All for Hope (13 page)

“
I don’t think so. I mean, his attitude wasn’t wary or concerned. I kind of got the impression—the impression he wanted to
make
an impression. He was sort of treating us like royalty or something.”

Hope nodded, leaning close to Michelle’s ear and whispering something to the baby before kissing her chubby cheek noisily.

“
You regretting this yet?” she asked, not looking at him but still cooing to the little one.

“
Of course not. I should want to see my mother’s property, right?”

She suddenly considered what she had always wanted out of life. Always, she had said that she wanted to find a good man to love her and marry her, then to have several children. Underneath all of those good intentions, she knew what she’d really always wanted was Brennan.

Years ago, Brennan James Rawley wouldn't have been considered by many to be a
good
man. He was promiscuous, and he partied too much and drank even more. Still, Hope had seen something in him that no one else could seem to see. She thought that deep inside was a man who was really upright and worthy. His actions over the last few weeks proved that to her.

As for loving her, she’d long ago given up on the idea that he would ever fall in love with her. He cared for her, true, and that was all she could hope to gain from him. Yes, it seemed that she had almost everything she had ever wanted.

“
What are you thinking?” he asked.

“
I was wondering what the house will be like,” she lied. “It’s been abandoned a long time. Maybe it won’t even be there anymore.”

“
Well, I’m pretty experienced at fixing stuff up. And I guess we’ll just build a new one if we have to.”

She laughed, and he could hear the nervous shudder in the sound. “How can you be so carefree? You don't seem to be even the least bit worried.”

“
It won't do any good to worry,” he answered, though in truth, he was feeling a little terrified. In the back of his mind, he wondered if he might be able to find a clue to his real family. He didn’t want to pin any hopes on that thought, so he tried to keep it locked somewhere deep in his mind.

Taking Hope's hand, he smiled at her, grabbed up his sweats and headed for the bathroom.

“
I’m gonna take a shower.”

“
My Lord.”

Brennan gasped as he stepped out of the car. It was a cloudy day with the threat of a shower hanging heavy in the air. Hope opened the door and stood up in the car, hanging one hand on the window edge of the door and the other on the roof. Her eyes focused upon a world she had never seen before.

The land was pure, almost entirely untouched except for the gravel drive they were parked on. Green plains stretched along the countryside to the horizon, broken only by clusters of trees and in the far distance, a little pond.

“
Beautiful,” she whispered in awe.

Brennan whispered under his breath and the only thing she thought she could decipher were the words, “I belong here.”

“
There.” Hope lifted a hand and pointed up the drive even as Michelle started grunting in the backseat.

There was a small cottage-type house in the distance. Brennan looked in that direction for several moments then turned back to her. He raised his eyebrows in askance, and she nodded. “Let me get Michelle, and we can walk that way.”

She gathered the little girl, propping her on her hip as she closed the car door.

Brennan was there beside her, waiting. When Michelle saw him, her eyes lit up, and she put her hands out to him with a little screech. He grinned from the side of his mouth as he took her from Hope’s arms, lifting her high onto his shoulders. He held her tight on both sides as she clasped his hair with a shrill sound of excitement.

When they got to the house, they all stopped just in front of the steps and stared. She would guess it was built in about the 1930s with a batten door on wrought-iron hinges. The exterior was covered in shingles that were in pretty desperate need of a new coat of paint.

“
Well, it’s still standing,” Hope said in a light, optimistic tone, stepping up on the concrete stair on her tip-toes so she could see if a missing shutter on the left front window might be hiding behind a hedge. It was, partially buried under a coat of dirt and leaves.

“
Barely.”

A giddy laugh escaped her, and she couldn’t hide the wide smile when she turned to look at him. “It’s darling. Think of all the work we could do to make it a home. We could—” she choked off her words and allowed the smile to melt away, when she realized the thoughts of
them
as a single family unit swarming her mind. “We could certainly make it habitable.”

Brennan flinched when Michelle yanked his hair and he held her with one hand while forcing the locks from her grasp with the other.

“
We should probably check out the inside before getting too excited.” He lowered his head and slid the baby off his shoulders and into his arms.

Hope didn’t wait for him but reached out to test the front door. The knob was locked and didn’t turn, but the door was loose on its hinges and with a little tug, it swung open. Even knowing the electricity wouldn’t be on, she still automatically reached for and flipped the switch just inside the house. There was bit of light coming from a room past the vestibule and to her left. She headed that way, stepping around furniture in the room to get to the shades and pull them fully open.

“
Hmmm, there’s furniture,” she noted, eying a couch, loveseat, coffee table and end tables all covered with sheets and many years’ worth of dirt and dust.

She heard Brennan coughing, and when she looked, she saw him waving dust away from his face with a hand and grinning at Michelle. Laughing and shaking her head, Hope started on through the house to the next room, this one a dining room with more covered furnishings.

Each room was the same, completely furnished as if one day someone had just packed up with the intention of returning. Backtracking through the house to the master bedroom at the front, Hope decided to look more closely at things. She flung the checked sheet away from a bureau. She opened the top, then the middle and then the lower drawer but found them all empty.

“
Nothing?” Brennan asked, not touching anything, but walking around the bed to loop his finger around the window shade and pull it aside. “Nice view from here.”

“
Wow, look at these,” Hope breathed, picking up an ornate hairbrush and hand mirror. “They’ve got to be real silver. Look at how they’re tarnished. Sterling doesn’t do that.”

“
Kind of crazy no one has tried to go through the place for valuables if it’s been abandoned so long,” he told her, approaching to examine the objects.

Michelle reached out her chubby fingers for the brush.

Hope started to give it to her, thought better and instead reached into Brennan’s pocket for the car keys and gave her those instead.

“
No one’s gone through this place because anyone with any sense would know better. Now perhaps you should tell me what you’re doing on this property.”

Cold tingly sensations swept from Hope’s belly through her legs when she heard the voice from the doorway. She looked to find a very tall and thin man with dirty blond hair staring hard at them. He was dressed in what looked to be a riding suit and judging by his accent, she thought he might be English.

“
My name is Brennan Rawley, and I own this property. That means I could ask you the same thing.”

The man’s gray eyes flinched ever so slightly, and he gave an appearance of being startled but recovered in an instant. He raised an eyebrow and slid his hands into his pockets.

“
I expect you can prove that.”

Hope didn’t have to look at Bren to know his hackles were up. The air crackled with intensity, and it was all she could do to trust him to restrain himself when she grabbed Michelle from his outstretched arms. He took a few steps forward to put his body between Hope and the man.

“
Do you walk into people’s houses every day and tell them to prove their ownership?”

The tall man’s frown deepened. “I didn’t tell you to do anything. If you say you own it, then I can’t do more than accept your word.” He inclined his head for effect. “For now. I expect we’ll be speaking again, sir.”

When he turned to leave, Hope leaned around Brennan’s body to call out to the man, “And who are you?”

He had already passed out of their line of sight, but Hope heard his footsteps halt in the foyer.

“
Jeremy. Jeremy Rawley, miss.”

Her eyes widened, and she made a move to get around Brennan but he stopped her, clenching his fingers around her arm in a vise-like grip. The footsteps began again, the front door opened and closed, then silence.

“
What in the world? Brennan, he’s a relative.”

Brennan didn’t speak, didn’t look at her even. He stared straight ahead at the spot in which Jeremy Rawley had been standing just a few seconds ago. She jerked free of him and walked around the bed to the window. A horseman rode off at breakneck speed and she glanced back at Bren in bewilderment.

Brennan didn’t want to talk about his possible relation, though Hope tried to press him. Finally he turned to her with what he hoped was a furious frown. “Not now, dammit. I need to breathe, for Christ’s sake.”

She didn’t flinch which is what he’d expected. He realized when he saw the pitying glint in her eyes that he must not have quite managed the anger he’d been trying for. Instead, she felt sorry for him and that certainly wasn’t what he wanted either.

Still, it kept her from hammering him with questions at least, so he ran with it.

They gave up rummaging through the house after Jeremy Rawley left them. Their previous excitement dissipated pretty quickly, and when he finally got Hope to stop questioning him, there was only silence. It was the sort of silence that gnawed at one’s insides.

“
How about a real dinner tonight? Like a restaurant instead of take out or sandwiches?” He posed the question to her later as they were leaving the parking lot of a discount store in the next town. New Durma was no more than a hamlet, but less than thirty miles away was a larger city with more shopping selections.

He glanced to his side and saw Hope shrug her shoulders “Sure. If you want. Should we find something here or go back to New Durma? There was a little place not far from the B&B—”