Her Charming Secret

by Sam Ayers

Aiden met Adele at the café nearby; she had already ordered cappuccino for both of them, knowing all too well that if there was a place for them and it had anything to do with coffee, there better be a coffee mug in both their hands.

  He hugged his sister and said, “Twin, something weird is happening. Wherever I look, I see the words ‘Marry me’. It was there, on a tree near the institute; a little poster saying ‘Marry Me?’”

  She chuckled, “Seriously? Looks like someone might be proposing. There are weird ways to propose nowadays.”

  When their orders were ready, Aiden pulled out his wallet to pay for the coffees.

  “Sir, it’s already paid for,” the girl replied, smiling lightly.

  “Excuse me? I don’t think so, we haven’t paid for it yet,” Aiden replied.

  Adele peeped from his side and said, “I’ll take that. I’m not gonna say no to free coffee. Gabe has been surprising me by doing these really romantic things.”

  “You think Gabe paid for our coffee?” he asked as he walked along with her towards a table. They sat down, and for the first time she laid her eyes on her coffee mug. It had a smiley on it.

  “Aiden, look at this,” she said, distracting him from reading his message.

  “Hmm?” He looked at the smiley and smiled. When he looked at his own cup, he backed away in horror. Again, those two words were written on it.

  “Freaking hell!” he cried, got up and ran out.

  When Adele saw the words ‘Marry Me?’ she just shook her head and ran behind him. He was standing near the road, raking his hand through his hair as he groaned deeply.

  “Any idea who’s doing this?” Adele asked, coming closer.

  He shook his head. “I really don’t know. It can’t be Jo. She was pretty clear about needing more time, and she already said no. I seriously hope for his own sake that Alex isn’t playing a prank on me, because Uncle Will is going to get a long list of bad deeds that Alex has done this year. And I am pretty sure he will take care of him, too.”

  Adele sighed and began to walk ahead in daze. “Maybe it’s a stalker,” she said to her brother, who was following her.

  “A stalker trying to propose?” Aiden gave her a cynical grin. She too laughed before stopping. They looked around to see pamphlets everywhere – some pinned to the tree, others covering various other things, all saying ‘Marry Me?’

  As they moved forward, a bus that was passing by came to an abrupt stop. On it was a banner hanging from the side with the exact same words written on it.

  Aiden eyed it in horror before calling a cab. “What the heck is going on? Are all Torontonians getting married? Why am I seeing those words everywhere?”

  He got in, followed by Adele. He gave the address to the Reids’ place and sat groaning at the weirdness of his day. When they reached home, he paid the fare and went up to his room. He needed some semblance of normalcy, and his room was the perfect place for now.

  He sat on the bed, running his hand through his hair as he tried to figure out what was going on. He was either losing it or he couldn’t be sane without having a single drop of coffee; he figured that the latter might be true, because he hadn’t had coffee yet.

  “Adele and Alex are right. I’m addicted to caffeine.” He sighed. Just then, he heard a noise from outside. He walked to the window to see Jo and Ashton jumping on the trampoline.

  “Aid,” Jo waved towards him. “Look behind me!”

  He did as she had told him and the grass in the garden was trimmed into the seven letters that had stalked him all day; it said ‘Marry Me!’

  And then Jo held up a huge white chart paper that had the exact same thing written on it. “Come down, Aiden!” she shouted and jumped off the trampoline to stand near the pool.

  “Aiden Reid, will you marry me?” she shouted, holding up the chart paper high enough for him to see.

  He laughed and nodded, “Yes! YES!!! A thousand times yes!”

  Aiden rushed out of the room before running back in to pick up the engagement ring box and rushing out again. He pocketed it and went downstairs to see her grinning and saying something to Ashton, who was recording a video on his camcorder.

  “Jo!” Aiden called as he came near. She turned around and grinned widely before jumping on him. Aiden was standing near the pool, and as she flew on him, his leg slipped and they fell in. Underwater, Jo pulled him to her, a small stream of bubbles floating up between them. She slid one of her hands around his neck, and the other around his shoulder, pulling him into a kiss. He caught her waist and pulled her closer, pulling her into a deeper kiss. A little later, they surfaced gasping, still in each other’s arms and soaking wet. Gasping in huge breaths of air, they smiled at each other.

  “Jo, were you the one who put up all those messages for me? At the institute, the message on the building and the flyers? And my coffee? You paid for it?”

  She nodded happily.

  “Oh, and the bus too! How did you manage to do that?”

  “Ah, I didn’t do that. Alex and Ashton decided to help me. They arranged the bus thing.” She grinned widely.

  Aiden kissed her cold, wet lips once before getting out of the pool and pulling her along with him. Once they were out, he went down on one knee, surprising the soaking wet Jo.

  “I should have done this right the last time,” he said and pulled the ring out of his pocket.

  “Josephine Rae Winters, I didn’t know what real love was until I met you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. We started off as friends. Back then, you approached me when I was nothing, but you didn’t care about that. You called me a jerk and stepped on my foot when no one else dared, but I couldn’t help but fall in love with you. I promise to love you, cherish you and protect you all my life. All this time I felt incomplete, but having you by my side completes me. Jo, will you make me the happiest man alive by doing the honor of becoming my wife?”

  She looked at him in a daze and a single tear slid out of her eye.

  “Baby, it’s cold and I’m freezing, and completely drenched,” he said as he shivered lightly.

  “Yes, yes, yes!” she screamed in excitement and he slipped the ring on her finger before standing up and capturing her lips with his. Ashton stood there on the side, completely ignored as he recorded the whole thing.

  “Oh, Aiden, I can’t believe you just said those lovely words. I love you!” Jo grinned in excitement.

  “But your proposal was great, Jo! And here I thought someone was stalking me.” He sighed.

  “Seriously? Do I look like a stalker, Mr. Reid?”

  “No way, soon-to-be Mrs. Reid.” He kissed her nose before kissing her again.

  “Mrs. Reid. So I’ll be Jo Reid? I like the sound of that.” She smiled as she pulled away. He threw his arm around her shoulder and steered her towards the door, set on getting them dry before they both fell ill.

  “Jo Reid does sound great!” Aiden smiled, kissing her lightly on her forehead, which caused her to wrinkle her face a bit. They laughed before walking in.

  “Aiden, Jo, what happened to you two?” Adelynn asked as she looked up at them. She touched her son’s hair and groaned. “Look how wet you are! You’re going to catch a cold!”

  Jo smiled at them, wondering if her mother would have done the same. Erin didn’t spend much time with her after Joseph left. She had been so depressed and then so ill, she just never had the time. So Jo was mostly alone. But she was grateful to have Jacob. He had been the parent she needed. The stern father and the loving mother all rolled into one.

  As for Ben, he had announced that he was getting married next month. He had met his childhood sweetheart and things just seemed to have clicked; now he was getting married and Jacob was going to be the best man. Abigail was the wedding planner again; she just couldn’t say no. As for Ben’s fiancée, Leah, she was an angel, according to Abby. She was helping Abby all the time with the wedding planning. Jo couldn’t wait to meet the bride-to-be herself. She loved Ben as much as she lo
ved Jacob and was really happy that he was finally getting his happily ever after.

  Jo’s thoughts came to an abrupt stop when she felt something warm touch her skin. Adelynn had placed a huge towel over her shoulder and was checking her forehead to see if she had a fever. “You too, Jo, I don’t want you to be playing in the water,” she said in mock-anger.

  “Yes, Mrs. Reid. I won’t do that again.” Jo smiled.

  “Oh no, dear. You should start calling me Mom – or Momma like Aiden does. After all, you are a part of our family,” Lynn said, pulling Jo into a hug. A mother’s touch felt so good; Jo couldn’t help but smile and hug her back.

  “Aidey!” Aubrey shouted as she came down the stairs and flew at him. He caught her and hugged her tightly, making her giggle. Fluffy came running towards Jo and tried to lick her hand. She bent and patted his head. As he sat there playing with Jo, Aubrey tensed up. First her Aidey, now her Fluffy? Why did everyone like her?

  “He’s mine,” she said to Jo.

  Jo looked up at her and backed away. The whole family had accepted her, but not Aubrey. Even after all this time she seemed to not like Jo. She had gotten close to Abigail, too, but she wouldn’t talk to Jo. It saddened Jo a bit that one of the most important people in Aiden’s life seemed to dislike her.

  “I’m sorry,” Jo murmured and looked at Aiden. “I think I should leave now.”

  Aiden looked at her sad expression; Aubrey upset her every time she visited them, but both of them were important to him. He had tried to give Aubrey time to adjust to and like Jo. He couldn’t choose between his fiancée and his baby sister. As Jo walked backwards before turning to leave, he caught her arm. He couldn’t stand silent while Jo got hurt and kept quiet every time when she wasn’t even at fault.

  “Wait,” he said. He held her hand as he spoke to Aubrey, who was standing with Fluffy close to her.

  “Aubrey, I want to tell you something important. You see, Jo is very important to me. I love her, and I’m going to marry her,” he said in a calm, soothing voice as he kneeled down and spoke again, “You will always be my angel, but I don’t like the way you treat Jo. If she’s upset, that will hurt me too. Is that what you want, angel? For me to be sad?”

  Aubrey looked down and hugged Fluffy tightly. The poor pup tried to wriggle away, but her grip was too strong. It whined and finally settled in her arms. “You will marry her? You’ll be like Momma and Daddy. And also Ady and Gabe?”

  While Jo looked at her in confusion, Aiden understood what she meant. “Yes, just like that. So can you be friends with Jo, for me?”

  Aubrey hesitated, but nodded. When Jo moved her hand forward for her to shake it, she gave her a small hug instead. Jo hugged her back and moved away.

  Just then, they heard a loud noise from upstairs. Pierre came down with Danielle following him, carrying all their bags. Everyone stood there shocked as they saw Pierre. His hair was BLACK! He grinned widely as he came down with Miss Fuzzlez in his arms.

  “Papa, what have you done to your hair?” Adelynn asked in shock.

  “You likez mi new colorz?” He grinned. “Now I lookz ze youngz like Aiden!”

  Jo looked at Aiden, trying to stifle her laughter, and ran her hand through his hair just to confirm if he looked like his grandfather before poking his arm lightly and pinching his cheeks to see the similarities. Aiden glared at her good-naturedly and let her continue her inspection.

  “But where are you going?” Nicholas asked as he came out of his study.

  “Wherez, you askz? We arez goingz to ze honiemoonz.” Pierre grinned and his wife groaned.

  “I lost count five years ago.” She sighed. The one thing Pierre loved was traveling with his wife on what he called ‘honiemoonz’. Well, that and his cats. And annoying the hell out of Nicholas.

  Pierre hugged his daughter and stomped on Nick’s foot, causing him to growl in pain; he simply poked his tongue out at Nick. Then he hugged Aubrey, said goodbye to Aiden and Jo, and finally walked out to hail a cab. Danielle gave them all a hug and told Lynn that she would call later, and then she followed her husband.

  After Pierre made his grand exit, Aiden got a phone call from Adele saying the home decor was almost done and that he could check it out. Seeing Aiden leave with Jo, Nicholas decided to take Aubrey and Fluffy to the park, and Lynn wanted to go with them. Aiden drove Jo back to his home; oh wait, their home. Adele opened the door and welcomed them in.

  Aiden stepped in before holding his hand out to Jo. “Welcome to our home!”

  She grabbed it happily and walked in. There were a few changes that seemed to have made a major difference. A huge bookshelf covered one wall; it was only for Jo, and a desk was incorporated in to design for her to work at. Her writer’s hat sat on it, along with her laptop and a box of her favorite chocolates, a gift from Jacob. As Jo looked around the house with Adele, she explained what she had actually done. Aiden was in his study checking out the latest addition that was placed next to the window. He grinned; a professional astronomical telescope added a certain charm to his study.

  “That’s from Mom and Dad,” Adele told him, standing near the door.

  “It’s brilliant, Adele!” he whispered as he checked it out. After seeing everything and loving it, Jo and Aiden gave Adele a big hug for helping them out. Gabe was taking Adele out later, so she said goodbye and left happily.

  “This is awesome!” Jo squealed in excitement and jumped on Aiden, who caught her and hugged her back. He sat on the couch and pulled her over his lap. She threw her arms around his shoulder, kissing his nose lightly.

  “So this is how it feels to be in our own home?”

  Aiden raised his eyebrow, not exactly understanding what she meant. She continued, “When I was a baby, Dad left. Mom started behaving a little odd after that; she started keeping me at a distance.” Jo rested her head on Aiden’s chest and he patted her hair lightly. “I reminded her of Dad. Even when she was dying she didn’t let me come near her,” Jo whispered sadly. “Jake did take good care of me, but when I turned fifteen and he started dating, it used to annoy me a lot as all those lunatic girlfriends of his wanted to kick me out. That’s why I decided to go to a boarding school, but I was so alone. No friends and no one to talk to.”

  Aiden rubbed her back with the palm of his hand and asked, “Wasn’t Abigail with you at the boarding school?”

  “She was. In fact, we were roommates. But she was busy with her own life, with Seth and her own friends. Abby and I became best friends only after leaving high school. I was never truly happy, because I didn’t have a place to call my home. Even when I lived in Abby’s apartment, it felt off. I mean, it was a place to live; a house, not a home.”

  She was quiet for a whole minute before saying, “When I met you in Paris, I saw a boy who was just like me. Alone. I don’t know how or when I fell in love, but it just happened.”

  Aiden placed a kiss on her brow and said, “Glad it was me back then. I can’t imagine you with someone else.”

  “Possessive, much?” Jo grinned, her mood much better, and poked her tongue out at him.

  Instead of replying, he pressed his lips to hers gently. He felt like showing her just how precious she was. There was no hurry, no sorrow, nothing. This was just him, and her, and their love. Aiden broke the kiss only to trail small kisses from her ear down to her jaw and her neck. Jo moaned as she felt his warm breath waft over her sensitive skin. She pulled his head up and kissed him passionately, but soon broke the kiss. She gave him a small smile and stood, taking his hand in hers and pulled him to the bedroom.

  “Adele said that they made some changes to the bedroom. C’mon, let’s check it out!” she suggested, a twinkle in her eye and a mischievous grin on her face as she pushed him in and locked the door behind her.

  Aiden grinned, loving her way of checking the bedroom out. He knew one thing for sure. With Jo, every day was going to be a new adventure, a journey in discovering something new about her – and maybe about himself t
oo.

  Every day, for the rest of their lives.

  The next morning, Aiden woke up with a sore shoulder and shallow scratches down his back. Smiling as he remembered the earlier night, he turned to see Josephine sleeping peacefully. One thing he realized last night was that Jo loved to take control of any situation. Last night hadn’t been an exception. He had also realized that she sleep-talked. She kept saying, ‘Ice cream, Jooo wan’ an ice cream!’

  She had repeated it so many times that he had actually used earplugs to get some sleep. He decided to get her some ice cream as soon as she woke up.

  Aiden sat up, slowly pushing a pillow in his spot so Jo wouldn’t wake up; he decided to freshen up and get some coffee. When he stepped out, he heard his phone ring. He picked it up to see Alex calling.

  “Morning, Al. What’s up?”

  “Hi, Aido! Abby and I are going to Niagara Falls; she hasn’t checked out the Maid of the Mist yet! Do you guys wanna join us?”

  “Dude, not many people like boat rides. Let her know what she is signing up for. And I’ll ask Jo; wait, I think we can join you. See you around eight? Your place?”

  “That’s great, Aido! Can’t wait to go and have some fun! It’s been so long; Alex, the party animal, has been tamed,” Alex joked and Aiden could almost picture the grin on his face. Aiden ended the call after saying goodbye.

  Jo woke up with a moan as she rubbed her eyes. Aiden covered her bare shoulders with the blanket and hugged her. “Good morning, Sunshine! Sleep well?”

  She wrapped her arms around his waist and sighed. “Yeah, last night was awesome! We should do that again soon.” Seeing him shirtless, she gave him a wink. “And I mean real soon.”

  Instead of replying, he tickled her, causing her to giggle and roll over on the bed with him on top of her, still tickling and placing soft kisses on her hand.

  When he stopped tickling her, she pushed him away and ran towards the bathroom. She poked her tongue out before closing the door.

  After she had freshened up and Aiden finished his third cup of coffee, they left for Alex’s place. Abigail had moved in with Alex almost a month ago. She was really excited and happy for Jo when she announced her engagement. Even though she didn’t show it, the news caused Abby to consider her own relationship and she wondered when or if Alex would ever pop the question and actually ask her to marry him. After a scrumptious breakfast that had Alex moaning in delight about the advantages of girlfriends, and getting hit on the head not just by Abby, but Jo and Aiden as well, they headed to Niagara Falls.