The Gideon Affair (36 page)

“Well, come on then, my little mystery solver. You’ve made Velma proud with your mad skills of deduction. Let’s organize our stuff and make ready to engage the warp drive.”

She groaned. “Oy, Mr. Banning. Mixing your character references is a tricky business.
Scooby Do
and
Star Trek
? Sheesh.”

It was good to laugh after the high emotion of the last two hours. Maybe by the time they got to Steven and Miriam’s, M would have found a way to shut this thing down for good and things could get back to normal.

“A
h-ha, ha-ha. Did you see that sign? Trespassers will be forced to sit for a portrait. Good one, Dad.” Edward chuckled.

Paige’s smile was amazing as they drove the last way to his parents’ sprawling home. The ranch-style arch at the head of the driveway featured a wrought iron B, and the minute it came into view, their excitement went supersonic.

His mom and dad were arm in arm on the porch wearing big happy smiles when they pulled up. A thunderbolt of love for these two amazing people shook him. Family was everything. He looked over at Paige and the thunderbolt struck again. She was wearing the same big happy smile. Meeting his gaze, she laid her hand on his forearm, looking at him with such love he nearly drowned in it. “Hurry,” she quipped playfully. “Get on up there to your mom before she explodes.”

Edward planted a hasty kiss on her sweet mouth, kicked open the driver’s door, and hit the ground running.

“Bride!” he bellowed as he bounded up the stairs into his mother’s waiting arms. Grabbing her, he held on tight and swung her in a hearty circle before dropping her with a thud onto the enormous wooden porch. “Mom, you look amazing.”

“You’re a shameless smooth-talker just like your father,” she chirped in that familiar singsong way she had. “But thank you for the compliment. Your mama raised you well.”

“I’ve missed you,” he murmured so only she would hear when he moved in for a second, longer mother-son embrace. When he pulled back, her hand was on the side of his face.

“I’m proud of you, son.”

He saw her eyes dart to Paige, who was impatiently hovering near the foot of the stairs. There was a lot of meaning in that look. He knew his folks were thrilled with the change in Paige and his relationship. His father had almost lost his shit altogether when Edward told him they were engaged and that she was wearing Gran’s ring. But the light shining in his mother’s eyes as she looked at her future daughter-in-law shook him deeply. Until that moment, he hadn’t realized how important his parents’ approval would be when he took a wife.

“Boy,” his dad barked in his usual jovial way. “You’ve done your old man a proper.”

Turning to the man who made him, he shook his hand before leaning seamlessly into a major hug. Dad heartily slapped him on the back with a deep chuckle. “I’ve had apple pie almost every night, and there are mountains of chocolate chip cookies. All signs of a happy woman and believe me, her mood has nothing to do with my old butt.”

They both turned to say something to his mom, but she was gone. Looking around, they found her down in the driveway doing the happy dance with Paige. She screeched like a two-year-old when his fiancée showed off her ring, earning an amused snicker from his dad.

“Your mom’s been shitting hearts and flowers ever since you two made it official. About time, too. We were getting tired of all the best friend nonsense. You have your head up your ass or something, boy?”

“Blow me, Dad,” he jeered in unison with another hearty backslap.

“Let’s break that up or we’ll be left standing here whistling Dixie while they start planning the wedding.”

“What?” His dad was joking, right?

When Steven Banning looked at his eldest son like he didn’t have the sense of a house pet, Edward could only stare at him blankly.

“Son, you do know that this marriage is happening sooner than later. Not to throw the cold water of reality on you or anything, but you aren’t getting any younger, your schedule is erratic and crazy, Gideon would benefit from a wife, and your mom, well … smell the coffee, okay?”

“But Paige’s family. Her parents …”

“Already handled. We were just waiting for you to finally arrive.”

He was stunned. Really? Would Paige go along with a surprise affair?

“Miriam, this is so lovely. Thank you.” The guest room Edward’s mother was excitedly showing off was rustic, charming, and perfect. “There’s an attached bath and a big closet. I put Edward two rooms down.” His mother made a sly little smile. “And Marsh uses the middle room.”

“Is he here? Marsh?”

“Day after tomorrow. We wanted to give you two a chance to settle in before the family arrives.”

Before what? Who? Marsh was it on Edward’s side of things. Paige frowned.

“Don’t you worry about explaining the sleeping arrangements to Edward. I’ll handle him, my dear.”

Forty lights went off in her head, and a cacophony of bells rattled her eyeballs as what was happening started to dawn on her. This beautiful room was for her. Edward? Not so much. The fiancé she’d been sleeping with for weeks was banished to a separate room—with his brother conveniently lodged between. Was Queen Victoria still on the throne?

“Now as soon as you’re settled, I want you to come out to my studio. There are some things I need to get your opinion on.”

“Miriam …”

Without warning, Edward’s mother pulled Paige into a warm embrace. “Oh, my dear. You’ve made me so happy. My son’s been in love with you for a long time. I was worried that you’d never see it.”

They drew apart, and the emotional older woman hastily grabbed several tissues from their box, blowing her nose with a honk and wiping a tear from the corner of an eye.

Paige was flabbergasted. His parents knew?

“Steven and I would like it very much if you two would allow us to offer the homestead for your wedding. Seeing you two married on this beautiful property would make it Banning land forever.”

“Oh, my god, Miriam. I can’t think of anything that Edward would like more.”

“Good! Then it’s settled. We have a wedding to plan so chop, chop, young lady. Get in gear and get yourself out to the studio.”

The door shut, and Miriam left Paige standing there speechless, with her mouth open.

What the hell just happened?

A surround sound human belch ricocheted throughout the wood frame house and made the group of four gathered around the dining table roar with laughter.

“Mom! My god. And people wonder where I get it from.”

“I have no idea what you mean,” his mother answered in a prim and proper church lady way. “This old house makes plenty of strange sounds.”

“Old house?” His dad chortled. “She’s brand new, and you know it.”

The master of subject changes, he found himself on the receiving end of one of her patented mom stares.

“Have you had a chance to compare notes with Paige? We were thinking an awning down by the riverbank. You two will have to head into town right away and take care of the paperwork, but your dad already roped in the Justice of the Peace. They’re fishing buddies.”

Edward shifted uncomfortably in his chair. No, he hadn’t had two minutes alone with Paige since they arrived. And to make things worse, right before they sat down to dinner, his parents had rather blithely informed him that until the wedding, Paige and he would not be sharing a bedroom.

What. The. Fuck.

Paige, uncharacteristically, was giving him nothing. Zilch. Zero. No signals whatsoever. Mostly, she just seemed distracted. Quiet. Maybe overwhelmed?

Oh, well, shit. This was ridiculous. Rising from his place at the table, he threw his napkin on the chair and said, “You’ll have to excuse us for a moment.” He pulled Paige from her chair, took her hand, and marched them out to the porch.

There was way too much going on, and he wasn’t amused by the sleeping arrangements.

He found a big double seater rocking chaise and sank down, hauling her onto his lap. If they were going to talk, he wanted to be close. But first …

“Kiss me.”

There,
he thought sometime later.
That’s better.
Now I could think straight. She didn’t wait for him to catch up; she just started talking.

“Your parents want us to get married here. On Banning land. Marsh is arriving the day after tomorrow. The hoop jumping for a marriage license in the state amounts to bupkis, so there’s nothing standing in our way. They’ve even been talking to my parents, and they’re all in. Don’t know their travel plans but I’m sure Miriam has it covered.”

She finished and sat there for a moment. “So, there you have it.”

When they got engaged, neither of them had much to say about the wedding or a date. They both lacked that traditional, by-the-book groove, and beyond slipping a ring on her finger and saying a bunch of pretty words, he had nothing.

It bothered him that she was being so matter-of-fact. What was that about? Had his parents overstepped? He knew she wasn’t having second thoughts. The road trip had served to cement their relationship even stronger. Was she having a bride moment?

Running his hands over her back, he smoothed her shirt and searched for the right thing to say. Out of the blue, it dawned on him what might be causing her quiet mood. Paige was all about everyone else. Not as a people pleaser so much but as someone who had mad instincts and who tread softly till she understood what other positions were in play. She was waiting to hear what he wanted, and what he wanted was whatever she wanted. Ugh. A circle jerk.

Okay, Banning, think
. He shut his eyes and willed all the noise in his head to stop. This was about feeling.

In his mind’s eye, he saw Paige in a white dress with flowers in her hair and the wind making her skirt sway. It was sunny. He was smiling.

His eyes snapped open. It all made sense.

“I will marry you tomorrow, in the camper, at a service station while we stop for gas.”

She chuckled.

“I will marry you in Kensington Gardens with an orchestra playing and the wait staff in formal attire.”

“Humph.”

No? Okay. “I will marry you in the middle of Sunset Boulevard as the
TMZ
tour bus drives by.”

That got a husky laugh.

“Whenever you say ‘now,’ I’m there.”

She took his face and kissed him.

“Now.”

Oh. Really? His speech could go on much longer but hey, whatever. He had his answer.

“Are we rushing?” she asked.

“No. I think six years of flirting sticks a fork in that notion.”

What he said was funny, right? Then why the hell was she pouting?

“Out with it,” he chided.

She huffed and wiggled and grumped and huffed some more. Whoa. What has her panties in a bunch?

“I don’t want to sleep away from you, but your parents …”

He wasn’t at all happy about the room assignments, either. “It’s just for a few days.” What the hell else could he say? Once they broke the seal on their relationship embargo, they’d been inseparable; they slept in the same bed, and it hadn’t mattered at whose house they happened to be.

“Tell you what.” Edward’s mind was working overtime. “Give me a chance to think about it and I’ll come up with a solution.”