Despite Kate’s uncertainty, apart from everything else, one thing was undeniable: she couldn’t love that little girl more if she was her natural daughter. When she started fretting over everything, she would picture Chloe’s sweet face, and it would all make sense.
Maybe there was hope for her in the motherhood department after all.
Only time would tell. In the meantime, they were planning on renting out Kate’s furnished house, which meant she would have to box up the rest of her possessions and store them if she didn’t move them to Aidan’s place. The extra income would be nice, and she clung to the false sense of security it would give her—that she had saved a piece of herself—preserved a segment of the life she had built for herself before she had messed—
No!
She had not messed up. She had to stop thinking of her life that way.
The truth was, she had thought everything would snap into place after they told the family about everything. It had helped for a little while, mostly during the brunch, after Zelda and Gigi had wrapped their minds around her elopement and arrived at a place of acceptance. But now that she was actually moving out of her house into Aidan’s, everything felt daunting again.
“I put everything from the fridge into the cooler, and I put the food that was in the pantry and cabinets in boxes,” Aidan called from the hallway. “Do you want to bring anything else over tonight?”
In her bedroom, she walked over to her dressing table and lifted the lid of her jewelry box. She pulled out the red velvet-lined ring box and opened the lid. The sun streaming in through the blinds glinted off the pretty gold band as if it was urging her to put it on her finger, where it belonged.
She did just that, sliding it onto her left ring finger. To her surprise, it didn’t feel heavy or cumbersome, it felt...fine.
Tucking the box back inside the jewelry box, Kate resumed packing. She took the last of her dresses out of her closet and put them into a hanging bag she had laid out on the bed. “I put some gadgets and coffee mugs in that box near the front door. But I think that’s all. For now, anyway.”
“I have coffee mugs,” Aidan called. “You don’t need to bring them unless you want to.”
“I like my coffee mugs,” she said as Aidan appeared in the bedroom doorway. He looked sexy, and Kate’s heart performed a little cha-cha. “Oh, hey there.”
Her voice was low and husky.
She was a lucky woman. She needed to remind herself of that every time doubt reared its ugly head. Aidan was a good man. And a very nice-looking one at that.
“Hello, Mrs. Quindlin.” He picked up her left hand and kissed it just above her wedding band. “I’m glad you’re wearing your ring. I’ll put mine on, too, when we get home.”
“Good,” she said. “But my coffee mugs and I are a package deal. Nonnegotiable.”
His laugh was low and sexy and he smiled that half smile that did magical things to her insides, and her heart melted a little more when he pulled her into his arms and kissed her soundly. Her body responded and so did his. She said a silent prayer that this chemistry between them was one of the things that would survive as they blended their lives.
Conventional wisdom dictated that eventually attraction waned, giving away to something deeper. What could be deeper than the pull of attraction that had brought them together all those years ago and reunited them after Aidan’s accident?
“Do you love me?” The words escaped as the kiss ended, before Kate could register what she was asking. She felt Aidan tense ever so slightly. With that, she really wished she hadn’t asked. She hated looking needy and insecure.
“Of course,” he said stiffly. “Why would you ask?”
“Because you’ve never mentioned it.” She took a step back from him and crossed her arms and shook her head. “Just... Oh, never mind. We’d better get back to your house before Chloe is dropped off.”
Aidan glanced at his watch. “No worries, we have plenty of time.”
Did he look a little relieved that she hadn’t pressed the “Do you love me” issue? That she hadn’t said, Because when a woman marries a man it would be nice to know that love was the foundation of the relationship.
Could she start blaming irrational thoughts like these on pregnancy hormones? Because they certainly seemed to be coming from out of the blue. Before Aidan, she had had a couple of serious relationships, both relatively short-lived and both ending badly, but when things were good, she had never asked the men if they loved her. It had never crossed her mind.
“Well, shouldn’t we have the car unloaded before Chloe gets home? I don’t want her to see me moving my things in before we have a chance to talk to her and explain everything.”
“Good point.” He smiled, and that simple gesture took away some of the former uneasiness. “I really appreciate how much you care and think about Chloe.”
“Of course. She is important to me. We are going to be a family. I want us to get started the right way.”
Aidan stepped closer and put his arm around Kate and spread his other hand on her belly.
“You’re already a wonderful mother.”
She was glad that one of them was so very sure of that.
On the way back to Aidan’s house—er—their house, they decided it would be fun to fix Chloe’s favorite dinner for their first meal together as a family. On the menu: chicken nuggets cut into the shape of dinosaurs, macaroni and cheese, baby carrots and applesauce. The plan was to heat up the food and take it to the park and have a picnic.
The spread sounded strangely
