“Wait, wait, wait.” Laughing, Kate set her tea aside to grab Natasha’s hand. “We haven’t set a date, because I haven’t convinced him to ask me yet.”

“But—”

“I’m certain a man like Brody—he’s really a traditional guy under it all—wants to do the asking. All I have to do is give him a nudge to the next stage so he’ll ask, then we can get on with it.”

As worry strangled the excitement, Natasha sat back on her heels. “Katie. Brody isn’t a project that has stages.”

“I didn’t mean it exactly like that. But still, Mama, relationships have stages, don’t they? And people in them work through those stages.”

“Darling.” Natasha straightened, sat on the corner of her desk. “I’ve always applauded your logic, your practicality and your sheer determination to earn a goal. But love, marriage, family—these things don’t always run on logic. In fact, they rarely do.”

“Mama, I love him,” Katie said simply, and tears swam into her mother’s eyes again.

“Yes, I know you do. I’ve seen it. And believe me, if you want him, I want him for you. But—”

“I want to be Jack’s mother.” Now Kate’s voice thickened. “I didn’t know I’d want that so much. At first he was just a delightful little boy, as you said. I enjoyed him, but I enjoy children. Mama, I’m falling in love with him. I’m just falling head over heels for that little boy.”

Natasha picked up the dinosaur, smiled as she turned it in her hands. “I know what it is to fall in love with a child who didn’t come from you. One who walks into your life already formed and makes such a difference in your life. I don’t question that you would love him as your own, Katie.”

“Then why are you worried?”

“Because you’re my baby,” Natasha said as she set the toy aside. “I don’t want you to be hurt. You’re ready to open your heart and your life. But that doesn’t mean Brody is.”

“He cares for me.” She was sure of it. She couldn’t be mistaken. But the worry niggled at her. “He’s just cautious.”

“He’s a good man, and I have no doubt he cares for and about you. But, Katie, you don’t say he loves you.”

“I don’t know if he does.” Frustrated, Kate got to her feet. “Or if he loves me, if he knows it himself. That’s why I’m trying to be patient. I’m trying to be practical. But, Mama, I ache.”

“Baby.” Murmuring, Natasha drew Kate into her arms, stroked her hair. “Love isn’t tidy. It won’t be, not even for you.”

“I can be patient. For a little while,” she added on a watery laugh. “I’m going to make it work.” She closed her eyes tight. “I can make it work.”

It was hard not to go over to the job site. She’d had to stop herself a half a dozen times from strolling over and seeing the progress. And seeing Brody. She made it easier on herself by spending part of the afternoon making and receiving calls in response to the ad she’d taken for her school.