Drake did another slow scan of the walls. “Why didn’t he tell me?”
“Ask him. Tonight.” She took his hands. “Now that the ice is finally broken, don’t let it freeze over again.” It was obvious to her just how much William Sullivan loved his kids. The private gallery he’d built to honor his son’s talent only reinforced it. “And when you’re done talking, I’ll be waiting.” She moved his hands to her hips. “Waiting to make you mine, and for you to make me yours any way, every way, you want. Waiting to tell you I love you again.”
He kissed her until she could barely remember why they weren’t already naked and making love. “There are so many ways I want to love you,” he said, “it could take a lifetime. The shower this morning, the beach tonight—they were only a start.”
Every nerve in her body felt impossibly, wonderfully alive as she went to her tippy-toes to kiss him softly. “Let’s go so that you can talk to him, one-on-one this time. Something tells me he’s probably waiting up for you.”
Their walk back to his father’s house held different but equally wonderful sounds, smells, and sights from those she’d appreciated during her earlier walk with Oscar. Holding Drake’s hand, she drank in the fresh, sweet scent of the forest, the faint splash of the lake water against the shore, the way the moonlight found its way in between branches.
As they headed for the house, fatigue finally set in. And no wonder, given that she felt as though a million revelations had been made today.
Still, Rosa knew that tomorrow would be the biggest day yet for her. Not only because she would officially come out of hiding, but also because she so badly wanted to break through the wall of ice that should never have been allowed to freeze between mother and daughter.
Her heart beat unsteadily behind her breastbone as she made yet another silent wish that her mother would even want to come see her and talk to her at this point. Her brothers too. Because what if fleeing and shutting everyone out had done permanent damage to her relationship with the people she loved most?
No. She couldn’t let herself think like that.
But as they walked back into Drake’s father’s house, the last thing she expected was to find William Sullivan standing with a woman she knew.
Knew better than anyone else in the world.
*
“Mom?” Rosa was as shocked to find her mother in William Sullivan’s living room as Drake had been to see his own paintings on display in the small cottage. “What are you doing here?”
The last word was barely out of her mouth when her mother leapt across the room and threw her arms around Rosa. “Oh, honey, I’m so glad you’re okay. We were all so scared.” She started sobbing, her arms tightening so hard around Rosa’s rib cage that she could barely breathe. All the while, Oscar stuck to her like glue, as if he knew she needed him now more than ever.
Rosa’s sudden onslaught of tears made it hard to tell her mom, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have left like that, I just didn’t know what else to do. But I knew you’d be worried, which was why I emailed so you’d know I was okay.”
“That was days ago.” Her mother wiped away Rosa’s tears, even before her own. “Anything could have happened since then. I’ve imagined a million horrible things. Thank God William called me.”
Still beyond stunned by the fact that her mother was even here, Rosa nearly couldn’t wrap her head around what she’d just said. “He called you?” She turned to look at Drake’s father in confusion. “But I only just met you tonight.”
“Please don’t be angry with him,” her mother begged. “He heard me say on the radio this morning how scared I was that something might have happened to you. And when his son Drake told him you were here together earlier today, he couldn’t stop imagining how he would feel in my shoes.”
“As a parent, I had to track down your mother’s number,” William said in his deep voice, “to let her know not only that you were okay, but also that my son was looking out for you.”
“Calling was William’s idea,” her mother agreed, “but coming here tonight was mine. I needed to see you, honey, needed to know for sure that you’re all right.”
The beginning of the day, when Rosa had been surprised in Montauk by a stranger carrying a pie, seemed like a million years ago. “I was going to ask you to come tomorrow. I just needed some time first.”