Page 40 of Reclaimed

He shoves the door open and tows me inside…

To an empty living room.

“Anticlimactic,” I mumble out of the corner of my mouth.

“And here I was expecting a welcoming committee.” His voice bounces around the room.

We toe off our shoes while Aiden keeps a firm grip on my hand. The sounds of an argument breaking out around the corner draw our attention.

“I’m glad there’s something else to take the attention off our grand entrance.”

“We could sneak back out.” The heat in Aiden’s glance sends butterflies to my stomach. This man needs to stop being so attentive before I melt into a puddle.

“And go through the build-up all over again? No. Come on, lover. Show them your lucky catch before I get cold feet.”

On the teasing endearment, his hand tightens fractionally around mine.

The opportunity to study his reaction vanishes as Aiden tugs me determinedly across the room and into the overcrowded kitchen.

For a couple minutes, nobody notices us newcomers. The conversation is impossible to follow, but I catch the words ‘wedding’ and ‘fiancé’ in the mix.

My attempt to find Juniper in the fray is fruitless. I can see Lee. He stands above most of his siblings, so she must be close to her man but cloaked by the others.

Near the back, Nancy Powell calmly sips from a coffee mug with a small smile on her lips. I accidentally catch her eye and that smile grows into one of recognition.

“Isla!” She exclaims and sets down her cup behind her. “It’s so good to see you.” Her greeting is nearly swallowed in the commotion.

“You too, Mrs. Powell.”

At the sound of my voice, the conversation halts.

“Isla?” Juniper steps out from around Jack. “What are you doing here?”

“Surprise,” Aiden rumbles from my left, lifting our conjoined hands. As the attention turns on us, his shoulders tense.

Her brow furrows as she watches us. Aiden brushes his index finger across the back of my hand as if he can feel my nerves firing to life.

“You two are together? For how long?”

“It’s been a few weeks now,” Aiden says before I can interject.

“Wait.” Her gaze bounces between us before she settles on me. “Is he the dad?” Her question carries clear across the room, and the rest of the conversation comes to a screeching halt.

Oh my god.

I feel myself pale. I hear movement, but I can’t unlock my eyes from my best friend as she slowly covers her mouth with her hand as if she just realized what she said.

Aiden’s fingers tighten, squeezing mine not enough to hurt, but enough to send an unspoken message.

“Oh my god, Isla, I’m so sorry,” she mouths silently so only I can see.

“Aiden’s going to be a dad?” asks one of his brothers. I think it was Jack, but I can’t pull my attention away from Juniper long enough to discover who said it. Not that it matters. If the rest of them didn’t hear Juniper, Jack was loud enough to clue them in.

“We weren’t ready to say anything, but yes,” Aiden says.

That gets my attention to move.

I crank my neck to find him looking down at me. His expression is unreadable, but I can see his mind working behind his eyes.

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