The M.D.'s Surprise Family by Marie Ferrarella Read Free Book Online Page A

“Like the clothes?”
    He nodded. “Exactly like the clothes.” He figured Renee might get a kick out of it. After all, the woman could have been a contemporary of hers. “Her mother started the company.”
    Slipping the milk onto the shelf, Renee closed the refrigerator door again. “Well, I guess she can afford the best—and you are.”
    It was no secret that he didn’t come cheap. His fee was right at the top of his field, but then, the amounts that he charged enabled him to do his volunteer work for Doctors Without Borders. The fees he collected from his wealthier clients help to fund the operations that he performed on the devastated citizens of Third World countries. In so doing, he wound up bringing hope to the hopeless. Given that he felt no hope himself, he was struck by the irony of the situation.
    Peter paused to kiss the top of his mother-in-law’s silver head. “Flattery will get you everywhere,” he told her with a smile.
    â€œOh, good.” She said the words with such feeling, he stopped folding the paper bags and looked at her. “Because I have something to tell you.”
    Putting the empty bags on the side of the table,he pulled a chair to him, straddled it and looked at her across the table. “Okay, what?”
    Renee took a deep breath. It wasn’t a subject she was looking forward to, only one that she knew needed broaching. Until now, she’d allowed him to have his bleeding heart. But she knew her daughter wouldn’t have wanted him to continue grieving this way, not for this long. There was no easy way to begin. “It’s been more than two years since Lisa and Becky were taken.”
    Peter could feel himself tensing as he looked at her warily. “Yes?”
    Renee reached across the table and touched his hand. “And I think it’s time you moved on.”
    â€œMoved on? Moved on how?” He knew exactly how she meant, but he wasn’t about to give in to that. “I’m working.”
    Renee left her hand where it was, feeling that her son-in-law needed the human contact. “Yes, I know, but I think that you should do more than work.”
    Peter shrugged as he glanced away. “There’s not enough time—”
    She watched him pointedly, remembering another Peter. A happier Peter. She missed him. And she had a feeling that Peter missed him, as well. “There was when you were married.”
    â€œThere was a reason to have time when I was married,” he informed her flatly.
    Because he understood what Renee was attempting to do, he forced a smile to his lips. The woman’s heart was in the right place, if a little off kilter. “I have my work and I have you, Renee.” He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it in the courtly fashion he knew she loved. “That’s enough for me.”
    Renee was not about to be dissuaded. “It shouldn’t be. Not that I’m undermining what you do,” she was quick to explain. “Your work is very, very important. You perform miracles. But I am a poor substitute for what you really need.” And she knew that he couldn’t fight her on that score.
    He truly loved Lisa’s mother. She was the mother he had never known as a boy, so he humored her where he wouldn’t anyone else. “And what is it that I need?”
    Renee set her mouth firmly. “Female companionship.”
    He gestured toward her. “In case you missed it, you’re a female, Renee.”
    She snorted at the weak attempt to deflect her focus. “I’m old enough to be your mother.”
    His smile was broad as he took her hand in his. “I like older women.”
    Renee pulled her hand away, giving him a stern, motherly look. “Peter—”
    â€œDon’t,” he warned her quietly. He saw compassion enter her eyes. “Maybe someday I’ll be ready.” Although he sincerely doubted it.