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  “I never thought you were so excited about babies.”

  She shrugged. “It’s more that he’s Kaitlin’s baby, but also, I do love babies.”

  “Why don’t you work in labor and delivery, then?”

  She shrugged. “I have a natural aptitude for telling people what to do in a crisis.”

  “That can be said about any good nurse. What I mean is, if you like the babies so much, why don’t you work there?”

  She sighed and set down her fork. She could come up with a lot of random excuses, but she knew honesty would be best. She wasn’t good at exposing herself to other people, but Wendy decided to just let him know.

  “I can’t handle when the babies don’t make it. I know I lose people in trauma, but ninety-nine percent of the time, it’s someone who has lived at least for a little while. Losing a baby in birth or shortly after is so sad.”

  He studied her for a second, then he nodded. “Yeah, I don’t think I could take that every day either.”

  “Infant mortality rates are low throughout the country for the most part, and especially at my hospital, but I still can’t take it.”

  Aeden didn’t say anything else, but he smiled and took a sip of his coffee.

  “What?”

  He shook his head. “Nothing. So, I was thinking maybe we could go see Michael, then have lunch out, if that’s okay?”

  “I’d like that.”

  “And, since you probably missed a lot of movies and TV while you were gone, we could find something to stream if you want.”

  She smiled. “I really like that idea.”

  “I guess we could pretend not to show up together at the hospital.”

  She rolled her eyes, “Well, your sister knows, as do two of your brothers…so it is only a matter of time before everyone else knows.”

  He hesitated, and she wondered about it. Was he more disturbed by his parents finding out than he had let on?

  “I guess you’re right. It was going to be hard anyway. If guys at the house found out, it would be all over the place. You know they are gossipy old women.”

  She nodded. “Well, let’s finish up breakfast and get ready.”

  * * *

  Aeden followed Wendy as they were led to a table in a small seafood restaurant not far from the inner harbor. They’d had a great time at the hospital, but it was hard not to when Santinis and Fitzpatricks got involved. He had to hand it to his brother-in-law, he came from what Aeden’s mother called good stock. They were so excited about seeing their second grandbaby of the year and had no problem showing it.

  They were seated by the window. It was one of those foggy, drizzly kind of days again. Late winter in Baltimore was like that.

  “I’m starving,” Wendy said as she looked over the menu.

  “You had a big breakfast.”

  She looked up from her menu. “Dude, all of you complained that I needed to gain weight. You get what you ask for.”

  He smiled, enjoying her. Their relationship had always been antagonistic, but with that out of the way, he had the pleasure of enjoying her humor. She had a first class mind, and she used it to massacre those who deserved it, but she always had a sense of humor about herself. She never had a problem poking fun at herself.

  “I am going to get some crab cakes. I’ve been dying for some this week.”

  “That sounds good.”

  Before she could respond, the waitress returned with their drinks and took their orders. Once they were alone again, he started thinking about his mother’s reaction to the two of them together.

  “I have a feeling my mother knows about us.”

  She glanced at him, then back out the window. “Yeah. With six kids, your mother is pretty sharp. Still, I wouldn’t put it past Declan being the one who told her.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “While he isn’t the youngest, he has that connection with your mom in the kitchen. I know your sister would get jealous from time to time when she was growing up. Or, that’s what she said.”

  “That’s…well, that’s just odd. She was all about the girl.”

  “Oh, give me a break. Your mother adores each and every one of you.”

  He opened his mouth to say something, but he heard someone say her name. She looked around him to a person behind his shoulder. She smiled, so he turned around to see who it was. Dammit, it was the same doctor he had seen talking to her the day before at the hospital. He strode through the restaurant to come to their table.

  “Ryan. What are you doing here?”

  “My day off. Meeting some friends for lunch. You seem to be out and about. Are you going to be returning any time soon to the hospital for work?”

  She shook her head. “I’m taking some time off.”

  The doctor kept his back to Aeden. He shifted in his chair, and Wendy glanced at him with a smile. He had a suspicion that she knew her friend had irritated him.

  “Ryan, I’d like you to meet Aeden Fitzpatrick. Aeden, this is Ryan Davis.”

  The doctor faced Aeden with an irritated smile. Davis looked like he would prefer to have a root canal rather than talk to Aeden; but, he also didn’t want to upset Wendy.

  “Nice to meet you, Fitzpatrick”

  “Davis.”

  He turned back to face Wendy and ignore Aeden again. “Oh, well, when you get back let me know so we can do lunch in the cafeteria.”

  “Sure.”

  “I guess I’ll see you around the hospital.” He ignored Aeden when he walked away. Aeden watched him, half amused and half irritated. When Aeden turned back around to face Wendy again, he found her watching him.

  “Lunch?” he asked.

  “Not going to happen.”

  “Why is that?”

  “First of all, he is kind of full of himself. I rarely date doctors for that precise reason.”

  “And the second reason?”

  “He sees it as a date, and I’m assuming we are exclusive?”

  “You’re damned right we are.”

  A few people glanced their way, and he realized he had been a little louder than he had intended.

  “And the third reason. His teeth are too perfect, and the man never has a hair out of place.”

  “That bothers you?”

  “I need all the mirror time I can get, and I’m not fighting a man for it.”

  “You look perfect even when your hair looks like Medusa’s love child.”

  “Did you just make a reference to my hair by using an analogy from Greek Mythology?”

  “Yeah. So? I like to read about Greek gods and goddesses.”

  “You are always a surprise to me, Aeden, that’s all.”

  “Do you think that firemen can’t be intellectual?”

  “I never said that. It’s just I never expected you to reference my hair looking like a bunch of snakes in quite that way.”

  She was laughing at him, and he was sure it had more to do with the doctor than with the comment he made.

  “That’s me, always a surprising insulter.”

  This time she did laugh out loud, and reached across the table to grab his hand. “Hey, you’re damned good at insulting, and I don’t want you to change. And, I thank you for the compliment.”

  “What compliment?”

  “You said I was perfect. I can accept that.”

  He opened his mouth to answer her, but the waitress showed up with their salads. As the young woman set their plates in front of them, he realized it was probably best he didn’t correct what she had been thinking. Because she wasn’t just perfect in his estimation. She was perfect for him. Just him. And if he had told her what he had been feeling at that moment, he was pretty sure she would have panicked.

  She’d been back less than a week so there was no reason to rush. Slow and easy, and then he would spring it on her.

  He just hoped he could keep his mouth shut until then.

  * * *

  A couple days later, Aeden had gone out to run some
errands, and Wendy had been left to her own devices. She had taken the time to soak in a hot, bubbly tub—a luxury she hadn’t had in months. Once she’d gotten out and dressed, she spent some more time catching up with shows she had missed, and spending a fortune on baby boy clothes on Amazon. There was a good chance that Michael Anthony Santini was going to be the best dressed little man on the East coast.

  When her phone rang, she thought nothing of answering.

  “Hello?”

  “Wendy?” she heard her father say on the other end.

  “Father. Why are you calling?”

  He apparently hadn’t expected her blunt question.

  “I just read a piece in the paper today. What on earth were you doing in Africa?”

  Damn, she forgot that her father got his news from all over and, more than likely, someone they knew had contacted him about it.

  “If you read the article, you should know.”

  “What I am asking is why would you do something like that?”

  That was her father. Really, both her parents. Both her parents had grown up with old money and old money ways. You didn’t volunteer, you donated. They never understood her need to work, or her need to give her time to organizations she loved.

  “Because they had an opening.”

  Another beat of silence. Her father wasn’t accustomed to people telling him to get bent—even in the nicest terms.

  “You left the country without telling me you were leaving. When I called your mother, she said the same thing.”

  “Mother isn’t even here. She’s in Monte Cristo.”

  “No, she’s in Switzerland.”

  “See, I don’t know where she is, you don’t know where I am, it all works out in the end.”

  “Your sister was very hurt you didn’t show up to her graduation.”

  “Of course, that’s what this is about. Sorry, I was out of the country.”

  And Wendy was pretty sure that her half-sister had no idea she hadn’t been there.

  “You didn’t even send a card.”

  Aeden came through the door, and she wanted to scream. She didn’t want to fight with her father in front of him. He set a bag of something on the counter, and gave her a confused look. Wendy shook her head and stood to walk into the bedroom.

  “There was no way for me to send her a card. I was in Africa.”

  “Couldn’t you get your people to do it?”

  She held the phone out from her ear to look at it. He had lost it. She brought it back closer to answer. “I don’t have people. I have me.”

  “Didn’t you have at least someone hired to help out while you were gone?”

  “No. I didn’t. I’ll get a card and send it tomorrow.”

  Dammit, she hated that she had agreed. It was upsetting to even think of doing something like that. She had nothing against her sister, but she didn’t know her. Shuffled from one family to the other, she rarely spent enough time with either family. Add in the fifteen-year age difference, and they had absolutely nothing in common.

  “It’s well past time. Worse, I had no idea you had been out of the country, and Greg Hamilton mentioned it to me this morning.”

  Greg was an old family friend, and the fact that her father had no idea she was out of the country, let alone featured in the paper, would have been embarrassing to him.

  “Well, I’m sorry for that.”

  And she was. Sorry for the entire damned relationship that always seemed to go to shit whenever they started talking to each other.

  “How do you think it made me feel when he asked how you were doing when you got back?”

  Again. Not about her, about how he looked to his friend. “I have no idea.”

  “I think a Sunday dinner is in order.”

  The dreaded Sunday dinner. It was the one thing they did as a family and she had no fond memories. They were always used to tell her what to do and what she had done wrong. In the past she had always gone without question, but this time was different.

  “No.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Father, I’m not up for dealing with the family, or being told what a disappointment I am. I don’t want to be nice to your friends, and I definitely don’t want to suffer through dinner with the family. I just don’t have the energy to manage that.”

  There was a beat of silence again, and she knew she had stunned him. Wendy had always come up with excuses for not attending functions, but this time, she didn’t have it in her to lie. There was no reason to. They had no relationship, never would. He had made sure of that. She wanted the love and affection that most people get within their families. She didn’t have any of that from her family.

  “I see.”

  The need to appease his displeasure rose up so strong that she almost choked on it. She fought it back. She would not fall for the idea that his displeasure came from disappointment in not seeing her. It came from his inability to control her. She’d walked away from that a long time ago.

  “I really have to go now, Father.”

  “You should call your mother.”

  “Why?”

  “You have always been difficult. For once, can you do something for someone else?”

  “Nope, that’s me. Self-centered until the end. Goodbye, Father.”

  She clicked off the phone. Without looking, she knew Aeden was standing behind her. She glanced at him and saw the expression on his face.

  “Don’t pity me.”

  “I don’t pity you.”

  “Please, I see it all over your face, Aeden. I had a shitty upbringing. Nothing bad happened, just nothing good happened either. It’s not a big deal.”

  “If it isn’t such a big deal, why does it bother you so much?”

  She shrugged. “I think sometimes I spend too much time with your family.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  She chuckled because it was better than crying. “It means you care about each other. My family just doesn’t have that ability. And they see me as some kind of oddity. The one who wants attention. That is how I am always seen. Or the one that is difficult, as I’m seen today.”

  “They’re the weird ones.”

  She snorted. “Yeah, well, among their kind, they’re not seen as weird. They are the norm. No one raises their kids, and no one seems to be bothered by it.”

  “And that’s not you.”

  She shook her head and walked over to the window. She kept turning her phone over and over in her hand. “No. I’m not sure where I came from, because both sides of the family are that way; but, somehow, I became this strange being, one who expected attention and wanted to help out others. Not only with my money, but also with my time. They were appalled when I said I wanted to be a nurse.”

  “And that’s why you didn’t tell them about going to Africa.”

  She smiled back at him. It would be so easy to lie, to say that she did it for that reason, but she couldn’t lie to Aeden. Not about this.

  “I wish I could be that altruistic, but part of it was punishment.”

  “Punishment?”

  “They wanted nothing to do with me because of my chosen lifestyle, so I didn’t tell them about going to Africa. Not because they didn’t appreciate what I was doing—although, that is a part of it. No, it was that I hoped when they found out, and I knew they would, they would be hurt I didn’t tell them.”

  “Did it work?”

  She shook her head, as she felt her smile fade. “No. As usual, it backfired. My father just called to inform me he was embarrassed that one of his friends knew before him. That was it.”

  “Maybe he felt a little sad you didn’t tell him.”

  She shook her head. “You’ve never met him in order to understand this, but my father lacks the ability to have feelings for anyone other than himself. And to him, the connection we share is strained because I don’t accept the responsibility of being a Reynolds.”

  “Sounds like an asshole.”

&nbs
p; She looked at him again, then she started laughing. “Yeah, he does sound like an asshole. Mainly because he is one.”

  “Give me your phone.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m not going to allow you call him back and try to smooth things over with him. You’ll be angry with yourself.”

  She handed him the phone, and he set it on the bedside table. Then he took her hand and lead her to the bed.

  “This isn’t going to solve anything, you know,” she said.

  He sat on the bed and pulled her closer to him and between his legs.

  “Yeah, I know, but it doesn’t mean it won’t make you feel better.”

  She couldn’t fight the chuckle, or the moan as he slipped his hands up her torso to her breasts. She’d forgone her bra, and now she was definitely glad she had. Soon, he was slipping off her clothes and urging her down onto the mattress with him. He loved her with his hands, his mouth, his entire body. And, when she was finally cresting and falling into bliss, he was there with her.

  Chapter 6

  It was a few days later that Aeden was able to address his concerns about Wendy’s conversation with her father. She hadn’t wanted to talk about it the day it happened, not much, that is. He hadn’t wanted to push her, but he needed to know what was at the root of it all. He thought she might be hiding something more. So, while she was doing yet another interview—this time with one of the major news networks, he popped over to see his sister and his nephew.

  He studied the newest member of the Fitzpatrick clan. He had no hair, if you weren’t counting the monkey hair on his ears—which were huge. He was dressed in a onesie kind of thing that had camo on it, of course. Marines.

  “He’s kind of tiny for how fat you were,” he said.

  His sister was accustomed to his comments, but she still smacked him on the back of the head. “Want to hold him?”

  “Of course.”

  He easily scooped him. “He’s not as ugly as his father.”

  She laughed.

  “Where is the Marine?”

  “He had a class he needed to teach, and he was also showing his folks around. I got everyone out of the house because you said you were coming over. And it wasn’t easy. Prying a Santini grandma away from her newest grandchild is almost as difficult as telling Mom to go away.”