Bottom Line: Callaghan Brothers, Book 8 (16 page)

A sense of foreboding settled heavily on his shoulders.  He shouldn’t even be thinking of opening it.  It was Mary’s, and it was private.  And there had to be a very good reason why she had hidden it as she had.

But he had already accepted the fact that she was his.  Yes, it was quick, but if he had learned anything over the past several years, it was that when something was right, it was right.  Delaying the inevitable would only create the opportunity for problems to arise.

Hell, he had the proposal all worked out in his mind – well, the main parts anyway.  Valentine’s Day was just around the corner, and that’s when he would present her with the best diamond he could find and ask her officially to become his wife.

A man should know his wife, shouldn’t he?  Especially a man in his position where even the slightest hint of scandal would make the front pages.  Not that he believed Mary had done anything scandalous, really.  But he still wanted to know what was in that box.

The urge to look continued to grow until he could stand it no more.

He lifted the lid and stared down, inhaling sharply...

* * *

M
ary woke up feeling deliciously sore.  Stretching, she reached across the bed, only to find herself alone.  She buried her face in the pillow, delighted to smell Aidan’s scent.  She wouldn’t be throwing that in the wash anytime soon.

His black bag was still there, so he probably was, too.  That thought pleased her greatly.  Given that Max wasn’t whimpering or pawing at the door, Aidan had probably already seen to his breakfast and morning needs.  Which meant that she could take a few minutes to see to her own.

A towel had been spread out along the counter.  Mary stared down at the unfamiliar objects, her heart speeding up and her eyes widening as she realized that these had probably been the things Aidan had used on her last night.  Apparently he’d taken care of cleaning them this morning (that thought made her feel better about it) and had left them out to air dry.

She reached out, but pulled her hand back before she actually touched them; she wasn’t quite ready to do that yet.  It was one thing when Aidan was in charge, when she was blindfolded and deep in the throes of passion, but it was morning now.  Bright light came in through the frosted glass, and that put everything in a different perspective altogether.

She washed her face, brushed her teeth, and managed to get her hair relatively tamed.  When she caught her reflection in the mirror, she had to blink several times.  The woman who stared back looked so different.  Her skin glowed with radiance and her eyes sparkled.  For the first time in her life, Mary thought she actually looked pretty. 

She looked like a woman in love.  Is that what she was? 

The thought wasn’t nearly as scary as it might have been, but it did come as a bit of a surprise.  After Cam, she didn’t think she’d ever let herself get close to another man again.  But then Aidan had come into her life and changed all of that.

Pulling on her microfiber robe (not sexy by any means, but very comfortable), she set off in search of the man who had turned her into such a lovesick, shameless wanton. 

She found him in the kitchen, sitting at the butcher-block table.  Spread out over the top were a series of pictures and small mementos.  He was fingering something in his right hand when his eyes met hers.

Mary’s grin faded instantly when she realized what he had found.  “What are you doing with those?” she demanded, rushing over to the table.  She hastily gathered the items and shoved them back into the box.  Aidan said nothing, nor did he try to stop her. 

When she went to close the lid, he extended his hand and opened his palm, revealing what he had been holding:  two gold wedding bands and a tiny diamond engagement ring.

Mary snatched them from his palm and threw them in the box, closing the lid and securing it while moisture prickled behind her eyes.

Aidan watched her closely, his face unreadable.  “You were married?” he said, his voice too neutral, too unaffected to be anything good. 

“Obviously,” she snapped, mad at herself for crying.  She wasn’t even sure
why
she was crying. Was it because Aidan discovered she’d been married?  Because seeing all those things brought back memories of pain and anguish?  Or because the look in Aidan’s eyes was as cold as she had ever seen?  There was no trace of the attentive lover in him now.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”  His voice was so empty, so devoid of emotion that it scared her.

“You didn’t ask.”

His face hardened, the expressionless mask making him look like some ancient statue of a Greek god.  His body was still.  Too still.  Only his eyes moved as Mary stalked across the room, tossed the keepsake back into the cupboard and grabbed angrily at the box of tissues.  Why wouldn’t the damn tears stop?

And what kind of man rummaged through her cabinets and took it upon himself to open something so obviously personal?  She might have given herself to him in heart and body, but that didn’t give him the right to invade her privacy without permission. 

“What happened?” he asked in that cold, emotionless voice.

“Does it matter?” she asked, her words somewhat muted by the tissues.

His eyes flashed once, then went cold again.  “No.”

He got up and walked out of the kitchen.  Mary sank down at the table and dropped her head into her hands.  How had things gone downhill so quickly? 

She took a deep breath.  She had overreacted.  Sure, it had been a shock to find Aidan looking through her things, but in a way, having him find out about Cam was kind of a relief, too.  They’d have to have a talk about personal space and boundaries if they were going to continue to see each other, though.

She was still sitting there when he returned a few minutes later, fully dressed, and grabbed for his coat.  “You’re leaving?” she asked, sniffling.

“Obviously.” 

He walked over to the door that led to the garage.  He paused with his hand on the doorknob.  Without turning around, he said, “I’ll have someone drop your Jeep off later.”

And then he was gone, leaving her staring in disbelief.

––––––––

“M
ary?  This is Angela at Dr. Whitney’s office.  The doctor would like you to come in for another mammogram.”

Mary gripped the receiver a little tighter.  It was noon and she was still in her pajamas, having taken her first sick day in five years.  She hadn’t left the house the last two days, except to take care of the most necessary of things.  She’d hoped that after he had some time to cool-off, Aidan would come back and they could work through things, get everything out in the open.

“Why?”

A hesitant pause.  “I really don’t know the specifics, only that she’d like you to come back in.  I can squeeze you in at two.  Can you get here by then?”

Cold dread dropped into the pit of her stomach.  “That soon?”

“Yes.  Dr. Whitney would like to see you today.”

“Uh, sure.  Two o’clock, you said?”

“Yes.  We’ll see you then.”

Mary continued to hold the phone until the annoying busy-tone signal managed to cut through her fog.  What could possibly be so urgent?  The women’s health center over in Pine Ridge was usually so busy, she had to schedule her exams a minimum of six months in advance.  The fact that they were squeezing her in so quickly could not be a good sign.

Feeling rather numb, she forced herself to get up and grab a quick shower.  Donning a comfortable pair of jeans and a hoodie, she slipped on her sneakers and climbed into her Jeep. 

She wasn’t sure when it had been delivered or by whom, only that when she pulled herself out of bed on Sunday morning her Jeep had been sitting in her driveway, right in front of the garage.  The keys had been left under the doormat on her front porch; there was no note or anything else left with them.

During the thirty minute drive, Mary tried to silence the persistent negative thoughts that kept going through her mind.  Until she knew better, she wasn’t going to jump to any conclusions. 

Maybe they just screwed up the films or something.  It wouldn’t be the first time that happened.  She’d been called back before because the radiologist wanted a clearer picture or a slightly different angle, but they usually took care of that kind of thing before she left.

Then again, she
had
been in such a hurry after her appointment – it was the day she was meeting Aidan for lunch – that she’d snuck out of the waiting room the moment they had taken all the scans without exactly waiting for them to give her the okay to go. 

“Yeah, that’s probably all it is,” Mary said, as if saying the words out loud in an otherwise empty Jeep would make them true.

It didn’t help that she had been in a negative state of mind to begin with.  Ever since his abrupt and unexpected departure on Saturday morning, Aidan hadn’t called, texted, or stopped by.  She hadn’t tried to contact him, either.  She figured that since he was the one who had walked out, it was up to him to decide to come back.

She didn’t understand why he was so upset.  Alright, she could see how that kind of information caught him by surprise.  If he had told her that he’d been married before, it certainly would have given her an uncomfortable moment or two, too. 

But would she have behaved as if he had purposely betrayed her?  No.  As surprising as such knowledge was, it mattered little now.  Yes, she had been married, but that had been a long time ago.  For more than five years Mary had been alone, though in truth, it felt like much longer.  Cam’s disease and the brutal effects of the treatment had left him little more than a shell long before his actual death.

Maybe she should have told Aidan right up front.  She hadn’t deliberately been hiding it from him, but she had to admit, it was awfully nice to spend time with someone who didn’t know.  Everyone in Birch Falls still looked at her as the tragic young bride who had lost her husband, a husband who had been a much-loved member of their community.  The sympathy, the pity, was still in their eyes every time they looked at her.

She hadn’t minded so much at first; it was almost comforting in a way.  People knew what she had been through and tended to go out of their way to be kind.  Mary expected that as time began the slow process of healing her wounds, it would heal theirs, too.  But here it was, five years later, and they were still treating her like Cam’s tragic widow.

It had become so tiresome, in fact, that Mary had gone as far as to call the local realtor and get her house appraised a few years ago.  When word got around that Mary was thinking of selling and moving away, her phone hadn’t stopped ringing for months.  Well-intentioned locals – those who had loved Cam and had felt it was their duty to look after her after his death – took it as failure on their part and stepped up their efforts.  Eventually Mary put her plans to relocate on the back burner just so she could get some peace.

Maybe, she thought, it was time to revisit those plans.  Only this time, she was going to call a realtor from
outside
of Birch Falls.

As she passed over the bridge into Pine Ridge, she saw the sign for the turn-off to the exclusive Celtic Goddess resort and her thoughts went back to Aidan.  Was Aidan there now?  Was he, unlike her, able to concentrate enough to actually go to work and accomplish something?

The thought hurt.  Because as much as she had loved Cam, what she had felt for him didn’t come close to the intensity of the feelings she’d developed for Aidan.  Loving Cam had been comfortable, easy; like slipping into your favorite pair of well-worn jeans or a warm bath.  Loving Aidan was like being caught in a raging flood or free-falling from ten-thousand feet. 

Oh, God, she thought, as it hit her. 

She really was in love with Aidan.

“E
nough,” Lexi said, planting herself in Aidan’s office and locking the door behind her.  “What the hell is going on between you and your
croie
?” 

Lexi knew he’d been doing his best to avoid her, citing a backlog of work since he’d been out of the country for several weeks trying to personally resolve issues with their Mediterranean suppliers, but she was not fooled.  There were others who could have seen to it; men and women who were paid extremely well to negotiate such things. 

She also knew that neither the negotiations nor a backlog would have kept him from visiting with her.  They never had before.  But Aidan hadn’t been down to the kitchens once since his return, and he’d done little more than exchange a few inane platitudes in their minimal brief encounters before scurrying off with yet another excuse.

Lexi was not going to let him get away with it any longer.

Aidan glanced up from his desk, looking as bad as Lexi had ever seen him.  His skin was pale, his face drawn and worn, and it looked as though he hadn’t slept for days.  No wonder he’d been avoiding her.

“Shouldn’t you be in the kitchens cooking something?” he said, his voice unusually cutting.  It was enough to give her pause.  Aidan had never spoken to her like that.  Ever.  Good thing she was no longer the introverted teen she’d once been or she might have taken it personally. 

“Shouldn’t you get your head out of your ass and start talking to me?”  Lexi crossed her arms over her chest and gave him her best death glare.

Aidan glared right back.  Long minutes stretched between them before Aidan exhaled heavily.

“I was... wrong about Mary.  She’s not what I thought she was.”

Lexi held in the gasp that threatened to escape.  There was no mistake.  “Bullshit,” she snorted.  “I saw the two of you together, remember?” 

Aidan didn’t respond.  Instead he reached into his drawer and pulled out a bottle of Scotch.  He poured a drink for himself and took a long deep swallow, then refilled the glass.

“Aidan, what happened?”  Now more concerned than angry, her voice was softer than it had been.  Lexi sank into the chair next to his desk.

He swirled the glass in his hand, his eyes fixed on the amber liquid.  He was quiet for so long, she didn’t think he’d answer.