Page 272 of The Donovan Dynasty

“I’m not ruining a good cabernet with that stuff.”

“Suit yourself.”

He fed Loopy, and by the time he joined her in the courtyard, the table was set.She’d shaken the leaves off the seat cushions, transferred the salad to a blown-glass bowl and she’d clipped a couple of hibiscus blooms and put them in a jar as a centerpiece.

It was an unnecessary though homey touch that he appreciated.Ordinary was anything but with her around.

After she took her first bite, she closed her eyes.“It melts in your mouth,” she said.

He felt an odd sense of pride.Throughout the years, his family had worked to cultivate this kind of beef and it was some of the best available.When he thought about it, which he’d rarely done, it was astounding that he was part of this legacy.

“Tell me more about your mother?”she invited after taking a bit of salad.

“Hell of a woman.Not many people stand up to William Donovan.”

Sofia put down her fork.

“He offered her a significant amount of money to go away quietly when she got pregnant.I think hernohad ahellin front of it.”

“I’m confused.”She frowned.“I thought the Colonel wanted you to be more involved with the family.”

“He does.But it wasn’t always that way.”

Wordlessly, she waited.

Cade had never told anyone this story, and he wasn’t quite sure why he was now.“For the first few years that I was alive, Mom continued to work at a ranch, as a riding instructor and wrangler.She left me with an elderly neighbor most of the time.Because she didn’t want the Donovans telling her what to do, she vanished.It wasn’t until I was five that my dad found us.I remember the yelling.Days of it.Finally, he must have worn her down.He moved us out of the horrible place we’d been living.Single-room garage apartment.Plenty of bugs, in spite of my mother’s best efforts.No air conditioning.A piece of crap heater in the winter.”

Color drained from her face.“I had no idea.”

“The life of privilege you accused me of?In the early years, nothing could have been further from the truth.I still appreciate everything.”

She took a long drink of her tea.

An opportunity to look away, he guessed.

“I owe you an apology,” she said, meeting his gaze.

“You couldn’t have known.”He waved her off.She wasn’t the first to have preconceived notions of him.“My mother told my father that we were fine, told him to go away, promised she’d never ask the Donovans for anything.To Dad, that wasn’t the point.He wanted to know his son, be involved in his life.Mom told me a few years ago that she eventually believed him.”He placed his knife on the serving platter.“When she refused to join him, he threatened to sue her for custody.She had no doubt that he would take her to court, but he told her he didn’t want it to come to that.He wanted to take care of her, as well.The Colonel was waiting for us at the house.On the front porch.Mom stayed in the truck.Dad had his hand on my shoulder and he made me go meet him.”

“You were five,” she whispered.

“He told me he was my grandfather, that I was part of the family, that I had obligations.My dad, who I didn’t even know at that point, kept his hand on me so I couldn’t run away.”He put down his steak knife.“I saw the Colonel irregularly after that, but my dad quite frequently.My grandfather and I had a discussion, once, after my father…”Was killed needlessly, recklessly?“Passed.He apologized for the way he’d behaved.He’d overreacted, believed my mother was a gold-digger, that she’d tried to trap my father when he was supposed to marry someone else.When she’d vanished, he realized the truth.He said it had haunted him, kept him awake nights, that his grandchild was out there somewhere.He hired a private investigator to find us.My mom didn’t make it easy for him.And when Jeffrey contacted her, she changed her phone number.But she wasn’t entirely surprised when he showed up.Bottom line to her was that I was entitled to my inheritance, and she realized she could stay with me at the Running Wind, or that William would use his resources to take me away.To her credit, she never said anything bad about either of them.And she’s never taken a dime of their money for herself.That’s my mother.”

Sofia moved her plate aside.

“I’d like you to meet her.”The words were out of his mouth before he’d fully thought them through.Much to his mother’s annoyance, he’d never introduced her to anyone he’d been involved with.Then again, no other woman was Sofia.

“I would enjoy that, too.”

Together, they cleared the plates.While he loaded the dishwasher, she put away the leftovers and the jar of sun tea that he intended to dump as soon as she left.

Then they went back outside to finish their wine.

She stretched out on a chaise and he pulled over a chair to sit near her.

“It’s like another world out here.Peaceful.”

How long had he looked without seeing the bushes, the mockingbirds, the butterflies?Maybe he never really had, he mused.He’d been so concerned about being an imposter, proving himself worthy, carving his own damn place that no one could take from him.