“How do you know you’re not falling into the same trap? Liam was charming and nice in the beginning. It took him years to show his truecolors.”
“Drew’s a good man,” Cindy said emphatically. “If you don’t believe me, then you should comemeethim.”
“Do you think that’s safe? We could lead Liam right to your door,” hermomsaid.
“You’re the one who keeps telling me that I need to face him. What difference does it make if I do it here or in L.A. Besides, he’ll never find me here. We can change ournamesand—”
“Brooke is settled in school. You’d be uprooting her. Taking her away from herfriends.”
“She’s six. She’ll be far safer with me than she would be if she stayedinL.A.”
“She’s been perfectly fine the last year,” her mom said. “I don’t think he’s really going to come looking for you. After a year, he has to havecooledoff.”
“I don’t know...” Cindy flashed back to the look of rage in his eyes. He’d sworn he’d chase her until he died. He wasn’t going to give up after such a short amountoftime.
“Come home so we can talk about this,” hermomsaid.
“She’s my daughter. I want her here with me. Please don’t make this any harder than it needs to be, Mom.Please.”
Her mom sighed. “Tell me more aboutthisguy.”
“Drew?”
“Yes.”
“He lives on a huge ranch with his family. He has five other brothers and they’re all married orengaged.”
“It must be a huge house,” hermomsaid.
“They don’t all live in the main house. They also run a bed & breakfast and one of the brothers lives next door with his wife,”Cindysaid.
“What do they do all day, milk cows?” her momasked.
“No.” Cindy laughed. “They do have some cows, but they also train horses. In the spring, they give riding lessons. They lead trail rides in the summer. A lot of their income comes from the bed & breakfast. They’re such nice people. I wish you’d just fly up here andmeetthem.”
“What about your work as a doctor? Is there a hospital near thisranch?”
“No. There isn’t one in town. But I couldn’t work there even if there was one. Liam would be able to find me too easily,”Cindysaid.
“How long have you known this guy?” her momasked.
Cindy hesitated. If she told her mom the whole truth, then she’d be even less inclined to agree to bring her daughter to the ranch. But she didn’t want tooutrightlie.
“Long enough to know that he’s a sweet, caring man who would do anything for his family,”Cindysaid.
“I’d like to say that I trust your judgement onthat,but…”
“I’m not the same woman I was seven years ago when I met Liam,” Cindy said. “I learned my lesson. Trust me, if I didn’t think that Drew was the real deal, I wouldn’t even consider asking you to bringBrookehere.”
“I’m bringing your father with us,” hermomsaid.
“Of course. I want Dad to meethimtoo.”
“All right. I’ll talk to your father and see about bringing her up in a few days,” hermomsaid.
Cindy burst into tears. To know that her mom finally trusted her enough to let her see her daughter made her heart burst with joy. She couldn’t wait to see her family again. After taking several shaky breaths, she brought the phone back toherear.
“Thank you, Mom. I’ll let Drew know that you’recoming.”
