When she’d purchased them, she had been determined to change up her image. It had been a delusional moment, and look where it had landed her.
But the minute Aiden glanced up and saw her, the look on his face made her heart say, Hugh who?
His right brow shot up.
Bia’s heart pounded, equal parts excitement and nerves.
“Hey, you,” he murmured. He stood up, like the Southern gentleman she’d never known he was—yet another new revelation—taking in her appearance with an appreciative glint in his eyes.
She couldn’t help but smile. “Hey, yourself,” she said, suddenly feeling more like herself again.
It was amazing how he affected her that way. He made her feel appreciated, as if there were no other place in the world he wanted to be and no other person he would rather be with.
But she was no fool; she wouldn’t delude herself into believing that he could be exclusively hers forever. Not Aiden. He was already doing so much for her—it wasn’t fair to expect that of him.
Of course, when things were going so well the beast of doubt always had to rampage through.
She didn’t want to ruin the night. She could confidently say that while she had herself together when it came to business, her love life was another matter altogether. She had a history of making bad choices: trusting Duane, sleeping with Hugh and getting pregnant. She didn’t want Aiden to become a casualty of this charade.
As she stood there watching him watching her, she realized that she had been blaming him for the breakup with Duane because it provided a convenient barrier to keep her heart safe. She had made Aiden out to be the bad guy, making herself believe that his was the face of a player, that he was the guy who couldn’t stand to see another couple happy—especially after he and Tracey divorced. It was easier to ignore her own feelings for him when she was holding him responsible for her breakup. But after spending so much time with him, after allowing him to kiss her senseless, all the reasons why not had fallen away. Her heart was naked and vulnerable with the reality that she had it bad for Aiden Woods.
She who was no prize—pregnant with someone else’s child—had lost her heart to a man who could have anyone. And she couldn’t afford to keep making bad choices about love because now it wasn’t just herself that she had to consider.
She had to think about the baby.
Chapter Ten
The party at Drew and Caroline’s house was a co-congratulations affair: congratulations to Bia and Aiden on their engagement and three cheers for a successful grand opening for the new location of Maya’s Chocolates.
Maya sat back and watched and listened as her friends talked and laughed around the dinner table, leisurely sipping their wine, Bia sipping her club soda. They were in no hurry to get up. Even though she was the only one without a date, she loved being included, soaking up the positive vibe.
The shop wasn’t open on Sundays. So she hadn’t seen or talked to Charles Jordan since last night. She felt silly for having bolted on him, but Maya always trusted her intuition and it had been propelling her to leave.
Today, as she thought about it, she realized she hadn’t felt in physical danger when she was with him—every nerve in her body was telling her that Charles Jordan was not a dangerous man, or at least not someone who wanted to cause her physical harm.
Heartache, however? That’s what scared her.
And it’s why she’d run.
She was too busy with the new shop, and the last thing she needed was someone who dredged up heartache to derail her focus.
And she certainly didn’t want to think about it tonight.
She shoved Charles Jordan into the recesses of her mind, where he seemed to have taken up permanent residence, and shut the door on him.
The smell of homemade lasagna and garlic bread hung in the air. Even though Maya was stuffed, she savored the aroma. The pasta dish, made entirely from scratch, was a specialty of Celebrations, Inc., Catering, the company owned by Pepper, A.J., Caroline and Sydney.
No wonder their business was so good clients were booking four months in advance.
It warmed her heart to look around the table through the candlelight and see everyone so happy. Successful in business, happy in love. And to think that she’d had a hand in bringing together just about every couple at the table.
Pepper and Rob.
A.J. and Shane.
Caroline and Drew.
Sydney and Miles.
Rob’s sister Kate and her new husband were also there. While she hadn’t foretold that marriage—not in the same way she had with the other four couples—she’d had the pleasure of serving as the emcee for the bachelor auction where Kate had placed the winning bid for the date with Liam, who was now her husband.
Her gaze drifted to Bia and Aiden.
She’d just met Aiden tonight. He was handsome. A great guy, loving and attentive to Bia. Maya was so pleased when she’d learned that he had proposed to her daughter.
However, something was off.
She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but something between the two of them was different. At least it was different than the vibes between the other couples.
Maybe it was because Bia was her daughter and their relationship was so new? That might skew things.
Tiger Mother syndrome?
No, actually, that wasn’t it. She liked Aiden well enough and from what she could discern, he was absolutely smitten with Bia. The downturn was more from Bia.
Hmmm...
Maya hoped that there would be many more opportunities for her and her daughter to spend time together so that they could talk and Maya could try and figure out exactly what was amiss.
The young woman was guarded. While the other girls had popped the corks on bottles of champagne and had fussed over Bia’s engagement ring when she and Aiden had first arrived, Bia seemed to hold back emotionally.
Maybe she was simply reserved, the cautious type who didn’t wear her heart on her sleeve for everyone to see.... Perhaps. But it felt like there was more to it than that.
Maya could feel it in her bones.
Of course, there was the matter of the baby’s paternity, but Aiden knew about that, even if the others didn’t. He was marrying her with full disclosure.
Thank goodness everyone at the party had the good grace not to mention the horrid tabloid show and the reporter who was still speculating and lurking around town.
Maya had never seen XYZ Celebrity News until Bia had told her about the ambush. Thank goodness she’d watched it, because the guy had shown up in her shop one day asking her employees questions—not about Bia specifically, but he was fishing for information about Hugh Newman—looking for information about the time he had spent in Celebration previously. He had asked if the girls had seen Hugh around and more specifically if they had seen him around town with any women.
Maya had shown the guy the door, threatening to call the police if he didn’t leave.
“Who wants dessert?” Caroline asked. “I have red velvet cake and coffee in the kitchen.”
Bia stood. “Caroline, let me get dessert. You’ve worked so hard today having us over. Please relax.”
“Yes, Caroline, please do. I am happy to help Bia clear the table and get the dessert.”
In a matter of moments, Bia and Maya were in the kitchen slicing the tall red velvet cake that Caroline had made and left on a plate on the island in the center of her kitchen. Maya was doing the cutting and Bia was using a spatula to transfer the delicious-looking cake to dessert plates.
“Aiden is nice,” Maya said. “He seems to care for you very much.”
Maya glanced up just in time to see a certain look in Bia’s eyes that confirmed her earlier suspicion. But as quickly as the emotion flashed, Bia’s wall went up an
d a placid smile masked whatever it was that had initially troubled her.
As soon as Bia had delivered the last piece of cake to the dessert plate, Maya took her daughter’s left hand and looked at the ring.
“That’s a gorgeous ring,” she said. “How did he propose?”
Bia cleared her throat. “He did it the old-fashioned way. He got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife.”
“Were you surprised?”
The placid smile transformed into a wry grin. “I can assure you, I have never been more surprised in my entire life.”
“But he hadn’t given you the ring when the reporter showed up that day harassing you?”
Bia’s brow furrowed, and her gaze flicked to the door between the kitchen and the dining room just as a bubble of laughter erupted from the gang.
They were engrossed in another matter and couldn’t hear what they were talking about in the kitchen. Bia visibly relaxed.
“No, the day the reporter ambushed me was the first time I heard Aiden refer to me as his fiancée. The ring came later. So, technically, maybe I was a little more surprised that time than when he gave me the ring.”
Maya nodded. “I just want to be sure that you’re happy.”
“I’ll be happy when the XYZ reporter is gone for good.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “I still haven’t found out who tipped him off those two times that he came after me. Has he been back to the shop at all?”
Maya shook her head. “No, I think he knows better than to darken the door of my shop. There’s nothing like the protection of a mother who senses her daughter is in danger.”
The words hung in the air between them. Bia’s expression was unreadable for a moment.
Finally she said, “I appreciate you looking out for me.”
Bia set the sugar bowl and cream pitcher on a tray that Caroline had left on another counter. She gestured toward the dining room with her head. “They don’t know the other bit of recent happy news, do they? That you’re my birth mother. I mean, Aiden knows, of course. But nobody else. Do they?”
“No, they don’t.”
She stopped what she was doing and turned full attention on Maya. “All that time you were here in Celebration after my father passed away, you didn’t tell them that was part of the reason that you were here?”
She’d never really told Bia that’s what had initially drawn her here. However, it didn’t really take a genius to put two and two together. “No, I didn’t want you to hear the news from anyone but me. And I didn’t want to tell anyone until I knew you were ready to talk about it.”
“I think I’m ready now. Shall we tell them?”
* * *
Everyone at the dinner party had seemed even more surprised to learn that Maya was Bia’s birth mother than by the news that Bia and Aiden were getting married—scratch that—that they were engaged. Of course they’d all had a chance to digest the engagement before the dinner party on Sunday night. So, if they’d been at all shocked by it, they’d managed to mind their manners when they were all together.
The evening had been a nice celebration.
It had happened after Maya and Bia had distributed the cake and coffee. Maya had simply said, “As if we don’t have enough to celebrate, there’s more good news.”
Everyone had quieted down and turned their attention to Maya. “Not many people know this about me, but when I was eighteen years old I met a man who was the love of my life. We had a few happy months together. Then, sadly, he died in a tragic automobile accident. I was pregnant with his child.”
Every gaze in the room was riveted to Maya.
“It was a different day and age back then, and since I was from a small provincial town, my mother and grandmother, who both had extremely traditional values, were horrified by my pregnancy out of wedlock. They sent me away to have the baby and arranged for the child—a baby girl—to be adopted by a couple who could not have a child of their own. I grieved the loss of my baby, just as much as I grieved the loss of my soul mate. And even though I knew there was never a chance that I would see my love again, deep in my heart I held out hope that I would be reunited with my child.
“Of course, it was a closed adoption. The adoptive parents were adamant about that. They didn’t want to take the chance of me changing my mind. However, my mother had the foresight to ask the agency to give the adoptive parents my information just in case. Whatever she figured might constitute ‘just in case,’ I will never know. I didn’t know then that the parents knew how to find me, only that they had taken my baby girl from me. I thought I would never see her again.
“Then about eighteen months ago, I received a letter from a man informing me that he was the husband of the couple who had adopted my daughter. His wife had passed away years ago. Now he was dying, and he didn’t have long to live. He told me that it was his dying wish that his daughter—my daughter—should not be left alone after he died.
“If I had any desire whatsoever to know my daughter, he asked that I wait until after he was gone. But then he would be happy for me to be a part of Bia’s life.”
Everyone in the room had gasped at the revelation. But they were happy that they could be among the first to share the wonderful news. It was just sinking in that Maya was family. She was Bia’s mother. It was comforting to know that Maya had not given her up voluntarily. She really hadn’t had any choice.
Actually, if you wanted to look for the silver lining, Maya had chosen to give Bia a better life by giving her up to loving parents who desperately wanted a child.
* * *
Later that week, Bia pondered the thought as she pulled into a parking place at the grocery store. As she put the car in Park and reached over to turn off the ignition, she glanced down at the dashboard. A yellow warning light that she’d never seen before was illuminated. She took the car owner’s manual out of the glove box and looked up the problem.
It turned out to be a bulb failure warning sensor, which meant that somewhere on the vehicle a bulb had blown or was about to.
Thank goodness it didn’t seem to be anything serious. Aiden was working late and Maya was coming over for dinner tonight. Bia would ask him about it tomorrow. If it was something simple, she’d see if he could show her how to change it. If not, she could take it to the dealership.
She fished her shopping list out of her purse, got out of the car and locked it before walking into the store.
At the party, A.J. had given her a couple of recipes that sounded delicious: soy ginger–glazed salmon and Asian coleslaw. She was making them for dinner tonight. She was trying to be so careful about eating healthy for the baby. She figured salmon was a good choice. Plus, it would be quick and easy to put on the table.
Since it was something not in her usual recipe repertoire, she didn’t have many of the ingredients on hand. It was okay; she was learning it was a good thing to try new things every once in a while. Her mind drifted to Aiden. This phase in their relationship was definitely something new. It felt as if she was walking out on a glass bridge. Her senses kept preparing her for a crash landing. Yet she was fine—something sturdy and unseen was holding her up. If she didn’t look down, she just might be all right.
She needed to keep reminding herself of that. Or maybe she should just quit thinking about it altogether. Quit overthinking and live.
She was in the aisle with the cooking oils, searching for sesame oil, when she heard a voice behind her.
“Well, if it isn’t Bia Anderson,” the woman said.
Bia flinched inwardly before she turned around and saw a woman that Aiden had dated on and off for a couple of months. She had only met the woman one time, and she didn’t remember her name. It was something like Judy...or Julie...or Juliet?
“Hello,” Bia said vaguely, still racking her brain for the woman’s name. Th
ere had been so many women, it was hard to keep track. Actually, she hadn’t catalogued them, but this one was so pretty she stood out from the bunch. Tall, blonde and model-thin. Bia swallowed a pang of...what? Jealousy? Inadequacy?
“I’m Joanna,” she said. “You probably don’t remember me. But I’m Aiden’s old...um...Aiden and I used to...um...”
“I do remember you, Joanna. Yes, you and Aiden used to date. It’s nice of you to say hello.”
The woman with her Heidi Klum looks was perfect. If Aiden didn’t want her, Bia didn’t understand what he was looking for. If she wasn’t good enough... Well.
“I understand congratulations are in order. I wanted to get a good look at the woman who finally snagged Aiden Woods’s heart. May I see the ring?”
These words coming from tall, beautiful Joanna took Bia aback. Bia held up her hand, and, as the woman studied it, Bia had a chance to study her perfect complexion, her wide-set blue eyes and other classic features.
Good God, Aiden. If this woman isn’t good enough for you, what in the world do you want?
Then Bia recognized the feeling she was fighting. It was regret. She certainly couldn’t compete with Joanna. The escape plan that she’d been thinking so much about...she needed to get to work on that.
“It really is gorgeous,” Joanna said wistfully. “It’s just the kind of ring I knew Aiden would pick out.”
Bia’s expression must have betrayed her.
“Oh, honey, you don’t have to worry about me. I tossed in the Aiden towel months ago. But I have to warn you, Lisa English is devastated. You might want to watch your back there. She’s not going away without a fight.”
Watch my back?
Was she kidding?
Joanna gave Bia a once-over that ended with a patronizing smile. It could have been described as pity.
“Good luck, Bia.” The words you’re going to need it went unsaid, but they hung in the air, as heavily as Joanna’s perfume, after she turned and click-clacked her way down the aisle.
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