A New Foundation Rochelle Alers (read aloud .txt) 📖

“You don’t have to, Taylor. You cooked, so I’ll clean up.”

He stood. “Not tonight, babe.”

Sonja knew it was useless to debate the issue when Taylor rounded the table and scooped her up in his arms. He carried her into the family and lowered her to the love seat. She smiled up at him when he leaned over her. “I’m just going to rest my eyes for a few minutes.”

She had no idea that resting her eyes for a few minutes would translate into falling asleep, and when she awoke she discovered she was in her own bed. Apparently, she had not woken up when Taylor carried her up the staircase. Rising on an elbow, she glanced at the clock on the bedside table. It was after ten. Sonja did not want to believe she’d been asleep for nearly two hours.

She closed her eyes while fantasizing about how much she’d wanted to wake up with Taylor in bed with her. He was everything she wanted in a man, yet old fears would not let her acknowledge what she’d been feeling for a while. She was falling in love with her friend’s brother. They’d talked about marriage and children, and perhaps if Hugh had not turned into a monster she would be more receptive to a man’s attention. It had taken years for the emotional scars fade, but she did not know if they would ever completely disappear.

Sonja opened her eyes and moaned at the same time she rolled her head on her neck. Her shoulders were achy from sitting on the floor hunched over for hours earlier in the day. She knew it was time to use the table doubling as a desk to do her work. Slipping off the bed, she headed for the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face. After changing out of her clothes into a cotton nightgown, she got back into bed and fell asleep for the second time that night.

Chapter Twelve

“I can’t believe you came all this way for a pool cue.”

Taylor dropped a kiss on his mother’s hair when she closed the book she’d been reading and rose from the rocker where she’d sat awaiting his arrival. “Don’t get up, Mom.”

Elise sat down once Taylor took the rocker opposite her. “You didn’t answer my question, Taylor.” Her sapphire-blue eyes narrowed. “What’s bothering you son?”

Stretching out long legs, Taylor crossed his feet at the ankles and stared at the scuffed toes of his running shoes. He’d made a mental note to throw them away a long time ago but was loath to part with them because one of his pet peeves was trying on shoes. In fact, he didn’t like shopping and trying on clothes because of the years he’d spent standing motionless while designers and tailors adjusted an inseam or the length of jacket sleeve. Then there were the fashion shows where, within seconds of leaving the runway, he was stripped of whatever he was wearing for a new outfit while a makeup artist fussed over his face.

“What makes you think something is bothering me?”

“When are you going to accept that I probably know you better than you know yourself, Taylor? Call it a mother’s intuition, but I know when my children are happy, angry and troubled. And right now, something is troubling you, and I hope it’s because of a woman.”

Taylor gave his mother an incredulous stare. Either he was that transparent or she that intuitive. He knew it was useless to lie her because it was something he rarely did. “I did come to get my pool cues.”

“Who is she?” Elise asked.

He frowned. “Now I know where Viola gets her tenacity—you’re both like dogs fighting over a bone when you think you’re onto something.”

Elise smiled as a network of fine lines appeared around her eyes. “Well, after all she is my daughter.” Her smile faded. “Talk to me, Taylor, about this woman that probably has been keeping you up nights.”

“I did meet someone.”

“Is she a nice girl?”

Taylor closed his eyes and shook his head. Whenever any of his brothers talked about dating a woman, Elise always asked if she was a nice girl. “Yes, Mom. She’s a very, very nice girl.” He wanted to tell his mother that Sonja wasn’t a girl but a woman.

“Tell me about her.”

He told her everything, beginning with Sonja walking into the restaurant to their sharing dinner the night before. He did not tell his mother that he’d wanted to make love to Sonja and would have if she’d given him permission. “She’s so different from the other women I’ve known that it’s scary.”

“That’s because you’re in love with her, Taylor. You may have liked the other women you dated, but I’m willing to bet you weren’t in love with them.”

“I don’t know. Maybe I don’t know what love is. I know I love you, my sister and my brothers, but that’s different from what I feel for Sonja.”

Elise rested her head against the back cushion and closed her eyes for several seconds. “I know what you’re feeling, son, because I felt the same way when I met your father for the first time. He was one of the best-looking boys on campus. However, it wasn’t his looks that made me fall in love with him—it was his charm and sensitivity. Whenever we were together I felt as if I were only woman in the world because he treated me like a princess. It took me a long time to admit I’d fallen in love with him, and once he asked me to marry him I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. That’s what you must ask yourself. Can you see yourself spending the rest of your life with this woman?”

Taylor had asked himself the same question, and the answer was surprisingly yes. “Yes, I can. But what I find so strange is that I really don’t know her. I