“Okay,” I replied a bit warily.
“Do you know where Lordt is?”she asked, and I immediately nodded.It was a small town right before you got to Raven.“Well, I grew up there.”
While I didn’t want to be rude, I couldn’t help but gawk.“You did?”
She smiled kindly.“I did.My father left us when I was about four, and my mother spent her entire life working to make sure that I never went hungry.”
“Most good mothers do,” I remarked.“Though I wouldn’t know.My dad’s the hero in my story.”
“Well, the important thing is that you did have a hero, dear,” she said.“So many children don’t, and it breaks your heart if you think about it too long.”
No doubt about it, Patricia Wilder was going to have me in tears by the time that this conversation was over.Nevertheless, I wanted to have this talk with her because I cared about her son, and I really wanted things to work out between us.I wanted things to work, and so I was willing to use all the tools available to me, and Mrs.Wilder was proving to be one of those tools.
“Anyway, watching my mother work so hard to give me a good life was what had made me want to become a pediatrician,” she went on.“I wanted to be a sort of safe haven for children, and all the years of school and hard work had been more than worth it to be able to do what I do now.”
“How were you able to afford college and medical school?”I asked, feeling comfortable enough to broach the subject since she was the one who brought it up.
“Believe it or not, being poor is what made it all happen,” she answered.“Since we never had extra money for anything other than my birthday and Christmas, I spent a lot of my time at the library since it was free.So, after having nothing but straight-A’s all throughout school, that had gotten me the scholarships that I had so desperately needed.”
“And med school?”
“More of the same,” she said as she leaned back against the bench.“Since I knew nothing but being poor, I had spent my college years studying my ass off and working during my free time, which I could admit there hadn’t been enough of.”
“When did you find time to date, much less meet Mr.Wilder?”
She smiled, and it was one that you could actually feel.“One evening, I’d been on the bus in Hayland, and it’d been pack, leaving Ashford no choice but to sit next to me.”
“Well, since you’re stunning, I couldn’t imagine that he’d felt it much of a hardship,” I chuckled.
“Thank you, dear,” she laughed.“However, back then, I had huge circles under my eyes, my face was also pale, my hair barely brushed, and I dressed for comfort, not to impress.Anyway, after asking me if he could sit next to me, we went on to ignore each other like normal people.It wasn’t until I woke up drooling on the poor man that he’d been forced to finally address me.”
My hand came up to my mouth.“Oh, my God...how embarrassing.”
“Believe it or not, that’s not the crazy part,” she grinned.
“It’s not?”I asked incredulously.
Mrs.Wilder shook her head.“The crazy part was discovering that, instead of waking me up, Ashford had ridden around for almost two hours with me asleep on his shoulder, and that had been the beginning of the end for me.I’d fallen in love with the man before the bus had finally dropped us off.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, wow,” she agreed with a fond smile on her face.“We’d gotten off the bus, he had asked for my number, and we’ve been together ever since.So, all that to tell you that Koen wasn’t raised with a silver spoon in his mouth, Rya.Yes, we have quite a bit of money now, but that came with lots of years of hard work and sacrifice, and I’d love it if you could give Koen a real chance to show you that he’s more than just his bank account.He cares about you a great deal, Rya, and I’d like to believe that we had raised him to value character over money.”
“While I appreciate you giving me a better understanding of who your son is, the world that you guys live in is still rather intimidating,” I confessed.“Though I am doing my best not to let it be the main focus of our relationship.”
“All I’m asking is that you give us a fair chance, Rya,” she said, though not unkindly.“And don’t be afraid to be who you are, no matter where we are.Koen doesn’t care about you for the way that he thinks youshouldact, dear.He simply cares for the girl that you are.”
“Thank you,” I said, meaning it.“I really appreciate you telling me all this.”
“Well, it’s not every day that my son has someone in his life that he wants us to meet, and so I hope that what happened earlier didn’t ruin things.”
“I’ve learned long ago that it’s not our place to take responsibility for other people’s actions,” I replied easily.“Your family had nothing to do with what that server did.”
“Honestly, I can see why Koen is so enamored of you, Rya,” she said, making my cheeks turn red.“You’re such a breath of fresh air.All this time, I’d been so worried that he’d never find anyone who was going to see past his money to really love him, but now that he has you, I don’t have to worry anymore.”
“You’ve just met me,” I pointed out.“How can you possibly know that?”
“Because you stopped my son from causing a scene that he really wanted to cause,” she chuckled softly.“A gold-digger would have reveled in that girl getting fired on her behalf.”
