Forever Yours, page 15
Aiden opened the door to Phil and Mallory’s house and spotted Meg with baby Harris on her shoulder. She turned and pressed her finger to her lips to warn Aiden to be quiet, and he swore he saw his future. He felt as if his chest had erupted like the volcano in the horrible movie he and Meg had never finished watching.
She was a natural with Harris. And with Jessica. She was going to make an amazing mother. She bounced the baby and lightly patted his little back, keeping him calm as his weary eyes fought to stay open. His cheeks had filled out, and thin dark hair covered his head, allowing Aiden to imagine what their child might look like.
Damn. He was up to his eyeballs in fantasizing about Meg. Funny thing was, his fantasies had very little to do with sex. He guessed that’s how he knew he’d finally grown up.
He set the bag of carryout he’d brought on the table. He had one thing on his mind as he moved across the room to her. Resting his hands on her hips, he kissed her lightly. The only reason he didn’t hug her was because he didn’t want to crush the baby.
“Have you heard from Mallory yet?” he asked.
She rolled her eyes. “Nonstop,” she whispered. “She’s seriously going through baby withdraw. Jenna’s still in labor.”
“How’s she doing?”
“Okay as far as I know.”
“And Jess?”
“She’s in her room doing homework.”
He took a step back. “I’ll go grab her so we can eat.”
Gripping his wrist before he could leave, she narrowed her eyes at him. “What’s this wistful look about? You’ve had it since you walked in.”
He closed the gap between them and rested his forehead to hers. “I could get used to this, Meg. To coming home to you.” He smiled and covered the hand she had resting on Harris’s back. “To this.”
She tiled her head back, eyes widened a bit. “Slow your roll, buddy. We’ve been back together for like two minutes.”
“That’s long enough,” he whispered. He gave her one more light kiss before heading down the hall to get Jessica. He had to knock on her door three times before she finally heard him. Her music was way too loud. He knew Phil and Mal didn’t let her get away with that, but Meg was the “fun aunt,” so he guessed Jess knew she wouldn’t mind.
He wondered if that was a flash to their future too. Would he be the rule enforcer while Meg was the fun one? He thought that was probably going to be the case, but he didn’t mind. Maybe he would when they actually had kids, but the idea of working through those parental problems was something he thought he would actually look forward to. As long as he was working through them with Meg.
“Hey,” he said when Jess finally opened the door. “I brought burgers. Hungry?”
She blinked, and a big fat tear rolled down her cheek.
“Whoa,” Aiden said, concern interrupting his dreams of the future. “What’s going on?”
“I’m stupid.” Her voice cracked and her lips quivered. “I’m so stupid.”
Aiden didn’t think twice about pulling her to him. He hugged her tight. “That’s not true. What’s going on?”
“I can’t do my math.”
If she weren’t so upset, he would have laughed at the dramatics. Although if he had learned one thing about Phil’s daughter, the girl was a natural at overreacting. “Well, you know what? I am awesome at math. Want some help?”
She sniffed and nodded. When she leaned back, his shirt was covered in tears. She looked at the wet spots and shrugged apologetically.
“Come eat,” he said. “Then we’ll take a look.”
He followed her to the dining room, where Meg was pulling their dinner from the bag. Her face instantly sagged, but he held up his hands to stop her before she could get worried.
“She’s having a bit of trouble with her homework, but we’re going to worry about it after dinner. Right, Jess?”
She nodded but didn’t have an ounce of her usual spunk. Dropping heavily into a chair, she accepted a sandwich with a muttered thanks and pouted as she unwrapped it.
“Meg’s pretty good at math too,” Aiden offered. “She used to help me when we were in school.”
“You should have asked for help instead of getting so upset,” Meg gently told Jess.
Her shoulders sank into an exaggerated slump. “You were too busy with the baby.”
Aiden cast a glance at Meg, who flicked her eyes in his direction as well. He guessed she was thinking the same thing he was. There was more to Jessica’s tears and downtrodden expression than her homework.
“I can help you and look after Harris,” Meg said. “Just like your mom and dad do.”
She huffed a little. “All Mallory does is hover around the baby.”
Mallory? Aiden hadn’t heard Jessica call her by name since the adoption was finalized in December. Poor kid must really be feeling the new baby blues. Biting into his sandwich, Aiden let Meg take the lead on reassuring Jess of her role in the family. As she did, kindly reminding Jessica of all the things her parents and grandparents still included her in, his notion that she was going to be a great mom was cemented.
She was patient and understanding but also pushed back when Jess wallowed a bit too much. But the time they finished eating, Jess was happier. Not as chipper as she usually was, but she seemed to be less out of joint about the fact that Harris needed a bit more attention than she did right now.
“We should talk to Phil and Mal,” Meg whispered when Jessica went to get her homework.
“Yeah, but this is normal,” he said. “I think all older siblings go through this at some point. We should remember that when we have kids.”
He chuckled at the surprise on her face. Before she could retort, Jessica came back with the tablet she used for her online homework. Scooting close to her, he made it a point to keep his attention on her and her homework. He’d have to stare longingly at his girlfriend another time.
Chapter Seventeen
Meg was going to kill Aiden. There had definitely not been a long enough span of time between his mother walking in on them very nearly having sex and this little lunch he’d organized. Smiling across the table, Meg searched the furthest corners of her mind to try to find something, anything, to talk to Becca Howard about, but all she could do was shrink more and more as the woman stared at her with the same deer in the headlights look Meg imagined was on her face.
“Meg,” Aiden encouraged, “how was your morning?”
“Um, good. Good. I’ll be, um, showing some houses this afternoon. So, you know, I was getting all that lined up. For a client.”
Another stretch of awkward silence fell over the table. Aiden looked at his mom. “And how was your morning?”
“Um. Okay. I, um…” She leaned back and smiled when the waitress set her lunch in front of her. After they all agreed that everything looked wonderful, Becca focused on cutting her chicken.
Aiden bumped his knee against Meg’s, and she glanced at him. Oh, yes. He was going to pay for this. If he’d waited a month, or even a week, the weirdness of this situation could have died down, but no. He just had to get it over with. Like ripping off a bandage, he’d said. It wasn’t like ripping off a bandage. It was like drowning in pudding.
“Um, how’s Stevie doing?” Meg asked, grasping the last neutral straw she could think of.
Becca cleared her throat, sounding just as uneasy as Meg felt. “Oh, you know. Football and video games. That’s all he cares about right now. Typical teenage boy.” She took a bite and chewed vigorously.
“Okay, this is painful,” Aiden muttered.
No, no, no, Meg silently begged. She closed her eyes and sighed, knowing he was going to put everything out there on the table for them to dissect.
“Mom,” he stated.
Meg grabbed his hand. “Aiden.”
“Meg and I are back together. I told you we were going to get back together. We’re a couple now. And couples have sex.”
“Oh God,” Meg moaned. She winced as she looked across the table at his mother. “I’m so sorry, Becca.”
“Yes, Aiden,” his mother stated. “I know what couples do. I have two children as a result of those particular activities.”
“So let’s all just laugh off the fact that you almost walked in on those…activities…and get over it.”
Meg looked at Becca. “I’m sorry you walked in on that. I’m very embarrassed.”
“Well,” Becca said, “it’s not like I didn’t know you two…would…you know.” She pushed her plate away and looked at Aiden. “Listen, I’m not trying to be insensitive. I think it’s wonderful that you…”
“Got laid?” he asked lightly.
“Aiden,” Meg chastised. “Not helping.”
Becca glanced from Aiden to Meg and back again. “Your father is never going to accept this relationship. You know how he feels about…” She exhaled, and her discomfort clearly ballooned. Sinking back in her chair, she shook her head. “He’ll never accept this.”
The air left the room like a vacuum. Meg couldn’t breathe. She tried, but her lungs refused to work. She had suspected her ethnicity was an issue, but to hear his mother all but say it was like a kick in the stomach. She couldn’t think of a damn thing she’d ever done to his father. She’d always been respectful. Always been kind to his parents.
There was only one reason she could think of. Her skin tone. Her facial features. Even though she could tell herself that was his father’s problem, not hers, finally having confirmation of her suspicions cut at her. She hadn’t felt like this since elementary school, when the kids used to pull the corners of their eyes back and ask her to make them eggrolls. Only, most of those kids had grown up and realized their mistakes. Some had apologized. A few had even become her friends as they got older.
But Aiden’s father wasn’t a child who didn’t understand the impact of his attitude. He was an adult with a deep-rooted prejudice that he chose to act on.
Meg had had to build a tough exterior to get through being one of the only Japanese kids in elementary school. However, that exterior had softened as she’d gotten older. Her friends, her coworkers and, as far as she knew, her clients didn’t think of her as different. They didn’t see her heritage. They saw her. Aiden saw her. She hated that his parents didn’t.
Aiden squeezed Meg’s hand. “That’s Dad’s problem. Not mine.”
Becca sighed dramatically, as if Aiden were being a stubborn child. “Are you really prepared to lose your father over this thing?”
“This thing?” Meg snapped without thinking. “I’m not a thing, Becca.”
The woman actually had the nerve to look shocked. “I didn’t mean you. I meant this relationship.”
Aiden put his arm around Meg’s shoulders and pulled her closer to him. “Yes,” he stated simply. “I choose Meg. I will always choose Meg.”
Meg had to blink back her tears. Partly for the sting she felt from his mother, but also because Aiden should never have to choose between her and his family. That wasn’t fair. She patted his knee. “I have to get back to work,” she said.
“Don’t leave,” he whispered.
She offered him a smile and, ignoring Becca, kissed him lightly. “I love you,” she said under her breath so only he would hear. “But this is between you and your mother.”
He made a show, she guessed to make a point, of cupping her face and kissing her again. “I love you,” he said more loudly than she had.
“Meg, I—” Becca started.
She wriggled free from his hold and gave his mother an obviously fake smile. “It was lovely to see you,” Meg said and slid from the booth. She tried to hold herself together, but by the time she walked into O’Connell Realty, tears had started to fall and her breath was coming in little hiccups. Since Mallory wasn’t there for her to run to, she did the next best thing and went straight to Marcus’s office.
He looked up, and that familiar paternal protectiveness filled his face. He might be Mallory’s stepdad, but Meg had all but adopted him as her own. He stood and opened his arms. She collapsed against him and accepted the second most comforting hug she’d ever known. Aiden’s hugs would always be number one.
“I didn’t mean to upset her,” Becca said for the tenth time since Meg left.
Aiden pushed his plate away and rested his arms on the table. “I heard you, Mom. I just don’t believe you.”
She frowned at her half-eaten lunch. “She needs to know how this is going to impact you.”
“No. You need to know how it’s going to impact you.” He leaned forward, his lunch also forgotten. “I wasn’t kidding when I told you guys that I won’t come around you. If you can’t accept my girlfriend, you can’t accept me.”
She sighed. “It’s not like you’re married to the girl.”
“Yet.”
She did that scowl thing again and looked around the restaurant. “I know your father, Aiden. He’ll never accept her.”
“Will you?”
“Of course I will.”
“You say that like I have no reason to doubt you.” Sitting back, he nodded when the waitress asked if she could take his plate. Once they were alone, he tapped his fingers on the table to draw his mother’s attention. She was looking everywhere but at him. Once she met his eye, he said, “You’re going to apologize to her. And you’re going to mean it. And you’re going to find a way to fix this. Because if you don’t, Mom, then you’re going to have to live knowing that I’m happily in love with a woman I fully intend to marry and start a family with someday and that you aren’t part of it.”
She gasped and put her hand to her chest. She hadn’t made that face since he’d told her that he was moving away. “Aiden.”
“She means everything to me. More than I ever thought she could.” Sliding from the booth, he dropped enough cash on the table to cover the three uneaten lunches. “Until you figure out how to earn her forgiveness, I don’t think you and I have anything to say to each other.”
He climbed into his SUV and debated if he should text Meg. Instead, he just drove to her office. As soon as he walked in, Dianna glowered at him. He hadn’t expected anything less from Meg’s coworkers. In fact, he would have been shocked if he hadn’t been greeted with frustration.
He lifted his hands before she could launch into the attack so clearly written on her face. “I know. I shouldn’t have invited them both to lunch. I didn’t expect it to go quite so badly.”
She softened that scowl on her face. “She’s in the bathroom blowing her nose and fixing her makeup.”
As if that were her cue, Meg opened the bathroom door. As soon as she saw him standing in the lobby, she stopped in her tracks and her lip quivered. Aiden’s heart broke, but not because he was on the verge of losing his parents. To hell with them. He hated how much Meg was hurting.
Opening his arms, he gave her as much of a smile as he could muster. “I choose you,” he said. “I’m always going to choose you.”
She choked out a sad sound as she rushed him. He enclosed her in his embrace and kissed her head once, twice, a dozen times as she crumbled against him. Finally, he led her to her office and squeezed them inside the small space. Sitting her down, he kneeled in front of her and handed her a few tissues he pulled free from the box on her desk.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered.
Shaking her head, she put her hand to his face. “It’s not your fault.”
The guilt in his gut didn’t ease. “I pushed this on you. I wanted us to get beyond the awkwardness of the other morning. I didn’t think she’d go where she went. I’m absolutely humiliated by her behavior.”
Meg wiped her nose as another round of tears filled her eyes. “Do you really think your parents are the only ones who have ever discriminated against me, Aiden? I’ve faced it all my life.”
“But I’m the one who put you in that situation this time. I’m sorry. I’ll never do it again.”
“So you’re just going to avoid your family for as long as we’re together?”
“Not all of them. I have a little brother who is pretty cool when he can be pried away from his gaming system.” He tucked her hair behind her ear. “Phil and Mallory are my family, right? They love you, Meg. Jessica thinks you hung the moon. Kara and Harry are my family, and they adore you. So, no. I’m not going to avoid my family. Not the ones who matter.” His heart ached when his words seemed to be making things worse.
She sniffled and dragged the wad of tissues across her face again. “I don’t want to come between you and your parents. You have no idea how much it hurts to have a rift in those relationships, Aiden. I’ll never be close to my parents, and that hurts so much.”
He cupped the back of her head and pulled her down until he could rest his forehead to hers. “My parents are wrong, and I won’t stand by and pretend like what they are saying is okay. It’s not okay. Even if you and I weren’t together, even if I didn’t want to spend my life with you, Meg, I wouldn’t support their belief that we shouldn’t be together. I would never choose my life partner based on the color of her skin or her ethnicity. I love you because you’re the only person out there willing to put up with all my shit.”
She laughed a little, and the pain in his chest eased.
“Well, somebody has to,” she whispered.
“I want that somebody to be you,” he said lightly. “And if anybody out there has a problem with that, that’s not our problem. Do you understand that? I don’t care what they think. This is about us.”
She leaned back and shook her head slightly. “This isn’t some little thing we can overcome just because we want to.”
“No, it’s not. But it’s not something that we can’t overcome. It won’t be easy, but we can do it.” He looked at the heart pendant on her wrist, brushed his thumb over it, and silently vowed that he’d do whatever he had to do to protect her from this kind of pain again. Even if that meant cutting his parents out of their life. He would do that.
