Stuart loved her. She loved him. She’d probably loved him from the moment he walked through the emergency room doors. Could she trust their love would last?
Then again, two months ago, she hadn’t thought love was possible. Not for her, at any rate. She’d started the relationship with Stuart adamant she wouldn’t risk her heart and look what happened: she’d fallen in love, anyway. Being with him had made her feel special. And if she could feel that good while believing their relationship to be a fantasy, how good might she feel if she opened her heart to it completely?
“Well, will you look who’s come back.” Like a miniskirt-wearing gift that kept on giving, Chablis ambled around the corner. She had a cigarette in her hand. Smoke break. Patience always did find it laughable that taking their clothes off was okay but smoking inside was against the law.
The dancer tapped ash onto the sidewalk. “What’s the matter? Boyfriend dump your stuck-up behind?” she asked, before taking a long drag. Smoke filtered through her magenta-lined lips. Guess you ain’t better than us, after all?”
“You know what, Chablis...?” Patience paused. A week ago—even a day ago—Patience might have thrown Chablis’s smack talk back in her face. She no longer felt the need. Chablis was stuck in a world Patience no longer belonged in.
“You’re right. I’m not better than you. I’m not better than anybody.” She smiled. “But I’m no worse, either.”
Since Patience didn’t expect the dancer to understand what she was saying, it wasn’t a surprise when Chablis’s face wrinkled in confusion. “Whatever.” She reached for the door handle.
Through the gap, Patience saw the dimly lit scenery from a lifetime ago. Once again, it was like looking at someone else’s photograph. Stuart was right—Feathers was in her past. The future was what she dared to make of it. That was something else she used to tell Piper. Don’t be afraid to go for your dreams. High time she took her own advice.
And this time, she was going to do without lying or hiding from who she was. Stuart said he loved the real her? Well, the real her was who he was going to get.
“Excuse me, miss?”
The male voice startled her. Stiffening, she turned, expecting to find a customer. Instead, she came face-to-face with a young police officer.
He gave her an apologetic smile. “Is everything all right? You look lost.”
If he only knew. “I was,” she told him, “but I think I know where I’m going now.”
“Do you need directions? Trust me, you don’t want to go in there. It’s no place for a lady.”
Patience looked at the closed door of her past. “You’re right,” she agreed. “I think I’d much rather go home.”
“You can’t manage without a housekeeper,” Stuart told Ana. They were having a lousy excuse for breakfast—his version of scrambled eggs and coffee—in the kitchen. Or rather he was. Pieces of Ana’s eggs somehow kept landing on the floor for Nigel to eat. She’d been protesting his cooking the past three days. “What will you do when I move out?”
“You could stay.”
“Sure.” They’d had this argument before, too. “How about I adopt a cat and name her Patience, too. People won’t talk.”
He knew why his aunt was dragging her feet. She was hoping Patience would change her mind and come back. Stuart hoped she’d come home, too, but he was a realist. It’d been three days since he poured his heart out in Patience’s motel room. Three days since he said he loved her. And they hadn’t heard a word. Whether he wanted it to or not, life had to go on.
The doorbell rang. “That’s the candidate from the employment agency. I’ll go get her. Try to keep an open mind,” he said.
“If an open mind means telling her no, then fine, I’ll keep an open mind.”
Rolling his eyes, Stuart left the kitchen, Nigel chasing after him. “I hope you’re planning on being cooperative,” he told the cat. Otherwise, this was going to be a long morning. He opened the front door...
And froze in place.
On the threshold stood Patience, dressed for work in her blue work shirt and capris. In her hands, she held a feather duster. “Rumor has it you need a housekeeper.”
She was back. The hopefulness behind her smile made him want to pull her into his arms then and there, but he resisted. This was her decision; he needed to let her play it out her way.
He settled then for smiling. “Did the employment agency send you over.”
“No. I’m just a woman who’s made a lot of mistakes looking to start over. I don’t suppose there’s a place for someone like me here?”
“Oh, there is.” He pushed the front door wide. “Come on in. There’s a little old lady in the kitchen who’s going to be thrilled to meet you.”
“Just her?”
“Me, too.”
“Good.” She smiled. “Although I should warn you in advance. I’m very much in love with this lawyer I know.”
Stuart’s heart gave a tiny victory cheer. “Sounds like a lucky guy.”
“I’m the lucky one. Like I said, I made a lot of mistakes, and am hoping he—you—will give me a second chance.”
Now he gave in and pulled her close, kissing her with everything in his heart. “You don’t have to ask twice,” he told her.
Patience wrapped her arms around his waist. To Stuart it felt that she was afraid he’d disappear. “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you,” she said into his chest.
“Same here. This time we’ll trust each other.”
“That’s a new thing for me—to trust someone. I might stumble a little bit.” She looked up, her eyes as bright as the brightest chocolate diamond in the world. “Will you be patient with me?”
“Patient with Patience?” Grinning at his lame joke, he kissed the top of her head. “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem. Both of us are going to screw up, sweetheart. But as far as I’m concerned we’ve got all the time in the world to teach each other. Forever even.”
Her arms squeezed tighter. The word forever was scaring her, he knew. Someday it wouldn’t, though. Someday she’d realize she was so loved that forever was the only possible time frame.
“Forever sounds like a good goal,” she said finally, her bravery increasing the admiration he held for her. “I love you, Stuart Duchenko.”
He’d never believed three words more. They’d get to forever. He knew they would. “I love you too. Now...” Giving her a reluctant last kiss, he shut the door. “How about we go make an old lady’s day?”
A meow sounded at his feet. “You, too, Nigel.”
Together, the three walked toward the future.
Two weeks later
“Why is the phone ringing in the middle of the night?” Stuart groaned. “Don’t they realize we’re tired?”
“Poor baby. They probably don’t realize how hard furniture shopping was for you.” Patience grinned at the pout she spied before he covered his head with his pillow. The two of them and Ana had spent the day shopping for Stuart’s new condominium. He was scheduled to move out at the end of the week. Ana was disappointed, until she learned Patience would be staying put. For now. As madly as they loved each other, both she and Stuart decided they should take their relationship one step at a time. Eventually, Patience would move in, but for now, there was no need to rush. Like Stuart said. They had forever.
Forever was such a nice-sounding word. Patience believed in it a little more every day. Turned out Prince Charming not only walked through the door, but he stuck around, as well.
“Whoever it is, tell them they’re insane,” Stuart muttered from beneath his pillow. “Then get under these covers so I can do unspeakable things to you.”
“I thought you were sleepy?” she whispered, snatching the phone off the end table.
A hand snaked around to splay against her bare abdomen. “I’m awake now.”
She answered without bothering to suppress her giggle. There was only one person who’d call at this hour and she wouldn’t care. “Piper?”
“Greetings from England.” There was a pause. “I’m not interrupting something, am I?”
“Not yet.” She slapped Stuart’s roaming hand. “What are you doing in England?”
“Helping your boyfriend, of course. And I have good news, and more good news. Which one do you want first?”
“Start with the good news.”
“We found Ana’s painting.”
“You did!” She sat up. “That’s wonderful.”
“That’s why we’re in England. The gallery in Paris gave us a lead on a collector here who purchased one of Nigel’s paintings. Turns out, the painting is of Ana. Almost identical to the one in the background of the picture Stuart emailed.”
Seemed silly to be moved to tears over a nude painting, but Patience’s eyes started to water. After all these years, Ana was finally getting a piece of her Nigel back. “Ana is going to be so thrilled when she hears the news.”
Hearing his aunt’s name, Stuart immediately sat up, too, and mouthed the word painting? Patience nodded. He pressed a kiss to her cheek.