Noah abandoned the toys and went to the kitchen. They heard him in the cabinets dragging out pots within minutes. Delilah threw her hands up in exasperation. “I try to stop him from doing that. I don’t understand it. He has a million toys, spaceships, and dinosaurs. And now, thanks to your Tonka trucks.”
“Ever think about getting him a drum set?” Maverick asked. He went into the kitchen with Delilah following.
“Drums?” she repeated.
“Listen,” Maverick said.
Noah banged the pots together and then on the floor. Delilah laughed out loud. She covered her mouth when Noah looked up. “I didn’t think of that. He likes the noise.”
“He likes to make noise,” Maverick winked. Noah walked out of the kitchen with the pots, and his parents watched as he took the pots in to bang them against the trucks. Maverick chuckled again. “He and I will start our own junkyard band after dinner.”
“He’s going to be a musician like me,” she said under her breath. “Wow.” Delilah walked out of the kitchen, and Maverick watched her go. It had become a habit of his. She wore the same fitted jeans but with boots with heels put a bit of sway to her hips. He brought out the bowl of salad and placed it on the table. Delilah was on her knees in front of Noah, banging the pot lids to make noise with him. It really made the kid happy to have his mother loosening up with him. Noah ran off to bring Maverick a top to one of the pots.
“Do you know how beautiful your mother is, kid?” Maverick whispered. Noah hurried to his mother, yelling in excitement so fast Maverick couldn't understand what he was saying. He hoped he wasn’t telling on him. Delilah hugged him and carried him over to the table.
“I should freshen up. Here,” Delilah gave Noah to him. He nodded, and she went to the bathroom.
“It’s just one day, and I’m already making promises, kid,” Maverick said. “I need to be cool, though. Don’t want to spook Mommy. I got three and a half weeks. We should focus on you. Right? Me and you. And then I can probably take you to New York. What do you think?” he asked.
“Me and you,” Noah said rather than asked.
Maverick smiled. “Good job, buddy.”
“Let’s eat. I’ll pour the wine, and you and Noah can fix your plate,” Delilah said. Maverick had grilled her vegetables and put tofu on the skewer with the peppers like she suggested. He wasn’t sure if it was a tasty vegetarian meal, so he may have overdone it with the seasoning. He tried his best. He hoped the flavoring he added would win him some points.
“I made you some guac and chips. I wasn’t sure if the salad and veggies would fill you up."
“Looks great. And it smells so good,” Delilah smiled.
“Eat! Eat!” Noah said and patted his tummy.
“And for you, I have salmon and cut up asparagus.”
Noah opened his mouth while seated on Maverick’s lap. He fed him from his plate. Noah seem to enjoy dinner immensely. Maverick was barely able to take a bite himself without having to offer Noah more.
“I’m sorry about earlier. When Karen approached us, I wasn’t ready.”
“What was on page 3? In the paper?” Maverick asked.
“Your picture. Your story. Mother Abigail gave the press your name and some details. The rest is public information, so I’m sure they put it all together. They outed you as Noah’s father. They said that Charles died believing he was his son. A whole pity story was crafted for Charles. I should have known not to go into town with you today. This place feeds on gossip,” she said.
“Who is Mother Abigail?” Maverick asked.
“My mother-in-law. Charles mother. When I fired Jefferson, the attorney you met in New York, he retaliated by going to the Montgomery’s and telling them about the deal we made. He told them it was my idea to have you come to stay in Charles’s home.”
“This is your home,” Maverick corrected her.
“This?” she laughed. “No. Not really. This is my reward for marrying into the Montgomery family and being a good girl. Four generations of Montgomerys have lived on this land. As the last act of rebellion against his mother, Charles put the ranch in his will. That ultimately gave it to me.”
“Doesn’t sound like the man who was part of Eve’s Promise,” Maverick said and took a sip of his wine.
“Charles was complicated. He was the last born. His father selected him out of his other sons to give his property deed and rights too. I don’t know why. I don’t want to know why. I didn’t know it, but the lawyers said he wanted it done and put in the prenup.”
“You didn’t read your prenup?” Maverick found that odd. She was an attorney, after all. How could she not know? He half-expected her to write her own prenup. Instead, she looked at Noah when she spoke instead of him. “I didn’t want his money. I was so in love with him I would have signed anything. No. I didn’t read the prenup because I convinced myself that the marriage was forever.”
Maverick rolled his eyes at the sentiment.
“Mother Abigail is pissed about the will and some other things I won’t get into. The most important thing to her is the family name. My scandal, our scandal, it’s doing a lot of damage. Throwing me under the bus is just a bonus for her.”
“There was more to the article than our custody battle? Am I right?” he asked.
“The article said I had moved on.” She over at him. “With you. And then I walked into the grocery store, parading you around as Noah’s father. That’s how the people in this town see it. Mother Abigail made it out to be something obscene. Like I was planning on replacing my husband with you. As if I would even do that. I don’t even know you. Nasty lies.” She tossed her fork to the plate. “I don’t care what they think anyway.”
“You damn right, you don’t,” Maverick said.
Delilah frowned. “What?”
“You’re the strongest woman I’ve met since Camille,” he said and forked some more salmon to Noah. “Don’t get me wrong. Melissa was strong too. But Camille was a warrior, a fighter. You remind me more of her.”
“Camille? That was your partner, right? The one who died?”
“Yeah, the one you said was my mistress.” He looked up at her. Again she looked away. “I wasn’t the best husband, but I didn’t cheat on my wife. Ever. Camille was a friend to Melissa and me. After Melissa died, she kept me sane. We fell in love, and then she died too. I figured, two strikes and I’m out. So I moved and tried to start over.”
“I’m sorry,” Delilah mumbled.
“For?” Maverick asked. Noah snatched the fork from his father and started to feed himself.
“For what I did to you in court. The way Jefferson went after you and your relationship with your wife. I’m sorry about that. I was wrong. The fight was between you and me. I should have never brought her into it.”
“Thank you. I’m sorry for the things I said. Especially when I called you a bitch. What I said—”
“It’s okay. It helped me open my eyes to what a bitch I was be—.” She covered her mouth. Noah looked up at his mother. They both waited for a second to see if there would be any action from the kid. He said nothing—at first.