During the meal, Dallas tried to tease Cora about last night with a few carefully placed innuendos. But it seemed to Eli that Cora was too distracted and preoccupied to focus on Dallas or what he said, even when he made reference to what’d happened outside the bar. She’d smile or laugh where appropriate, but only Aiyana could claim her full attention. By the end of dinner, after Cora had helped Aiyana put the leftover pot roast, vegetables, mashed potatoes and cheesecake in the fridge and do the dishes, Eli was feeling a bit neglected. He got the distinct impression that she’d come to see his mother, that he had nothing to do with her desire to join them, especially when, instead of watching TV with everyone else, the two women went into the living room and talked for over an hour.
When he got up to fetch a glass of water, or he simply made an effort to listen, he could hear various bits and pieces of their conversation. Most of it was about the ranch—Aiyana’s philosophy for the school, the fact that she’d chosen to place New Horizons in Silver Springs because it had wide-open spaces but wasn’t too far from a major population center, why she’d adopted each one of her sons and which students she was concerned about this year.
He thought he might finally get a few crumbs of Cora’s attention when they rejoined the group—even if it was only a quick, private smile. Instead, as soon as they finished visiting, Cora said she should go, that she had to get ready for her classes in the morning.
They’d made crazy, impromptu, almost animalistic love outside at the bar last night and then again in the shower this morning, but she’d hardly given him the time of day since coming to dinner.
“Thanks so much for having me,” she told Aiyana. “You have a lovely home and a wonderful family.”
“You’re welcome. It’s nice to have a little estrogen in the house,” she said with a laugh. “You must join us again next Sunday. Dallas won’t be here. He leaves on Tuesday. But Eli, Gavin, Liam and Bentley will.”
“I’ll do that, but only if you let me bring the dessert or another dish.”
“I’m sure I could be persuaded,” Aiyana told her.
“It was really great to meet you,” Cora said to Dallas. “I’m sorry you have to leave town so soon.”
“There are mountains to climb,” he joked as he got up to hug her goodbye. Eli got off the couch, too, and was standing close enough to hear Dallas whisper something like, “Take good care of my brother.”
Whether that was really what Dallas said or not, Cora turned and gave him a dutiful hug, one no different from the kind she’d imparted to everyone else. “Again, thank you.”
“Eli, why don’t you walk her out?” Aiyana piped up as Cora grabbed her purse.
Eli wasn’t sure if that suggestion was as random as Aiyana pretended, but he didn’t care. He was eager for a few minutes alone with Cora, so he was grateful his mother had tapped him instead of one of his brothers. “Sure.”
“Dinner was wonderful,” Cora said as they strolled down the drive side by side, without touching. “Now that my brother and I are adults, my mother doesn’t bother to cook anymore. She’s very generous about inviting us over for carryout, or taking us to a restaurant, so I’m not complaining. But a big Sunday meal from scratch? That’s almost unheard of these days.”
“It’s not like it was a sacrifice to have you. You can come back next Sunday. You heard my mom.”
“I’d like that,” she said, but he didn’t get the impression he was the reason she’d like it, and that bothered him.
“Are you really going home to get ready for classes?” he asked as he opened her car door for her.
“Yeah. I promised my students we’d start ceramics this week. Now that I’m more familiar with their skill level, I need to figure out the ideal project and how much time it will require on the throwing wheel.”
He almost said, And if I’d like to see you again? but he got the distinct impression that something was causing her to distance herself from him and he’d be stupid to push.
“You look incredible in that dress,” he said instead, which was the truth. Ever since she’d arrived, he’d had difficulty looking anywhere except at her.
He was glad he’d told her that when, at last, she focused on him—and smiled. “Thank you,” she said, but she didn’t try to set up their next meeting, didn’t ask if he’d call, didn’t say a word about getting together with him again. “Good night,” she added, and that was his signal to close the door.
* * *
The TV played in the background as Cora curled up on her couch and thumbed through the file the private investigator had, after much searching, provided on Aiyana. There wasn’t a great deal in it, just some basic background information—where and when Aiyana was born, where she grew up, a couple of articles on New Horizons. Thanks to California’s adoption laws, Cora had been unable to get the records that were sealed by the court. She’d had an attorney working on that, but because of various details her adoptive mother had let slip—like where and when she was born and at which hospital—the private investigator had come through first. So she’d given up on pursuing the court order. Several states had unsealed their adoption records. She hoped California would soon follow suit. Then maybe she’d be able to find out who her father was—if his name was on her original birth certificate. Adoptees had access only to their ABC or Amended Birth Certificate, which not only facilitated the change in the name of the parents but could list a different place of birth. In some instances, agencies even altered the day of birth. Fortunately, Cora hadn’t been given a new birthday. Otherwise, chances were she never would’ve found Aiyana.
Or...maybe that would’ve been for the best. She’d spoken to several other adoptees, online and otherwise, who’d told her to be careful what she wished for. They’d been disappointed in their birth mothers, but she was not. She respected Aiyana, admired her and wished she could be part of her life in a more significant way than merely working for her. But she couldn’t see how she’d ever be able to do that if she was still sleeping with Elijah.
Regardless of Elijah, did she dare—or even have the right—to upset Aiyana’s life by announcing her true identity? Would Aiyana be happy to have found her?
That would probably depend on the reason Aiyana had given her up, and there was no file, attorney or private detective who could provide that information. Perhaps her grandmother could shed some light on the matter, but even that wasn’t guaranteed. It was possible Consuelo had never been made aware of the pregnancy. Aiyana had had Cora when she was twenty-one, so she’d been an adult but not a well-seasoned one. Maybe Consuelo hadn’t approved of the relationship that’d left Aiyana pregnant, and that was part of the reason Aiyana had acted as she did.
After staring at the grainy picture in the newspaper clipping that’d given Cora her first glimpse of Aiyana, she put down the file and picked up her phone. She hadn’t yet returned Lilly’s call. She needed to do that, didn’t want her adoptive mother to feel as if she was being neglected.
“There you are!” her mother exclaimed as soon as she answered. “How are you, sweetheart?”
Cora rubbed her left temple with her free hand. “I’m doing great. How are you, Mom?”
“Missing you. It’s not the same without you here. I have no one to go shopping with,” she said in a pouty voice that Cora knew was a joke.
“I’ll go shopping with you when I visit next.”
“Yes. We’ll have you try on that dress I found. You’re going to love it.”
“I’m sure I will.”
“Your father and I thought you might come home again this weekend, we’re sad when we didn’t see you. What’d you do?”
Cora considered mentioning that she’d had dinner at Aiyana’s but decided it wasn’t necessary. “I’ve met a new friend—another teacher here at the school named Darci. We went out last night.”
“How nice. I’m so relieved you’re adjusting. I was afraid you wouldn’t like it, and this year would prove long and miserable. I was surprised when you decided to go there instead of accepting the position at Woodbridge. But you don’t regret it?”
“No. Not at all,” she said, and that was mostly true. If nothing else, the rabid curiosity that’d nearly driven her mad over the years had been appeased, to a point. As she finished talking to her mother she had to admit, however, that she had no idea if she’d regret what she was doing in the end.