“It is beautiful,” he said, emphasizing the present tense. Thom wasn’t sure why he insisted on being this optimistic about finding a replacement. He suspected that wanting it so badly had a lot to do with it.

Reaching into his coat pocket, he pulled out the list Martha had compiled for him.

“Now that we have a picture,” Noelle said, “I’ll go home and scan it into Carley’s computer. Then I’ll send it out to these addresses and see what comes back.”

“Great. But before you do, I’ll get a copy of this photograph and start contacting local dealers. They might be able to steer me in a different direction.”

“Oh, Thom, it’d mean so much to me if we could bring our mothers back together.”

They kissed, and it would’ve been the easiest thing in the world to become immersed in the wonder of having found each other again. Her mouth was warm, soft to the touch. She enticed him, fulfilled him and tempted him beyond any woman he’d ever known or loved. He didn’t know much about her present life. They’d spoken very little of their accomplishments, their friends, their jobs. It wasn’t necessary. Thom knew her. The girl he’d loved in high school had matured into a capable, beautiful and very desirable adult.

“It’s hard to think about anything else when you kiss me,” she whispered.

“It is for me, too.”

Before leaving the Sutton home, Thom put everything back as it was, and remembered to reset the burglar alarm.

After making a photocopy at his office, Thom gave her the original, thinking that would scan best.

“I’ll go back to the house now and plead with Carley to let me on the computer,” she told him.

“Okay, and I’ll see what a little old-fashioned footwork turns up.”

Noelle started to get into her car, then paused. “What’ll happen if we don’t find a replacement before I return to Texas?”

Thom didn’t want to think about that yet. “I don’t know,” he had to admit.

“Want to meet in the park at midnight?” she asked.

Thom chuckled. “I’m a little old to be sneaking around to meet my girlfriend.”

“That didn’t stop you from climbing in my bedroom window last night.”

True, but his need to see her had overwhelmed his caution, not to mention his good sense.

“I love you, Noelle.” There, he’d said it. He’d placed his heart in her hands, to accept or reject.

Tears glistened in her eyes. “I love you, too—I never stopped loving you.”

“Even when you hated me?”

She laughed shakily. “Even then.”

NOELLE McDOWELL’S JOURNAL

December 23

11:00 a.m.