Wyatt-1(Lane Brothers, Book 1)(16)

It rings and I find my palms and pits sweating enough to qualify me for a doctor’s visit.

“Wyatt, honey, have you gone and lost me my daughter-in-law already? I swear to God, boy, if you said something to my Ellie to make her cry or leave before I meet her, I’ll bean you.”

“Er, well this isn’t Wyatt. It’s Ellie,” I stutter.

He laughs at my face and the screaming coming from the phone when I pull it away to preserve what’s left of my hearing.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you, baby.”

He shoves his hands in his pockets, grins, and starts sauntering off with a peppy whistle that separates my skittles.

“Er, uh, ma’am?”

“Sorry, sorry, honey, I’m just SO EXCITED! Phew, shoot, George! Get over here, honey, Ellie’s on the phone!”

Twilight zone. I have definitely stepped into the twilight zone. I’m sure I’ll be a candidate for a straitjacket soon.

This is just plain weird and unsettling.

“Judy, baby, stop trying to burst our darling’s eardrums and speak to her already. You dancing, baby? Well, I’ll be, if I knew you’d be this happy I would have told Wyatt to go get his girl much sooner.”

I hear it all and actually feel myself stepping closer to the rabbit hole. Voluntarily.

“Oh, Ellie, I’ve been waiting so long for you to come home, sweetheart. Did you get the cake? Was it good? Is that son of mine treating you right? Why am I even asking? I know how dense men can be sometimes. Of course he hasn’t told you everything yet. The boy has this idea that you have to love him first of your own free will.”

“Er, well, I just wanted to…call and thank you for the cake? It was the best I’ve ever tasted,” I mumble.

It’s not a lie exactly. It was the best cake I’ve ever attacked like a ravening beast.

“I’m so glad, Ellie dear. Now when are you and Wyatt coming home? I’ve got everything arranged for the wedding, and I even took the liberty of getting this Vera Wang dress in your size. It’s perfect and I just know you’ll love it.”

She starts prattling away about the cake, menu, flowers and whatnot, but I’m still stuck on the wedding thing and struggling not to pass the heck out.

“Ellie? You still there, sweetheart?”

“Um, yeah. Listen, this is going to sound terrible, and I really don’t want it to, but you need to understand that I’m just human and distrustful by nature and…why should I believe that you’re his mom and that he isn’t some sort of…”

“Lunatic murderer?” She laughs, making me smile despite the emotions plaguing me. “Well, honey, the thing is there’s nothing I can say to make you believe a word of all this, but I am his mother. I was in labor for thirty-six and a half hours trying to get that little snot out of me, but I knew it was worth it the year he enlisted in the army. He’s a good boy. As his mother, I also know that he has a tiny freckle on the inside of his left thigh.”

“That’s it?”

She laughs in a way that reminds me so much of my own mom, my heart aches, and I long for her so fiercely that I’m in pain. My mom would have said the same things, only she was a lot more soft spoken and quiet in her way.

Judith Lane is his mom. I know it.

“Ellie, my love, do an old lady a favor and try to trust your heart on this one, okay? Wyatt is a stubborn shit if ever I met one, and he’s not the easiest man to handle, but if there’s one thing I can tell you about my son, it’s that he would chew his own hand off before hurting a hair on your head. Now give me a kiss and go get to know the man. If he’s not for you, tell him and he’ll walk.”

Isn’t she supposed to tell me what a great catch her son is and extol his every virtue and stuff? For a mom, this chick is not as complimentary as most of the blind idiots who still have their grown sons on their hanging nipples.

“Do me another favor, though. Try to give him a chance before you decide anything. He’s worshipped you for so long, I think he might not make it if he loses this before the battle even begins.”

“Okay.”

I’m a little choked up by the time I give her a lip-smacking kiss and disconnect the call. My heart is sitting somewhere in the region of my toes. I feel like bawling like a baby because I think I may be in love with Judith Lane, and if she really is who she says she is, I’m going to have to suck it up, shove my baggage to the background, and give Wyatt Lane a chance.

That won’t be easy for many reasons, and I won’t even include the whole kidnapping-stalker thing he has going on. I’m just scared. Four years it’s taken me to get to this point where I don’t scream myself awake after an hour’s worth of sleep, or have a mini breakdown when I see a blond head in the crowd.