hands. “Good mornin’. What are you doin’ up so early? I figured you’d sleep until noon.”
Her black hair looked like a messy haystack piled on top of her head. Her pajama pants and faded red T-shirt hung on her body.
To Noah, she’d never looked sexier.
His breath caught in his throat, making his voice come out a little hoarse when he said, “Guess my body got enough rest.” He motioned toward the chair right beside him. “Have a seat and watch the sunrise with me.”
When she sat down, he caught a whiff of coconut and vanilla mixed together and realized that her hair was still damp. A vision of her in the shower popped into his mind. He could imagine her light-brown skin, all slick with soap, and her head thrown back to show her long, graceful neck as she rinsed the shampoo from her hair. He blinked several times before the picture in his head disappeared.
“Do you always get up this early?” she asked.
“Usually not before daylight, but I am an early riser. Since I’ve been in Birthright, things have been a little crazy,” he replied.
“I sure enough understand that,” Teresa said. “Kayla and I have decided to take turns sleeping in the same room with Miss Janie. She tries to get up by herself at night to go to the bathroom. When she could walk, it wasn’t a big deal, but now someone has to help her. That new bed we set up in there has been great, though. I stayed with her last night. Kayla is with her now. I never thought I’d say this or feel this way, but I’m glad Kayla is home.”
“Don’t know how I’d survive without y’all. No way would Miss Janie let me do personal things for her, and strangers terrify her nowadays.” Noah would rather be talking about anything other than his great-aunt’s privacy.
“We owe her that much and more. We made some very bad choices in life. That’s on us, but she gave us a good home and did her best to steer us right,” Teresa said.
“Are you talking about your marriage?” he asked.
“That and staying with him when I knew he wasn’t faithful. Looking back now, I realize I figured all men were like him since that’s what I’d grown up with.” She shrugged. “Some of the men that visited ”—she put the last word in air quotes—“our trailer were married. I even saw them dropping their kids off at school the morning after they’d stayed the night with my mama. When I finally realized that wasn’t the way things should be”—she paused long enough to take a sip of her coffee—“I told Luis to go live with his latest fling.”
“What brought you to that conclusion?” he asked.
“There was this old couple in the nursing home who’d been married more than sixty years. They had so much love and respect for each other that I asked them to tell me their story. They even had a king-sized bed in their room instead of two twins because neither of them could sleep without the other. They’d had struggles in their life, but they’d always had enough love for one another to get them through the tough times. I’m talking raising three kids and living on a shoestring part of the time—without any cheating or abuse. That’s when I decided if I couldn’t have what they’d had, I’d do without,” she answered.
Noah hadn’t seen that kind of love in his grandparents or his parents. Sure, they’d stuck together until “death parted them” like they’d promised in their marriage vows, but it hadn’t always been with love and respect. Knowing Miss Janie like he did now, he could understand her whole family so much better. It had all stemmed from her father and mother being so religious that their son rebelled and joined the army. Then his son followed in his footsteps, which meant that Noah was supposed to do the same. In his own way, he had rebelled by not serving his country. Maybe that’s why, even with his law degree and PI license, he couldn’t find his place in the world. He put all that on a back burner to think about later and returned his attention to Teresa.
“So how did Luis react when it was over? Did both of you cry, or were you angry?”
“He was relieved and told me if he could stay in the house we were renting and keep the furniture, he would give me a couple