His hand slid to the back of her neck and he kept the kiss brief and chaste, but she felt the tenderness of it deep in her gut. He smiled down at her when he pulled away and wiped her tears with his thumbs. She couldn’t seem to look away from him.
Her mother cleared her throat, reminding Elle that they weren’t alone. She turned to look at her mom and found her with an unreadable expression. Her lips finally tipped up at the corners in a tentative smile. “Well, if that’s the case, then I’m sorry for making assumptions.”
That wasn’t her mother saying she believed them, but Elle sensed they had her questioning herself a bit. Mission accomplished. Too bad that mission had also left Elle’s heart pounding, her knees a little weak, and her mind scrambled.
Lane released Elle and shifted on his feet. “I should probably go and get our things out of the car.”
Elle had the knee-jerk instinct to grab his shirt sleeve and ask him to stay, but he was trying to give her alone time with her mother. Plus, she probably needed a few minutes away from him to get her head back together after his romantic faux speech and kiss. “That’s a good idea.”
“Do you need any help?” her mother asked.
“No, we didn’t bring much.”
“Okay, well, you two will be staying in Elle’s old bedroom. Second room on the left once you go up the stairs. Make yourself at home.”
“Thanks, Mrs. McCray.”
“Cassandra,” she corrected. “After all, we’ll soon be family, right?”
Lane smiled that disarming smile of his. “Of course, Cassandra.”
He gave Elle a quick kiss on the cheek, as if he just couldn’t bear to leave without another little peck, and then he headed out the side gate. Elle shook her head. The guy had said he was good at this, but she hadn’t expected he’d be quite this good. He was making her question the situation, even when he’d made it perfectly clear where they stood. How many times had he pulled off this kind of farce? The thought made her stomach hurt.
“He’s very good-looking,” her mother said as she grabbed her drink and sat back on the chaise.
“He is.”
She gave Elle a pointed look. “Is he smart enough to keep up with you?”
Elle stared down the path Lane had just tracked over, turning the question over in her head but already knowing the answer. “He is. He’s pretty brilliant, actually. And he’s great with the patients.”
“Money?” she asked, as if that were a completely acceptable question.
Elle fought not to roll her eyes. “He doesn’t need mine, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“So you’re really engag
ed?”
Elle sat on the other chaise with a tired sigh and poured herself a glass of lemonade. “Mom, how long are you going to grill me to avoid telling me what’s going on with you?”
Her mom’s lips pursed like her lemonade was too tart, and she turned to look at the bubbling bird fountain at the edge of the patio. “What’s there to know? It’s cancer.”
The word sent dark tendrils of anxiety over Elle’s nerve endings, but she didn’t let it show on her face. Her mother wouldn’t want sympathy. She’d kick her right off the porch. So Elle channeled her physician mode. “What are they recommending?”
“Double mastectomy.” She said the words with no emotion but her knuckles were white against the frosty glass. “They think they can get it all with that, but they won’t know for sure until they get in there. Now you can act like everyone else and tell me about all the advances and how my percentages for survival are good and that I shouldn’t be so terrified at the thought of the surgery.”
Elle frowned. “I’m sorry, Mom. I’m not going to tell you any of that. This sucks. Your chances are good, but that doesn’t make any of this easier or less stressful. Do you like your doctors?”
“They’re a little too nice,” she said, sending her a wry smile. “Even when I bite their heads off, I can’t get a rise out of them.”
Elle smiled and sipped her drink. “I’ll put in a request for more ruthless doctors.”
“Please do. I’d feel so much better if they’d yell back at me instead of treating me like a dying woman.”
Elle’s heart sank. “You’re not dying, Mom.”
“Damn straight I’m not,” she said, some of the steel coming back into her voice. “I have a business to run. And now I need to be around for your wedding. Every wedding needs a bossy mother.”