Angel's Peak (Virgin River #10)(88)

She just stared at him for a long moment. She thought about spilling the whole story right there, but instead she just walked into his arms. “Close call,” she said. “Hold me. I’ll tell you all about it later.”

“You okay?”

She nestled in closer. She realized uneasily that she hadn’t really known as much as she should have about T.J., but she knew everything about Sean. She knew his strengths and weaknesses. He had never lied to her. When she first saw Sean a month ago, she thought he’d reappeared to screw up her life. She’d literally wanted to rearrange his face. Now, she ran into his arms for comfort and support. Her best friend. A man she knew she could trust. “I’ll be fine now,” she said.

Aiden arrived in Virgin River late on Tuesday, planning to stay until Sunday. He hadn’t been there long before he realized the relationships in his family were changing quite a bit, and quickly. He found his scrappy older brother all soft around the edges, doting on his beautiful, sexy young wife, ever at her hand. If he saw her wrestling a full laundry basket into the bedroom, he took it from her. If she had the step stool pulled over to the cupboards to reach into the highest one for a platter, he lifted her down and got it for her. Aiden was anxious to have dinner with them to see if Luke cut Shelby’s meat.

Aiden caught Shelby in a moment alone and asked, “When do you suppose you’re due?”

“How did you guess?”

“I’ve never seen Luke act like this—hovering, protective, sweet.”

“Annoying, cloying and paternal. I don’t have a date—I haven’t been to the doctor yet. But I suspect it happened on the wedding night, just as Luke planned.”

Aiden laughed. “You’re going to want to watch that. Unless you want six of them.”

“Oh, I might have two, but not six.” She grinned. “Snip, snip.”

“Have to admire a forward-thinking woman,” Aiden said with a grin. “Congratulations.”

“I suppose there’s no point in keeping it under wraps anymore, now that you and Sean both know. And if Sean knows, Franci knows. And if we don’t tell Maureen soon, she’ll feel left out.”

“Speaking of Maureen, is she driving you crazy?” Aiden asked.

Shelby shook her head. “I feel so guilty that she isn’t staying with us here, but she’s smart. Two women under the same roof for a long period of time will eventually have a power struggle. But not Maureen and Vivian—they seem to have a special bond. Luke says they’re a couple of strange old broads,” she said with a giggle. “Really, their living situation seems to be working out just fine.”

“You can give the credit to me,” Aiden said.

“Love your humility,” Shelby said with a laugh.

“Seriously—my advice to her was to stay out of the way. I don’t know much about mothers and daughters—maybe they do all right for extended visits. I can tell you that we all worship our mom—there’s no woman I admire more—but I don’t want to live with her for more than four days, tops. I wasn’t that concerned about how you’d deal with her, Shelby. I was afraid Luke would strangle her after a few days.”

“But why?”

“With everyone else in the world, Maureen is easygoing. She knows how to put people at ease, make them comfortable. But with her sons, she has high expectations. She’s been trying really hard to keep a lid on it, but she eventually always has an opinion about how we should live our lives. Not a one of us has gone about things the way she’d like.”

“What? But that can’t be right! She’s totally proud of you all!”

“Uh-huh.” Aiden laughed. “Except for a few little things. Luke avoided commitment for too long after his bad marriage. Colin has had woman trouble of one stripe or another since he was fifteen. She was completely disappointed in me for marrying someone for only three months—she thinks I just didn’t make an effort. Sean has a child because he refused to commit. And Patrick, her pride and joy and baby, is rumored to be thinking of marrying a girl who isn’t just a non-Catholic—she calls herself agnostic. Did you know my mother almost became a nun?”

“I heard that, yes. That might explain some things.”

“Believe me, I know nuns who are more liberal than Maureen…” He laughed and shook his head.

“Your brother is actually worried about her. He’s planning to have a talk with you. Maybe you can help in some way. You seem to have the best rapport with her.”

“What’s up?”

“It could be nothing. I didn’t even really notice at the time. A nice friend of our local minister stopped to talk while we were all having dinner at Jack’s and Maureen completely blew him off. He asked her out to dinner and she lied and said no, because she’s recently widowed. He’s a very nice man—handsome, funny, just a few years older than Maureen. Luke called her on it and she said she would absolutely never date, not even just to be social. Something about all that being for young girls.”

Aiden’s dark brows lifted in surprise. “Is that right? I never gave it much thought, but I assumed she went out occasionally and just didn’t mention it to us. She’s like that—she can be so private she’s almost secretive. I didn’t want to pry, but she was always busy enough that she had to be doing something. Maybe I just hated to think she spent all that time doing volunteer work at the church or hanging out with other widows. My mother is beautiful and she can be a lot of fun. I’ve always been a little surprised she didn’t remarry. In the first couple of years after Da died, I admit I was relieved she didn’t hook up right away.”