Page 131 of Clara Knows Best

“Go on.”

You were meant to be part of this family, she had said. She was bringing him back for her daughter’s sake, which was a little bit better than nothing at all. “Because of Clara.”

She frowned. “No. It doesn’t have anything to do with Clara. I never mentioned Clara.”

“Yes, you did. Why deny it?”

“No, I didn’t,” she said, raising her eyebrows.

Maybe she hadn’t mentioned Claraby name. “But Hart said—”

“Forget Hart. What didIsay?”

He stared blankly at her. She cocked her head to one side.

He knew he was missing something obvious, but his brain was refusing to make the leap. He went over the conversation again.

Haven’t been a mother of four since the day I saw you.

She waited, watching him.

“Wait, you’re saying I’m—like—one of your kids?” he said doubtfully, frowning.

Eyebrows still raised, she nodded once.

It hadn’t sunk in until he’d said it aloud. “Lady, you’re not my mom,” he exclaimed, shocked.

“I love you, I want only the best for you, and I consider you my son,” she confirmed, with utter calm.

“No.”

“You need time to process,” she observed. “That’s okay. Did Hart tell you I was matchmaking or something?”

His head was feeling strangely lightweight. “Uh, I kind of thought so.”

“I would never involve myself in Clara’s love life,” she told him. “Or yours, for that matter.”

“So you say. But if you chuckle evilly when I leave the room, I won’t know.”

“Well, I guess you’ll have to trust me.”

“I’ll try,” he said grudgingly.

“Do you trust Clara?” she asked.

“Clara?”

Clara had thought her mom had just wanted to see him again, and he’d called her naïve. She’d also thought her mom had beautified the medical practice because she’d been getting it ready for him, and here he was at the door, begging entry.

Did he trust the girl who’d put out road flares when he’d been kneeling on the highway in an eighty-miles-per-hour zone, and cried with him when he lost a patient? “Yeah, I trust her. Why?”

“I just wondered if your deeply suspicious nature is restricted to mother figures or all women.”

“Neither. Just you,” he admitted. And why was that? Clara probably knew that, too.

She nodded slowly. “Well, at least I’m special.”

He took her hand, and surprised her by kissing it. “Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t take a bullet for you, Doc.”

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