all else, baby. You might have noticed I’ve held back the most important part.”
“Sex.”
“Yes.”
“You don’t get a trophy for not having sex with me, Caleb.” If he wasn’t mistaken, she was smirking. The tension in the air eased just a bit.
“Maybe just a small one?” he teased lightly.
She rolled her eyes. Score. “You’re going to need to polish it. It’s not very sparkly.”
He laughed. It felt good. Her fury was subsiding. “Elena, I’m going to make mistakes. I’m not perfect. This one was huge. Inexcusable. But I promise I will always say I’m sorry when I’m wrong. I will listen to you when you have a grievance. And then I will try harder to be worthy of your love.”
She shuddered. “Love is a super strong word for two people who met forty-eight hours ago.”
“It is, but I still feel it. It’s powerful and consuming.”
“You’re relentless.”
“When it comes to you, yes. I need you, baby. I need you to see that.”
She slowly turned to the side and lowered herself onto the arm chair. She tipped her head down to her lap and fidgeted her fingers. “I want to write a book.”
He furrowed his brow. That was so out of left field. “Okay,” he murmured.
She jerked her gaze up. “I mean it. About Marge’s life. I want to read every one of those letters, get to know her, find answers to my questions, talk to Josiah’s relatives. I want to write a book about it.”
“A novel? Like a love story?”
“Sort of, but maybe more of a tragedy. I mean so many things happened to her that were so sad. I don’t think it was a love story.”
“Oh, baby, you’re wrong. Marge’s life is a love story. She loved Josiah fiercely. So fiercely that she gave up everything to have him. She even gave up you.”
Elena smiled for the first time since he’d arrived. “Huh. I hadn’t thought of it that way. I guess you might be right.”
“Everyone in town knew Marge. You can interview any of them. Ask around. They will tell you about a woman who had the best life imaginable because she had the love of her life, and she knew it. She considered herself lucky.”
Elena kept nodding slowly.
“Sure, there was strife. Losses. But you’ve only seen the sad side of the story. Trust me. Marge was an amazing woman who lived life to the fullest with what she was dealt. And I don’t doubt she missed her family greatly, but Josiah was worth it. That’s what a mating is all about. She was the strongest woman I know.” He watched her staring at him as she soaked in what he was saying.
Her smile spread wider. “Thank you,” she whispered. “I needed to hear that. Of course I’m not even sure I’m a good writer. I’ve sold only a few articles. Maybe I suck.”
Caleb shook his head. “You’re a great writer.”
She cocked her head to one side. “How would you know?”
“I googled you. Read everything I could find. Especially loved your piece on the homeless in Chicago.”
Her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped open. “You looked me up?”
“Is that so hard to believe? Of course I did. You’re important to me.”
“That’s so…sweet.”
He let her sit with her thoughts for a long time. Finally, she spoke again. “Do you think my father lives here in Canyon Springs and is still alive?”
“It’s possible. I don’t know.”
“But everyone in this town seems to know everything. Wouldn’t someone know?”
He drew in a breath. “That’s the thing. Everyone knows everything, so why haven’t I ever heard about a man who impregnated a woman who left town and never came back?”
“True.”
“Granted, I was only six when you were born, but that would have been the talk of the town. That’s the type of rumor that would have spread through the decades.”
“Part of me is angry at him for letting my mother leave. For not being there for me. For not protecting me. But then I have to consider the possibility that my mother might have been stubborn like her mother and exercised that free will. Maybe she didn’t give him a choice and just left. Maybe he didn’t know my mother was pregnant. Maybe she didn’t even know.”
“True. I bet if you read more of the letters you can find out more about that summer, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up about finding your father. If Marge didn’t know, and no one else seems to have known, then I’m inclined to think that whoever he