by CA Quigg
"Yes," she cried. "More." Her back arched off the bed, and she cried out my name like a mantra.
The sound of my name spilling from her lips pushed me over the edge with her. My body convulsed and my cock pulsed. Her inner muscles clenched me tight as if they never wanted to let me go and right now, I didn't want them to.
Chapter 21
Elizabeth
Throughout the seven-hour, overnight flight, my eyes refused to close because nerves at the thought of meeting Caden's family wouldn't let me relax. Caden didn't sleep either. He watched three movies, and anytime he nodded off, he jerked awake.
Soon after we landed, we picked up the car rental, and, thank God, he offered to drive.
It would take less than thirty minutes to reach the village he grew up in. Didn't matter if it was five minutes away because if I'd had to drive on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road on no sleep, my brain would have short-circuited.
"Don't you get confused?" I asked when he weaved around a truck on the left and then hugged the edge of a narrow road not big enough to hold one lane never mind two. My knuckles turned white from gripping my seatbelt.
"I'm used to it. Before we leave, I'll take you out to the back roads, and you can give it a go."
"If you value your life, that's a bad idea." I glanced out of the rain splattered window. So far, Dublin wasn't what I'd expected. As cliché as it seemed, I'd expected thatched roof cottages, sheep, and castles but all I saw were hotels and megastores.
"Does it always rain?" I asked. Since we'd left the airport, a light drizzle had misted the air, and gray clouds hung heavy in the sky.
"Pretty much. Our summer lasts two, maybe three, days in May. If we're lucky, we get a week of sunshine. The place comes alive then. Everyone goes to the beach. It's a competition to see who can get the worst sunburn. A severe sunburn is like a badge of honor."
If it were possible, Caden's accent sounded thicker. It seemed to have happened the minute we stepped onto Irish soil.
Jitters nibbled my insides, and I gazed at my finger, where my engagement ring nestled below my wedding ring. Less than forty-eight hours ago, I'd married Caden, and now I was on my way to meet his family.
Caden hadn't said what his mother's response was when he'd told her he'd married someone, but by the look on his face when he came back from his walk along the beach yesterday morning, her response hadn't been a good one.
When I'd asked him about it, he'd distracted me by getting me naked and sweaty again. By way of distractions, it was a good one.
A brown road sign welcomed us to Malahide Village.
"How long before we reach your house?" I asked.
"Ten minutes."
The closer we got, the more my stomach somersaulted.
"You still haven't told me what did your mom say when you spoke to her?"
He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel and said nothing.
Blood pooled in my toes and anger droned through my ears. "Please tell me you told her. Please tell me I'm not going to walk into your parents' house without them knowing a thing about me."
"I said I had a surprise. She guessed I was bringing a woman home, but I might have left out that woman was my wife."
"Jesus fucking Christ, Caden. How could you do this to me?" I curled my hands into fists. "I'm not going anywhere near your parents' house."
I understood his fear about telling his mother he'd married someone, but putting me in this situation was unforgivable. "You get on the phone right now, and you tell her."
"Relax. She's not going to eat you alive. She'll welcome you with open arms. She'll be disappointed as hell in me, but she'll come around to the idea. She's going to be happy I finally caved to love, and she'll be happy I'm home."
I glanced at him. "What happened to you? Why are you so against love and why do you hate coming home? You hinted at the day I met you on the beach, but you never did tell me why."
Chapter 22
Caden
I blew out a loud breath. Over the past few weeks, we'd shared so much. I knew all about her past, her pain, her humiliation, her hopes and her dreams. But I didn't want to tell her how I still loved Charlotte. I didn't to tell her how at twelve I fell in love with a girl called Louise. How when I was twenty, she fell pregnant. How I'd worked every hour I could get on construction sites to support her and our baby girl. How I'd asked her to marry me, and how when Charlotte was six months old, I found out she wasn't mine. I would have, and still would kill, for the little girl I saw being born.
Ten years ago, I packed my bags and never looked back. The one time I went back to Dublin was for my granny's funeral five years ago.
By not telling Lizzie, I was acting like an ass. She had given me so much, and I'd given her nothing in return.
My heart squeezed so hard and so painfully, the car swerved.
"Are you okay?" Lizzie asked, placing a hand on my forearm.
"I loved someone once, but it wasn't meant to be."
"You still love her, don't you?" She asked, not hiding the shock from her voice
"Love her? No, I don't love her."
"What happened?" she asked.
"We met when we were kids. Broke up when we were twenty-one. We were too young, and this conversation is too depressing." I forced myself to smile. "It's a story for another day."
She opened her mouth to say something, but then seemed to change her mind.
"Cheer up," I said, "we're on our honeymoon."
"I'd hardly call it a honeymoon. Aren't you nervous? I'm terrified about meeting your mother."
Reaching over, I grabbed her hand and squeezed. "She'll love you. How could anyone not."
"This coming from a man who swore he'd never love anyone again."
"That's not what I meant."
The familiar sites of the village came into view as we drove past the marina and the docked boats clanking in the water.
I'd grown up in a government-owned house by the estuary-not too far from Malahide beach. Money was scarce when I was young, but we never did without.
I was from a stereotypical catholic family of five children. Including me, there were three boys and two girls. We went to mass every Sunday and got a clip around the ear if we talked back to any adult.
Emmett lived in London and Flynn lived in Australia, but my sisters, Bree and Keegan still lived at home. None of us were married yet, and our mother was foaming at the mouth for grandchildren.
We drove past the park I'd played in as a child. Nostalgia for times past filled me, and I recalled doing roly-poly's down the steep hills, and then as the years changed, breaking into the grounds so my friends and I could drink cheap beer and cider. It's where Louise and I first kissed, and she'd convinced me it was where we'd conceived Charlotte. Lies. All lies.
"We'll be there in five minutes," I said, swallowing down my rising anger. "We'll stay for a few hours then go to the hotel."
Lizzie, who seemed to have lost the power of speech, nodded. I was a dick for putting her in this position.
The sooner we got it over with, the faster we could go back to Sundown Sands.
Chapter 23
Elizabeth
I remained motionless when Caden pulled up outside a terraced house with a small but neat front garden. There were maybe ten houses in a row, and all of them were attached.
To my left, a blur of movement caught my eye. A slim woman who looked like she could have been a model when she was younger, ran from the house and waved. Her smile was warm and welcoming, and her eyes were the same deep brown as Caden's.
"I take it that's your mom."
He nodded. "Ready?"
"No. But let's go."
We both stepped out of the car. Caden grabbed his mother in a bear hug. And a man, who I assumed was his dad, appeared in the doorway. He was about the same height as Caden b
ut wider and softer.
"Welcome home, Son," he said. "It's been too long. You need to get back here more. You know how your mother gets when she doesn't see her sons."
"Would you give over," his mother said with a laugh, giving his dad a playful slap.
"I'm Cait, and this is Artur," she said looking at me. "What's your name, love?"
"Elizabeth," I replied.
Cait glanced at my hand, then at Caden's. Her eyes widened, and she grabbed his hand.
"What the hell is this?" Her face flushed and she reached for Artur to steady herself.
"Mam, Dad, this is Elizabeth Beaufort. My wife."
"Wife? Did you say wife? Am I hearing things?" Cait blessed herself and disbelief lined her beautiful face. " Married? You're married?"
"We fell in love at first sight," I said in the way of an explanation. "We didn't want to wait."
"Is that so?" his mother said, her eyes still wide with shock.
"I don't believe this," his dad said. "You're having a laugh."
"I'm not," Caden replied.
"You have some explaining to do, Son."
"Sorry," Caden whispered in my ear. "I'll make it up to you later."
"I don't think you can," I whispered back.
His parents strode inside, and we followed them into a spotless house that smelled like vanilla and apple spice. The furniture was modern and the kitchen bright and narrow with sparkling white cabinets. Pictures filled with smiling faces lined the walls and showed a life filled with happiness and love.
Not sure what else to do, I sat at the kitchen table while Cait busied herself by boiling a kettle, and an uneasy silence filled the kitchen. I wished I had some calming oils in my purse, but I'd left every one of my oils at home thanks to Caden distracting me with his body when I was supposed to be packing.
In no time, a teapot was placed in the middle of the kitchen table, followed by cups, saucers, and a plate of cookies.
"Now," Cait said blowing out a breath and filling each cup with steaming black tea. "What's all this about you being married?"
"I know it's a bit of a shock," Caden said, sitting down beside me. "But as Lizzie said, it was love at first sight, and we didn't want to wait.
"And your parents were okay with this?" she asked looking at me. There was no anger or accusation in her eyes, just incredulous curiosity.
"My parents are divorced," I said, picking up a cookie. "They were shocked, but they could see how much we loved each other." A picture of the Virgin Mary gazed down at me from above the kitchen door. I wasn't Catholic or religious, but I wanted to go to a chapel and confess my sins.
"This is all very bizarre," his dad said. He sat down by Cait and wrapped his meaty hand around her clenched fist. "You didn't think to call. Sure, you only talked to your mother yesterday to tell us you were coming home."
"I wanted to tell you in person," Caden said.
"A bit of warning would have been nice," his mother said. She sighed. "Well, I suppose there's nothing can be done now. There's no point flying into a rage or bursting into tears. Maybe we can have a bit of a party here. How long are you staying?"
"Flying back Monday evening," I said. "My parents gave this to us as a gift so we could come see you."
"That was very sweet of them," Cait said. "I'll have to call and thank them, but two days is too short. You haven't been back in five years. That's not enough time to get everyone together. Your sisters will want to meet Elizabeth and get to know her. I'll call them now and tell them to be home for dinner. Do your brothers know?" She asked breaking a cookie in two.
"No one knows," Caden replied. "It all happened so fast. Not even Lizzie's family came to the ceremony."
"Well, that's not true," I supplied. "My sister Darcy was one of our witnesses. She made my dress."
"We can always plan another wedding here, and everyone can come," Cait said. "We'll figure out dates. You want to give everyone a day out. It's not every day one of my children gets married. I'd given up on the lot of you. I never thought I'd see the day, not after you and Louise... Are you going to-"
"Can we talk about something else?" he asked, shutting off whatever his mother was going to say.
"Not now, love," his dad said.
Cait shrugged and turned her attention to me. "Tell me about your people, Elizabeth."
Whatever crap Louise had pulled on him, it must have been bad and still caused ripples, but I ignored the underlying tension now in the kitchen and cleared my throat. "Nothing to tell really. My parents divorced when I was eight. I stayed with my dad. We run a country club on Sundown Sands. It's on the tip of the South Fork peninsula on Long Island. Not too far from East Hampton. My mom remarried. I have four stepsisters and one half sister."
"Nothing like a big family to keep you company." She took a sip of tea, then said, "I bet you wouldn't keep something like getting married from your mother."
"I kind of did. I'm sorry we didn't call you straight away. It was selfish and unthoughtful." I reached for Caden's hand and interlaced my fingers with his. "We really do love one another. I promise I'll take care of him."
His mother's eyes softened. "I can see that you will, and I can see how much you love him. How much you love each other. The eyes tell everything. We didn't think he'd ever fall in love again. That in itself is a miracle."
Caden and I glanced at each other, his eyes widened and filled with laughter, and I flashed him, what I hoped, was a warning.
His mother was right about one thing, though. Well, right about me anyway. I loved Caden. Admitting it sucked, and my heart cracked for the love it would never receive in return.
I would never tell him how I felt. Never. Opening myself up to that kind of rejection wasn't worth it.
For the next three years, I would get on with it and do what I had to do. But I ached to be part of his life. To have his parents as my in-laws. Their house was warm and welcoming, and as soon as his mother got over the initial shock of our marriage, I could tell we would be friends. She was a tell-it-like-it-was kind of woman. The kind who would kill for her family. And his father would never use emotional blackmail to have his children do something like marry a stranger to save the family business.
"As long as you don't arrive back here some day with a wee baby in your arms, we'll be grand. The minute you're pregnant, I want a phone call. There's only so much I can forgive."
"You already know that's not going to happen," Caden said, ending the conversation.
Chapter 24
Caden
"I'm not too sure she likes me," Lizzie said as she paced up and down the hotel room.
For the duration of our stay, I'd booked us a room at The Grand. It was a quick walk away from my mother's. She wasn't too pleased about us not staying with her but considering everything that had happened over the past few weeks, a hotel was the best choice. That and I didn't want my mother inadvertently telling Lizzie about Charlotte and the nightmare I became when I found out she wasn't my daughter.