“Cut that shit out,” Marshall grumbles. “It’s time to eat.”
“You hungry?” I ask her as we turn to head toward the dining room.
“A little.”
“Babe, this is my family and me. You can be you. Tell me, are you hungry?” I stop walking until she answers me.
“Yes.” She nods. “I’m hungry.”
“Good. Mom cooks for an army. You know that. Come on.” With her hand held tight in mine, I lead her into the dining room. Everyone is already sitting at the table, with Aspen seated between Conrad and Marshall.
Conrad looks up and grins. “Remind me to tell you guys a story,” he says, looking at each of our brothers. “It’s a good one. I just sent you the link to the song,” he says, cracking himself up.
“Hey!” Aspen smacks his arms when her phone pings, and she opens her message. “That’s my material that you’re using.”
Conrad slides his arm over her shoulders, and together, they fall into a fit of laughter. “Epic, I’m telling you… it’s epic.”
“Do we even want to know?” Dad asks.
“No,” Aurora and I say at the same time.
“Trust me,” I tell my father. Aurora slinks into my side, and that’s when it hits me. She’s probably worried that I’m embarrassed, and I’m not. I just don’t want her to be. However, we don’t hold back in this family, and she needs to get used to that. She also needs to know that I’m not ashamed of her. “On second thought, it was pretty good,” I admit.
Aurora tilts her head back to look up at me.
“They know I love you,” I say, not bothering to soften my voice as I lower my head and kiss her.
“So, get this,” Conrad starts.
“Wait!” Aspen laughs. “Let me get the song ready.” She messes with her phone and then nods at Conrad.
He throws his arm back over Aspen’s shoulder and pulls her close. “So this one came and picked Rory up this morning from Grant’s place. I was there. We left the love birds to say goodbye and walked outside. Aspen got in her car, and we were chatting until those two”—he points across the table at where we are now sitting across from them—“decided to come up for air. Anyway, Aspen had a mischievous look in her eye, but I let it go. It was early as hell. However, when they”—he points to Aurora and me again—“walked out of the house, this is what she was blaring from her speakers.”
“Aspen,” Aurora warns.
“Sorry, Rory. This is just too good not to share.”
Royce, Marshall, and Owen are already laughing. Layla and Sawyer are trying like hell not to if the way they’re torturing their bottom lips, and the hand over their mouths is any indication.
“Hit it, maestro!” Conrad tells Aspen. Her thumb taps the screen of her phone, and the song, the same one as this morning, begins to play.
Dad cracks up, slapping his hand on the table, and Mom grins, rolling her eyes.
“Sleep with one eye open,” Aurora tells her sister.
“Come on, Aurora, you have to admit that it was excellent timing.”
“Here?” she says through gritted teeth.
“Babe, it’s fine. We’re both consenting adults.”
“All right, you’ve embarrassed the poor girl enough. Put that thing away and eat. I didn’t slave over this meal to have it go to waste,” Mom says.
Aspen is quick to turn off the music and slide her phone into her back pocket. She, Conrad, and Marshall whisper to themselves while my older two brothers, their wife, fiancée, and my parents all try to have a civilized conversation. As the conversation begins to flow, Aurora relaxes beside me.
“I’m sorry if you’re embarrassed, but I’m not. I don’t care who knows that we’re together or that I’m in love with you,” I whisper in her ear, kissing her temple.
“Your parents,” she whispers back. There is no heat in her voice.
“They love you almost as much as I do. We’ve done nothing wrong.”
“You’re not ashamed?”
“Never. Not with anything that involves you.”
Her eyes water with tears. My mom must see it too because she pulls her into a baking question, and just like that, all is forgotten. Aurora handled it well, and I’m sure with time she’s finally going to realize that I’m not him. I’m the man who loves her and will stop at nothing for her to see that.
Chapter 20
Aurora
“I like them all,” Layla says. She’s perched on the couch with a small plate of six different flavors of wedding cake resting on her belly.
“Thank you. You picked out a small three-tier cake. I can do a flavor for each layer, so you need to narrow down to at least three,” I tell her, laughing.
“Ugh. The pregnant woman should not be in charge of picking,” she grumbles good-naturedly.
“Well, it is your wedding,” I remind her.
“Hush it.” She chuckles.
“When will Owen be home?” I ask. “Maybe we should have waited for him?”
“Good idea.” She picks up her phone, taps the screen, and places it to her ear. “Hey, babe. When are you guys going to be back?” she asks. “Okay, yeah, no, I’m fine. Don’t worry,” she assures him. “Aurora is here with me. We’re cake tasting, and I need help.” She pauses. “Yes, I need help. I love them all.” Another pause. “No, we can’t have them all. I’ll see you in a few,” she says, ending the call.
“Let me guess, get them all.”
“Yep. He’s not going to be any help either,” Layla sighs.
“How are you feeling?” I ask from my place on the loveseat.
“Amazing. I still find myself not believing that this is my life.” She looks up at me with a sad smile. “How much do you know about my past?”
“Not much. Just that you didn’t have it easy, and that something happened here, in this house. Grant said it was your story to tell.”
She nods. “The Riggins family, they’re something special, Aurora. They’ve never blinked an eye when it comes to bringing me into their family. They’ve all accepted me, and that is why it’s hard for me.” She pats the couch next to her. “Grab those tissues and come sit. Owen will be here in an hour, and in the meantime, I have a story to tell you.”
Doing as she asks, I stand and take the cake samples, setting them on the table in front of us. I have a small cake of each flavor covered in the kitchen. I can cut her more later. Grabbing the box of tissues, I place it between us as I settle on the couch facing her. “I’m all ears,” I say, reaching over and placing my hand on top of hers.
“My life growing up was nothing like this,” she starts, and I settle in, letting her talk.
She tells me about her mom and her mother’s boyfriends. By the time she gets to the attack, we’re both crying, our hands full of wadded-up tissues. “You’re so strong,” I tell her.
She nods. “Yeah, but Owen made me that way. Sure, I fought to get out of there and never looked back, but it’s the way he loves me. He pulled me from my darkness. I went from having two people, complete strangers when I met them looking out for me, to a family of rowdy brothers-in-law, and two parents who I couldn’t love more if they were my own, loving me.” She pauses to blow her nose. “I never had this kind of life growing up. I never got to experience holidays together or Sunday dinners. I remember thinking about how much I was going to miss it when Owen decided I wasn’t the one for him.”