by Unknown
She nodded in acknowledgment. “If I’m ever going to trust anyone again, there can’t be any secrets between us, not even little ones that probably wouldn’t matter to most people.” She regarded him wistfully. “Yours aren’t little, though, are they?”
He shook his head. His was huge. In fact, his whole identity wasn’t what anyone in this town thought it to be, at least not entirely. He was still Anna Mitchell’s son, but there was so much more to it.
“That’s what I mean,” she said. “I know better than anyone what sort of damage that can do.”
Aidan understood that from personal experience, though he wished he didn’t. “I see exactly where you’re coming from. I’ve lived with a lot of secrets in my lifetime, not mine, but around me. Things I didn’t discover until recently, in fact. It changes the way we feel about the people we’re supposed to be closest to.” He thought of his mother and how much she’d kept from him—and from Thomas—and how it was affecting their lives to this very day.
“If you know that, then how can you expect me to ignore the fact that there are things you’re not telling me?” Liz asked. “I don’t want to wake up someday and realize the man I’m with is practically a stranger.”
“I can’t ask you to ignore anything,” he conceded with regret. “I will ask you to be patient, though. I want to tell you everything, but I’m not able to.”
She frowned at that. “What’s preventing you? Or is that just a convenient excuse because you don’t really want to be open and honest? Are you afraid people will think less of you if these secrets come out?” Her expression turned wry. “I know a whole lot about that. It’s the reason I’ve kept quiet. Not even Bree has heard the story I told you.”
“She’d be on your side, the same way I am,” he assured her.
“I’m not willing to take that chance.”
Aidan understood her hesitance and her reluctance to believe in him. He could hear how flimsy it sounded to simply say he wasn’t at liberty to talk about his secrets. If he were in her shoes, he wouldn’t buy it, either.
“Will it help if I promise that you’ll be the first person to know everything as soon as I can talk about it?” he asked. He thought of the initial blood test report. “Everything will be resolved soon, maybe even as early as tomorrow.”
She looked genuinely torn, as if she desperately wanted to have faith in him, but feared that she’d be burned yet again by trusting the wrong man.
“Not good enough,” she said at last. “I think you should go. And maybe we shouldn’t spend any more time together for a while.”
Aidan would have asked how long, but he already knew the answer. She didn’t want him around until he was ready to disclose everything he’d been holding back. Even then such a big secret might be more than she could handle. He could hardly hold that against her. There were plenty of days when he had no idea how to live with the truth himself.
He nodded and stood up. Before getting Archie’s leash and calling to the dog, he leaned down and pressed a kiss to Liz’s forehead.
“This isn’t over,” he vowed. “Not by a long shot.”
She gave him a sad look that spoke volumes. “I think it is.”
And then she turned away, as if she couldn’t bear to see him leave. Archie whined as Aidan tugged him toward the door. Even the dog seemed to sense that something had shifted here tonight, and not in a good way.
*
To Aidan’s dismay, Thomas called him first thing on Monday morning to report that the blood test had been inconclusive. It hadn’t ruled Thomas out as Aidan’s father, but only the full DNA analysis on the swabs taken by the lab could prove definitively if they were father and son. Or not.
“I know we were both hoping for answers, but maybe this delay is good news,” Aidan suggested, though he had a hard time believing that himself, not with his relationship with Liz hanging in the balance. “It means you haven’t been ruled out as my father.”
“It actually is good news,” Thomas said.
Aidan was startled by his ready agreement. “You think so, too?”
“Shocking, isn’t it, after my initial reaction?”
Aidan could almost imagine the smile as Thomas said those words. “What’s changed?”
“Well, for whatever it’s worth, I’m coming to grips with the idea that I have a grown son,” Thomas explained. He hesitated, then said, “I know we weren’t going to speak of this to anyone until the results are in, but my wife has already guessed. She says it’s impossible to miss that you’re an O’Brien.”
Aidan was stunned, not because they’d talked about it, but because Connie saw what Thomas had refused to accept. “She believes me? And is she okay with the news?”
Thomas laughed. “Here’s the thing you should know about my wife. She’s tough. She raised a daughter mostly on her own. She took a long time coming around when we first started seeing each other. She’d done okay by herself. I was older. I was twice divorced. I was an O’Brien, which you may have seen by now can be a blessing and a curse. I was only slightly more amenable to the idea of taking another risk on marriage. Her daughter pretty much hated me. Well, not me, but having to compete for her mom’s attention and love. It almost broke my wife’s heart. I think the fact that Jenny and I have reconciled our differences has made her see families in a whole new light. Biological connections aren’t the only ones that matter.”
Aidan had a feeling there might be a lesson in the story for him. “What turned things around? I mean in terms of winning her over with all those hurdles you faced?”
“We got out of our own way and focused on the fact that we’d fallen in love. If there’s one thing O’Briens believe in, it’s the power of love and family. I might have failed at two marriages, but as Mick likes to point out, they were to the wrong women. Good women, both of them, but wrong for me. When the right one comes along, a smart man doesn’t turn his back on her, no matter what obstacles might lie in the path.”
He hesitated, then added quietly, “Looking back with twenty-twenty hindsight, I think your mother could have been the right one, but I met her at the wrong time in my life.”
“I’ve tried to imagine you together,” Aidan admitted. “I can see it, too. I wish I’d had the chance to see the two of you together just once.”
“Aidan, you have no idea how much I regret that we all missed out on so much. Keep in mind, though, that I was pretty self-absorbed and driven back then. Still am, to some degree, but I’ve put some balance into my life, realigned my priorities, so to speak. I’d like to think I might have done the same back then, if I’d been given the chance.”
“I believe that now,” Aidan said. “You didn’t finish telling me about your wife’s reaction. If me sticking around Chesapeake Shores is going to cause problems—”
“Nonsense,” Thomas said. “At least not for Connie and me. Certainly not for anyone else in the family, either. We embrace our own, however they come to be a part of us. Now, you put together another losing football team, and I can’t speak for the rest of the town.”
Aidan laughed. “I’m on it,” he told Thomas. “In fact, I’m heading over to the school to find out just how many unofficial workouts I might be able to squeeze in before the school district comes down on my head.”
“Good luck with that,” Thomas said. “I’ll be in touch about the DNA test as soon as I know anything. Then we’ll figure out where we go from there.”
Aidan considered letting the conversation end on that note, but for some reason he couldn’t. “Do you have some time in the next couple of days? I’d like to talk about that book I’ve been reading, maybe make some plans for the fall projects for the group at school.” He felt surprisingly awkward even making the suggestion and quickly added, “Unless you want to hold off on that.”
“No reason to hold off,” Thomas said, clearly enthusiastic, if perhaps a little surprised. “I’m working in town today. You want to meet for coffee at Panini Bistro in an hour? Or on th
e pier at Mick’s? Sean’s dying to go fishing. He’d go every day of summer vacation if I were here to take him.”
Aidan liked the idea of spending time with Thomas and his son. It sounded so normal, like something they might have done when he was a boy.
“Does Sean know what’s going on?” he asked, needing to know so he didn’t inadvertently slip up and say the wrong thing.
“No, though something tells me he’ll be ecstatic to have a big brother. He loves having a big sister, but a guy? And one who coaches football? He’ll be over the moon. I won’t tell him, though, till we know the truth. For one thing, I love that boy with all my heart, but he couldn’t keep his mouth shut if he tried. For another, I don’t want him to be disappointed if it turns out we’re wrong.”
“I totally understand,” Aidan said. “I just didn’t want to put my foot in it. But if you don’t mind me being around him before we know, maybe I’ll buy a fishing pole and you can give me a lesson, too.” He couldn’t help thinking that it would be a nice first father-son memory, even if the facts weren’t in yet.
“I have an extra pole I’ll bring along,” Thomas said at once. “We’ll be there in an hour.”
“Great. That’ll give me just enough time to stop by the school.” And maybe a few extra minutes to stick his head in the door at Pet Style for a quick glimpse of Liz to be sure she was doing okay. No matter what she’d said about wanting to be left alone, Thomas’s reminiscence about his courtship of Connie suggested to Aidan that backing off from a relationship that could really matter wouldn’t be the O’Brien way.
*
Liz spotted Aidan at the door of Pet Style and was grateful that she’d left home early and gone straight to Sally’s. She’d wanted to be in and out with her morning coffee before any of her friends arrived to cross-examine her about the dark circles under her eyes that even an expert touch with makeup couldn’t conceal.
When Aidan realized the store was still locked up, he glanced toward Sally’s, but to her relief, he turned away and jogged across the street to the town green and kept on going.
“Why don’t you seem very eager to run into Aidan this morning?” Bree asked, startling Liz as she appeared seemingly out of nowhere and slid into the booth.
“No idea what you’re talking about,” Liz said, mopping up the coffee that had spilled from her cup when she’d been startled by Bree’s unexpected arrival. “I just happened to notice he was out there.”
“And knocking on the door of your shop,” Bree said. “Yet you didn’t tap on the window to get his attention. You looked oddly relieved when he went away without coming in here.”
“You’re imagining things.”
“I’m not imagining that you look as if you’ve had a rough night,” Bree said, holding Liz’s coffee cup in the air and gesturing to Sally for a refill for Liz, plus her own cup. “Problems keep you awake?”
“Something like that.”
“Let me be more specific. Problems with Aidan?”
Liz gave her a plaintive look. “Nothing I want to talk about.”
Bree’s expression turned momentarily triumphant at having her guesswork confirmed, but then she frowned. “What did he do?” she demanded.
Her quick indignation actually made Liz smile. “What makes you think he did anything?”
“Because he’s a man, and they’re sometimes incredibly stupid and insensitive. They don’t mean to be. It just happens.”
“Does Jake know you hold him in such high esteem?” Liz inquired, amused by Bree’s assessment.
“My husband is an exception,” Bree declared at once, but then her expression turned thoughtful. “Now, anyway. There was a time when he fell into that category, too.”
“So it’s thanks to what, your training, that he’s evolved?”
Bree grinned. “Pretty much.”
Liz sat back with a sigh. “I envy you,” she admitted without thinking.
Bree looked startled. “Why?”
“Because you have this perfect marriage and an adorable little girl, plus an amazing career as a playwright. Not to mention a flower shop as a side business that you love. You grew up in this incredible town, surrounded by family.”
“Oh, sweetie, believe me, it wasn’t always that way. I couldn’t wait to get away from here and out into the world. When I came home from Chicago as a failure after an apprenticeship at a regional theater, I thought my life was over. Jake hated the sight of me because I’d let him down on so many levels. It took us a long time and a lot of patience and hard work to get where we both are today.”
Liz was startled. “I thought you were childhood sweethearts.”
Bree nodded, her expression nostalgic. “We were and then I blew it. I won’t go into all the ugly details, but when I got back to town Jake didn’t trust me and rightfully so, though of course I didn’t want to admit I’d done anything wrong.”
“How did you get through that and turn things around, because you obviously have?”
“Like I said, it took patience, hard work and a whole bunch of meddling to get us to admit that we still loved each other. We had to figure out whether our priorities meshed. I needed to get my feet back under me, personally and professionally. Jake needed to figure out if he could trust me again.”
She gave Liz a knowing look. “Are you and Aidan having trust issues? Jake’s something of an expert in that area, if you need to talk. He got through to Jenny when she was up in the air about giving Caleb another chance.”
“How’d you know that trust was at the root of my issues with Aidan?” Liz asked, startled by her insight.
“Because you have this big Keep Out wall up around yourself. You’ve denied to anyone who’d listen that you have feelings for Aidan. It’s clear to all of us how hard you’re fighting the attraction. What I don’t understand is if this is really about Aidan or more about you.”
“It’s me,” Liz conceded. “Mostly. He hasn’t exactly been reassuring, though. There’s something he’s keeping from me, something big. I don’t want to get close with another man, only to discover he’s been deceiving me about something important.”
“Another man? Is that about your marriage?”
Liz waved off the question. “Not now, okay? The point is I won’t risk my heart again, not when there are clear warning signs that something’s not right.”
“Have you confronted Aidan about your concern?”
“Sure. And he doesn’t deny that he’s keeping a secret of some kind, but he refuses to let me in on it. He says he’s made a promise and he has to honor that.”
“Well, that sounds fair,” Bree said.
“Unless it’s a convenient lie,” Liz said.
Bree looked startled by the distrust in her voice. “Oh, sweetie, if you think he’s capable of lying to you, then you’ve got bigger problems to worry about. Trust is essential to any relationship.”
“I know that,” Liz said in frustration. “Probably even better than you can possibly imagine. So it seems we’re at a stalemate.” She sighed. “It’s probably for the best. I don’t need the complication of a relationship, anyway. I need to focus on Pet Style and building a life for myself here.”
“A life without a man in it?” Bree concluded. “Even if there’s one right here who makes your toes curl?”
Liz smiled. “I don’t know that he does.”
“Liar. The two of you set off more fireworks when you’re in the same room than the town does on the Fourth of July.” Her expression brightened. “That’s coming up soon. There will be chaos down here on the green, but we can see them from my dad’s, so there will be a huge barbecue there that night. You have to come.”
“Is this another opportunity for you to throw Aidan and me together?”
Bree chuckled. “The party will happen whether either of you is there. I just don’t want you to miss your first big fireworks show in town. You should celebrate with friends.”
Liz couldn’t deny that it sounded like exactly t
he sort of small-town celebration she’d been envisioning when she’d chosen to settle in Chesapeake Shores. Why deny herself that just to avoid a situation that might never happen?
“I’ll be there,” she promised. “What can I bring?”
“Just yourself, or you’ll insult my grandmother. Nell’s already started baking. Dad’s in charge of burgers and hot dogs. It’s a pretty simple menu. Add some sliced tomatoes and potato salad and we have a major picnic.”
“What about your mom?” Liz asked curiously. “Does she make the potato salad?”
“Actually we take turns trying to keep her out of the kitchen,” Bree said with a laugh. “Cooking’s not her strong suit. Besides, she’ll be working at the gallery all day. She’ll get home just in time for a bite to eat before the fireworks.”
Bree glanced at her watch. “Oops! We both need to run. Time’s gotten away from us. Only ten minutes till our stores open.”
They paid quickly and hurried out. On the sidewalk in front of Pet Style, Bree gave her a quick hug.
“Don’t write off Aidan just yet,” she advised. “The O’Brien consensus seems to be that he’s one of the good guys, and, if nothing else, I do trust my family’s judgment.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Liz promised.
“I also trust the sparks he puts in your eyes,” Bree added with a wink. “You should, too.”
*
When Aidan arrived at Mick’s pier, Thomas was sitting on what was apparently his usual spot on a bench. Sean was dancing around impatiently in front of him as Thomas slathered on suntan lotion.
“Mom already did this,” Sean protested.
“So you’ve said. A little extra won’t hurt,” Thomas told him. “And wear your baseball cap.”
“It’s too hot.”
As Aidan stood by, Thomas gave him a wink, then turned to Sean with a serious expression. “Maybe it’s too hot to be out here at all,” he suggested.
Sean’s eyes widened with unmistakable panic. “No, it’s not. It’s perfect.” He settled the baseball cap on his head, then even added yet another coating of suntan lotion to his nose. “I’ll be fine.”
