Bottom Line: Callaghan Brothers, Book 8 (21 page)

At the sound of Aidan’s voice, Max got up from where he lay next to Mary and demanded a little attention, too.  Aidan obliged.

“There’s enough stuff to last a couple of days at least,” Lexi said, rising and grabbing both her and Mary’s mugs.  “Mary, Aidan’s proficient with a microwave, but don’t let him anywhere near the stove.”

Aidan shot her a martyred look.  “Really?  You had to go there?”

Lexi laughed, and it was truly a musical sound.  “Yep, I really did.  I like Mary.  I’d hate to see her wind up with food poisoning.”

Ian slapped a hand on his back.  He was smiling, too.  “Sorry, bro.  She has a point.”

The bond between the three of them was strong, forged by a series of events that had brought them together.  There was nothing they wouldn’t do for each other, Mary realized.  And for some reason, they seemed to be extending that bond to include her as well. 

Ian helped Lexi with her jacket, then slipped into his own.  “You’re good to go, man.  If you have any problems, just give me a call.”  He winked at Mary.  “His proficiency with electronics is only marginally better than his culinary skills.”

She blinked, not really sure what he was talking about.  “I’ll let Aidan fill you in,” Ian added when he saw her confusion. 

“You have such a beautiful assortment of plants, Mary,” Lexi said, looking around the kitchen.  “When you’re feeling up to it, I’d love to have you over to our place.  I bet you’d have some great ideas on how to spiff it up.”

It was Aidan’s turn to laugh.  “Yeah, this from the only woman who could kill an air fern.”

Lexi looked wounded.  “How was I supposed to know you weren’t supposed to repot it in soil?”

“
Air.  Fern
.”

Even Mary had trouble hiding a smile at that.  “Don’t worry, Lexi,” Mary said, “I’m sure we can find something that’ll work for you.”

Lexi shot Aidan an ‘I told you so’ look.  “See?  Mary has faith in me.”

A
idan saw them to the door, then came back and picked up Mary’s now-empty bowl.  “Would you like a little more?”

Mary nodded.  It was delicious.  Her nausea was completely gone, and she was still hungry.  Aidan went to the counter and refilled her bowl, then ladled some for himself as well.  He sat down at the table as if he belonged there.  “Mmmm.  No one makes chicken soup like Lex.”

“It was really nice of her to come all the way out here and do this,” Mary said carefully.

“She wanted to,” Aidan answered.  “As soon as I told her I’d be staying here, she insisted.”

“Why did you tell her you’d be staying here?”

Aidan regarded her carefully.  “Because I will be.”

Mary swirled the spoon in her soup.  “Did you ever consider asking what I thought?”

“Yes,” he answered.  “But I wasn’t too sure I wanted to hear it.”

“Better to beg forgiveness than ask permission?”

“Something like that,” he admitted.  “I figured if I had a couple of days to pamper and care for you, you might be able to forgive me for being an idiot.”

She continued to stare into her soup, as if the answers she sought could be found there.  What exactly was she supposed to say to that?  He probably had no idea how completely devastated she’d been when he’d walked out.  How could he?  She hadn’t realized how deeply she’d fallen for him herself until that point.  She wasn’t sure she should admit that to him, though.  Especially when she had no idea how he felt about her. 

“I’m so sorry, Mary.”

“Why, Aidan?” she asked quietly, lifting her eyes to his.  “Why did you get so angry with me?  Because I didn’t tell you I was married once?  I wasn’t trying to hide anything from you, you know.  I would have told you, eventually.  Let’s face it, though.  The few times we were together we didn’t do a whole lot of talking.”

Aidan sat back and ran his hand through his hair.  “I know.  It’s just... I’ve never felt this way about a woman before, Mary.  This is uncharted territory for me.” 

She could say the same.  The sheer intensity of her feelings for him scared her, quite frankly. 

“How do you feel about me, Aidan?”

His eyes met hers, intense and glowing with an inner light.  “Like you are the other half of my soul.”

Mary inhaled sharply.  Whatever she’d expected him to say, it hadn’t been that.

“Mary, I know it sounds crazy, but from the very first time I saw you at Tommy’s, something about you called to something in me.  And every moment I’ve spent in your presence, that connection has only grown stronger.  I hoped you were feeling it, too, but then when I found out you had been married to someone else, I thought maybe I had been wrong...”

Mary covered his hand with hers.  “You weren’t wrong, Aidan.  I was feeling it, too.  But know this – I did love Cam.  I never could have married him otherwise.”

* * *

A
idan took her hand and gently tugged her onto his lap, careful not to hurt her.  Hearing her say she loved another man was difficult, but then he thought about Lexi and how he felt about her and could at least understand.  It was possible to love more than one person in your lifetime, possibly even be happy. 

But you only ever had one soul mate, and Mary was his. 

“Mary, do you know what a
croie
is?”

“Of course I do,” she said, surprising him.  “It’s that one person who is your perfect match.  They become your heart, your very soul.  They offer a love so pure and rare that they’ve been writing fairy tales about it forever.”

“What would you say if I told you it was real?  That I’ve actually seen it happen?” 

Mary paused for only a couple of heartbeats.  “Lexi and Ian, right?  I’ve never seen two people more in love.  It’s in the way they look at each other, as if no matter where they are, no matter what they’re doing, the other person is the center of their whole universe.”

Aidan nodded.  “Then you believe it’s possible?”

“I suppose anything is possible.”

“And what if I told you that I believe you, Mary, are my
croie
?”

* * *

M
ary was still reeling hours later as she lay in bed next to Aidan.  His warmth and scent enveloped her, and she was afraid she was becoming addicted to it. 

His chest rose and fell rhythmically as he slept on his side facing her, one arm possessively around her hips.  While her thoughts wouldn’t allow her to rest, Aidan seemed perfectly at peace.  With his eyes closed and his boyish features relaxed, he looked so young.  Mary pushed a lock of hair back from where it had fallen over his face.  He sighed softly and murmured her name.

Was it possible, she wondered?  Could she and Aidan actually be soul mates?  He seemed pretty certain.  And he’d told her that if it took her a while to come to terms with it, that was okay.  He was confident that she would, and he wasn’t going anywhere.

Mary wasn’t quite sure if she should be thrilled or worried.  If, as Aidan believed, they were truly meant for each other, then she couldn’t imagine anything better.  But if this, whatever it was they had, turned out to be only temporary, it was going to hurt like hell. 

The past three weeks had been difficult.  What would it be like if he decided he’d been mistaken and walked out again?  That what he thought was love was really something far more fleeting, an infatuation falsely inflated by a mixture of guilt, remorse, and possibly a bit of pity? 

She didn’t think she could bear to go through that a second time.

Mary wanted to believe, but she was afraid.  Maybe sometimes things did work out for the best like Lexi believed, but maybe sometimes they didn’t.  Mary didn’t think she could survive too many more life-altering events before she was finally where she was supposed to be.

Caring for her father through his long illness at such a young age had been hard.  To a lesser extent, so had picking up and moving to a whole new section of the country in the middle of her sophomore year in high school.  Then muddling her way through so many confusing things with Cam.  Oh, she had grown to love him, but she knew her feelings for him didn’t run as deep as his did for her. 

She would have given anything to change that back then.  Cam was a truly good man.  She only hoped that for a little while at least, she’d made him happy.  As hard as she prayed that one day she would wake up and be head-over-heels crazy in love with him, she also prayed that he never knew she wasn’t.

But with Aidan, there were no doubts.  All she had to do was think about him and her entire body sparked to life.  It wasn’t just lust, either, though there was lots of that.  It was his voice.  His scent.  The way his eyes seemed to glow from the inside when he looked at her...

Then again, lots of women probably felt similar things around him.  He was gorgeous, sexy, reeking of confidence and power.  Except, of course, when he was drunk and incapable of removing his own boxers. 

A smile graced her lips at the memory.  How many women had seen that side of him?  And how many had the pleasure of Aidan’s warm body pressed against theirs
without
involving sex?

Maybe if she knew more about him, she would feel better about things.  He really hadn’t told her too much about himself.  In fact, she knew very little.  He lived in Pine Ridge, worked at the Goddess, and shared her penchant for off-beat British comedies. 

She’d learned more from Lexi over a cup of tea than she had from him.  She now knew, for instance that he had lived in Georgia, and that his father had owned a restaurant.  He had an uncommon blood type and a potentially serious medical condition.  Oh yeah.  And he owned a private jet. 

A private jet?

Suddenly filled with a desire to know more about this man who claimed to be her heart, Mary slipped quietly out of bed.  Both Aidan and Max stirred, but neither woke.

Grabbing her robe and slippers, she padded out to the new laptop Ian had left behind for Aidan.  According to Aidan, Ian had also hooked up a state-of-the-art wireless system at Aidan’s request.  When she’d asked him why, he’d just shrugged and said her existing DSL just wasn’t fast enough.

Taking the slim computer out to the kitchen, Mary fixed herself a cup of tea and sat down to see what, if anything, she could find out about her mysterious lover.

Her heart gave a little stutter when she turned it on and the screen filled up with flowers.  She stared at that for a while, watching as new leaves and blossoms appeared and grew on top of the others, knowing that Aidan had chosen that just for her.

Eventually, though, she remembered her purpose and brought up Google, wondering what she should enter as search key words.  She didn’t spend as much time on the Internet as many people did, preferring instead to curl up with an old-fashioned paperback, but she did know enough to function in today’s cyber-savvy world.

She opted for simple and obvious, and typed in
Aidan Harrison Pine Ridge PA
, then sat back and sipped her tea.  She really wasn’t expecting much, so when her screen started filling up with page after page of hits, she was sure she had done something wrong.

She looked at the Images first.  Literally hundreds appeared - and in every one of them was the man now sleeping peacefully in her bed.  Aidan, in a charcoal gray suit, shaking hands with a U. S. Senator.  Aidan, handing over a check for a million dollars to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.  Aidan, in a black tux with Lexi at the grand opening of the Celtic Goddess...

Mary clicked on one and found the same image attached to an article from the front page of the local newspaper and clicked on the link. 
Celtic Goddess Hosts Grand Opening Gala
.  She began reading the first line: 
Multimillionaire and CEO of the internationally heralded Celtic Goddess franchise, Aidan Harrison, arrived Sunday with master head chef and inspiration for the Goddess, Alexis Kattapoulos Callaghan, to officially open the doors to what will undoubtedly bring a much needed economic boost to the local economy...

Tea forgotten, Mary clicked link after link.  She looked at photos, read articles, watched news clips and videos until her eyes were blurry.  She didn’t even realize the sun had risen until she felt Max’s cold nose nudging her arm.

She turned around to find Aidan leaning in the doorway.  Wearing only a pair of pajama bottoms slung low on his hips, his arms were crossed over his bare, muscled chest, and he was watching her with an unreadable expression. 

* * *

F
rom where he stood, he could clearly see the laptop screen over her shoulder.  Knew that Mary had been researching him.

“This is you,” she said finally, her tone calmer than he would have expected.

“Yes.”  He searched her face, her eyes, but Mary gave nothing away.  There was no indication of what she was feeling, good or bad.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Probably for some of the same reasons you never told me a lot about you.  It seemed irrelevant.”

“Irrelevant?” she asked, her eyes widening in disbelief.  “You think that being a multi-millionaire and owning the Celtic Goddess is irrelevant?”

“I’d hoped it would be.  Does it make a difference to you, Mary?”

“I – I don’t know,” she answered honestly.  “It’s kind of a lot to process.”

Aidan wasn’t overly pleased with her answer, but he nodded.  At least she was being honest.  It wasn’t the resounding affirmation that his wealth and status didn’t matter he might have hoped for, but she wasn’t kicking him to the curb, either.  For the first time, Aidan realized that his fortune might be a disadvantage where Mary was concerned.  She wasn’t all about the glitz and glamour, nor was she the type to be impressed by it. 

“Fair enough.  But it doesn’t change who I am, Mary.”

* * *

M
ary dozed off and on all morning, curled up on her big comfy sofa.  Sleeping all day yesterday and being up half the night cyber-stalking Aidan was wreaking havoc on her sleeping patterns. 

Aidan was never far away.  He spent most of the day wherever she was, softly tapping away at the laptop.  The few times he did get up and leave, she could hear the low rumble of his voice in the next room and knew that he was either phone or video conferencing with work.