Falling for a Stranger (8 page)

"Aiden isn't your father," she said. "He loves you, and if you're pregnant, he's going to be stunned but thrilled. You always wanted a big family, Sara. Things are going to work out the way they're meant to work out. Now go take the test."

As Sara disappeared into the bathroom, Emma walked into the kitchen. She wanted to have wine and ice cream waiting. Depending on the outcome, they'd celebrate appropriately. As she passed by the kitchen counter, her gaze caught on the big binder she and Sara had put together for their double wedding.

Max and Aiden both joked about the size of that notebook, but she and Sara had had a lot of fun putting together ideas for flowers, cakes, reception sites, and wedding venues. In truth, they'd started planning their weddings when they were twelve years old. Now, the idea of doing it together seemed unbelievable but also a little magical. Last week, they'd finally set the date, picked the church and put down a deposit for a reception in the garden of an old Victorian hotel.

If Sara were pregnant, some, if not all, of their plans would change. It made her a little sad to think they might have to throw out the notebook and start over, but in the end she just wanted to marry Max. She could do that at City Hall and still be happy. Max had her heart, and she had his, and that's really all that mattered.

She moved to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of white wine. She opened the freezer next and grabbed a quart of ice cream. She set both items on the counter and waited.

A few minutes later Sara came out of the bathroom with a dazed but happy expression in her eyes.

"Well," Emma demanded impatiently. "Wine or ice cream?"

A smile bloomed across Sara's face. "Ice cream."

"Oh, my God. You're pregnant?"

Sara nodded. "It was positive."

Emma moved around the counter and gave Sara a big hug. "I am so happy for you. And don't start crying, or I'm going to cry, too."

"You never cry," Sara said.

"Well, I don't want to start now," she said with a sniff.

"I didn't think I was going to be this happy," Sara said, wonder still in her eyes. "But I am. I'm going to have a baby. I'm going to be a mother."

"It's fantastic. I cannot wait. You have to call Aiden."

Sara hesitated. "I'll tell him when I get home. I don't want to do it over the phone. And he's with Burke and Aiden right now."

"Probably a good idea. He'll be overjoyed, but you still might want to tell him when he's sitting down. This kind of news can shake anyone up." She paused as the front door opened.

Max walked into the apartment. He looked tired. His tie hung loosely around his neck and the sleeves of his shirt were rolled up to the forearms. He'd been working a homicide case for two weeks that was giving him a lot of sleepless nights, but last night he'd made an arrest. Hopefully, that would be it. She walked over to give him a kiss. "Hi."

"Hi yourself," he said, giving her a loving look. Then he nodded to Sara. "How are you doing?"

"She's doing great," Emma said before Sara could answer. "Can we tell him? I know you want to tell Aiden first, but I'm not going to be able to keep it to myself for that long."

"Tell me what?" Max asked.

Sara held up the pregnancy test stick. "I'm pregnant."

"Well, that is great news." He crossed the room to give Sara a hug.

"I'm hoping Aiden will feel that way, too," Sara said. "He doesn't know yet, and it wasn't exactly planned."

"He'll be happy," Max said with confidence in his voice.

"I should go find him," Sara said, grabbing her bag. "Thank you, Emma, for forcing me to face my fears, the way you always do."

"Call me later and tell me what Aiden says. Maybe tomorrow we can go out and celebrate."

"Sounds good."

As Sara left the apartment, Emma glanced over at Max. He had an odd expression on his face. "Are you thinking about how you'd feel if I was unexpectedly pregnant?"

"You're not, are you?"

"Well, Sara and I do like to do things together," she joked. "But no, I'm not. If I were, how would you feel?"

"Terrified. A little girl with your blonde hair, blue eyes and stubborn personality would probably kill me."

She smiled back at him. "You're just as stubborn as I am."

"True." He paused. "Do you want to have a baby right now, Emma?"

She smiled and shook her head. "No. I want to marry you and start our lives. I want to be a little selfish and have you to myself for a while."

"I feel the same way," he said. "But one day…"

"One day," she agreed. "In the meantime, we need to be a little more careful than Aiden and Sarah."

He laughed. "I'm always more careful than Aiden."

"True. I would really love to see his reaction when Sara tells him he's going to be a father."

* * *

"I must admit this is one of your better ideas, Aiden," Drew told his brother as he raised his beer glass to his lips.

"The beer or the boat?" Aiden asked.

"Both," Drew said with a laugh. He set down his glass and glanced around the restaurant bar at the yacht club. The far wall was one large window that ran from floor to ceiling and overlooked the bay and the bridge. On the other two walls were television screens playing a variety of sporting events. A few men sat at the bar talking about the wind conditions out on the bay, and another larger group of people had commandeered one of the larger tables. "Nice place."

"We'll be spending a lot of time here," Aiden said.

"Unless we decide to dock the boat somewhere cheaper," Burke put in.

"The
Eleanor
has always been here," Aiden said.

"Because Grandpa had money, and this is the best spot in the city," Burke said. "But there are cheaper locations I'm sure."

"We don't need to worry about that right now," Aiden said, dismissing Burke's concern. "When can you guys get me a check?"

"Monday for me," Burke said. "I need to move some things around."

"Monday works for me as well," Drew put in.

Aiden nodded. "I'll let Grandpa know. He's going to be thrilled that we're keeping the boat in the family. It's a sad situation for him and Grandma, but we're making it a little easier."

"Grandma didn't even recognize me at the party," Drew said, remembering the fearful look in her eyes when he'd approached her. "That's the first time she hasn't known who I was."

"There are a lot of us," Burke said quietly. "Don't take it personally."

"Hard not to take it personally when your grandmother forgets who you are."

"She usually thinks I'm Grandpa," Aiden said. "She talks to me about stuff as if I'm her husband, and I have no idea what she's talking about."

"Maybe we can get them both out on the boat again," Burke suggested. "One last ride around the bay."

"That's a good idea," Drew said.

"Absolutely," Aiden agreed. He turned his attention to Drew. "Now, let's get back to your mystery woman. Where did you meet her? What was the relationship?"

Drew took a sip of his beer, then said, "I met her about a year and a half ago, on Isla de los Sueños. I went there for a week with Tim right after I got out of the Navy. She was working at the beachside bar as a bartender."

"And you hooked up," Aiden said with a nod.

"Yeah. It was the last night I was there. It wasn't supposed to be anything, just a beautiful woman on a hot tropical night, but…" His voice drifted away as he searched for the right words. "It was more than I expected.
She
was more than I expected. The next morning, I woke up and she was gone. I later found out she was on a boat that caught fire and exploded. There were supposedly no survivors." He drew in a deep breath as the painful memory ran through him.

"So how did she survive?" Burke asked curiously.

"She said she swam for hours and ended up on some small deserted island. I don't know if I believe her. When we spoke just now, she was nervous, wary, evasive. And she mentioned that she wanted to start over, new name, new start."

"She changed her name?" Aiden asked, concern entering his eyes. "She sounds like trouble, Drew, and you don't usually go looking for trouble. That's my department."

"Well, you're getting married, so someone has to pick up the slack," he said lightly.

"She's on the run," Burke interjected. "No one changes their name unless they're trying to hide."

"I agree," Drew said. "I'm hoping to get more information when I see her tomorrow."

"You're seeing her again?" Burke asked with a frown. "Is that smart?"

"Maybe not. But I have her necklace, and I want to give it back to her."

"You want to see her again, because you aren't ready to let her go," Aiden said. "You're hung up on her."

"I'm curious," he said, knowing that the word didn't begin to explain his complicated feelings towards Ria.

"My advice is to give her the necklace and say goodbye," Burke said.

"Or you could give her the necklace, sleep with her again, and then say goodbye," Aiden put in, a sparkle in his eyes. "Get her out of your system."

He liked Aiden's advice a lot better than Burke's, but he doubted Ria would get back into bed with him when at the moment she didn't even want to talk to him.

"I'm going to order some nachos; I'm hungry," Aiden said. "I'll be right back."

As Aiden walked over to the bar, Drew turned to Burke. His older brother seemed lost in thought. "Everything okay, Burke?"

His brother shifted in his seat. "Yeah."

Silence fell between them. Drew wanted to say something, but he'd always had a harder time connecting to Burke than to Aiden. Burke was so much more closed off. He kept everything inside. And he'd gotten more distant since he'd lost his fiancé in a fiery car wreck. And unlike Ria, Hailey couldn't come back from the dead.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"About what?" Burke asked.

"Hailey."

Burke drew in a sharp breath and his eyes darkened. "I don't want to talk about Hailey. Why would you bring her up now?"

"This situation I'm in, discovering someone isn't dead, must remind you—"

"Everything reminds me of Hailey," Burke said, cutting him off.

"I understand."

Silence followed his words, then Burke said, "You need to be careful Drew. This woman didn't want to talk to you today, and she ran away from you the first time you saw her. You've never had any patience for liars or fakes, and she seems to be both."

He frowned at his brother's assessment. "You don't know her."

"It doesn't sound like you know her, either."

"I thought I did."

"After one night of sex?"

"I know it sounds crazy, but we had a connection that was more than physical. And I need to know what happened on the island. I haven't slept in a year and a half because of her. She's not out of my life until she answers my questions," he said with determination.

"All right. I hope you like the answers."

"So do I."

"Look what I got," Aiden said, appearing back at the table with a heaping plate of chips, cheese and peppers. "Dig in."

As they ate nachos and ordered another round of beers, the conversation drifted into other channels: the boat, the upcoming sailboat races, and finally to Aiden's wedding plans.

"Do you have a date yet?" Drew asked as he washed down the last chip with a swig of beer.

Aiden nodded. "August second, some church in the Presidio, and I forget where the reception is."

"Don't let Sara hear you say that," Burke said dryly.

"I won't," Aiden said with a grin. "Sara and Emma are having a fantastic time planning stuff, and the good thing about a double wedding is that I don't have to be involved. Sara goes to Em for advice on flowers and cakes. And vice versa. Max and I just sit back and say yes."

"Not bad," Drew said with a nod.

"Is Sara's dad happy about calling you his son-in-law?" Burke asked. "As I recall, he wasn't one of your bigger fans when you were growing up."

Drew was curious to hear Aiden's answer. It was no secret that Aiden's father-in-law- to-be, Steven Davidson, had never been friendly to any of the Callaways. The families had lived next door for two decades, but Steven had always kept to himself, even more so after Sara's mother died.

"He's surprisingly happy about it," Aiden said. "Although, I think that's partly due to the fact that I'm taking Sara off his hands."

"I thought they were getting along better," Drew said.

"They are. Steven is trying to be a father, which means a lot to Sara. She's always wanted more of a family."

"Well, she's going to get more family than she wants when she marries into the Callaways," Drew said dryly.

"Damn," Aiden said, his gaze now on the television screen. The Giants had just blown their chance in the bottom of the ninth. They were going into extra innings. "Miller can't hit for shit this season."

"He'll be back," Burke said, shifting his chair so he could get a better view of the game. "He hit .360 last year."

"What has he done for me lately?" Aiden asked.

"You always give up on people too fast," Burke said.

"And you'll ride a losing horse all the way back to the stable."

Drew smiled to himself as Burke and Aiden jumped into an argument over the Giants' starting lineup. He'd mediated a lot of their battles, but today he was going to let them fight it out on their own. His mind was on Ria.

If she worked for the yacht club, maybe he could get some information about her from the office.

"I'll be right back," he muttered, although neither Aiden nor Burke were paying attention to him.

He left the restaurant and walked down the hall to the office. The receptionist gave him a friendly smile.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"I was wondering about your sailing lessons."

"We have lessons to fit every ability level. Are you a beginner?"

"Intermediate. I think I saw a female instructor out on the docks…"

"That was probably Tory Harper. She's excellent and a seasoned sailor. She's sailed all over the world."

"Sounds perfect. Does she have any openings?"

The woman moved to her computer. "Let's see. When would you want to take the lesson?"