Chapter Twenty
“Morning, Sunshine,” Emanuela said through her Bluetooth device.
“Well, not yet.”
“I’m sorry. I thought you’d be up watching that beautiful sunrise of yours by now.”
The clock on her console read 8:14. She’d been driving along Eighty West for about an hour and could no longer resist the temptation to call him.
“Yeah, well you ruined that for me, Emmi. It’s not the same without you here.”
The image of a warm, more vulnerable Finn with his tousled bed-head waves filled her mind and she smiled. “I doubt that very much,” she said, momentarily distracted until she succeeded putting her car in cruise.
“How much farther do you have to go?”
“A few more hours still.”
“I wish I was there with you.”
“Me too, but it’s better for my mother when I ease her into things,” she said. “Besides, she’ll have a ton of questions, and this way we won’t have to pretend we aren’t talking about you.”
“Ah, I see. How is she?”
“She’s good. Going on six months now without any new episodes. I’m sure she’ll be beside herself when I tell her about you.”
“And your dad?”
“Well…”
“I thought as much.”
“Don’t take it personally. He dragged Greg with him on an eight-hour fly fishing excursion that started at four in the morni—”
Finn lost it, and she couldn’t blame him. A city slicker like Greg up to his waist in the great outdoors was a mental image so ridiculous, Finn’s fit of laughter filtered through the phone and bit her, sending her into a round herself.
“Hey, it’s not that funny,” she said when she could speak again.
“Oh, it’s exactly that funny.” He chuckled again and then quieted. “I like fishing.”
“I know.”
She did know. Because he’d told her over the phone—or maybe video chat. She couldn’t remember. She was sick of both methods of communication.
“It’s been three weeks,” Finn said.
She sighed. “I know. It’s been busy at the office, especially with Philip away—”
“He’s still punishing you?”
“Avoiding me. At least I think he is. He emails regularly and conferences in on occasion, but he’s been attending more forums this season than usual.”
“Emmi—”
“It’s okay, I can handle it.”
“You shouldn’t have to.”
She didn’t begrudge Philip his time away to sort himself out. She understood, and was making use of the time herself. “This is good for me. I work well under pressure, and I think I’ve shown that I’m capable of keeping the firm afloat while he’s away.”
“Of course you are.”
She didn’t need the reassurance. Her work spoke for itself, but it mattered to her to hear such conviction from Finn. “Thank you, for having so much faith in me.”
He gave her what was quickly becoming her favorite response. “Ditto.”
She smiled. “It just occurred to me that you are about to meet everyone important to me in less than a week.”
“That has occurred to me more than once.”
She laughed softly. “Don’t be nervous. They’ll love you.”
“All I know is that I love you. Just lay it on thick with your parents, okay? Make me look good.”
“I’ll do the best I can.”
“Smartass. Call me tonight. I know you’ll be busy catching up, but I just want to hear your voice.”
“I will. And Finn?”
“Hmm?”
“Ditto.”
****
Emanuela turned onto the smooth, black road leading to her parents’ Tudor style home just after eleven o’clock. The neighborhood mimicked an English country village, with plenty of lush green lawns, trees, and stately homes of free-flowing brick and traditional timber. She took a deep breath and pulled into her parents’ driveway. The earth was still damp from a summer rain, the smell of fresh pavement and newly cut grass blending in the warm air to welcome her home as they’d done so many times before. She grinned, hearing the front door open seconds after she shut the car door.
“Hi, Dad.” She trotted up the steps to hug him. “Did Mom have you keeping watch by the window again?”
Ethan bent to her ear. “Just for the last thirty minutes or so, but it’s okay, I had something to read.” He stood back and pulled the newspaper from his back pocket with a waggle of his brows.
She shook her head in amusement, following him through the door. Her mouth watered at the tantalizing smell of meat cooking, and her stomach grumbled right on cue.
“All right, come on,” Ethan said. “Let’s get something else in you besides coffee.”
“What smells so good?” she asked, following him through the house to the back yard.
“What else? Venison!” Ethan opened the sliding door. “That city living messed up your nose.”
She wrinkled her nose in response.
“Ethan, you leave her alone.” Mira made her way toward them from the grill. “There aren’t any deer in the city until Christmas.”
“Mom.” Emanuela gawked at her mother’s sexy blue halter dress beneath her apron and the three-inch sandals on her dainty feet. “Whoa. You look hot!”
“Thank you, baby,” Mira said with a little extra sway to her hips before wrapping Emanuela in a warm hug. “Trying to keep things spicy.”
“Ugh, Mom.”
“Oh hush.” Mira looked her daughter over with blatant curiosity. “Your skin is glowing, baby. And you look a little fuller—”
“Mom…”
Mira cocked her head to the side. “What else is different about you?”
“Nothing.” Emanuela tried not to fidget under her mother’s keen eye.
Mira opened her mouth to say something else when Ethan cut in. “Let her get settled in before you start dissecting her, woman. You know she gets skittish when we ask too many questions.”
“Mmmm,” Mira mumbled. Her gaze burned into her daughter’s for a long second before she turned away.
Emanuela sighed. Her mother would dig into her later, but for now, she listened to her parents recount their romantic train ride through the Adirondacks the weekend before, and Mira chatter away about the wonders of meditation for her sometimes overactive mind. Catching up was more than enough to carry them through their midday meal.
“So,” Mira said after they’d cleaned their plates a second time. “Are you going to tell us who’s got you so excited about us coming out next weekend, or are we supposed to guess?”
Emanuela’s eyes snapped up and locked with her mother’s.
“What are you talking abou—” Ethan said, but Mira quickly shushed him.
Emanuela groaned inwardly. If she hadn’t frozen like a deer in headlights, she wouldn’t have given herself away.
“She met someone,” Mira said. “And since we haven’t been introduced to anyone since Greg, I’m guessing it’s pretty serious.”
Ethan looked at his daughter. “Emanuela?”
A slow grin spread across Emanuela’s face. Busted. “How do you always do that?” she asked Mira in astonishment. Without waiting for a response, she answered her mother’s question. “Do you remember the project we took on a few months ago? The one with the scientists from Seattle?”
“The gentlemen with the robots?” Ethan asked.
Emanuela smiled blissfully at Ethan’s words, and then saw the look of anticipation on her mother’s face and continued, “Something like that. As it turns out, I met one of them—Doctor Kane—last year during my trip to Chicago. His proposal crossed my desk a few months ago and since I’m lead on this one, we’ve been working pretty closely all this time—”
“How closely?”
“Ethan!” Mira said. “Let her finish!”
“We hit it off really well when we met again for this project, so we started seeing each other right away and I… We’re—”
“You love him.” Mira held Emanuela’s gaze.
Ethan was incredulous. “Don’t be ridiculous. She’s known the guy for five minutes!”
“Ridiculous? I know our daughter. She’s been grinning like a kitten since she got here, and when is the last time she pushed this hard for us to visit her in the city? We embarrass her. She hates public displays.”
“She was with Greg for two years.”
“She never said she loved him.”
Emanuela swallowed, at a loss at her mother’s powers of perception.
“She didn’t say she loved this doctor either,” Ethan said.
“I love him, Dad.”
He threw his hands up in surrender, grunting at the smug look on his wife’s face.
“Well, we look forward to meeting this…” Mira looked to Emanuela for an assist.
“Finn.”
“What is a Finn?” Ethan asked, ignoring Mira’s glare this time. “What kind of name is that? Is he European?”
“It’s a family name, Dad. Short for Finnegan. But there’s something else.”
Ethan looked at her expectantly.
“Go ahead, baby,” said Mira.
“They aren’t robots,” Emanuela said. “The devices Finn developed are called smart limbs. Prosthetics with the ability to communicate with the brain.” She licked her lips. “Once they’re out on the market, he’ll be able to use one himself. For his leg.”
It took a moment, but when the information sank in, even Mira looked stunned. “You’re saying he’s missing a leg?”
Emanuela stiffened. She expected they’d have questions, but she didn’t expect to feel so…on edge. Protective. “I’m saying he sustained an injury that resulted in some limb loss. He uses a prosthesis so he can have the same functionality as everyone else.”
“What happened?” Ethan asked. “Is he a vet?”
She saw something in her father’s eyes she hadn’t seen in years. Fear. Something clicked and she understood. “It happened a long time ago. A car accident when he was a kid. His parents died and his leg was crushed. But he’s as capable as you are.” She grinned. “Maybe more.”
Ethan looked pained and Mira burst into laughter.
“Ethan,” she said between laughs, “you look like she just told you she’s seeing a Martian.”
“Sorry, Dad. Couldn’t resist.” Emanuela snickered, then sobered. “Dating Finn has its challenges, but I’m happier than I’ve ever been. Like you and Mom.”
Ethan looked at Mira and his expression softened.
Emanuela understood. All the years, good and bad, were flooding her memory, too. They converged to this single moment in time, and her parents looked the happiest they’d ever been.
Ethan smiled at his daughter. “Just give me a minute, Baby,” he said. “Maybe two, with that name.”
“So you’ll be nice?”
He sat back, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m always nice.”
Mira and Emanuela shot him the same dubious glare and he chuckled. “I’ll be nice! What is it with you two?”
After sharing another laugh, Mira ordered Ethan into the house so she could have a moment alone with their daughter. “Come on, baby,” she said, getting up from the table. “Let’s go put our feet in.”
They sat at the edge of the natural pool in the spacious back yard, shoulder-to-shoulder, their legs dangling over the side and their feet enjoying a soothing soak. The water lilies were in full bloom, bursts of soft pink and pale purple among the lily pads dotting the surface. Little ripples could be seen now and then when nature’s smaller creatures came to share the pool.
“I’ll talk to your father,” Mira said. “He’s a cynic, you know that. I don’t blame him after what we’ve been through over the years. But I’m so happy for you, baby. Sometimes I worry about you working so much.”
Emanuela smiled, looking down at her feet, slowly kicking them back and forth in the water. “I know. I never minded it before. I like working. It’s just…” She licked her lips and thought for a moment. “I don’t want to do this job forever. I guess I thought I would be content with the way things are for a while longer, until I figure out what I wanted to do. But lately it’s not enough for me anymore. I still enjoy it, just not as much.”
Mira laughed. “Oh, baby. It’s never going to be enough again.”
Emanuela winced, but Mira continued, “I know what it’s like to have it all, at least to people looking at you from the outside. But inside, there’s this nagging feeling there’s more. It eats at you and eats at you until it’s the only thing on your mind and you’ll never be happy until you try and find it. The difference between you and me, besides one of us being crazy—”
“Mom…”
“The difference is, I didn’t know what it was that I was looking for. I was chasing after this nameless thing and it was ruining my life. You’re different, Emanuela. You know what more is for you and you aren’t going to get it doing the same thing you’ve always done. Sometimes you have to switch it up. Shake your world.”
“That’s exactly how it felt, Mom. Like my world got shaken up. When the dust settled, I didn’t recognize my surroundings anymore.” She could feel her mother’s eyes on the side of her face and turned to face her. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. About marriage and babies—but I couldn’t figure out the last piece of the puzzle until I made the drive up here. I haven’t told anyone, not even Finn.”
Mira’s eyes widened then, and Emanuela poured out her heart and mind until the sun reached its highest point in the sky late that afternoon.
****
“Hey you.”
“Hey, beautiful.” Finn’s deep, gentle voice enveloped her, his contented smile flashing bright white on her computer screen.
“We have to whisper because I swear the walls here are made of tissue and spit,” Emanuela said with a soft laugh.
“Good to know. You look good in my shirt.”
“I know. That’s why I took it.”
“Keep it. It looks better on you. How was the drive?”
She looked at him thoughtfully for a few seconds. “It was really relaxing for me. Kind of therapeutic. I did a lot of thinking.”
His brows went up. “Oh?”
“Yes. I promise I’ll tell you what I’ve cooked up, but I want to do it in person, when you come to New York.”
Just as she’d promised in New Orleans, she kept her expression unguarded. On the contrary, she felt almost luminous. Open.
“I have no idea how I’ll last the week.” He blew out a long, slow breath. “But I trust that you’ll tell me what’s on your mind when you’re ready. I’ve managed to survive three away from you so far, so I’ll let you make it up to me when I get there.”
“Oh, well thank you. You’re very generous.”
“I know.”