Morgan chuckled. Derek, who’d always taken ego trips even while in high school, was not a favorite of the Steele Brothers since that night a few years ago when he’d tried pulling his aggressive macho ways on Vanessa. Ignoring their advice she had gone out with him. The date had ended rather quickly when she had to resort to kneeing him in the groin when he proved he didn’t know the meaning of the word no. He never forgave Vanessa for using that technique on him, and to this day was still pissed at the Steele brothers for having taught her how to use it.
“Well, he must not have been the only one for Lena to have developed a complex about it to the point where she thinks the majority of men think that way. I intend to prove otherwise, and certain things can’t be rushed. Using her as my Realtor will buy me some time.”
He took a sip of his wine, determined to make Bas understand as he’d done Donovan a few days ago. “I’m serious when I said I want her, Bas. But more importantly,” he said, meeting his brother’s gaze, “I intend to have her.”
“So, Mom, how was the trip to the zoo?”
“It was nice. Mr. Bannister got sick again and Ms. Lilly wanted Mr. Arnold to share his wheelchair but he wouldn’t.”
Lena nodded. She knew Ms. Lilly was an older woman in her early eighties who had begun showing signs of Alzheimer’s last year. On several occasions she had assumed Odessa Spears was her daughter and would try to make her follow her commands. “What about Ms. Emily? How did she do today?” she asked, and glanced over and watched her mother smile.
“Why, Emily did just fine with this being her first trip and all. But she had company. Her granddaughter and great-granddaughter went with us as chaperones. Did I ever tell you that she had six grands and two great-grands?”
Lena’s stomach tightened since she knew where this conversation was headed. “Yes, Mama, you told me.”
“And Emily agrees with me that it’s a shame that I don’t even have a grand. She said she can’t believe a young woman as pretty as you can’t find herself a man.”
Lena sighed deeply. There was no way she could tell her mother that men were out there a dime a dozen and she didn’t have to “find” one. The problem was hooking up with one who didn’t have stipulations that weren’t acceptable to her. Lena knew her mother’s heart would be crushed if she ever discovered the real reason men didn’t come calling and those who did usually stopped real quick, as if in a hurry once they discovered her role in her mother’s life.
“Mom, like I told you, my job keeps me busy.”
“No job should keep a woman too busy for a man. You’re thirty-one. I was married to your father before my twenty-first birthday and we were so happy together. That man was my life. You came along twenty years later and then the both of you became my life. A woman couldn’t have been happier. A husband and a child have a way of fulfilling a woman’s life.”
“I’m sure that’s true, Mom, but—”
“And take a look at Kylie. I love Tiffany dearly with her being your godchild and all, but a new baby is nice and it didn’t take Kylie long after her marriage to do her duty.”
Lena shook her head. Her duty. She didn’t want to think about what her mother figured her duty was.
“But I don’t want to talk about Kylie. You’re my daughter and I want to talk about you.”
Lena sighed. Her mother hadn’t been this talkative in a long time. A part of her was happy about it, but she would be even happier if they discussed another subject. “Mom, we’ve talked before. They don’t make men like they used to,” she said, coming to a stop at a traffic light.
She glanced over at her mom and met her gaze when Odessa asked, “Is that what’s bothering you? Are you figuring there isn’t a man out there like your daddy was? Probably not, but it’s the woman who usually makes the marriage and not the man. You just have to let him think that he does. Why, I can recall when your father…”
Lena pulled off when the traffic light changed to green as her mother relived pleasant memories. She was grateful for the change in subjects, because if they had stayed on their same conversation path, there was no way she wouldn’t eventually have lost it. Having lunch with Kylie and seeing how pregnant she looked made her unconsciously rub her stomach wishing more than anything a baby could be there.
She cleared her throat in an attempt to keep her tear ducts from working. For some reason she’d been in a melancholy mood lately, but she knew it would eventually pass and she would snap out of it.