No, Sam needed to feel the love.
Zoe walked inside. She glanced around, taking in the touches Sam had added that marked the room as hers. The Orlando Bloom stand-up poster from the party, the stuffed animals and the typical clutter accumulated over time. Except in Sam's case, all the stuff had been gathered over the short period during which she'd lived with Zoe's parents.
She'd arrived from her last foster home with little in the way of personal items except for the keys around her neck and she seemed surprised each time someone- Ari, Zoe, Elena, Nicholas or even one of the aunts- bought her something just because they wanted to see her smile.
Sam sat on her bed.
Zoe joined her. "You can't keep your feelings inside." Counseling was Ari's forte, but Zoe tried, anyway, for Sam's sake.
Sam pulled her knees up to her chest and leaned back against the headboard. "I'm not. Ryan Baldwin is a liar and I don't want to be related to him. You knew about the lie, so you were probably helping him to get close to me so you could get me out of your house and have your parents back all to yourself."
Zoe rolled her eyes. "I'm thirty years old. What makes you think I want my parents' attention all on me? I saw this one coming, but I thought you'd come up with a better story than that lame one." She nudged Sam's leg with her elbow.
And got a grudging half smile in return. "Okay, then why did you lie?" Sam asked.
"Because I needed time to find out if Ryan was telling the truth. I wanted to know what kind of man he really was before turning everyone's lives upside down. Can you try to understand?"
Sam shrugged. "Maybe."
She was trying valiantly to show no fear, but Zoe saw her trembling lips and wide eyes, the scared little girl beneath the facade.
Since nothing could make this nightmare go away, Zoe opted to try and make it easier. "And maybe you can find out a little about your uncle? Maybe Ryan can tell you some more about your mom." Zoe prodded her softly, wanting Sam to realize there were benefits to having Ryan in her life.
Sam fingered the keys around her neck, but said nothing.
Zoe tilted her head and scooted a little closer. "You never talked about her. Do you want to? With me?"
Sam shook her head. "I just want to go to sleep." A single tear dripped down her cheek. She ignored it, didn't bother to wipe it away.
Zoe desperately wanted to pull Sam into her arms, but she sensed how much the teen valued her composure. Even at this young age, Sam knew how to keep it together, a function of growing up in foster homes with no one who truly cared.
In her heart, Sam had to know everyone in the Costas family loved and respected her. Enough to give her the space she needed.
"I'd just like you to remember one thing," Zoe said.
Sam reluctantly lifted her gaze. "What's that?"
"We love you, whatever happens." Some words had to be said, Zoe thought, in order to be both felt and remembered.
And then, though Sam had curled into a ball, Zoe pressed a kiss to the top of her head before slipping out the door.
She leaned back, hands flat against the wall and exhaled hard. Despite it all, she felt torn. On the one hand, she wanted to kill Ryan for putting Sam through this pain and on the other hand, she wanted to show up on his doorstep and fill him in on everything that had happened tonight. And then she wanted to let him hold her, make love to her, and ease the pain. She felt that close to him.
What irony. Because if not for Ryan, she wouldn't feel so gut-wrenchingly bad right now.
THE SUN PEEKED through the curtains on the window, but Ryan didn't need daylight to tell him it was morning. He hadn't slept a wink all night.
When he hadn't heard from Zoe by midnight, he resigned himself to not hearing from her at all. Unable to sit still in his small motel room, he'd headed out to a local bar and nursed a couple of drinks. He'd thought he'd consumed enough to put him out for the night, but instead, he'd stared at the ceiling, tortured by the memory of Zoe's enthusiastic moans, groans and earth-shattering climax. A climax she'd had at the same moment he'd come inside her.
He felt as though those memories were some kind of punishment, though he hadn't done a damn thing wrong except be related to Sam. He ran a hand through his hair and rose from the bed, determined to take his and Sam's fate into his own hands.
After a quick shower and shave, he dressed, ready to head over to the Costas home and have this discussion with all interested parties present.
He stepped out of his room onto the catwalk and was greeted by a warm breeze. And then by his uncle Russell walking toward him.
"Well this is a surprise." Ryan strode forward and by habit, held out his hand.
"A good one I hope." His uncle grabbed his hand and pulled him into a hug.
The man always had provided the affection his parents failed to give and he was grateful. But he couldn't afford to have him here now, messing up any headway he might have made with the Costas family. Or more important, with Sam.
Ryan stepped back. "It's always nice to see you, but I thought we agreed you'd wait till I told you it was a good idea to come here."
The other man leaned against the railing overlooking the parking lot. "You seemed down when we spoke last night and I thought you could use the moral support."
"So you drove all this way in the middle of the night?"
His uncle inclined his head. "I told you. You're the son I never had."
"And I appreciate the support." More than he was able to express at the moment, despite his mixed feelings about Uncle Russ joining him here.
"I intend to be here for you every step of the way."
Ryan glanced at the sky, wondering when the hell his life had gotten so damn complicated. Then, resigned to the inevitable, Ryan turned to his uncle. "Want to go meet your niece?"
His uncle's face lit up in a way Ryan hadn't seen in years. "Just lead the way, son."
ZOE PACED THE FAMILY ROOM, angry at Sam and furious with herself. Early that morning, the family discovered Sam was gone, missing from her bedroom and nowhere else in the house. No matter how many alternatives they discussed, they could come to no other conclusion than she had run away from home. Common sense told them that Sam had bolted the same way she'd done before, to test the family's loyalty and desire to have her around.
Normally they'd wait her out, give her some time to think, and then find her in an obvious place. She'd be lectured, then grounded, just as Ari or Zoe had been as children- proof to Sam that she was one of them. But in this case, her fear of being taken away was valid, and nobody had wanted to give her too much headway in her escape.
Zoe had anticipated the teenager withdrawing, so why hadn't she insisted on sleeping in her room last night instead of leaving her alone? She slammed her palm against the table in frustration, then shook the sting from her hand.
She hated being the one home waiting in case Sam called or showed up, but her parents had gone knocking on her friends' doors, Quinn and Ari were checking other places Sam might go, like the youth center around the corner, and Connor was asking around at local hospitals.
Zoe walked to the window and glanced out to the street in time to see Ryan pull up in his fancy BMW. God, he was the last thing she needed now. He was also the one person she wanted desperately. It would help to have his shoulder to cry on because despite that they each wanted Sam in their family, they both had her welfare at heart. She needed to share her fear with him now.
She opened the door and watched Ryan…and an older man she didn't recognize as they strode together up her front walk.
The stranger's presence prevented her from acting on her stupid impulse to fling herself into Ryan's arms for comfort and reassurance. Odd things to expect or desire from the man whose very presence had caused the upheaval.
He strode forward with confidence, wearing the suit he'd had on the first day they'd met. He was clean shaven and his hair was neatly combed. His appearance made him look more like the uptight man she'd met at the birthday party than the relaxed guy she'd spent time with lately. Yet his appeal was certain and unnerving and not even the ultra-conservative look changed the fact that the man was drop-dead gorgeous and caused Zoe's awareness levels to soar.
"Zoe? What's wrong?" he asked.
She pulled her thoughts together and forced a smile. "What makes you think anything's wrong?"
He stepped closer, so he could speak directly to her, whispering for her ears alone. "Because I know you and while your smile might say one thing, I see something else entirely in your eyes."
Her internal radar went on the fritz when he stepped closer and she smelled his familiar, sexy cologne, while her stomach churned, warmed by his concern and understanding. Still, he hadn't introduced her to his companion and he held himself apart from her in a way that told her their intimacy seemed to be in the past. Reminding herself that she'd pulled away from him first didn't ease the sting.
"You told her, didn't you?" he asked, guessing accurately.
"Come on in and I'll explain." She pushed the front door open wide and gestured inside.
When they were all seated, she inclined her head toward the older gentleman. His salt-and-pepper hair gave him a distinguished air. "And who is this?" she asked.
Ryan shook his head. "Sorry, my manners seem to have failed me," he said rather formally. "Uncle Russell, meet Zoe Costas. Uncle Russell came down because…He…"
Ryan's voice trailed off and Zoe understood the reason for his sudden discomfort. "He wanted to meet Sam," she finished for him. "Odd considering nobody but you has seemed interested in Sam in years." Zoe lashed out, refusing to hold her feelings back, but unable to meet Ryan's gaze as she did so.
Beside Ryan, his uncle stiffened.
"That was completely uncalled for," Ryan said as he turned suddenly judgmental before her eyes.
"The young lady has gumption," his uncle said in an equally formal voice.
She couldn't tell if his comment was meant as a compliment or an insult. Between the New England accent and the haughty attitude, he hid his true feelings well.
"I always have gumption, especially when I'm protecting family. And Sam is already family. She's my sister. Signing adoption papers is just a formality," she said, forcing herself to speak aloud a conviction she no longer believed was so simple and straightforward.
Ryan set his jaw. "We'll see about that."
She narrowed her gaze. Never in all the time they'd been together, first as adversaries and later as lovers, had this subject come up. They'd each trodden carefully around the other's feelings, wanting what was best for the teenager, and respecting the other's position and desires. Yet in front of his uncle, Ryan took a definitive stand that froze Zoe inside and out.
But she'd started it by mentioning the adoption and suddenly she knew why, just as she knew what was different about Ryan now. His demeanor had changed. Though he'd only been in New Jersey a short time, in the past few days he'd relaxed around Zoe and her family. He'd accepted their outspokenness and come to enjoy their uniqueness, like Elena's kimonos and Sam's pet pig. All things that would never be accepted in his Boston home.
Yet sitting sandwiched between Zoe and his uncle, he was faced with two disparate choices. The Costases' eccentricity versus the values of his conservative relatives. Any feelings he might have developed for Zoe versus his loyalty to his own family.
His worst nightmare had come to life, Zoe thought. As had hers, since it was obvious whom he would choose. Ryan's aloofness and the clothes he'd chosen all put a barrier between himself and Zoe, and proved her gut instinct had been correct all along. More than the physical distance between New Jersey and Massachusetts separated her from Ryan. More separated them than even their desire to claim Sam.
The emotional gulf between them couldn't be greater. Heaven help her when he discovered Sam had run away.
RYAN WAS FURIOUS. He couldn't look at Zoe without wanting to strangle her. Signing adoption papers was just a formality? Since when had she deleted him from the equation, without a thought? That lack of thought was the key to his anger. Throughout this painful process, they'd developed a respect for one another that she'd completely trashed in one split second.
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