At least in theory.
Even so, Kate was a nervous wreck. Her hand shook as Aidan handed her a champagne flute that he had surreptitiously filled with ginger ale when he was in the kitchen.
Oh, come on. Get ahold of yourself. You’re a twenty-six-year-old grown woman who has married a wonderful man. You’re not a teenager who has gotten herself in trouble. If Mom and Gigi take issue with things, they will just have to get over it.
And even that tough self-talk wasn’t helping.
“Family is everything to us,” Aidan began. “That’s why we are so happy we could all be together today.”
Kate was standing next to him and he slid an arm around her waist.
“When Daniel and I were young, we lost our parents. Our grandmother took us in because we had no other family to turn to. Even if we’d had other options, she probably would have insisted on raising us. But what I’m trying to say is that a family bond is everything. Now that she’s gone, Zelda, you and Gigi have made me feel like part of your family. When Daniel married Elle, you so warmly welcomed Chloe and me into the fold without even blinking an eye. Now Kate and I are happy to announce—”
“Oh my goodness.” Gigi’s hand fluttered to her mouth and then she clapped her hands like a child who had just spotted the pony she’d gotten for her birthday. “Are you two engaged?”
She looked so thrilled that Kate imagined that she might float away on an imaginary heart balloon that bloomed from her happiness.
“Actually,” Kate said, sliding her arm around Aidan for support. “We are already married. We were so inspired by your Vegas wedding, Gigi and Charles, we decided to follow suit.”
Kate watched her mother’s and Gigi’s expressions turn from elated to confused, and then to something unreadable. She snared Elle’s gaze and telegraphed, Help me! Elle must have gotten the message because she jumped up from her seat, and hugged Kate and Aidan.
“Congratulations! This is the best news. It is so exciting. Isn’t it great, Jane?”
Jane immediately did her part, and while not quite as effusive as Elle, she helped rally the family with her congratulations. Zelda and Gigi still looked stunned, but Liam and Daniel came through with backslaps for Aidan and good wishes and hugs for Kate.
“Bro, you’re better at keeping a secret than I thought you were,” said Daniel. “How long has it been? Like three weeks? I didn’t even have a clue. You’ve got some kind of a great poker face.”
At least he did. Kate knew she had a terrible poker face and that she probably looked crushed when Gigi finally found her voice. “Daniel is right. You two have kept this from your family for three weeks. I don’t understand why you would do that, and frankly I’m a little hurt.”
“I was thinking the exact same thing.” Zelda looked downright angry, while Gigi seemed merely upset. “Why did you do it this way?”
“We didn’t want to horn in on Gigi’s and Charles’s big day,” Kate explained. “We wanted them to have a chance to get back and get settled in and be the newlyweds before we broke the news.”
Her mother and grandmother did not seem moved by the reasoning. Sadly, it dawned on Kate that she shouldn’t have to apologize for eloping. Even if the reason they had given for sitting on the news was only half the truth—there was no way she would divulge the rest of the story about how they’d ended up married. If she didn’t owe them an apology for getting married, she certainly didn’t owe them the dirty details.
This time, Jane came to her sister’s rescue. “You know what, Mom and Gigi? I love you both dearly, but Kate and Aidan are adults, and if this is the way they wanted to get married it is their choice. You don’t get a say.”
Jane’s smile blunted the edge of her words, and it seemed to better drive home the point.
Bless her.
Gigi looked as if she wanted to say something, but she snapped her mouth shut, pressing her lips into a tight, thin line.
“Jane is right, you know,” Charles said. He raised his glass. “If this is the way they wanted to do it, who are we to question it? I’d like to propose a toast. To the newest newlyweds. May they have a lifetime of happiness.”
Everyone raised their glasses. Zelda and Gigi looked a bit subdued, but they did, too.
“I noticed that neither of you are wearing wedding rings,” Zelda said. “Are you going to wear them now that the secret is out?”
Kate’s finger went to the back of the naked ring finger on her left hand. Since she’d stashed her wedding band in her dresser, she hadn’t thought much about it.
She glanced at Aidan, who was nodding.
“Of course, we will.”
“But wait,” Kate said. “There’s more. Very soon, Aidan, Chloe and I will be a family of four.”
She hadn’t meant for the announcement to rhyme. Maybe if doing hair didn’t work out, she could start a greeting card company.
“And believe it or not,” Aidan was quick to add, “we did get married before we found out we were expecting. We just learned that good news the other day.”
Kate caught her grandmother’s eye. She was smiling and wiping happy tears. So was her mother, who was murmuring, “A baby. A grandchild.”
“Wishes do come true,” said Gigi. “It looks like I did get my eighty-fifth birthday wish after all. All three of my granddaughters are married. Even if Kate and Aidan did buck tradition.” Gigi laughed. “Oh, what am I saying? This is Kate we are talking about. She doesn’t have a traditional bone in her skinny little body.”
Kate kept the smile plastered on her face. That wasn’t true. In fact, it was one of her most personal, closely guarded secrets. She wanted nothing more than to have a traditional proposal and wedding. She wanted to buy bridal magazines and go dress shopping. She wanted to be moved to tears when she found the dress.
Most of all, she wanted a marriage so firmly held together by love that it would never break, that would keep her from ever feeling the urge to run, like her father had.
“Whether you know it or not,” she said. “Deep down I really am a traditional girl. I absolutely swoon at the thought of a big, fat traditional wedding. And because it’s so important to us and to Mom and Gigi, Aidan and I are going to have a ceremony right here in Savannah. I’ll need your help to plan it. Are you on board?”
As everyone hugged her, she thought about how in all other aspects of her life she wasn’t traditional. She’d cultivated a lifestyle based on marching to her own tune. She needed a flexible career, and above most things, she valued independence.
But a traditional wedding felt like the right way to start the rest of her life with Aidan.
She said a silent prayer that marriage wasn’t so traditional a lifestyle that it would drain the life blood out of her—and send her running in search of the freedom she had always cherished.
* * *
The brunch wrapped up around 1:30. Afterward, Aidan helped Kate move some of her things to the house. It wasn’t much—her clothes, shoes, toiletries and makeup. She brought a couple of special accessories and a few kitchen must-haves.
Just enough to allow her to get settled in and to make Aidan’s house feel like it was her home, too. She could move over the rest of her things as she realized she needed them. Even then, she probably would not end up bringing over everything, because that would feel like she was abandoning the life she had worked so hard to build for herself.
But now that they had a baby on the way, her life wasn’t her own anymore. She and Aidan were starting a life together, which would be so much better.
Wouldn’t it?
If so, then why does it feel like I’m abandoning myself, leaving my own life behind and stepping into his life?
Everything will sort itself out.
She had been repeating that promise like a mantra. Reminding herself why she wanted to make the marriage work and why movi
ng in with him was the best decision. How could a marriage work if the couple lived apart? Marriage was a blending of lives; it was sharing, and sacrificing a certain amount of personal freedom was part of the equation.
Really, it was the only way to go.
Plus, it was the best thing for Chloe. It would not be fair to take her out of her home, and away from her familiar surroundings.
She had been through a lot in her short life—her mother abandoning her and Aidan’s accident this year. He had been in a coma for several days and recovering in a rehab center for a few weeks. There had been months of physical therapy. Kate, Elle and Daniel had worked hard with the help of Zelda and Gigi, to keep Chloe’s life as normal as possible.
Despite Kate’s uncertainty, apart from everything else, one thing was undeniable: she couldn’t love that little girl more if she was her natural daughter. When she started fretting over everything, she would picture Chloe’s sweet face, and it would all make sense.
Maybe there was hope for her in the motherhood department after all.
Only time would tell. In the meantime, they were planning on renting out Kate’s furnished house, which meant she would have to box up the rest of her possessions and store them if she didn’t move them to Aidan’s place. The extra income would be nice, and she clung to the false sense of security it would give her—that she had saved a piece of herself—preserved a segment of the life she had built for herself before she had messed—
No!
She had not messed up. She had to stop thinking of her life that way.
The truth was, she had thought everything would snap into place after they told the family about everything. It had helped for a little while, mostly during the brunch, after Zelda and Gigi had wrapped their minds around her elopement and arrived at a place of acceptance. But now that she was actually moving out of her house into Aidan’s, everything felt daunting again.
“I put everything from the fridge into the cooler, and I put the food that was in the pantry and cabinets in boxes,” Aidan called from the hallway. “Do you want to bring anything else over tonight?”
In her bedroom, she walked over to her dressing table and lifted the lid of her jewelry box. She pulled out the red velvet-lined ring box and opened the lid. The sun streaming in through the blinds glinted off the pretty gold band as if it was urging her to put it on her finger, where it belonged.
She did just that, sliding it onto her left ring finger. To her surprise, it didn’t feel heavy or cumbersome, it felt...fine.
Tucking the box back inside the jewelry box, Kate resumed packing. She took the last of her dresses out of her closet and put them into a hanging bag she had laid out on the bed. “I put some gadgets and coffee mugs in that box near the front door. But I think that’s all. For now, anyway.”
“I have coffee mugs,” Aidan called. “You don’t need to bring them unless you want to.”
“I like my coffee mugs,” she said as Aidan appeared in the bedroom doorway. He looked sexy, and Kate’s heart performed a little cha-cha. “Oh, hey there.”
Her voice was low and husky.
She was a lucky woman. She needed to remind herself of that every time doubt reared its ugly head. Aidan was a good man. And a very nice-looking one at that.
“Hello, Mrs. Quindlin.” He picked up her left hand and kissed it just above her wedding band. “I’m glad you’re wearing your ring. I’ll put mine on, too, when we get home.”
“Good,” she said. “But my coffee mugs and I are a package deal. Nonnegotiable.”
His laugh was low and sexy and he smiled that half smile that did magical things to her insides, and her heart melted a little more when he pulled her into his arms and kissed her soundly. Her body responded and so did his. She said a silent prayer that this chemistry between them was one of the things that would survive as they blended their lives.
Conventional wisdom dictated that eventually attraction waned, giving away to something deeper. What could be deeper than the pull of attraction that had brought them together all those years ago and reunited them after Aidan’s accident?
“Do you love me?” The words escaped as the kiss ended, before Kate could register what she was asking. She felt Aidan tense ever so slightly. With that, she really wished she hadn’t asked. She hated looking needy and insecure.
“Of course,” he said stiffly. “Why would you ask?”
“Because you’ve never mentioned it.” She took a step back from him and crossed her arms and shook her head. “Just... Oh, never mind. We’d better get back to your house before Chloe is dropped off.”
Aidan glanced at his watch. “No worries, we have plenty of time.”
Did he look a little relieved that she hadn’t pressed the “Do you love me” issue? That she hadn’t said, Because when a woman marries a man it would be nice to know that love was the foundation of the relationship.
Could she start blaming irrational thoughts like these on pregnancy hormones? Because they certainly seemed to be coming from out of the blue. Before Aidan, she had had a couple of serious relationships, both relatively short-lived and both ending badly, but when things were good, she had never asked the men if they loved her. It had never crossed her mind.
“Well, shouldn’t we have the car unloaded before Chloe gets home? I don’t want her to see me moving my things in before we have a chance to talk to her and explain everything.”
“Good point.” He smiled, and that simple gesture took away some of the former uneasiness. “I really appreciate how much you care and think about Chloe.”
“Of course. She is important to me. We are going to be a family. I want us to get started the right way.”
Aidan stepped closer and put his arm around Kate and spread his other hand on her belly.
“You’re already a wonderful mother.”
She was glad that one of them was so very sure of that.
* * *
On the way back to Aidan’s house—er—their house, they decided it would be fun to fix Chloe’s favorite dinner for their first meal together as a family. On the menu: chicken nuggets cut into the shape of dinosaurs, macaroni and cheese, baby carrots and applesauce. The plan was to heat up the food and take it to the park and have a picnic.
The spread sounded strangely appealing to Kate, and she attributed the appetite to pregnancy hormones. She had heard about women craving for strange things when they were pregnant. She had never dreamed that she would be yearning for dinosaur chicken nuggets.
After Kate and Aidan had unloaded the car, they discovered they were out of baby carrots and were running low on honey mustard, apparently a must-have for dino nugget dipping.
Aidan decided to make a quick run to the store. “Would you pick up some barbecue sauce, too?” Kate asked. “And would you check in the deli and see if they have some ambrosia salad? It is that sweet salad with the coconut, mandarin oranges and mini marshmallows. It would be in the refrigerated area where they keep the prepared salads—you know potato salad, coleslaw and such. That stuff.”
“Anything for you, my darling,” he said, feathering a kiss on her lips. She noticed he had put on his wedding ring. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay here alone while I’m gone?”
“Of course. Why would I not be?”
“I don’t know. Just making sure. Doris Watson is dropping Chloe off. She’ll probably get here while I’m gone. Is that okay?”
Kate laughed. “Of course. Chloe and I will be fine. It’s not like you will be away overnight.”
“I know you will. And Doris is great. She’s been so nice to help out with Chloe lately. Will you tell her I said thanks?”
“You got it.”
While Aidan was at the store, Kate hung her clothes in the walk-in closet in the master bedroom and arranged her toiletries in the en suite bath. She had just finished when the doorbell rang. W
hen she answered the door, she would have thought the woman standing on the porch was at the wrong house, if not for Chloe and another little girl with dark blond hair. The girls giggled and ran past Kate, presumably headed for Chloe’s bedroom, saying something about getting a doll who wanted to go home with Beatrice.
Kate turned to face the model-perfect woman. She was tall and had the kind of lean, toned body that screamed personal trainer, daily Pilates and regular 5K runs. On top of all that, she was probably captain of her tennis team. It made Kate tired to think about it. Her hair was long and honey brown with perfect, sun-kissed streaks that must’ve cost a fortune because they looked so natural paired with her tanned skin. Vivid blue eyes regarded Kate with a question. “Hi, is Aidan at home? I’m Doris Watson.”
This was Doris Watson? She was not at all what Kate had envisioned. The name Doris had called to mind someone much more...mature. Never had a woman this beautiful entered the mental picture that had popped into Kate’s mind when Aidan mentioned her. At the moment, Kate couldn’t even recall what her original picture had looked like.
“Hi, Doris,” Kate said. “Aidan had to step out for a moment, but he told me you would be dropping off Chloe. Thanks for doing this. I hear she loves playing at your house.”
Doris stood there for a moment, regarding Kate. It felt as if the woman was sizing her up. That was when Kate noticed a piece of paper in Doris’s hand. Kate gestured to it. “May I give Aidan a message for you?”
“Oh, yes, thank you. This is an invitation to our parent-child rock group.” Doris thrust the paper at Kate and Kate accepted it.
“Rock group? As in music?”
“Oh, bless your heart, no. It’s a rock-painting group some of the other mothers and myself are organizing. We think it will be a fun chance for the girls to get together weekly. We will paint rocks and write inspirational sayings on them, then place them around town for people to find and tag us on Instagram. The paper has the details of our first meeting. After that, we’ll plan on short weekly meetings and—I’m sorry, who are you?” Doris asked.
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