Moonlight Road (Virgin River #11)(68)

“I remember when I didn’t think you’d ever come around,” she said tiredly. “I knew you were perfect for me,” she whispered back. “From the first day I saw you I knew…”

“I don’t deserve you, I know that. Thank you, baby—thank you for my son.”

“He has very black hair,” she said.

Luke laughed softly. If you lined up the Riordan men, there was a resemblance, but at first glance they appeared more different than alike. Luke had sandy-brown hair and brown eyes; Colin dark brown hair; Aiden’s hair was black and his eyes bright green—typical Black Irish, their mother always said; Sean had dark blond hair; Patrick was a redhead, that dark burnished red. “Black, like Uncle Aiden’s. If I didn’t know how much you love me, I’d wonder….”

“I’m going to have to talk to Franci and find out how she got a little girl out of a Riordan…” she mused aloud.

“Baby, you don’t ever have to do this again, if you don’t want to,” Luke said.

“We’ll talk about that another day….”

The nurse urged the baby away from them. “Come with me, Dad,” she said. “We’ll get him cleaned up, diapered, weighed and you can have him back.”

Luke gave her another brief kiss. “I’ll be right back, baby.”

Before long Mel was standing beside Shelby, free of gloves and gown. “Cameron Michaels will be by to check him over first thing in the morning, but he looks beautiful and strong, Shelby. You do good work.”

“He’s perfect, isn’t he?”

“Looks perfect to me. We’ll get this bed put back together for you. Is Luke staying the rest of the night with you?”

“I’m sure he will.”

“I imagine there are lots of people who will want to see him right away, so try to get some rest,” Mel said. Then she yawned. “As soon as we’re all cleaned up here, I’m going to go home and see if I can get a little sleep before mine wake up for the day.”

Little Brett was passed around a bit; pictures were taken with his grandmother, his uncle, his midwife and mostly his parents. It was a good hour before the room was finally quiet. There was a recliner Luke could use for sleep, but he was way too wired for that. He pulled it close to Shelby’s bed and sat up, alternately gazing at her, then at his sleeping son.

And for Luke Riordan, everything in the world was better than perfect.

When Aiden drove his mother to the RV park that she currently called home she was very quiet in the car. “You must be exhausted,” he said.

“Happily exhausted, and worried about you, Aiden. What are you going to do?”

He sighed. “First, I’m going to see what I can find out about this divorce that didn’t happen. I have the papers. Then I’m going to try to explain to Erin why I’m going to be very busy for a while, trying to make sure I’m divorced. I suppose it’ll mean seeing another lawyer, if what Annalee says is true.” He glanced over at his mom. “She’d lie about anything, but she tends to lie about things that can’t be proven—and this can be checked. She’s right, marriage and divorce are both public records. How something like this could have happened is a complete mystery to me.”

It had been a very long night, waiting for the baby to come, thinking far too much about all the complications he suddenly faced.

“Mom, I’m sorry. This whole thing, from the fast, short marriage to the panicked divorce—I must seem like someone you don’t even know. Sometimes it seems like it happened to someone else. I’m sorry.”

She squeezed his hand. “Aiden, you’re one of the gentlest and most honest men I’ve ever known. I know you wouldn’t have chosen a situation like that. I’m sorry you went through it.”

I have no one to blame but myself, he thought. But he said, “Thank you, Mom.”

He made sure she was safely inside her motor coach; George was at the door in his robe and slippers to greet her. At that moment Aiden couldn’t have been happier that his mother had someone special in her life.

Aiden drove to Luke’s and went first to his cabin; he pulled out the metal box that held all his important papers—his birth certificate, marriage license and divorce papers, his discharge papers. With a little tremor of nerves, he realized that the box hadn’t been locked. It never occurred to him to lock it, especially in a place like Virgin River. He put the box in his SUV, locked the car doors and went to Luke’s house to use his phone. He called Erin—it was after four in the morning. Rather than saying hello, she said, “The baby is here?”

“He has arrived—seven pounds and healthy. Shelby and Luke are very happy.”

“Oh, thank goodness—I worried about her when you didn’t call. Long labor for her?”

“Not too bad. Erin, can I come over? I know it’s not even daylight yet….”

“Come,” she said. “I need to feel your arms around me.”

It made his chest swell proudly to hear that and he hoped that by the time he told her what he had to say, she still wanted him to hold her. “I’ll be right there,” he said.

When he walked out of Luke’s house and down the porch steps, he saw movement among the cabins. The moon was high and bright and Sean stepped out of the darkness, out from between two cabins, one of Luke’s rifles balanced over his shoulder. “What are you doing prowling around at this time of morning?” Aiden asked.