Moonlight Road (Virgin River #11)(80)

“You know what Aiden and I can’t figure out? He said he never had a conversation with his…with Annalee. How did she know about me? About where to find me?”

“That’s pretty weird. No one told her where Aiden was, only that he wasn’t here.”

“It creeps me out,” Erin said.

“Well, Erin—he came home in the late morning, wearing a tux. I guess you would assume that had to do with a woman, not a night out at the pub with the guys.”

“I guess,” she said. “But still—that just assumes a woman. Not me.”

“She must have found a way to uncover what woman,” Shelby said. “But no one around here mentioned you.” Shelby lifted the baby onto her shoulder and patted his back. “I hope this is over soon so you and Aiden can get back to enjoying summer.”

“Me, too,” she said. “Marcie’s baby is coming August twentieth. I’ll go home a little before that. That gives us a month, but I have a feeling it isn’t going to be that simple.”

It was not just a little visit. Erin stayed at Luke and Shelby’s through dinner and with the leaves in their large dining table, the entire family settled down for a big meal prepared mostly by Maureen and Luke. Ten of them sat around a big, square table, laughing, poking fun and enjoying a summer meal of ribs, beans, coleslaw and potato salad. Erin wasn’t exempt from the teasing. They ribbed her about her e-mail remodeling, insisting on a perfect, cushy, brand-new cabin before she would even consider a vacation in it. And Erin enjoyed that! She really hadn’t felt so much a part of a group besides her own brother and sister before now.

It didn’t take long for Erin to decide Aiden was either the smartest liar in the universe with the most cooperative lying family or he was a genuine guy that all these people could not be wrong about. In her heart she knew it was the latter.

When he drove her home later on she pulled him inside. “Are you absolutely sure?” he asked. “Because I don’t want to come in if you have any doubts. I’d rather wait until you’re convinced I’m telling you the truth. I’ll wait till I can prove it.”

“Aiden, that woman really threw me,” she said, finding it impossible to say her name. “Since there was a time she really turned your world upside down, you have to understand…”

“Believe me,” he said with a humorless laugh.

“You have the most wonderful family, but they’re relentless in their teasing. I don’t think they’d cover for you. Not for long, anyway.”

“And that convinced you? Not me, but them?”

“It’s not just your family, but the way you take care of your mother. I have a colleague at the firm who’s in her sixties. She has always said, pick a husband by how he treats his mother, pick a wife by how her father treats her.”

“Interesting,” he said, thinking about that.

“The thing is, so much of my life has been about loss. Oh, don’t think I’m whining—I’m pretty proud of my life, but there’s been a lot of loss. My mother, my father, then my ‘kids’ grew up and left. And more subtle loss that I didn’t realize had affected me—my childhood, my adolescence, those law-school years when so many men and women bonded to get through it and I hurried home to make sure things were taken care of—that Drew got to football, that Marcie made it to cheerleading, that homework was done…And in all those years, right up to this summer…” She ran her hands up and down his arms. “I never fell in love. Not till now.” She shook her head. “I don’t want to let go of it now.” She blinked away a tear. “But if I’m wrong about you, it’s going to really hurt.”

“I won’t let you down, Erin.” He ran the knuckle of his index finger along the line of her jaw and then under her chin, lifting it just slightly so that green eyes met. “Know what I’d like to say now? I’d like to promise you you’ll never face pain, loss or hardship again in your life.” He shook his head slightly. “You know no one can do that. I can make a couple of promises, though. As my wife, you’ll never again face anything difficult alone. Even if something happens to me, both your family and mine will be there for you. The Riordans are pretty scrappy and argumentative, but they never fail to be there for each other, and their families.”

“Wife?”

“Of course, wife. When I get these legal complications settled, which is already in motion, and when you’re ready.” He smiled softly. “You do have to say yes, of course.”

It came out on a breath. “Yes. Of course, yes.”

He kissed her, a kiss that started soft and sweet, deepened, hardened, grew hot and long and wet and left her gasping. He smiled, then chuckled at her near loss of control.

“You said…a couple of promises…”

He grinned and gave her a brief kiss. “Our children will almost certainly have green eyes.”

Aiden felt the bed dip, smelled fresh coffee and opened one eye to see the love of his life holding a mug toward him. He smiled lazily and asked, “Are you sure it’s time to wake up? Because I’m shot.”

“Of course you are,” she said. “Because you’re a sex maniac. I’m pretty tired, too. So tell me, Doctor—is there going to come a time we sleep together and actually get some sleep? Because at this rate we’re going to die young.”