Jon felt lost as he wandered down the halls of the care facility. There was a feeling of betrayal that ran through him, though he wasn’t sure why. Leona hadn’t owed him the knowledge that her father owned the building, but had he known, could have been a little gentler when he spoke to her about the horrible man that owned the building.
He wasn’t even sure why he cared about the building at all. It wasn’t as if he had anything personal to do with it, but he’d wanted it for as long as he could remember. And maybe that all circled back to his wife and the joy that the bookstore and antique store had brought to her.
Jon walked down the corridor and stopped outside the room he’d been looking for. The nameplate read Ellen McGowan.
Jon looked through the small window and saw her sitting by the window looking out. His heart pounded, but he felt as if a gentle hand had been placed on his shoulder. When Ellen looked up from the window and toward the door, he knew he had to go inside.
Pushing open the door, Jon noticed Charlie sitting in a chair across from Ellen.
“Hey,” Jon said as he walked in.
Charlie’s eyes lifted to him, but they held some kind of sadness, and Jon was sure it meant that it wasn’t one of Ellen’s better days. “Hey.”
Ellen looked up at Jon and studied him. There was no earthly reason Ellen should know him. All he was going to do was confuse her. He should just say hello and go, but…
“Jon, sweetheart,” Ellen said and both he and Charlie turned to look at her, holding her hand out to him. “Where are the kiddos?”
Jon swallowed hard and exchanged a look with Charlie, who shrugged.
“They're at daycare,” he said kneeling down in front of her and taking the hand she offered. “They’re getting big.”
“I want to see.”
Jon pulled his phone from his pocket and scrolled to the last picture he had of them. Sean wore his tee-ball shirt and had on his batting hat, and he leaned on his bat with one hand. Penny wore her unicorn dress with a multi-colored skirt and a unicorn on the front. They both smiled up at him as he turned the phone toward Ellen.
“Oh, aren’t they precious.” She looked up at him and then at Charlie. “Hello, Charlie,” she said, and Charlie’s eyes went wide and then soft.
“Hello, Grandma,” he said, and smiled with the slightest shake of his head.
Ellen looked back down at the phone. “Where is Stacy?”
Jon tensed his jaw. What was he supposed to tell her? Should he lie? Was he supposed to tell the truth? He swallowed hard.
“Grandma, Stacy works long hours, remember?” Charlie said as he exchanged pained glances with Jon.
“You tell her to come see her grandma,” Ellen said.
“I’ll do that,” Jon agreed, even though it ached in his chest to say it. He tucked his phone back in his pocket. “I was just in the area and thought I’d come say hello. You’re looking well.”
“I can’t remember anything,” Ellen laughed. “But my Charlie is waiting for me, and each day I get closer to being with him.”
Jon’s palms grew damp. Yeah, he understood that.
When the nurse walked in the door, Charlie stood and Jon rose.
“I need to take her for her shower,” the nurse said.
“I need to head out,” Jon said and lowered to kiss Ellen on the cheek.
He heard Charlie say goodbye and kiss her, and together they walked out of the room and down the hall.
“Thank you,” Jon said. “I didn’t know what to tell her.”
“It’s okay. Tomorrow she might know, or she might not.”
“I didn’t expect her to know me.”
Charlie laughed. “She didn’t know me when I walked in. Maybe you were just far enough back in her memory that it sparked.”
“I should come by more.”
“Only if you’re comfortable,” Charlie said.
“There you are,” Leona’s voice had both men looking up. “I’m ready to get out of here,” she said, and then it was as if she noticed Charlie. “Oh, hi, Charlie.”
“Hello,” Charlie said with a smile. “Well, I’d better get back to it. I have a final paper coming up. I’ll see you both later.”
He gave a wave and kept walking.
“Was he visiting his grandmother?” Leona asked.
Jon nodded. “Ready to go?”
Leona walked next to Jon, her arms crossed in front of her, his head low. Weren’t they a pair, she thought.
“Here,” she said, handing him the piece of paper her father had given her.
“What is this?” Jon asked as he looked down at it.
“That’s what he’ll take for the building.”
Jon stopped walking. “Why would he sell it to me? If he owns it, you would be next in line to get it, right? I mean, first, this isn’t even the going rate for this building, and trust me, I know.”
Leona wiped at her eyes because tears had sprung up and rolled down her cheeks. “He’d rather donate the building, or let it crumble around him than to let me take care of it or inherit it. So, you should take him up on it,” she said, now walking faster.
Jon reached for her and stopped her in the parking lot. “Whoa,” he said, turning her toward him. “Leona, did you look at this paper?”
She nodded.
“This is half of what it’s worth. You should have that building.”
“He won’t give it to me or sell it to me.” She wiped her cheeks. “It’s okay. This is how he feels.”
Jon pulled her into him, wrapping his arms around her. Instinct said she should pull back, but with her cheek pressed against his firm chest, his arms holding her to him, she couldn’t.
“That’s not fair,” Jon said.
“Fair or not, it’s how he feels. He blames me for, well, for everything.”
His cheek rested on top of her head, and Leona closed her eyes and breathed in the scent of him—the comfort.
“Whatever it is, he’s wrong,” Jon said. “I’m sure there isn’t anything inside you that could possibly cause anyone harm enough to be that angry.”
Leona eased back and looked up into Jon’s dark eyes. At that moment, her heart ached differently. No one had ever settled her as Jon had with his soft words, and his arms wrapped around her.
Was there such a thing as love at first sight—or third? Leona had made a living off of happily ever afters, but she wasn’t sure she’d ever get hers. Until that very moment, no one had ever made her feel as Jon Ford had.