And that brought her to the next big question. “So, where was I born, then?”
Uncle Percy rose from the circular settee. When he reached her, she stood from her wing chair. He took her hand in his wrinkly one. His faded blue eyes held hers. “I’m afraid that this Martin Durand fellow had it right about that much, at least.”
“Oh, no...” The two words came out as barely more than a whisper.
Percy nodded slowly. “You were born at Wild River Ranch during a punishing storm with catastrophic flash flooding and power lines down across much of the state.”
Chapter Three
Before she left Valentine House, Aislinn agreed to contact the PI who’d found Madison and Paula Delaney. She agreed to arrange it so that Percy could get a copy of the final report on the search and ask questions about the case.
Percy, who loved playing detective, promised not to try to get in touch with Madison Delaney until after Daniel and Keely returned from Bora Bora and they could call a family meeting to bring all the Bravos up to speed on the strong possibility that they had a sister they didn’t know they’d lost.
Next, Aislinn went to the Bravo family house. The short trip to the house she’d grown up in wasn’t really necessary. She believed what Daffy and Percy had told her, that she’d actually been born at Wild River Ranch. But it had occurred to her that there was one more proof she could easily check.
Gretchen Snow, Keely’s aunt and the mother of Daniel’s deceased first wife, Lillie, answered the door. The plump, sunny-natured Gretchen was looking after Daniel’s twin toddlers, Frannie and Jake, while Daniel and Keely were gone. The twins were already in bed. Gretchen gave Aislinn a hug and then left her alone in the study at the front of the house.
Daniel had a twelve-drawer wooden file cabinet in there that used to belong to George Bravo. In a folder labeled with her name, Aislinn found her childhood immunization record, her original social security card and a few random report cards from middle school and high school. And also, her birth certificate, which listed her place of birth as Astoria, Oregon.
Wild River Ranch had an Astoria address.
It was enough to completely convince her of one thing, anyway. The story of her Montedoran birth was just that: a sweet fairy tale told to her by her mother—or at least, by the woman she’d always believed was her mother.
* * *
As she was leaving the Bravo house, she got another call from Jaxon. She ignored it. Instead, she went home, took care of her rabbits and ate some leftovers. After dinner, she went out to the shed she used as a studio.
In the shed, Aislinn made jewelry that she sold online at her Etsy store, via her website, AislinnBravo.com, and at Keely’s gallery. She was always promising herself that she would concentrate more on her art. But she tended to get distracted by her various subsistence jobs. She flitted from one job to another, and somehow, her passion for making jewelry always took a back seat to the nine-to-five grind.
Tonight, though, she needed something to get lost in. All her worries faded away as she put her mind and heart into designing a series of lariat necklaces in contrasting materials, each a different length, to be worn as a set. Her sisters came home as she worked. One and then the other, she heard their cars arrive.
At a little past midnight, she returned to the house, passing Hailey’s and Harper’s cars, parked side by side. The glow of the porch light cut the foggy night, but all the other lights in the house were off.
She spent a little more time with Bunbun and Luna, both of whom were going to need a good clipping soon. When she left the porch, she went to the kitchen, where she brewed herself a restful mug of valerian tea. She was sipping it in the dark when her phone rang again.
Jax.
“All right,” she whispered to no one in particular, and took the call. “Hello, Jaxon.”
“Aislinn.” His voice had a raspy, tired sound. He probably hadn’t been sleeping well, with Wild River on the line and the woman he had to marry not answering his calls. “We do have to talk.”
“I know.”
“Just meet me. Name the place and time.” His weary voice did it, somehow. Made her admit to herself that she was going to go through with it, marry a man she hardly knew in order that he wouldn’t lose what he loved.
“You know Fisherman’s Korner, here in Valentine Bay?” she asked, and then went on without waiting for his answer. “Meet me there at noon tomorrow.”
* * *
He was sitting in one of the red pleather booths when she got there. Red plastic cups of ice water, one for each of them, waited on the table in front of him. She pushed in through the glass door and their eyes met. He rose, so stern and handsome in a blue button-down and dark-wash jeans.
She went to him, dropping her purse into the corner of the seat opposite him, then sliding in herself. He didn’t sit back down until she was settled. Always such a gentleman. The thought almost brought a smile.
The waitress came, took their orders and brought Aislinn an iced tea.
When the waitress left them alone again, Jax folded his big, work-roughened hands on the table and leaned in. His square-jawed face looked drawn. He definitely hadn’t been sleeping any better than she had.
She stared into those cloudy-day eyes and decided she might as well cut to the point, put the poor man out of his misery. “All right. I’ll do it.”
The clouds cleared off in those eyes of his, leaving bright blue fire. He sat back and then forward again. “You mean that?”
She nodded. “Hey. It’s fifty thousand, right?” The money wasn’t the reason, but no way was she admitting outright that she couldn’t bear to see him lose Wild River. It wouldn’t sound true anyway.
“Good,” he said. “Great. I called the county clerk’s office. There’s a three-day waiting period after we get the license, but we can fill out a form, pay a fee and get married the same day. So I was thinking Monday. Monday morning. We’ll go to the clerk’s office, get the license, waive the waiting period and say our vows right then and there.”
“Okay.”
“We’ll need two witnesses. I’ll ask Burt and Erma,” he said. “Unless you’d rather—”
“Fine. Burt and Erma are fine.”
He shifted in the seat, pulling out a folded piece of paper and sliding it across the table to her. “I got this online, a list of everything they’ll need to know to provide us with a license.”
She smoothed it out and read it, scanning down the list of required information, zeroing right in on the last item on the page.
Applicants’ fathers’ and mothers’ names and places of birth.
She almost threw back her head and laughed out loud. It would have been a thoroughly demented sort of laugh. Because, seriously, at this point, how could she possibly know for sure who her real parents were or where they were born?
He set down his water glass midway through a sip. “Aislinn, what’s wrong?”
She drew a slow breath. “I’m fine. No problem, really. I’ll bring my driver’s license and be ready to fill in all the blanks on the form.” She might not know who she was at the moment, but to the rest of the world she was still Aislinn Bravo—and maybe she always would be. It was all too confusing and she refused to think about it now.
The waitress appeared with their food, twin baskets of fish and chips. After pulling the condiment caddy into the center of the table for them, she asked if there was anything else she could get them.
Aislinn shook her head and Jax said, “This is perfect. Thanks.”
The waitress moved on. Aislinn sprinkled vinegar onto her fish, same as she did whenever she and Keely met here for lunch. She took a bite. The fish was delicious. Nothing had changed at Fisherman’s Korner.
She was the one who had changed. She felt like a fake, an impostor, though to everyone else she was still the same person.
Jax polished off two pieces of fish and wiped his hands on a napkin. “I’ve been thinking about how to handle this.”
What was he talking about? “This?”
“You and me. The marriage.” Those gray-blue eyes met hers, so steady and sure. That steadiness of his was one of the many reasons she’d fallen so hard for him during that long-ago summer. He reminded her of Daniel, a little. The kind of guy you could count on to do the right thing, no matter what, the kind of guy you knew would protect his own at any cost. She’d loved the calmness within him. He gave her the feeling that no matter what crisis occurred, he could handle it, could make everything come out all right. “I’m thinking we should keep the fact that the marriage is temporary to ourselves.”
“Let everyone think it’s for real and forever, you mean?”
“Yeah. Telling people that it’s just a business arrangement would mean it’s a marriage ‘in name only,’ right?”
“Right.” She took a sip of her iced tea and added with way too much irony, “Can’t have that.” About then, she remembered the other people who knew the truth. She’d sworn Percy and Daffy to secrecy and they would honor that promise. Kip Anders wasn’t going to say anything. As a lawyer, his job included keeping his clients’ business strictly confidential. But Jax’s foreman and housekeeper were a whole other story. “What about Burt and Erma?” At his frown, she explained, “Burt and Erma know exactly what’s going on.”
“They’re not going to say anything to anyone.”
“And you know this, how?”
“They love Wild River. If it’s sold out from under us, they’re both out of a job—but I’ll talk to them.”
“And say?”
“That you and I may have agreed to marry because Martin manipulated us into it, but we both believe in the institution of marriage and we have every intention of making our marriage work.” He was still looking at her, his gaze unwavering.
A shiver raced down her spine. “God. The way you say that, I almost believe you.”
He smiled then, a slow, warm smile. “I’ve always wanted a wife. You know, a partner in life, kids. The whole thing. Yeah, I blew it with Judy, but you never know. Maybe it will work out between you and me.”
Where was he going with this? “You’re really confusing me.”
“I only mean, well, who knows what will happen? Why not approach this unfortunate situation with a positive attitude?”
She understood then. “Right. The easiest way to convince people it’s real is to put a little effort into believing it ourselves.”
He raised his plastic glass. “To us.”
That sounded good. And for the first time since she’d learned more than she’d ever wanted to know about the day she was born, her heart felt lighter. If she had to be married to a virtual stranger until sometime in November, she could do worse than the hunky, kindhearted, levelheaded rancher seated across from her, the guy she’d once imagined herself to be wildly in love with.
With a firm nod, she toasted back, “To us—and to three blissful months of happily-ever-after.”
* * *
“What’s up with you?” her sister Harper asked the next morning as Aislinn sat at the kitchen table staring blindly out the window at the tiny sliver of beach and ocean just visible from her chair.
Aislinn blinked, focused on her sister seated across the table and tried to look perky. “What do you mean? Nothing.”
Hailey turned from the refrigerator with a carton of eggs. Slim, blonde and blue-eyed, she could have passed for Harper’s twin, though in reality Hailey was ten months older. “Don’t tell us ‘nothing.’ There’s something going on with you and there has been for three or four days now.”
She thought about the wedding on Monday, about sneaking out of the house to marry a man her sisters and brothers knew nothing about. Only Keely knew about the mad crush she’d had on Jaxon Winter five years before. And Keely wouldn’t be back in town for another week—days after the damn marriage deadline set out in Martin Durand’s horrible, cruel, impossible will.
“Ais-linn,” Harper crooned in a musical singsong. “Earth to Ais-linn...”
There was really no way to get out of telling them about the wedding. She might as well face the music now. “I’m getting married on Monday,” she said.
The sisters gasped in unison. Hailey almost dropped the eggs.
Aislinn went on, “His name is Jaxon Winter. He owns a horse ranch, Wild River, near the Youngs River. I worked for him five years ago and I’ve, um, always had a thing for him. We recently got together. He’s asked me to marry him and I said yes.”
Harper let out a squeal. “Oh. My. God.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t say anything earlier,” Aislinn said, and truly did mean it.
Hailey plunked the eggs on the counter. “Married on Monday? Is that what you just said?”
“Ahem. Yes. I know it’s kind of sudden—”
“Kind of sudden?” Harper screeched. She jumped from her chair, ran around the table and hauled Aislinn up and into her arms. “Are you crazy?”
Aislinn held her good and tight. “Just possibly, yes.”
And then Hailey was there, too, wrapping her arms around both of them. They all hugged it out for a long, lovely string of seconds.
Then her sisters pulled back and started firing questions at her.
“So, you’re eloping?” demanded Harper.
“Where to?” asked Hailey.
“Just to the county offices in Astoria. It’s going to be really simple. Me and Jax, his housekeeper and the ranch foreman—and you guys, too, if you think you might be able to make it.”
“Are you kidding?” Harper took her by the shoulders and gave her a little shake. “Of course we’re going to be there. And Matt and Connor and Liam, too. And Gracie. We have to include her.”
“They’ll probably have to work.”
Harper made a sort of snorting-bull sound. “What is wrong with you? Screw work. Of course they’ll come.”
Hailey was nodding. “You can’t just leave them out.” And then she gasped. “Wait a minute. What about Daniel? He’ll be so disappointed. And Keely! Ais, Keely’s just plain going to kill you if you go off and get married while she’s on her honeymoon.”
Glumly, she confessed, “I’ve been trying not to think about Keely.”
“Well, you’d better think of Keely,” lectured Harper. “She’ll be back a week from Monday. Can’t you just wait until—”
“No. No, I can’t.”
“Why not?” Hailey asked.
Aislinn had never hated Martin Durand as much as she did at that moment. “Long story, but, um, it has to be Monday. It will be Monday.”
“That makes no sense,” declared Harper.
Hailey said, “You need to at least call Keely, tell her what’s happening, give her the choice of—”
“No. Uh-uh. She’s on her honeymoon. A couple of weeks alone, just her and Daniel. They never get time alone, and you know it.” They had Daniel’s twin toddlers to raise and Keely was four months pregnant. They deserved this romantic escape. “I’m not breaking in on that. And I’m counting on you to tell anyone else in the family who gets the bright idea to call them that they’d better not pick up that phone. When Keely gets back, I’ll explain everything.” She would explain everything, to Keely and Keely alone. And when she did, she fervently hoped her friend would understand—and then, once Keely had forgiven her, they would plan the family meeting where everyone would find out they had a sister in Hollywood.
Harper let go of Aislinn’s shoulders to plunk her fists on her own hips. “This is just insane.”
“Yeah, you already mentioned that.”
“Aw, Ais...” Harper grabbed her in another hug and Hailey joined in.
When they let her go that time, Hailey asked, �
�His name is Jaxon Winter, you said? Will you be moving to his ranch with him?”
“I will, yeah. On Monday, after the wedding.”
“Whoa.” Hailey widened her eyes. “I mean, of course you’re going to go live with him, but, Ais, it’s a lot to take in.”
Harper burst out with, “The dress! You have the dress, right?” When Aislinn took too long to reply, she answered for her. “Okay, then. We’ll need to get the dress.”
“And flowers!” chirped Hailey. “You need a nice little wedding bouquet. And what about a wedding band for Jaxon?”
“I don’t actually know his size—and come on, can we not make too huge of a deal out of this?”
Hailey scolded, “Getting married is a huge deal—but fine. You can get his ring at a later point, maybe shop for one together, the two of you. That’d be sweet.”
Harper shook a finger at her. “And right now, you need to call Matt and Liam and Connor and Gracie, too. Real calls. No texting. You need to tell them you’re getting married and what time they need to be there.”
* * *
The calls to her brothers went about as she’d expected. They all said they would be there. But they were also bewildered at her sudden decision to marry some guy they hadn’t even known she was seeing.
She just stuck with the story. Yeah, she admitted, it was kind of sudden. But it was real love. Jaxon felt the same. They wanted to be married, but without all the hassle and planning of a big wedding.
As the lies fell from her lips, she knew she would have a whole lot of explaining to do eventually.
But all that was for later, for the family meeting after Daniel and Keely returned.
Matt was the most direct about his concerns. “It’s a weird thing to ask, I know, but does this have anything to do with the other night, with how none of us could remember your being born in Montedoro?”
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