Page 121 of Heating Up (Nugget)
“We’ve turned a corner,” she said. “They’re trying.”
“I’m glad. Otherwise, they’d be missing out on an amazing daughter.” He kissed her gently. “Where are the others: Sam and Gia?”
“They went back to Nugget when my parents got here.”
“Gia Treadwell, huh? You managed to keep that under wraps.”
She gave a half shrug. “I signed a confidentiality agreement. The whole town must know by now.”
“Oh yeah. I think it beat out the fire for front-page news.” He tilted his head and looked at her, really looked. “Why didn’t you answer my calls or return any of my texts today?”
She turned away, unable to maintain eye contact, afraid to address the big elephant in the room. “I thought we should have some distance.”
“You had me scared to death.” He reached for her hand and clung to it.
Dana didn’t know whether he was talking about the fact that she hadn’t returned his calls or the fire. Taking a deep breath, she took the plunge. “What about Sue?” She fixed on him again, fearing the worst.
“Gone. She went back to Chicago.”
“Because you couldn’t forgive her for leaving you for someone else?” Dana tensed with nerves. For once in her life, she wanted to come first . . . wanted to hear the words.
“Because I don’t love her . . . not the way I should’ve . . . not the way I love you.”
Dana’s eyes welled up. “I wondered if you even knew what you’d said when they took me away in the ambulance.”
“Of course I knew. I wondered if you’d heard me.”
“I did.” She closed her eyes. “I love you too, Aidan.” So much it hurt. “But how do you know? For all those years you loved Sue.”
“I just know,” he said. “For all those years, I never once wanted to marry Sue. That’s why she left me, Dana. She wanted to be my wife and I kept putting it off. I thought I might be one of those guys who was allergic to real commitment, the type who would never be able to sayI do. Until I met you. Then it hit me like a ladder truck: Sue wasn’t the one, nor had she ever been. Because Dana, after only knowing you a month, I’d marry you in a heartbeat.”
He held up his hands to keep her from talking. “I know it’s too soon, but that’s how crazy in love I am with you.”
“You would?” she asked, mesmerized. “Marry me?”
“Yep. Right now.” He started to get off the bed. “I’m sure they have a chaplain in this place.”
She grabbed his arm and pulled him down alongside of her, adoring how solid and strong he felt. “I don’t want to get married in a hospital. Plus, don’t you think we should let Sloane and Brady go first?”
Aidan rolled to his side and squinted at her. “You getting cold feet on me already?”
“Never in a million years.” She spread little kisses across his face.
“Are you crying?” He wiped one of her tears from his cheek.
She simply nodded, because this time the man she loved, the one who she’d given her whole heart to, had chosen her.
Epilogue
“Thanks, Del. My client will be very happy.” Dana clicked off her cell phone and smiled at Aidan, who tried valiantly to pretend he wasn’t eavesdropping by pensively studying the construction on her new house. She knew better. “Ray couldn’t come up with the cash. Rosser Ranch is all Gia’s as soon as escrow closes.”
Poor Gia had been living at the Lumber Baron for the last two weeks, biting her nails. Although they’d found a few acceptable places as backups, she’d had her heart set on the Rosser estate. Now it would be hers.
In the meantime, she’d become Nugget’s latest fascination. Harlee had agreed to keep Gia out of theTribuneas long as the finance guru gave her an exclusive when the death threats died down. The rest of Nugget viewed her with a mixture of skepticism and curiosity. Owen was convinced she was in on her boyfriend’s Ponzi scheme. “How else could she afford Rosser Ranch?” he’d openly opined. Apparently he hadn’t gotten the memo that before her troubles, Gia had amassed a fortune the size of Alaska.
Donna, on the other hand, was convinced Gia had been blinded by love. “I saw that Evan Laughlin on television once. The man oozed charm. He probably got her out of her panties on the first date.”
Despite wild speculation, no one had sold Gia out to the tabloids. In Nugget people would gossip about their neighbors with wild abandon, but they had their backs where it counted.
