Angel's Peak (Virgin River #10)(90)

“You can’t retire,” she pointed out.

“Correct, it’s too soon. I can separate, however.”

“And do what?” she asked.

“Medicine, obviously. Ob-gyn, of course. Maybe I’ll do it as a civilian.”

“Where, Aiden?” she asked.

“I have no idea,” he said. “I’m just thinking about it at this stage.”

“And there are no special ladies in your life now?” she asked.

He leaned toward her. “No, Mother. Unfortunately. Now I believe we’ve covered almost everyone. Almost. There’s you.”

“Me?” she asked, startled, a slight flush moving up her neck. She could feel the heat rising to her face and damned her redhead’s complexion.

“You. Luke mentioned the oddest thing to me. You apparently gave some perfectly nice, interested man the slip by claiming to be recently widowed.”

“Oh, that,” she said with a laugh, waving the subject off. “That was the Presbyterian minister’s friend, briefly in town for a visit. I ran into him again and apologized for that. He was gracious, as I expected he would be. It’s forgotten. But what concern is it of Luke’s?”

“It’s not just Luke’s concern, Mom. I guess because you’re always so busy, none of us even entertained the idea you weren’t socializing with men at all, that you were deliberately avoiding them. Speaking for myself, I assumed you had a date now and then. By the time Da had been gone a few years, I prepared myself for you to find a man you wanted to marry—you were so young when we lost him. But what you said to Luke stirred the pot. It sounds as though you have no interest in even the most casual friendships with the opposite sex. Tell me what that’s about.”

“Don’t be so ridiculous!” she said, fuming slightly. “I’m not talking to my son about that!”

“Any why not? You pry every sliver of information about women from each one of us.”

“And you hardly throw me a bone!”

“That’s because the kind of information available on that subject, until Luke and Sean were recently captured, is not intended for a mother’s ears. You said it yourself—at least a couple of your boys were the playboys of the Western world. Details of their dating experiences would have had you gripping your heart.”

“I knew it was bad,” she said, shaking her head. “As if they were hiding anything from me. Sometimes I wonder who raised them!”

“But that’s all old news. How about you?”

“What about me?”

“Do you refuse to date at all? Have you made some decision you’ll never again meet a man? More to the point, have you decided not to even give the idea a chance?”

“Do you hear yourself?” Maureen asked. “Why in the world does that matter to you? Or to Luke, for that matter?”

“And Sean, and even Patrick. Only Colin is dense enough to have no interest in anyone’s love life but his own.”

“Tell me you’re making that up!” she said, aghast. “You are not talking about my possible love life!”

Aiden leaned across the breakfast bar, toward her. “Mother, you are a very attractive woman in your early sixties. You’re sharp and energetic and, as far as I know, in excellent health. And if anyone would know, I would—you pass the details of every doctor’s appointment and blood test you have by me as I’m your official second opinion.”

She made a face. “I listened to enough of your whining as you tried to pass your exams to have earned that right, haven’t I?”

“I never once complained,” he said. “I’m glad I know exactly what your cholesterol level and blood pressure are—someone in the family should. I’m committed to doing anything I can to support you living a full and happy life until you’re extremely old. But, Mother, you’re too young and vital to give up a normal heterosexual existence. You can still fully enjoy that part of life.”

She blanched. “You did not just say that to your mother,” she said in a whisper.

“I’m a woman’s doctor. I say it to lots of women in their fifties and sixties. And seventies, just in case you’re curious. In fact, in a clinical situation, I’m much more direct, and I hope your doctor is, as well. Now, let’s just retrench to the original question. Have you made some ridiculous and arbitrary decision that you won’t even entertain the idea of dating?”

Right at that critical moment, the door to Luke’s house burst open and Rosie came flying in, red curls bouncing wildly. “Gramma,” she yelled, running to Maureen and throwing herself onto her lap. “We go fishing now?”

“You have fishing on the brain,” Maureen said. “I thought you’d like to bake pies with me!”

“Fishing!” she said, squeezing Maureen around the neck.

“All right, all right. First, I want you to meet your uncle Aiden.” She turned Rosie on her lap. “Rosie, this is Aiden. And Aiden, this is Rose.”

“Wide Iwish Rose,” she said with a grin.

Aiden laughed and stretched a hand out to her. “So I’ve heard. Nice to meet you.”

“Fishing now!” she said. Sean came into the house. “Daddy! We go fishing now?”