“Mum, would you pass the salt?” Katie’s gaze never left her plate.
“I mean it,” Finn said, frustrated when they ignored him.
“I’m sure you do,” Katie remarked as she sliced a piece of sirloin. “But you could change your mind.”
“I won’t,” he growled. “I can’t.”
“Why can’t you?” Laurie’s infinite brown eyes searched his, their sadness almost too much to bear.
“It’s no big deal.” Careful to pretend it wasn’t a raw subject, he hurried to explain. “It’s just the CF. I’ve always known I’d be infertile.”
“There’re ways around it.” Katie buttered a dinner roll and took a bite.
“Expensive ways, and they don’t always work,” Finn countered.
“I’m guessing you don’t really want to have kids,” Laurie said, as she pushed her food around on her plate. As demonstrated at lunch the previous day, she didn’t eat much when she was anxious. He had to find some way to turn this evening around so she could at least enjoy the food. He owed her that much.
“Excellent guess,” he replied, since it would be a lie to claim he had no such desire. He simply didn’t believe it was a good idea. “You see, Mum… Laurie and I barely know each other, and she already understands me better than my own family.”
Katie’s only comment was to lift her gaze to the ceiling, but his mother’s downturned lips told him he’d struck a chord with her.
“That’s what I thought,” Laurie said. “Otherwise, you’d be considering adoption.”
“I suggested adoption.” Katie pointed an accusing fork at him.
He was ready to detail all the reasons he couldn’t adopt. To explain why he would never saddle a woman he loved with a future as a widow and a single mother, when Laurie spoke again.
“There are so many kids out there with no one to love them, I plan to adopt as soon as I can. I’ll probably adopt kids with special needs. I’ve checked into it, and in some cases, they’ll let a single mom adopt, especially with older kids.”
“That’s awesome, Laurie.” Katie had mastered the art of looking innocent, though she could be quite diabolical. “So you’re saying you want to adopt kids and raise them, even if you don’t have a husband to help you?”
“Obviously, it would be easier with a husband, but I doubt I’ll ever meet a guy who feels like I do. Most guys are like Finn—they either want their own flesh-and-blood kids or none at all.”
Katie’s lips twitched at the corners, her eyes crinkling in suppressed merriment. “That’s really interesting, isn’t it Finn? It’s like I always told you, some women are strong enough to handle being a single mom.”
He tried to kick her under the table, but his shin found a table leg instead. “Ouch.”
His mother piled on, for added impact. “Finn loves children with special needs. He’d be quids in to adopt kids.”
With the conversation taking a turn for the worse, Laurie’s brows bent with determination. She put her fork down and cleared her throat. “Eh-hem… Susan… Katie… I need to say something…”
Cripes! She’s going to tell Mum we aren’t dating.
He couldn’t blame her. It wasn’t surprising she was ready to throw in the towel after thirty minutes with his mother and Katie. He’d had thirty-three years to get used to them, and they still drove him crazy.
Her right hand reached over and found his. She lifted their joined hands to the corner of the table, having attained the rapt attention of his mum and sister. He could only stare at their interlaced fingers, amazed at how natural it felt.
“If you want any chance of this working between Finn and me, you need to back off.”
Katie’s eyes grew so large, they looked like they might pop out of her head, but she kept her mouth shut.
Laurie’s chin had a barely perceptible tremble as she spoke. “I don’t think you treat Finn with the respect he deserves. He runs a multi-billion-dollar corporation and a charity organization that’s changed countless lives. You shouldn’t offer your opinions about his life choices unless he asks for them.”
Finn expected a sarcastic response, but it never came. Evidently encouraged by their silence, Laurie spoke again.
“And something else...” Her fingers squeezed as if she was drumming up her courage. “I think your meddling may be part of the reason Finn doesn’t want to get married. What woman would want to marry a grown man whose family treats him like a child?” Bottomless brown eyes peered at him in question. “Am I right?”
His throat too constricted to speak, he could only nod. Her words were nothing new. He’d expressed the same sentiments a thousand times, to no avail. But this time, something was different. It wasn’t important whether or not his family listened—it only mattered that Laurie had spoken out in his defense.
Katie’s brows lifted. Of course, she wasn’t fooled by Laurie’s speech. She knew, as he did, it was all for show. Yet he couldn’t help the warm feeling that spread inside. Laurie had gone out on a limb for him, as only a true friend would.
His mother sat back in her chair, lines deepening on her forehead. Laurie’s hand tugged, but he held on, wanting to present a unified front. If his mother or sister uttered one word of criticism about Laurie, he was ready to walk out of the restaurant.
Susan leveled a challenging gaze at Laurie, which she returned, lifting her chin.
“That’s not the first time I’ve been told to wind my neck in,” Susan remarked. “But it could be the most thorough job of it. Brilliant, really. Don’t you think, Katie?”
His sister nodded cheerily as she forked a bite of quinoa into her mouth. “True. A thorough flogging, and well-deserved.”
Finn let out the breath he’d been holding. World War III wasn’t coming after all.
His mum went back to her salmon. “I suppose we thought it was all in good fun. Didn’t know we had you wound up over it.”
“It gets old. I’ve asked you to leave it alone about a thousand times.” Reluctantly, Finn let Laurie’s fingers slip away so she could return to her dinner. He was pleased to see her appetite had picked up.
He owed her big time. She’d accomplished in five minutes what he’d failed to do over the last decade or more. In his head, he rehearsed how he would express his gratitude without making her feel awkward. He was pretty sure he knew just what to say.
