Miracle Baby (Harlequin American Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page B

Delilah approached with their breakfast. “Sounds like you found hope, too.”
    â€œHope,” she repeated in a whisper. “I hadn’t really thought of it that way, but yeah…I found hope.”
    â€œSoup’s on.” Delilah lowered the tray of food to the edge of their table, divvying up their order with grace and speed. “Full order for you—” she plunked Rory’s Belgian waffle on the table in front of him “—and a half-size order for you.”
    Maggie peered down at the plate and the waffle nearly spilling over the sides. “This is a half-size order?”
    Plunking yet another waffle in front of Rory, Delilah nodded. “It sure is.” She lifted the tray and tucked it under her arm. “You kids need anything else you just holler, y’hear?”
    Maggie stared at the food in front of her, her stomach performing a simultaneous grumble and flip. “I can’t eat all this.”
    â€œEat what you can.” Rory grabbed a miniature silver pitcher from beneath the table’s small Christmas tree and handed it to her, the high-wattage sparkle of earlier returning to his eyes. “Can’t eat a waffle without syrup. It’s the best part.”
    Fifteen minutes later Maggie pointed at her half-empty plate. “Do you know this is the first real meal I’ve had in…” She thought for a moment. “Well, let’s just say it’s been a long time.”
    A satisfied grin crept across his face. “And do you know this is the first time I’ve had a conversation with my meal in aeons? I mean, I love carpentry, I really do. In fact, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. But the nature of the restorations I do has me working by myself ninety-nine percent of the time.”
    â€œAnd the other one percent?” she asked.
    â€œThat’s just the two or three words exchanged with whatever delivery guy’s brought the lumber or specialized tool I need for a particular project.”
    â€œSurely you talk to more people than that, right?”
    His shoulders rose and fell with a lazy shrug. “Not really.”
    â€œWhat about your—” she glanced at his left hand,noting that his ring finger was bare “—girlfriend? Parents? Siblings? Friends?”
    She watched as he chased a bite of waffle around his syrup-soaked plate with a fork. “I’m not involved with anyone at the moment, haven’t been for a while. My mom passed on two and a half years ago, my father shortly after my—” He stopped, cleared his throat and shifted in his seat before diving back into the conversation in a slightly different place. “As for friends, well, I guess I had some at one time.”
    â€œAt one time?”
    He nodded. “I pushed them away.”
    â€œAhhh, yes. I know it well.”
    If he was curious about her statement, though, he let it pass. And she was glad. Despite the fact that they’d danced around two potentially heavy topics prior to the arrival of their food, breakfast with Rory had been surprisingly comfortable.
    Maybe even a little fun.
    The last thing she wanted was for that to change. Not now, anyway.
    â€œSo, as you can see, having breakfast with you has nothing to do with babysitting and everything to do with my own selfish motives.”
    â€œAnd wishes?” she teased, as a burst of warmth spread throughout her body at his welcomed reassurance.
    Dimples formed in his cheeks as he met her eyes across the table. “And wishes.”
    â€œYou wanna know something?” The question surprised her as it left her mouth.
    â€œAbsolutely.”
    â€œI’m not sure it was an actual wish. It was really more of a promise to myself…but just this morning, before I came down to apologize, I made a pact with myself to eat something real for breakfast. And—” she gestured at her plate “—I did.”
    He studied her intently, an