57 A Mother's Instinct
1543 Words
Upon dropping Diana off at her apartment, Noah vowed that he would ask his mother about the way she acted in front of Diana when he gets home.
No matter what it would cost him, he sincerely would like to know what’s been running around her head.
Parking his car in front of the farmhouse, Noah quickly jogged toward the front door. He turned the knob and found his parents sitting on the sofa, a cup of tea in their hands.
His father was the first one to look up in the middle of him blowing the smoke away from the tea.
“That was fast,” his father said as he continued blowing the never-ending smoke.
His mother, on the other hand, was already drinking from her cup, the brim touching her delicate lips.
“Careful now,” she warned—
Noah almost though she was talking to him, her eyes lingered on her husband instead.
Noah’s father rolled his eyes, “I know what I’m doing.”
Making a disbelieving face, Noah's mother mirrored the way his eyes went from a 90-degree angle.
When she was done gulping down the liquid inside her cup, she placed it gently on the wooden cupboard on the coffee table before them.
Then, her eyes drifted to Noah, who is now leaning on the wall next to the kitchen.
A smile displayed on her red lips. “Why are you over there? Don’t you want to join your parents?”
Oh, Noah isn’t falling for that smile anymore.
He knows that she had been—in a subtle way—bugging him for a wife for almost months now.
It started when he began attending weddings of his long time, highschool friends.
Then, the number of times she talked about single women and daughters of her social friends made it all the more obvious of her plans.
But each time she would indirectly bring up the topic, Noah would either dismiss her or find a way to divert their conversation that’s more favorable on Noah’s side.
With a sigh, Noah crashed beside his father.
The cushion bounced a bit as he settled on his seat, which earned him a glare from his father.
“I almost split this god-damn tea, Noah.”
The glare didn’t end for another minute.
Noah’s mother leaned her chin on her hands, “Are you together with that woman?”
It was a straight question, their curiosity hovering in the light breeze that came from the open window beside Noah.
He didn’t answer for a while as his hands found the newsboy hat that he had been wearing whenever he’s within the premises of the Stream Ranch.
When he looked up, several pairs of eyes were already waiting for an answer.
His employees must have thought he would see them when they hid behind the arc of the kitchen and living room. Their shadows were stretching over the portion of the counter he could see.
He let them be. There was definitely nothing to hide. Not even a relationship to build.
“No,” his answer was concise, and it held all of the truth they would like to hear.
“I told you,” his father began as he took the saucer and placed the teacup on top of it, “they haven’t been on that part yet.”
Noah’s mother sighed—and it was out of exhaustion, “Oh, my dear son…”
“Why do you sound as if I’m hopeless already?” Noah argued.
He heard the slight snicker of Nancy and Thomas from the other side of the room.
Whether it was about him or not, Noah ignored it.
“Do you like her?” his father asked next, “because it seems to me that she likes you.”
Noah shook his head. He couldn’t believe that he was having this conversation with his parents.
“As a companion and friend around here? Yes, I do like her that way.” There was no point in lying.
He couldn’t admit to them yet that he also finds her attractive despite knowing that she didn’t look the part of what a girl he would date would look like.
Diana was in the middle of attractive and not. She was, as his friends had quoted the night he first dropped her off in the hotel room, a Plain Jane, to say the least.
Noah’s mother hummed in response.
Noah couldn’t believe she was still interested in this topic. “She’s a Plain Jane, though.”
Noah felt offended—he was the one being offended instead of it being Diana. And maybe it was better this way than for her to hear it herself.
“What do her looks have to do with this conversation?”
Now, he didn’t mean it, but he sounded too offended for his own liking.
With a slow smile spreading on her face, Noah’s mother responded, “Oh. Just checking.”
“You see now? Your mother is not as kind as you thought her to be—ow!” whipping his head to his side, Noah spotted his mother smirking.
“What did you slap me for?” his father frowned from her actions, “and I almost spilled the tea.”
Sighing Noah stood and was about to walk to his room when his mother called out once more.
“Oh, darling, you mustn’t let such a woman go.”
He raised his eyebrow, his hand lingering on his hips, “Why are telling me this, mother?”
A chuckle resounded from his father. “Son, don’t you get it?”
Noah shook his head vigorously, “If I did, I wouldn’t be asking.”
The smile on his father’s face turned into a smirk, “There are two points here.”
He drinks some more tea as his wife tilted her head, a smile still plastered on her face.
“First is that Diana obviously likes you.” His father held up one finger. “Second, your mother likes her!”
Noah couldn’t help but snort, “Really now…”
“It’s true,” his mother added. “That woman looked so nice.” She wriggled her eyebrows at Noah, and he was starting to become embarrassed.
“She also does ranching!” his father’s voice was becoming too loud already.
“I know,” Noah replied.
He was clutching at the newsboy hat he removed from his head.
His chest tightened, and he couldn’t bring himself to face the reality that was rilling him up sometimes at night.
He thought he had only felt like this when he’d been to bed with Joanna, but after months of breaking-up, he almost buried every memory of her at the back of his mind.
Then came Diana.
“Go for her,” his mother wasn’t done. “You only get to meet them once in a lifetime.”
Noah’s heart pounded as he headed up the stairs, each step he takes weighing on him as Diana’s face lingered every once in a while.
Go for her.
He kept remembering his mother’s line even when he woke-up the next day.
Several days went by ever since his parents’ first arrived in his Stream Ranch.
His father had been too enthusiastic when it came to raising cattle and horses, and so Noah had Thomas supervise him on what to do. He specifically instructed that Thomas teach his father how to maneuver his way around the ranch, especially if he wanted to groom the horses on the near stable beside their house.
“When are my niece and nephews coming?” Noah asked, sipping afterward on the brewed coffee he got from a coffee farm he bartered his weeds with.
His mother placed the newspaper on the table, “Tomorrow. They are arriving with Mary.”
“What?” Noah felt confused.
Why were the children traveling with their aunt instead of their parents?
“Did they leave Elijah?” he had to ask since Elijah had been frequently left all the time in family outings due to his tight schedule in his company.
The head of his mother shook slowly, “I think he decided to be left again. He’s a busy man. A typical trait for all of my children.”
The creaking of the door from the back of the kitchen resounded loudly, and Noah’s father’s boisterous laugh erupted from all corners of the farmhouse.
“Did you see what I did there?!” he patted Thomas too harshly on the bag that the older man gawked a little.
He didn’t glare at his father even though Noah sensed he badly wants to strangle him with the rope they use to seal some pens on the back.
“Tourists are flocking their way over here, son!” he pulled a chair, the screeching making Noah close his eyes for a second.
“I’m sure they do. I’m currently working on the activities around here.”
Running a hand through his hair, Thomas settled beside Noah, “They really like the horses.”
Noah had already expected that.
People often get a rare chance at encountering horses around the city. Although they are a few kilometers away from the city, the tourists are really excited when they see the horses in Noah’s Stream Ranch.
With a loud bang on the front door, a panting Wynn frantically looked around the entire house.
Noah met his eyes, and he quickly ran to where he is.
“What’s the matter?” Noah stood quickly. “Is there something wrong? Tell me.”
Wynn couldn’t talk for a second. His mouth quivered.
Noah was already having a bad feeling in his stomach.
Thomas stood, the chair scraping on the floor, “Son… tell us.”
Breathing deep, Wynn opened his mouth to speak. “The cattle—”
- Writer
