Wake Me Up (Love Knows No Boundaries) (22 page)

“Where does he live, seeing as you had to fix a room for him?” She glances at me for the first time.

“Let’s not talk about him,” she says.

“Let’s do,” I insist. “I’m going to meet him.”

“He lives in a flat, with his girlfriend. She’ll be coming too.”

“What happened yesterday
mornin’, Emma,” I ask, stirring the subject of her mother again.

“S
he was just in a bad mood,” she says.

“It sounded like more than just a
bad mood. Tell me what happened.” I push.

I
reach for her, brushing her hair away from her neck.

“She just said things,” she whispers. “She was reminiscing.”

“’About?”

“Things.
Anything she can think of,” she whispers. “She drinks and then she...” she swallows hard. I wait for her to finish the sentence, “she speeches me.” A tear rolls down her cheek and she wipes it away fast. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Emma,” I don’t get more than her name out.

“Please, Aiden,” she whimpers.

I slip my hand in behind her neck. I can feel how tense she is. “
Okay, sweetheart.”

She pulls up to a gate and
smiles suddenly, a real full-blown smile that lights up her face. “We’re here.”

The gate opens after
Emma announces us, and we drive up to a cute little apartment. They say if you want to know what someone is going to look like when they are old, you need to look at her mother. They are so wrong. I look at Emma’s grandmother and I see her, I see Emma years from now.

We get out
, and Emma darts forward to hug her gran tightly.

“Happy b
irthday, love. I see you brought me a present,” her gran jokes, looking approvingly at me. “So your fellow came.” She moves frailly, and concern flits over Emma’s face. “Well, come on, give us a hug.” She opens her arms wide to me.

“It’s a pleasure to me
et you.” I hug her fragile body to mine.

“Oh, what a charmer,” she says
. The moment tugs at my heart.

Emma
’s face is glowing. She’s rocking back on her heels with her hands behind her back, like a little girl. Her eyes are warm on us, on me meeting the one family member that means something to her. This is a special moment for her.

“You ready, G
ran?” she asks. “Can I get anything for you?”

She shoots forward
to hover around her gran, the most precious person in her life.

“I’m good,
love. Let’s get this farce over with,” she grumbles, starting to shuffle toward the car. I open the door for her and help her to settle in.

Emma
gets in behind the wheel, and I close her door before I move around the car. So this is also the place Emma applied for work, it’s nice.

She drives slower back.

“What mood is Cruella De Vil in?” her gran asks from the back, and I almost choke trying to keep my laughter in. She has that one spot on.

“
She’s okay, not too bad,” Emma answers.

You could’ve fooled me.

~*~

Chapter Twenty One

Emma~

I can’t believe Aiden is here! I keep stealing glances to make sure it’s not my imagination, that I haven’t gone
totally mental and started having delusions.

My day would’ve been
perfect with just Aiden and Gran. But it’s a nightmare, just bloody awful. It feels as if my insides have turned to stone. I wish I were made of stone, so I couldn’t feel any of this. Every breath I take hurts more than the one before. It feels as if my mother is reaching in and trying to squeeze the last drop of life out of me.

But, as wonderful as it is having him here,
I’m super tense that my mother will say something to embarrass me in front of him, and now he’s staying for lunch. Which means she’ll have time to get really sloshed. He’ll see her at her finest. I wish I could hide out here in the car.

But
, instead, I park the car close to the door, so Gran won’t get wet. I get out quickly to help her. With her moving slower and slower every day I’m getting worried. When she’s gone I’ll have no one. Well, besides Aiden and Chloe, and who knows how long they’ll be there before they grow tired of me.

As Aiden walks around the car,
I shrug out of his jacket. I can’t wear it in the house; my mother will frown on it. “Thank you for the jacket, but it looks better on you,” I smile to try and make it all better.

“Mum,” my mother squeals behind me.
My heart stutters to a halt and I spin around. I’ve learned to never turn my back to her, always face her – it’s better to see her face – see what’s coming. “Finally, Barry should be here any second.” She shoots me a dark glance and I check the time. I’ve done it in twenty-five. I’m not late. But the venomous look holds nothing good for me.

She’s upset because Aiden’s here, and I’m going to pay for it once he
leaves. Dread starts to spin a web in my chest. I feel the cold wave of it spread through my body and I shiver. I’m dead. She’s going to rip me to shreds tonight!

I take in a slow painful breath, and it catches in my thoat. Aiden’s arm slips around my waist, and when his chest presses warm against my back I almost give in to the tears
. That would just be the icing on the bloody cake! I need to control myself better. His other hand takes hold of mine, and he weaves his fingers through mine. I cramp mine around his. I need him! I don’t think he’ll ever understand how much I need him.

“I have you,” he whispers in my ear. He presses his hand over my aching stomach
, and it feels so unbelievably good. I can’t keep myself from leaning back into him. “You’re safe, Emma. I’m here.”

I want to laugh and cry a
ll at once. But, by some miracle I manage to keep still, or maybe it’s just the horrid fear.

~*~

Barry comes up the drive in the car he got from my parents for his twenty-first. I watch my mother walk over to him, and it’s times like this I wonder if I’m not adopted.

“Barry,” my mother says lovingly
, holding her arms open to him.

“Hello, M
um,” he says, smiling warmly. He wraps her up in his arms. My brother is tall. A little taller than Aiden, even. He’s my mother’s heart and soul, pride and joy. He’s the crown prince of her kingdom. (In short, he’s her everything.) “How are you?” he asks.

“Just wonderful
, now that you’re here,” she beams at him. “Hello, Meredith,” she says to his girlfriend, and I’m not always sure how she feels about Meredith, and whether she just tolerates her for Barry. My mother has only ever loved two people – Barry and herself.

“Afternoon
, Jane.” There’s a lot of smiling.

They come toward us
, and I take hold of Aiden’s hand over my stomach, gripping it tightly. I wish I could take him and run. It feels as if I’m degrading him too, subjecting him to my mother. I feel sick.

“Babes
, why don’t you run along and fix Barry a cuppa,” my mother instructs.

“Yes, Mum.”
I move out of Aiden’s embrace, missing his warmth instantly.

“Aiden,” she says
, and I freeze. “Why don’t you join us in the sun room? Emma won’t fall apart without you.”

I die!
I bloody well die!

My stomach does an aw
ful wobble thing, and then it drops to the wet ground. Aiden steps half in front of me. I think the world stops spinning to see what’s going to happen next. It even stops raining.

He
reaches out his hand to my brother. “We haven’t met. I believe you’re Emma’s brother?” he asks, and then his voice dips, the way it does when he’s upset. “I’m Detective Aiden Holden; Emma’s soon-to-be fiancé.”

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. I tell myself this as Barry tak
es Aiden’s hand. It all looks normal, but it’s not. Aiden just said the
F
word.

I think my mother
has stopped breathing. She needs a drink, straight from the bottle – skip the ice and glass.

G
ran is grinning. And then my father comes out, and Aiden stiffens in front of me. Can this get any worse?

“Old man,”
Mum sneers. Oh bloody hell, she’s sneering! “Come meet Emma’s soon-to-be fiancé. He’s come to take our daughter away.”

My mother smiles at Aiden
. She never smiles like that. My dad looks if someone has pulled a rug from under him, and this whole thing is just a bloody circus. It’s getting out of control. I feel lightheaded. I press my palm to my forehead and it feels ice cold. I think I’m going to faint.

I glance
at Aiden as he walks toward my dad. That little muscle is jumping in his jaw. He’s angry. Everyone is upset.

“Mr. Walker,” Aiden says, without any trace of friendliness in his voice
. “Detective Aiden Holden.” His shoulders are straight as he meets my father eye to eye.

And then it hits me. Aiden is here, and he’s standing up to them. He’s doing what I can’t.
Aiden is really here! He’s not scared of them. The pain in my chest starts to fade away as I realize this. There’s not much they can do while he is here. I’ll worry again once he is gone.

“Welcome,” my dad says in his quiet way. He’s not much of a talker. He’s not much of anything.

“Now love, please help me get to a chair,” Gran says, and I move, thankful for the diversion.

~*~

It is a horrible long lunch. I can’t eat. Everything gets stuck in my throat. I shove the food from one side to the other. I do as I’m told. I dish up. I clear the table. I do the dishes bloody fast to get them done, and almost die when Aiden wants to help. We take my gran back to the retirement village, and I can’t stop thinking about the damage control I have to do on the way back home. I know I have to go talk to my mother, she’s been glaring at me all through the lunch.

The second we get hom I make Aiden some coffee and guide hin in the direction of the lounge.

“Can you excuse me for one moment,” I ask. “Have a seat. I won’t be long. I just need to check on something.”

I avoid his eyes, feeling guilty for leaving him and rush into my mother’s room.
Dread pulses through my body with every beat of my heart. I want to run back to Aiden, but I push through and walk towards the sunroom - it feels like a Death Chamber, where my executioner is waiting for me.

“Mum, can I fill Mum’s glass?” I ask meekly. By her response I’ll be able to tell how much
trouble I’m in.

Her smile vanishes like mist before the sun. She doesn’t even look at me. “No.”

“Is there anything else I can do for Mum?” I try again.

“Until what time will he be staying?” Her voice sounds like pieces of glass, and they cut deep. She wants Aiden gone right now – and then I am dead.

“I’ll tell him to leave,” I say, my voice trembling as much as my insides.

I rush out
the room, by heart beating in my ears. I don’t know how to tell him without being rude.

As I round the corner I almost walk into him, where he’s pacing impatiently. He stops and the look on his face can only be described as anger. He reaches for me, pulling me safely into his arms. I can’t take much more of this rollercoaster – the one second I’m scared to death of my mother
- and the next I feel so safe with Aiden.

“Can we go now?” Aidan
asks.

“Go where?” I ask, surprised.

“Anywhere but here, my hotel room,” he says, holding me tighter when I try to pull away.

“Someone might
come around the corner,” I say, panicking that my mother might see us like this.

“So? I meant what I said,” he
whispers.

“
I don’t want to give her more ammo, please,” I beg. I’m torn in two. I want to curl against him, but he has to go, and then I’ll be left with her.

He tilts his head and
looks sad as he holds my eyes. Then he shakes his head as determination settles over his face. “Go pack,” he says. Just like that.

“What?” I blurt out.

“You heard me,” he says, “Go get your things. You’re leaving with me. There’s no way in hell I’m leavin’ you here.”

“I can’t just leave. She’ll…” I stammer. His mouth lifts at the corner
, and he waits.

“She’ll what? Cut you off? She can’t hurt you if
you come with me, Emma.”

I shake my head.
“She won’t take me back a second time. She said so. If I go and you realize I’m a mistake, something-” He frames my face, leaning in closer.

“
Shhh … no, never. Don’t say that, you’re not a thing. You matter. You’re a precious being,” he says, his breath warming my lips. “I want to marry you. Say you’ll marry me, Emma.”

I can’t believe he just
said it. He just said he wants to marry me. He went straight from the
F
to the
M
word in one day!

But that same voice
that’s been telling me I’m not good enough for him, tells me not too read to much into it. This is what he does, he saves people. He just wants to help me, and this is the only way right now.

Nervous
laugher bubbles up in me. “She’s going to have a royal fit.” I’m confused. I don’t know what else to say. I really want to go with him. I don’t want to stay here with her.

“
I’ll handle her,” he whispers against my lips. “Go pack. You don’t listen to a word she says. You only listen to me. Only I matter in your world. Only we matter. Only you matter.”

I nod and force a shaky
smile to my lips, they feel stretched thin. He’s come into my hell and he’s faced my demon. Now I have to face her. I have to learn how to be strong, or else everything he’s done is for nothing. I have to believe that Aiden won’t let me down. He’s nothing like my mother. I have to trust him.

I tak
e his hand and walk to the spare room. I open the cupboard door and take out the suitcase. When I flip it open, I look at the clothes still in it, the summer ones from when I went to America. Aiden takes my passport, and I watch as he puts it in his pocket.

In that moment
, it feels like he’s taking control. I let him take control.

“Change your shirt
,” he says, “and put on a jacket.”

And I do, because it now matters what Aiden s
ays and thinks, no longer my mother.

I slip the strap of my laptop bag onto my shoulder
. It was a gift from Gran when I started studying. There is no way I’m leaving it behind.

I
look at him, steeling myself for what’s to come.

“You’ll be fine. Let me handle her,” he says.

“Yes, Aiden.”

He leans down and kisses
my forehead. I take the strength he’s giving me.  

~*~

I want to crumple under the humiliation! Taking Aiden through my parents’ bedroom to get to the sunroom is a whole new level of embarrassment. They had the sunroom build on, a place for them to sit and relax – just another Throne room, if you ask me.

My face can give the sun a good go, it’s flaring up that badly. They don’t notice us immediately.
They look like an ordinary family, from where I’m standing.

“Mrs. Walker.” Aiden’s voice is cold. I’ve never heard it like that before.

My eyes dart to my mother, then back to his face. That day at the beach, when I said I got a glimpse of what it felt like seeing Aiden the detective – I was wrong. He was still being nice then. This is the detective, and I never want to be on his wrong side.

My mother slowly lifts her eyes, glaring at Aiden. I know that look well. He doesn’t wait for a response from her.

“We are leaving. You might want to say goodbye to Emma.”

I can’t breathe. Really! I can’t. My mother’s eyes jump to the suitcase, and it’s a
bloody shitfest.

“You’re what?” she sneers. “You’re leaving? You’re not going anywhere.” She gets up and points at Aiden. “You, on the other hand, are!”