Healing The Md's Heart. Nicole Foster

him and he could only be thankful she’d cared enough about him to see the pregnancy through. Cruz was a lucky man in finding a woman who both loved him and welcomed becoming a family, even if it hadn’t been planned.

      He stayed talking with them a little longer, until people started moving toward the buffet tables for dinner. The three of them, he, Lia and Noah, ended up together. Lia had hesitated at first and Duran guessed she was trying to spare him new fodder for the gossips, but he knew all three of them would be disappointed if he accepted her silent offer. Instead he mouthed, To hell with it, over Noah’s head, put aside his reservations, and let himself enjoy being with his son and her.

      They talked amongst themselves, mostly listening to Noah, until about halfway through dinner, when Noah was absorbed with his hamburger and there was a lull in his chatter. Lia tilted toward Duran and murmured, “Is it me, or have you made Del’s top ten list of least favorite people? She hasn’t stopped glaring at you since we sat down.”

      Duran deliberately kept his eyes fixed on her and Noah instead of following Lia’s nod to where Del and Jed sat at the end of the table. “I’m pretty sure I made number one, showing up like I did, although right now, Jed and I are fighting it out for first. Josh and I talked about it, and Jed and Del hadn’t been married that long when Jed cheated on her with Lucy Miller. It’s bad enough Del knows that, but from what Josh says, people in town are looking at him and me and seeing how close we are in age and coming to their own conclusions.”

      “Knowing Del, having people whisper behind her back is probably worse than learning Jed cheated on her,” Lia said. She suddenly gave a worried frown. “Has it made things difficult for you, staying at the ranch? I feel bad, pushing you in that direction—”

      “Don’t. It’s fine. For the most part, she avoids us, and believe it or not, Jed seems to like Noah.” He laughed when she raised a skeptical brow. “It’s true. He actually smiled once when Noah was telling him how much he liked going riding.”

      Lia started to comment, but a disturbance at the end of the table pulled their attention that direction. Del, flushed and looking on the verge of tears, had stood up and was staring at Jed with an expression that clearly said her husband had moved past Duran on her list.

      “Sit down and stop your fussin’, woman,” Jed said, not bothering to look back. “You ain’t goin’ anywhere.”

      “We’ll just see about that!” Snatching up Jed’s glass, she flung the contents at him, splashing him in the face and chest, then flounced away, ignoring his sputtered curses. Josh, sitting nearby, rolled his eyes, said something quickly to his wife and started after his mother.

      Jed half rose to follow, but Cort’s hand on his shoulder stopped him. Cort sat down next to his father, talking to him in lowered tones. Scowling, Jed stayed put and eventually the noise and activity of the party had left most of the crowd oblivious to their family drama.

      Shifting to look at each other, Duran could see Lia shared his uncomfortable feeling at being witness to the exchange. She shrugged it off, inviting him to do the same, and as one they focused on Noah and their temporarily forgotten dinner.

      Half an hour later, when they’d finished, Sammy came up to them, wanting to show Noah a family of cats living in one of the barns. Cort and Laurel offered to take both boys, along with their three youngest, for a visit. Duran gave in to Noah’s pleading look, but he and Lia followed, far enough behind to give them the illusion of being alone in the deepening shadows of the early evening.

      They could still hear the sounds of the party behind them, but softened by the distance, and Lia let go a long breath.

      “Long day?” he asked.

      “Not really. I’m just glad to be away from that—” she waved over her shoulder “—for a while.” Glancing at him, she gave an apologetic shrug. “I’m not really much of a party person most of the time, at least not on that scale. You must be used to it, though, living in L.A., in the business you’re in.”

      Duran laughed. “I make documentaries, not movies, so I’m not exactly on the A-list when it comes to Hollywood parties. Even before I had Noah, I wasn’t much into the party scene. My ex used to say L.A. was wasted on me.”

      “This, at least, isn’t that kind of party. Family is different.”

      “Well this family is a little overwhelming for me right now,” Duran admitted. “They’ve been great about accepting us, but they’re definitely going to take some getting used to, Jed in particular.”

      Focusing on the path before them, a brief smile touched her mouth, a little wistful. “That’s not necessarily a bad thing,” she said quietly, “having so much family. They all want to get to know you and Noah and to help—well, I’m still not so sure about Jed—but your brothers, anyway.”

      “Aren’t you close to anyone in your family?”

      “Not really. I’ve never had much of a chance to be.” She shifted her shoulders as if she carried a weight that chafed. “I’ve got seven brothers and sisters, but we hardly know each other. Somewhere, I’ve got an older stepbrother that I wouldn’t recognize if we met face-to-face and I don’t even have a circumstance like yours to blame. My father just never bothered introducing us.”

      “That seems strange. Why wouldn’t he?”

      “Probably because in my father’s mind it didn’t matter. He didn’t care if all of the kids and stepkids bonded and became a family or not. He always focused on the woman he was with. Any children caught in the crossfire were left to their own devices. Neither of my parents ever encouraged any of their children to get to know each other, let alone become close.”

      Duran knew what he wanted to say, that people like her parents didn’t deserve to have children, that the emotional scars they inflicted could be as damaging and longer lasting than physical ones. But he didn’t want to put her in a position of feeling required to defend her parents, especially if her heart wasn’t in it.

      “I guess that’s why I think it’s good you and Noah have had the chance to know your family,” she mused. “I know what I’ve missed and I hate to see someone else miss out, as well.”

      “I didn’t know what I was missing out on until I had to go looking for them. So far it’s worked out. But when it comes to Noah, I can’t afford not to be careful. He’s gotten very attached to a lot of people here already. I just hope it’s not temporary on their part.” He didn’t look at her when he said it, but he could feel her eyes on him.

      They were near the corral fence and she stopped, compelling him to face her head-on. “You’re talking about me, aren’t you?”

      “Not specifically,” he started, then stopped because he was lying and she knew it. “Okay, yes, I am and we both know why. Like you said before, maybe it’s the circumstances, but you can’t argue that Noah cares a lot about you and you and I…” He tried to find the words to define it and couldn’t. “I don’t know what it is, just that it’s more than either of us expected.”

      “And apparently it’s not good,” she said flatly.

      “I didn’t say that, but maybe it’s not. You’re the one who told me you were lousy at relationships. Am I supposed to take the chance that doesn’t apply to Noah?”

      She flinched as if he’d struck her a blow in a vulnerable spot. “I would never do anything to hurt Noah. And if you believe that, we’re done, not just now, but you need to find yourself a new pediatrician while you’re here.”

      “I don’t believe you’d ever do anything deliberately to hurt him,” Duran said, choosing his words carefully. “But I need a guarantee you aren’t going to let him learn to love you and then decide you can’t deal with that or it’s not what you want.”

      “For you or for Noah?” Momentarily confused by her snapped question, he didn’t answer right away and she plunged ahead. “This guarantee, is it for you or for Noah?