Wild Chance (Wild Irish Universe)(42)

Aedan groaned.

“In due time. First…” She reached into the bedside table and pulled out an envelope. “This is from Kiera. She didn’t want to give it to you with everyone sitting around.”

“Oh?”

Aedan set the towel he’d been using on his head against the back of a nearby chair. After he climbed onto the bed and settled in, she watched him open the sealed envelope. Curious, Mona rested her chin on his shoulder to read what he’d gotten.

“Kiera’s friend came through,” Mona said.

“Wow—she’s beautiful.” Aedan’s voice cracked. “This is my mom.”

“You have her eyes.”

“I do?”

“Mhmm. The same beautiful, green eyes that first hypnotized me the moment I met you. I’d recognize them anywhere.”

He looked at her, his eyes dancing a mysterious fire. “I have her contact information in here. Do you think I should call her?”

Mona shrugged. “She thinks you’re dead, Aedan. The best way to convince her otherwise is to be before her. She needs to be looking at you when you tell her that you are her son.”

“Right.” Aedan kissed the side of her head.

“I don’t know if I could ever top that.”

“No? Try.”

Mona laughed and climbed off the bed to grab a small, black bag with white tissue paper from beside her dresser. She sat at the edge of the bed beside him and handed it over to him. “It’s not much, but I know your training ends soon. Then you’ll be working, and I wanted you to have something to carry with you.”

The silence that wrapped its way around them unnerved her. The beating of her heart threatened to drive her mad as she waited for him to pull out the paper and then the box at the bottom of the bag. He finally opened it and sighed.

“Mona…”

“I noticed you weren’t wearing one.”

Aedan pulled the black military watch with the silver face from the casing and smiled. “I love it.”

“It’s inscribed at the back.”

“Come home to me—Mona.”

He engulfed her in his arms then, kissing her throat, the side of her head and whispering to her in Gaelic. She sighed and melted into his chest. “You’ve given me the best present I could ever ask for. I’m not talking about the watch. But you’ve gone inside my head and pulled out the things that are dearest to me. Just the idea you’ve put so much thought into what would make me happy…”

“You deserve happiness, Aedan. You’re a good man. So, the other women didn’t see that—their loss, my gain.”

He sat back then. “I would like you to go with me to Ireland when I meet my mother. Bringing her the gift of the woman I wished to spend the rest of my life with would be an honour.”

Mona blushed. Her heart slammed into her chest, but she didn’t look away from him. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying—Tá mé i ngrá leat, a stórín.”

“I don’t…”

“I love you, my darling. I am so in love with you.”

“Be sure, Aedan Callahan. I need you to be sure.”

“I am. Every part of me, every fiber of everything I’ll ever be, tells me I love you. You don’t have to say it back right now—I just wanted you to know how I feel. I need you to know that you make me happier than I ever have a right to be. You’ve protected me, shown me what it’s like to give myself to someone unreservedly. You may not say the words now, but there isn’t much else you can do to prove to me how you feel. You look at me with passion in your eyes. You touch me with fire and you make me feel like a man.”

“You are a man, Aedan.”

“That’s not what I mean and you know it.” He sighed and stole another kiss. “What I mean is, you make me feel whole. Right now, I give you my body, my heart—all of me. I give you my word that I will never look at another the way I look at you. I will never love another, like I love you.”

“Stupid man—I love you too. I’ve loved you since that moment you turned down my drink offer.”

She was crying now, spilling tears faster than Aedan could kiss them away. “I will be by your side in Ireland and for as long as you want me.”

“Then you should saddle up, a stórín. I don’t think there will ever come a time in my life where I don’t want to look over and see you by my side.”

“Aedan…”

“You’re in for a long, long ride.”

She gasped at the intensity in his eyes.

“I want you by my side for as long as I breathe.” Aedan’s voice cracked.

“Make love to me, Aedan. Remind me just who this body belongs to.”


The End