“You didn’t. I offered. Come on. I want you to meet my sister and my future sisters-in-law. Please?” She folds her hands as if she were praying and juts out her bottom lip.
“Does that work with your fiancé?” I ask her.
“Oddly enough, I never have to beg or ask now that I think about it. He likes to take care of me.” She shrugs.
“Sounds like you’re a lucky woman.” Travis and I were good together, but he was never overly affectionate. I think it was because he didn’t have that growing up. He was good to me, and we loved one another, but the kind of love that Aspen is talking about? I’ve never had that. Travis was my best friend. I loved him and he loved me. We made a beautiful baby girl together, and I’ll forever have a piece of him.
“Come on, Wren, please?” she begs.
“Are you sure that I won’t be intruding?”
“Positive. It’s at my house, so I have the final say. Please. It’s only about fifteen minutes from here. I’ll drive you and drive you home. It’s not like you have to worry about me drinking.” She chuckles and points to her watermelon-sized belly.
“I don’t have the car seat base.”
“I have one, and I think our seats are similar.”
“It’s in your car already?”
“Yep. My fiancé is just a little excited about being a dad. My bag is already packed and ready to go. He gets it honest,” she says with a shrug.
I really want to go. I want to keep talking to her, and it would be good for Madeline to be around other kids other than just at day care. “If you’re sure you don’t mind.”
“Yes!” She claps her hands. “This is going to be so much fun. I can’t wait to introduce you to everyone.”
“Wait, did you need to do something? Did I talk your head off and keep you from it?”
“No.” She waves me off. “I just went for a drive and found myself driving past the shop.” She points behind us. “I saw you and this little cutie sitting here, and I don’t know, something just told me to stop and say hello.”
“Well, I’m glad you did.”
“Me too. Now, come on. My husband-to-be is grilling burgers. And before you ask, yes, there’s plenty. We always have plenty.”
“I’m crashing your Saturday night,” I tell her.
“Nonsense. You’re just adding to it.” She stands and grabs the diaper bag. “Come with me.” She leads me to a fancy white SUV. She opens the back door and steps back. Sure, enough, Madeline’s car seat fits into the base perfectly. “See, it’s meant to be.”
With a smile and a nod, I climb into the passenger seat, headed for the unknown with a woman I just met but already feels like a close friend.
The drive is short, just about fifteen minutes, just like she said. The driveway is lined with cars, trucks, and SUVs. “Um, Aspen, how big of a get-together are you having?”
“Just a small one. My sister, her husband, my fiancé, and his three other brothers.”
“I think maybe this was a bad idea,” I tell her as I eye the long line of vehicles.
“Come on. You’re going to fit right in. I promise. I’ll grab the bags. You get the baby.” Her grin is infectious.
Climbing out of the car, I grab Madeline, who is surprisingly still awake, and walk behind Aspen as she enters the house. “Honey, I’m home!” she calls out.
“In the kitchen!” a deep voice answers.
I follow along behind her, and when we reach the open floorplan kitchen, my mouth falls open. Standing around an island bigger than any I’ve ever seen in my life is none other than Marshall Riggins and his brothers, and the two women I met who I know are his sisters-in-law when I stopped to give him back his money.
“Aspen?” I murmur.
She turns to look at me. “You good?” she asks.
“Who is your fiancé?”
A slow smile pulls at her lips. “Conrad Riggins.” She sees it on my face, and now I understand the look I caught from her earlier. She recognized my name.
“I should go.”
“Wren?” Marshall is on his feet and walking toward us. “Hey, fancy seeing you here.” He reaches for Madeline’s car seat, and my hands are shaking, so I let him.
“I—” I don’t know what to say.
“Come on in, and I’ll introduce you to my sister.” Aspen tugs on my arm, but I stop and look at Marshall.
“We’re right behind you, Momma.” He smiles at me, and I don’t know how but it puts me at ease.
Chapter 5
Marshall
It seems as though the blonde pixie and her daughter are showing up everywhere I am these days. I don’t know why she’s with Aspen or how they know each other. What I do know is the shock written all over her face. She had no idea what she was walking into. I could see the tremble in her hands, so I took the baby from her.
“Hey, sweetheart,” I coo down at the adorable little girl.
“Who do we have here?” Aurora asks.
“This is Madeline,” I tell her. I don’t need to give her further explanation. I know that my brothers have already filled her in. What I don’t know is how Aspen ended up with Wren and why she brought her here.
Setting the car seat on the kitchen island, I work to unbuckle the five-point harness and lift Madeline from her seat. “You’re a tiny thing,” I tell her, resting her against my shoulder. She cuddles up to me, her little fists clutching at my shirt. My heart squeezes as she snuggles into my chest.
“That baby looks good on you, Marsh,” Conrad says, placing his arm over Aspen’s shoulders.
“She likes me,” I fire back. My eyes find Wren’s, and she’s got her head tilted to the side, watching me hold her daughter. I guess I should have asked for permission, but she was too damn cute to just leave her in there.
“Hand her over, baby hog,” Grant says, stopping next to me.
“I saw her first,” I argue.
“We don’t get little girls in this house, and the next two won’t be girls either, so we all get a turn.” He holds out his arms, waiting for me to hand Madeline over to him.
“Fine,” I grumble and carefully move her to his arms. She juts out her bottom lip like she’s going to cry. “She likes me better,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Tell Marsh he’s wrong,” he coos to Madeline. “You like Uncle Grant, don’t you, Madeline?”
Wren and her daughter have been a constant topic of conversation in my family since she showed up at the office to give me back the money I tried to slip her. They’re all big fans of Wren. Our money and our name mean nothing to her. That’s big… no, that’s huge, and my brothers, my sisters-in-law, and even my parents have made that known.
They act like there’s some love connection there when all I was trying to do was be a nice guy. Thankfully they haven’t spouted anything about the damn magic they’re all the time talking about. The women in my life have mentioned the word fate a few times, but I ignore them. I was simply in the right place at the right time. It’s not a crime to be a good person. And well, Wren proved she is as well, but I still wish she would have kept that money.