The Proposition (24 page)

“You seriously have to ask that
question?”

He grimaced. “You’re pissed because I haven’t
told my boss about the baby.”

“Of course I am!” she huffed, stalking across
the room for her suitcase.

Aidan rose off the couch and adjusted his
pants. “Em, wait, would you listen to me?”

She whirled around. “Is this when you tell me
you’re sorry and that you just didn’t think about mentioning it?
That somehow the fact you were going to be a father in less than
five months just slipped your mind?”

He held up his hands defensively. “Look, I
really am sorry. It’s been crazy at work the past two months that
we’ve been working on being more of a couple. I’ve barely been in
the home office a week straight. I promise you that I’m not being
intentionally deceptive about you or the baby. I swear.”

When she realized the sincerity in Aidan’s
voice, Emma sighed. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have freaked out like
that. These stupid hormones make me totally irrational
sometimes.”

“No, you were right to get pissed. It’s not
like I’ve gone out of my way to introduce you to my friends or tell
them we’re official.”

Emma felt the electricity in the room shift.
Was Aidan really talking about making things more official between
them? Did that mean maybe living together? It seemed like a quantum
leap considering they hadn’t even spoken the “l” word yet. It
wasn’t for the fact that Emma wasn’t deeply in love with Aidan. She
was just too afraid of scaring him away. Their entire relationship
was such a fragile balloon that she was afraid would pop at any
moment.

Aidan raised his eyebrows questioningly at
her. “So are we okay?”

She smiled. “We’re fine.”

“Good then. Let’s get the hell out of town
then!” Aidan said, grabbing Emma’s suitcase.

She drew in a deep breath and tried to
mentally and emotionally prepare herself for what was to come.

When Beau saw her coming down the driveway, he started barking and
wagging his tail. His head was out the backseat window as she came
around the car.

“Did you miss me sweet boy?” He pressed
against the door and gave an appreciative whine. “Aw, I missed you,
too!” She shot Aidan a disgusted look over her shoulder. “You
shouldn’t have left him in the car this long!”

“All the windows are down.” He gestured to
Beau’s wiggling body. “Look at him. He’s perfectly fine.”

“I guess so,” Emma murmured, scratching
behind Beau’s ears.

“You spoil him too much,” Aidan mused,
tossing her suitcase in the backseat.

“I do not.”

“Oh really? Every time I come in the door, he
starts looking for you. He could give a shit less about me now. Not
to mention, he expects to lie around on the couch and eat my table
scraps.”

She blushed. “Oops.” As soon as she slid
across the seat, Beau leaned over the headrest to lick her cheek.
“Are you ready to get the city grit out of your fur?” Emma asked,
patting the Lab’s head. He wagged his tail and licked her again.
“Yep, I think he’s ready.”

Aidan snorted as he pulled out of the
driveway. “Once he sees all those wide open spaces, he may never
want to come back.”

After he took the 75 North exit, they started
their pilgrimage out of the city. The urban backdrop melted away
into an emerald blur of trees and pastureland. The closer they got
to the mountains the cooler the swirling air around them
became.

A pang of homesickness reverberated through
Emma as they drove along the familiar roads. She had spent her
whole childhood in the mountains until she had gone to college in
Atlanta. There was a very large part of her that longed to move
back, especially when it came to raising the baby.

When they neared her grandparents’ property,
she leaned forward in her seat. “Okay, you’re going to turn right
at the black mailbox.”

Aidan turned to her in surprise. “Onto that
gravel road?”

“Yep.”

After they wound around a couple of curves,
they came to an open field. Up the hillside was her grandparent’s
house and barn. Aidan turned to her with widened eyes at the sight
of the multitude of cars and people milling around. “This is all
your family?”

She nodded. “There are usually about fifty
people or more. By the time the barn dance starts tonight, it’ll be
around a hundred.” She eyed the skeptical expression on his face.
“You sure you’re up to this?”

“Sure, it’ll be fine as long as no one wants
to kick my ass for knocking you up.”

Emma laughed. “Most of my family is okay with
my pregnancy. My grandfather and some of my uncles might give you a
hard time though.” She hesitated before dropping a bomb on him.
“Um, since we aren’t married, don’t plan on us sharing a bedroom
tonight.”

“Excuse me?”

Emma grimaced. “My grandparents are very
old-fashioned. They won’t condone us sleeping in the same bed if we
aren’t married.”

“Even though you’re pregnant with my
child?”

“Yes.”

He exhaled noisily. “Good thing I got some
before we left. It would have been a long, long weekend.” He
laughed when she smacked his arm playfully in outrage.

“Come on. Let’s go face the firing squad,”
Emma said, with a grin.

“Fabulous,” Aidan groaned as he climbed out
of the car. He clipped the leash to Beau’s collar and let the
squirming lab out of the backseat.

Delicious aromas filled Emma’s nostrils, and
her stomach growled. She was so thankful her nausea had passed
because she wanted nothing more than some of her grandmother’s
Brunswick stew.

“Is that homemade BBQ I smell?” Aidan
asked.

“Yes, it is. Everything will be homemade from
the apple pie to the moonshine.”

“Damn, I think I’ve died and gone to heaven.
Well, not exactly at the part about the moonshine.”

Emma giggled. “Good luck not having my uncles
force some homebrew on you. They’ll want you to prove your
manhood.”

Aidan opened his mouth to protest, but a
woman’s voice cut him off. “Emma!” she shrieked, clapping her
hands. Emma didn’t even have to turn to recognize the voice. Just
the sound of it echoing around her coated her body with a thick
blanket of love. Spinning around, she saw her grandmother striding
towards her.

From her teased silver bouffant hairdo to the
worn red and white gingham apron she wore tied firmly over her
dress, Grammy never seemed to age or change. She was the one
constant beacon in the storm Emma had been able to count on her
entire life for love, support, and strength.

Grammy’s face lit up like a Fourth of July
sparkler. “There’s my beautiful baby!” she exclaimed, drawing Emma
into her strong embrace. Squeezing her tight, she said, “I’ve
missed you so much, darlin’.”

“I missed you, too, Grammy.”

She pulled away and smiled. “You’re going to
have to start coming up here more than twice a month. Your
granddaddy and I get mighty lonesome for you.”

Emma giggled. “We talk every other day. Do I
really need to come up that much more?”

“Yes, you do. Especially when the baby gets
here.” She reached out to gently touch Emma’s swollen belly. “Look
how big you’ve gotten!”

“Tell me about it. None of my clothes
fit.”

“Well, consider yourself lucky you didn’t
start showing right off the bat. Your mama had to have maternity
clothes the second month she was pregnant with you!”

Emma smiled at the memory of her mother
laughing about how she practically showed from conception.

“So how are you feeling?” Grammy asked, her
brow creasing with worry.

“Better. Thank God the morning sickness
stopped now that I’m out of the first trimester. I’ll get to find
out what I’m having next week. I’m doing the early gender
sonogram.”

Grammy’s beaming face grew even brighter.
“Wonderful. Of course, I still say you’re carrying it like a
boy.”

Emma glanced over at Aidan and grinned. “That
would make Aidan’s father happy to hear you say that. He’s sworn
since the moment I met him, it’s a boy.”

Grammy turned her intense green eyes on
Aidan. “So this incredibly handsome and dashing man you’ve brought
with you must be Mr. Fitzgerald?”

Heat rose in Emma’s cheeks both at her
grandmother’s compliments and how she was to make the introduction.
“Yes, this is Aidan. He’s…”

“The sperm donor?” Grammy questioned.

Aidan chuckled. “Yes, but in more ways than
one.”

Grammy clutched her stomach and doubled over
with laughter. When she recovered, she held out her arms for Aidan.
“Well, come here and give me a hug, Mr. Sperm Donor.”

Emma watched in amazement as Aidan willingly
hugged Grammy. She couldn’t believe how effortlessly he already
seemed to be interacting with her family, considering how he had
freaked out so much when she met his nephews and Patrick.

Patting Aidan’s back, Grammy said, “We’re so
very happy to have you here with us for the weekend. I hope you’ll
enjoy yourself.”

He gave her a dazzling smile. “Thank you,
ma’am. It’s a pleasure to be here.”

Grammy wagged a finger at him. “As for
fathering Em’s baby, there’s something I need to say about
that.”

Emma chewed her bottom lip and threw a
worried glance between her grandmother and Aidan. Her chest
tightened in apprehension at what Grammy might say to him. If it
was anything like the early phone calls and first visit she had
with her grandparents about her unmarried pregnancy, Aidan was in
for a severe tongue-lashing.

“Yes, ma’am?” Aidan asked pleasantly, but
Emma couldn’t help noticing how he flicked Beau’s leash back and
forth with nervous energy.

“Having a child on her own is certainly not
what my husband or I wanted for Emma. We’d rather she had found a
husband and then had children.” She shook her head sadly. “At one
time, she had that. But then life hasn’t exactly been fair to Em.
She deserves all the happiness in the world, and I know that
nothing will make her happier than finally having her dream of
motherhood come true.”

Tears filled Emma’s eyes at the overwhelming
love and truth in her grandmother’s words. When she dared to look
over at Aidan, he was smiling. “I couldn’t agree with you more,
Mrs. Anderson. I’m just very grateful I got to help make Emma’s
dreams come true.”

Grammy cupped Emma’s chin and smiled. “You’re
positively glowing, sweetheart. I don’t think I’ve seen that look
in your eyes since before your mother passed away.”

“Oh, thank you,” Emma replied, wiping away a
tear.

Grammy patted Aidan’s arm. “So after all of
that, I just want to thank you for making Emma so happy and in
turn, her family as well.”

“You’re more than welcome, Mrs.
Anderson.”

“Please call me Virginia.” She then made a
tsking noise at the sight of some women carrying pans of food to
the barn. “Oh dear, you’re gone for one minute, and people take it
upon themselves to do everything. I better go make sure dinner
isn’t a total disaster!”

Once she was out of earshot, Aidan exhaled
noisily. “Well, that was certainly unexpected.”

“The warm welcome?”

Shaking his head, he slipped an arm around
Emma’s waist. “No, I didn’t realize I’d be such a hero for knocking
you up. Don’t they usually get the shotguns after you in these
parts?”

Emma giggled. “Let’s just say it would be a
whole lot different if we were teenagers.” She titled her head to
gaze up at him. “Of course, I highly doubt the teenage Aidan would
have given me the time of day.”

“You never know. I would have been very
interested in corrupting you and stealing your virtue.”

Emma nudged him playfully. “Then Granddaddy
and my uncles would have shot your most prized possession off.”

Aidan chuckled. “That would have been a
tragedy.”

“Oh yes, you wouldn’t have been able to get
me pregnant later on,” she mused.

He pressed his lips against her ear, causing
her to shiver. “Or give you mind blowing multiple orgasms.”

“Aidan!” she squealed, shoving him away.

He laughed at her outrage. “You know I’m
right though.”

A booming voice interrupted them. “Emmie Lou,
get on over here and give me a hug!”

She rolled her eyes but smiled in spite of
herself. “While Grammy might have been a piece of cake, Granddaddy
is probably going to be a real pain in the ass about all this,” she
said to Aidan. She felt him tense a little as he followed her over
to where a silver headed man stood in faded jeans. “Granddaddy,
when are you going to learn I’m a little too old for that
nickname?”

He grinned. “Nonsense. You’ll always be my
baby girl and my little Emmie Lou!”

Emma hugged him tight, closing her eyes in
contentment as his familiar scent of peppermint and Old Spice
filled her nose. “I’ve missed you.”

He pushed her shoulders back and cocked a
bushy, silver eyebrow at her. “It’s been two whole weeks, Baby
Girl! I’s about to send the boys down to the city to check up on
you.”

“I’m sorry, but things have been a little
crazy lately.” She noticed her grandfather’s gaze was no longer
focused on her. Instead, he stared quizzically at Aidan. “Oh,
Granddaddy, I want you to meet someone.” Grabbing Aidan’s hand, she
pulled him forward. At the sight of their fingers intertwined, the
congenial expression on Granddaddy’s face evaporated, much to her
dismay, and was replaced by one of veiled anger. Emma couldn’t help
noticing that Aidan’s forehead had broken out in beads of sweat not
from the heat, but from Granddaddy’s intense glare. “This is Aidan
Fitzgerald. He’s my baby’s father.” She smiled at Aidan. “And this
is my grandfather, Earl.”

“Nice to meet you, sir,” Aidan said, his
voice cracking slightly.

Earl shifted his chaw of tobacco and eyed
Aidan’s hand. He reluctantly pumped it up and down. “Nice meetin’
ya.”