”

Lucy’s laughter made him feel good deep down inside. “You don’t like art?”

“I do. But as a twelve-year-old it was a punishment.”

She giggled some more.

“Dad’s rule was that we were to go as a family. I went but I wasn’t happy about it.”

“Those memories must be fun to share now.” Her voice had taken on a melancholy sound.

He took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “The holidays are something when we all get together. Loud and lots of fun.” He stopped abruptly. His father wouldn’t be here this year. That’s the first time he’d allowed a thought like that to enter his mind.

This time Lucy returned his comfort. “You’ll miss him.”

She’d known without asking what was bothering him. He recognized her counseling voice and found it comforting. “I will.” This was supposed to be a fun day for them both, and he wasn’t going to let sad memories overshadow the day. “Hey, you interested in seeing Ellis Island?”

“Sure. If we have time.”

“Then come on. I’ll show you the name of the first O’Doherty to come to America. We can look and see if any of your family members came through too.”

Lucy wasn’t as confident that they would find any of her family noted as being on Ellis Island as Ryan was. Edwards was such a common name that if they did, there would be hundreds or thousands. It didn’t matter. She was having such a good time that she’d go along with any idea he had.

Ryan’s view of family was so different from hers. Her family life was so fractured that she could hardly remember the last time they’d all been in the same room. Could they do that now and be civil? No one had tried to get them together in a long time. Maybe it was time someone did. Yeah, right, she couldn’t even face her sister.

She and Ryan stood atop the ferry taking them from Liberty Island over to Ellis Island. No other tourist braved the chilly air. The wind was cold but Ryan wrapped his arm around her shoulder and she burrowed into his warmth. He gave her a history lesson on the two islands and the museum over the roar of the engines. After he finished one story, she looked up at him and said, “You’re a great tour guide but…”

Ryan raised a brow as if she’d dared to question his skills.

“Sometimes you talk so fast I only understand the first and last words.” She grinned at him.

“Let me see if this is slow enough for you.” His lips brushed hers, teased and tasted.

She was falling for the guy. Falling hard.

Was it that he’d offered her the first real happiness she’d had in months or was she just so desperate to be noticed for who she was that she’d fall for anybody who gave her attention? She’d always been the youngest, had stood in Alexis’s shadow as the quieter one, had been the baby carrier, and now she wanted to be the one who stood out.

Ryan made her feel special. She was going to go with that feeling, revel in it, experience it, grasp it and hold it tight for as long as she could.

CHAPTER SIX

LUCY HELD RYAN’S hand as they exited the boat and entered the Ellis Island National Monument. The warehouse-type building had housed immigrants who had funneled through on their way to gaining freedom and new citizenship. Still hand in hand, Ryan showed her around the different levels, wandering past black and white pictures of people who had stayed on the island.

She probably should have removed her hand but didn’t want to. His friendly but secure clasp gave her a feeling of belonging. What would it mean to truly belong to Ryan O’Doherty?

“I often wonder what it must have been like to leave everything you know and love behind and pick up and move somewhere else,” Ryan commented as they looked at a picture of a man holding a child in his arms. “I don’t know if I could do that.”

Hadn’t she done that very same thing? Just not on as grand a scale as leaving the country where she had been born. In many ways, she was no different. She was struggling to find her place in the world.

“They had to work to re

build their lives.”

She was doing that also. The job was there but she floundered with the other aspects. Today had been the first day that she’d felt like her old self in a long time. She liked it.

“Let’s go have a look at that book.” Ryan directed her toward the center of the large building. He stopped before a glass case. Inside lay an old register with names written in faded ink.

“Come on.” He grabbed her hand and gently pulled her towards a computer screen on a wall nearby. He sounded as excited as a kid wanting to show off a toy. “All you do is type your last name in and see what comes up.”

“You do yours first.” She didn’t know much about her family tree. That hadn’t been a priority when her parents had been together. Certainly hadn’t been mentioned after their divorce. Even her grandparents had deserted her.