Angels Everywhere - Debbie Macomber [129]
Joshua had taken Hannah’s hand while strolling through the park. The snow had long since stopped, but the afternoon remained crisp and cold. A perfect winter day.
The moment their hands linked, Joshua experienced a faint stirring of emotion. Faint stirring, nothing, he mused with a bleak smile. It felt as if someone had punched him in the stomach with a pipe iron.
He wondered if this was the woman he’d been searching for all these months. He certainly hadn’t expected her to be the daughter of a deli owner. It didn’t matter, he decided. Who was he to question fate? They’d met, and being with her, laughing, joking, talking, had felt instinctively right. Never had he been more comfortable with anyone.
It embarrassed him, the way he couldn’t stop staring at her. She had such beautiful eyes, but then everything about Hannah was beautiful. She was guileless and genuine, and when she looked up and blinked, Josh swore he could see all the way to her soul.
“We’ve been talking all this time and I never asked where you work,” Hannah commented.
“I’m an attorney.” He would have mentioned the name of the law firm, one of the most prestigious in Manhattan, but he didn’t want to sound as though he were bragging. Knowing Hannah, he doubted that it would impress her. More than likely she wouldn’t recognize the name of the firm.
“A lawyer.” She said this as if the information distressed her.
“You don’t like attorneys?”
“No, it’s not that. I think there are some wonderful attorneys, only . . .”
“Yes,” he prodded.
“My parents were recently involved in a frivolous lawsuit, and my dad’s convinced the real culprits in the case were the lawyers. I’m afraid he’s developed something of a prejudice, but I don’t think that will last long.”
“Good. I’d hate to get off on the wrong foot with your family.”
At the mention of her parents, Hannah looked at her watch. “Oh, dear,” she said anxiously. “I didn’t realize how late it was.” She took several steps backward. “Thank you for a wonderful time. I’m sorry to rush off like this.”
She’d turned and was speed-walking away from him before he’d had time to react. “Hannah,” he called.
She spun around.
“I’d like to see you again.”
Her eyes were wide, and she seemed to hesitate. Joshua decided it was best not to press her.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll stop in at the deli and we can talk about it then.”
She nodded abruptly, and it was plain she was in a hurry to get away.
“If it’ll reassure you, I’ll avoid mentioning I’m an attorney.”
Her beautiful eyes brightened with a soft smile before she hurried out of the park. Josh buried his hands in his pockets and ambled along the walkway toward Cherry Hill Fountain. He kicked lazily at burnt orange-colored leaves.
Josh found himself smiling broadly. His patience had paid off. For nearly thirty years he’d been waiting to meet a woman like Hannah Morganstern. To think all this time she’d been right under his nose. He threw back his head and laughed. The sound of his delight echoed through the park.
Hannah hurried into the apartment on top of the family deli, stripping the blue scarf from her neck.
“I’m home.”
“Thank heaven you’re home; I was worried, you’re so late,” her mother said, planting her hand over her heart as she stepped out of the kitchen. “Your father and I didn’t know what to think when Carl phoned and asked if you’d returned safely.”
“The parade was wonderful,” Hannah said.
“What happened with Carl?” Her father stood with the morning paper clenched in his hands. He studied her over the top of his spectacles.
“I don’t know,” Hannah told them, walking into the kitchen. The smells of turkey and sage, pumpkin pie and applesauce, that greeted her caused her to pause and inhale deeply. Her stomach growled, reminding her how hungry she was.
“Carl claims you disappeared into the crowd.”
“I wanted to get a closer look at the floats,” Hannah explained as she lifted the lid off a cast-iron kettle. Broth simmered with a mixture of savory herbs floating on the slowly churning surface.
“There’s nothing to worry