Moonlight Road (21 page)

“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.

“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.

“A couple of hours ago I heard something out here,” he said. “Could’ve been wildlife. I got up, thinking you might be back from the hospital.” He shrugged and said, “When I couldn’t find you or any animals, I decided it wouldn’t hurt to stay alert.”

Aiden actually laughed. “Who were you gonna shoot with that thing?”

“Anyone who shouldn’t be lurking around here late at night. I think we need to consider locks. How’s the little family? Luke and Shelby?”

“Good—seven-pound, healthy boy. Brought tears to Luke’s eyes. I don’t know when I’ve ever seen him on his knees thanking a woman before. I took Mom back to her house on wheels. George had waited up for her, I think. Sean,” he said, pausing. “Did it ever occur to you that you might run into a scary little blonde out here?”

“I hoped,” he answered. “If I said I mistook her for a deer, I’d be believed, wouldn’t I?” Then he flashed Aiden a smile.

“Let’s be careful there,” Aiden said. “Not because I feel protective, but because I don’t want any member of my family going to hell over her. She’s just not worth it. Do you need me to take over watch so you can get some rest?”

“I slept a little before I heard noises. I’m all right. What about you? You want to go to bed?”

“Yeah, but not here. I want to go to Erin’s. There’s a good chance that after I tell her about my last twenty-four hours, I’ll be right back.”

“Go,” Sean said. “She seems pretty reasonable. If you need someone to back up your story…”

“Thanks. See you a little later.”

By the time he drove up the long driveway to Erin’s cabin at the top of the ridge, it was nearly five in the morning. When he got out and stood beside his SUV, he saw a most amazing sight. There was a pink glow from the sun rising in the east; the moon was lowering in the west. The sun and the moon in the same sky had always seemed like magic to him. Their light seemed to meet over the road to Erin’s cabin.

The cabin door opened and she stood there in her nightgown. “I heard the car,” she explained.

“Come here, sweetheart. Look at this. Down the road that way, the sun is starting to rise. The other way the moon is saying goodbye.”

“Hmm. I wonder if that’s why they call this Moonlight Road. It’s not marked, but that’s the address.” She stepped out beside him and his arm went around her shoulders. “Red sky at morning, sailor take warning,” she said. “My dad always said the weather was going to be bad when the sun came up pink like that.”

“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight,” he said.

“You know that saying?” she asked.

“I spent the last eight years in San Diego. I didn’t have a boat, but I went sailing with friends sometimes. Water stuff—it’s what we did there.”

She turned to look up at him. “Don’t you miss it?”

He shook his head. “My life has seemed pretty perfect here. But I guess all good things come to an end. I have something to tell you, and it’s not nice stuff. I thought nothing could get better—not only was I completely relaxed for the first time in years, but I fell in love with the perfect woman. And—”

She gave him a moment to finish and then said, “And…?”

His arm tightened around her. “When I got back to Luke’s after leaving you yesterday morning, my family was gathered. And in their midst was Annalee, my ex-wife, bearing the news that our divorce wasn’t properly recorded and therefore, not legally filed.”

Her eyes were wide as she looked up at him. “Are you kidding me?”

“I wish. I don’t get it. Apparently, the lawyer didn’t follow through or something. But, Erin, we parted company after a very short, very embarrassing marriage eight years ago. If she’s right, this is a technicality and I’ll get it taken care of. It’s a complication and I’m sorry. I have to get the situation resolved immediately. I’m going to have to find a good lawyer this time. Obviously the last one wasn’t worth what I paid him.”

“Want my help with that?”

“What I want is for you to look at the paperwork the lawyer gave me—he said it was done and that was all I’d need. Do you know anything about divorce papers?”

“A little,” she said with a shrug. “They pass across my desk from time to time when I’m preparing living trusts, wills and estate planning. Not to mention taxes.”

“This isn’t the kind of thing you should be asking of the woman you love,” he said.

“Let’s not worry about that right now. Come on, come inside with me.”

“Let me get my stuff,” he said. He reached back into his car and pulled out the metal box. “My war chest,” he said. “My few real important documents that I wouldn’t trust to furniture movers—birth certificate, et cetera.”

They went inside and Erin took the box from his hands and put it down on the kitchen table. “What’s she like now?” Erin asked. “Eight years later? Does she want the divorce finalized so she can get on with her life? Maybe get married again or something?”

That was another story altogether—what she wanted. “It doesn’t matter what she wants. I have only one thing to offer her and that’s an official, documented, recorded divorce.” He pulled Erin into his arms. “I’m just going to make this go away as fast as I can.”

“Aiden, did you love her once?”

He shook his head. “Honey, it’s impossible to explain what happened back then. It had a lot to do with being a young man barely off a long assignment on a ship, getting mixed up with someone I didn’t know and should have been trying to avoid. Needless to say, we realized the mistake and made a mutual decision to end it quickly before it got worse.”

She smiled patiently. “You don’t really know me, either,” she pointed out.

“Yes, I do. I know your family, what you do for a living, how helpless you are on a bike or in a bear scare.” He tightened his arms.

“I’m good on a bike,” she argued, but as she said that she leaned toward him, helpless in his arms, inviting his lips. “That’s not a lot to base an opinion on.”

“It’s out of my hands, honey. I can’t stop it. I’ve never felt this way about a woman before. I’d do anything to make you mine. Anything.”

She leaned against him. “It’s not really morning and you’ve been up all night. It might be easier to talk about this after a little sleep.”

“Sleep?” he asked, his lips against hers. “I want to be inside you.”

She felt her heart begin to race immediately. “I’ve always been so practical,” she said. “This whole summer thing with you has changed me into a different kind of woman. I should wait until I completely understand this situation with your ex, but I can’t. I can’t and I don’t care.”

She took him by the hand and gently led him to her bedroom.

He slowly undressed her and got rid of his own clothes quickly. Erin fell beneath him, complete putty in his hands, in his arms. He kissed her with slow, deliberate, hot passion and began to unlock all the secrets of her body—secrets they’d found together so recently. He wound sweet pleasure around her and everywhere his fingers went, every time his tongue touched her, she would shudder in anticipation. This had never happened to her with anyone before and she had been thoroughly convinced it never would. But there was something about the way they came together that released the most amazing sensations and she couldn’t summon caution. Now that she’d found it, she couldn’t imagine ever living without this.

“Like that,” he said softly, hoarsely. “Move like that, just a little. Gently. Slowly. Take your time….” And he rocked inside her, filling her, teasing her, the build of orgasm already so familiar to her, something she needed from him so desperately. And then he said, “Tell me when you’re so close you want to cry.”

“God,” she whispered, feeling those inevitable tears of longing rise to her eyes, holding him so fiercely she wondered she didn’t break him. “Please, Aiden,” she whispered. “Now. Now. Now.”

“Hang on just a little longer….”

“Now,” she whispered. “Please, now…”

She heard his deep moan just as he pulled out just a bit. Then he said, “Come for me now, baby.” And he drove himself into her, hard, fast, deep. Again and again and again, until she cried out, cried his name, came apart over and over and over. “Like that,” he said. “Just like that. Lose control. Just like that…” And he joined her, letting it all go in a blast so powerful that it left him shaking.

He held her for a long time, keeping his weight from crushing her. Their lips met in a series of short, sweet kisses while they calmed. “You feel a little too good,” he whispered. “I might’ve forgotten something….”

“I realized that too late,” she said.

“You’re not on the pill, are you?”

“Why would I be?” she countered. “There hasn’t been anyone.”

“It’s okay, honey. We can get ahead of it. That’s something we should talk about anyway. Being together, staying together, maybe having children together.”

“I thought that ship had sailed,” she said. “I’m already thirty-six….”

“Me, too. And there’s still plenty of time.”

She laughed in spite of herself. “That was really the lamest marriage proposal I’ve ever had. Also, the first. Can this possibly wait till morning? I mean, later morning?”

“As long as you tell me one thing,” Aiden said. “Tell me if you care about me half as much as I care about you.”

She touched his cheek with her palm. “Probably twice as much,” she whispered. “I love you. I think it’s crazy, but I’m in love with you….”

He let out his breath as if he’d been holding it. “Then we can manage anything.”

A few hours later, Aiden rolled over to an empty bed and the smell of coffee. He sat up, found his boxers on the floor and dragged them on. He ran a hand through his hair and followed the smell. He found Erin sitting on the leather sofa in the great room, a cup of coffee on a tray on the leather ottoman beside her, a sheaf of papers in her hand. She looked up as he entered. The expression on her face was troubled.

“Aiden, how could you not know this wasn’t a final decree?” she asked.

He rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know. The lawyer said it was all I needed, that it was done, she was blessedly gone and I was in residency, working a hundred and twenty hours a week. I was sleep deprived and…” He groaned. “Y’know, it never crossed my mind to have a second lawyer check my first lawyer’s work. Besides, the check cleared…”

“Check?” she asked. “Payment to the lawyer?”

“No, to her. She wouldn’t leave without a big, fat buy-off.”