✿ Aileen's POV

“I honestly canʼt wait to try the cream Danish. But also, I am very excited about the oatmeal raisin cookies and the kiwi lime pie.”

I chuckle as I listen to Chelsea go on and on about everything and nothing.

Reminds me of Jaime.

And I make a mental note to call the bakery before my tour with Reid.

I lean back on my seat, pressing into his chest and Reidʼs arm easily comes around me. He kisses the top of my head and I smile.

“Is she always like this?” I ask softly.

“Yep. Thatʼs Chels for you.”

“And does she always convince people to let her have her way?” I add, thinking back to how she managed to get me to make a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies and a kiwi lime pie along with the cream cheese Danish.

Reid chuckles.

“Oh yeah. She always gets her way... that one. Ever since we were kids. Makes sure of it. Says it's her survival strategy. Chelsea” his voice grows very soft in the end and it causes me to look up.

Reid was watching her differently, a small longing-like smile on his face. At first, I frown. Then when Iʼm about to act like the jealous bitch I know myself not to be, it hits me.

The only other person heʼs seriously dated aside from Anika!

“You dated her” it comes out before I can stop myself.

I feel Reid stir.

“What?”

I sit up and turn on the kitchen stool to face him.

“Chelsea. You dated her, didn’t you? Sheʼs the only other person youʼve seriously been with aside from Anika.”

“What?” his chuckle doesnʼt even come out as the intended chuckle and I arch an amused brow at him. “Donʼt give me that look” he frowns a little and I chuckle softly. “And you donʼt know whether it was serious or not.”

“Well yes. And Hernan refused to tell me anything but somehow I managed to get it didnʼt I?”

Reidʼs frown appears again.

“Hernan told you?”

“To ask you if I wanted to know who she was. He never gave me a name or anything. I just pieced it together... from the way you were looking... at her.”

“No, I was not looking at her in any way okay? Weʼre just friends. Childhood friends. I had a crush on her and acted upon it one summer when we were in middle school and it ended that same summer. Thatʼs it. I realized we both had different dreams and were incompatible as lovers and although it killed me for the rest of that summer, I got over it. Thatʼs it. Fin. The end. It started and ended that very summer. Nada mas (Nothing more)”

A short surprised laugh rushes out of me.

“Did you just speak Spa—”

Reid cuts me off with a kiss.

“What was that for?” I chuckle, breathing hard when he pulls away.

“For you to not forget that youʼre the only real woman for me. No one else, angel. I swear it to you.”

I am this close to uttering 'You donʼt owe me any explanations' when I stop and instead grab the sides of his face to kiss him again.

“Youʼre the only real man for me too, Armani. Only one” I whisper, making him grin from ear to ear.

“Iʼm glad I am.”

The egg timer close to us goes off just as heʼs kissing the back of my hands.

“Ouu cookie time!” Chelsea cheers, clapping a little and reminding me of Jamie again.

I seriously need to call the shop.

“Here you go” Reid smiles, already fitting my hands into the oven mitts.

I smile when heʼs done and move to check on the oatmeal raisin cookies. When I open the oven door the aroma gets everyone moaning out 'mms'

I chuckle, trying not to show how excited I was it turned out great.

“Ohh can I have a taste Lee?” Mrs. Docherty asks.

“Well, Reid here has registered to be the first at tasting everything I ever make in my whole life...” I hear him laugh at my words, “... But of course you can cut in line, Mrs. Docherty” I smile.

“Hey,” Reid laughs.

I playfully swat his arm away and let the woman have the first taste. And the look on her face says it all.

“Holy shit!” She lets out. “This might be the best Oatmeal Raisin cookies I've ever had. And I have my family recipe for that.”

I smile and feel Reidʼs arms around me.

“Told you” he smiles.

Turns out Chelseaʼs reaction is twice Mrs. Dochertyʼs.

“Oh gosh Reid, you seriously hit the jackpot with Lee here” Chelsea grins with a moan as she bites into the cookie again.

Reidʼs arms come around me from my back and I lean back into his chest.

“I know” he smiles over my head.

I smile back and pull away from him.

“Okay. I gotta check on the others before—”

“Mrs. Docherty, can I get a peppermint tea for—” Asha interrupts as she looks up from her phone when she steps into the kitchen, bringing everything to a halt. I watch her eyebrows arch as she moves her eyes around the kitchen and then she folds her arms and pins us with a look. “Youʼre not seriously scheming without me, are you?”

Reid chuckles, making everyone else chuckle too.

“No, Ash. We would never” Chelsea smiles.

“Good” Asha nods, steals a cookie off the tray, and looks at Mrs. Docherty. “Peppermint tea for my dad, please Mrs. Docherty?”

“What happened to Uncle Mick?” Reid asks.

“Ate too much Indian curry at dinner last night. And to think 29 years of being married to a pure Indian woman would teach him not to eat too much Vindaloo” Asha shakes her head and then points her half-bitten cookie at me, “Gammy wants to see you.”

I pale.

“What?”

“Yeah, sheʼs been asking for you since she woke up this morning.”

Reid and I exchange glances.

“Do... do you know why? What about?” he asks.

Asha shrugs and then laughs.

“What? Worried Gammyʼs got a new favorite person whoʼs not you?” Asha teases finishes off the cookie in her hand and swipes one more before Chelsea swats her hand away.

But she doesnʼt know thatʼs the least of Reidʼs concerns.

“What are we gonna do?” I whisper to him.

“Iʼm not sure. Why does she wanna speak to you?”

Probably to threaten to go after my family if I didnʼt leave her grandson alone.

But her niceness at dinner last night was too natural to have been faked.

But then again Iʼve met the niece.

And like a curse, Maeve steps into the kitchen.

“Morning everyone!” she chirps, moving to side hug Asha who was closest to her.

Wow. Someone had good sex.

As if hearing my thoughts, she faces me.

“Hi Lee” she greets with a smile. “Nana wants to see you.”

My skeptical feeling about Maeveʼs reaction to me is replaced by a pit of nausea in my stomach. Reid meets my eyes and Ashaʼs laugh interrupts him.

“You better start moving Lee or sheʼs going to send an army after you next.”

Reid exhales and loosens the knotted apron behind him. He helps me take off the oven mitts and my apron and takes my hand in his.

“Cʼmon.”

“Woah, woah now. Gammy asked for her, not you” Asha grins.

“Oh let him be, Ash” Mrs. Docherty smiles, “Go on you two. Weʼll keep an eye on things till you get back.”

I nod with a small smile. Maeve sighs happily and does a little spin.

“Todayʼs going to be the perfect day. I just know it” she giggles before leaving the kitchen.

How good was the sex?

Reid tugs on my hand and I blink away from the back of his nieceʼs head.

“Let’s go.”

I follow him out of the kitchen and into the opulent halls of the house, then to the north wing on the third floor.

“What do you think she wants to see me for?” I whisper when Reid pauses a few feet away from the large doors that lead to her room.

“Iʼm not sure. But I donʼt think itʼs anything to be worried about. Itʼs my grandmother after all.”

“The Matriarch of the Dalton family. Yeah, no biggie.”

My sarcasm gets Reid to laugh and he pulls me in for a kiss. I exhale deeply when he pulls away and touches his lips to my forehead.

“Iʼll be right out here waiting for you okay?”

I nod and he squeezes my hands before gesturing with his head for me to go ahead. I knock calmly on the doors, wait for a response, and step inside.

And damn.

Everything is as grand and formal as ever in this room with the high ceilings and long velvet curtains, dark wood floors, and a smattering of paintings.

Antoinette isn’t in her double poster bed at all but instead is in a chaise lounge by the crackling fireplace and an unblinking female nurse who seems to appear from the shadows.

“Aileen, there you are. Please, come in my dear,” she says to me with a big smile before nodding at the nurse. “This is Ingrid, the nurse they sent from the hospital even though Iʼve told them Iʼm fine. She’s on her way out. Just wanted to make sure I got my vitamins before anything else.”

Ingrid hurries past me without making eye contact, then she’s gone out the door. And I think I hear Reid’s voice talking to her out in the hall.

“You wanted to see me... ma'am?”

“Please, just call me Gammy or whatever you want... just not ma'am. Youʼll make me feel older than I already am” she giggles, urging me to feel at ease. “Please, my dear, sit, sit” she scoots over and pats her side on the chaise. “Did you sleep well?”

I nod.

“Yes, Gammy. I did. I hope you did too.”

“Oh like a baby, my dear. I honestly donʼt even remember the last time I did.”

I smile.

“I have my whole family here with me. And of course, Iʼll sleep well knowing my darling boy is in the best of hands.”

My smile falters a little.

Oh God.

“You know, I look at my grandson and I see a real spark in his eyes. The kind that he hasnʼt had since he was a child. Now Iʼve seen him with other women. But not one of them made him look like heʼs got the whole world at his fingertips. Youʼre the only one, Aileen. The only one. To think Iʼd never hear my boy talk about marriage. And now heʼs engaged. And I canʼt tell you how excited and glad I am. And now I know that if anything, I can die in peace.”

My chest burns.

“No, no. No death talk, Gammy, please” I try to chuckle but it comes out broken.

She smiles and pats my hands.

“You sound just like him. Youʼre really rubbing off on him, Aileen. So thank you. Thank you for giving my boy a chance at love. True love.”

I start to feel hot.

Itʼs the guilt burning through my skin.

“I couldnʼt be prouder to have you as part of my family because youʼre nothing like them.”

Yet here I am, scrimping and scrounging and lying to the grandmother.

I try to talk but nothing comes out. The guilt was eating me whole from the inside. But I wasnʼt going to break down and confess everything either.

No way.

Thankfully, Antoinette speaks up again.

“Okay, enough with the sad and sappy stuff. Are you ready to hear even more embarrassing stories about your fiancé?”

✯✯✯✯✯✯

✿ Reid's POV

Whatʼs taking them so long?

I glance at my watch for the umpteenth time.

“Ah forget it.”

I get up from the ottoman and move towards my grandmotherʼs door. But before I can knock, my stomach growls, and my phone pings with several messages.

What the hell?

I step away from the door and pull out my phone to see my notification screen flood with calls and messages from Hernan.

“What the hell?” I mutter, tapping on his contact to call him.

I glance at the door as I wait for him to pick up. On the second ring, he picks up.

“Wow, Iʼm gone for a day and you miss me this much?” I chuckle.

“Where the hell have you been, dude? Iʼve been calling and texting you for hours now.”

“Relax. And you know Iʼm at my grandmaʼs. Just take deep breaths and talk to me.”

“Oh deep breaths canʼt fix this one, Reid.”

I sigh and rub my forehead, moving toward the large window at the end.

“What is it, Hernan? Does it have something to do with work? Did someone fuck up—?”

“Where are you?” he cuts me off.

“Where am I—? I told you, Iʼm at my—”

“Where exactly at your grandmotherʼs?”

I frown.

What?

“North wing, third floor. Why—?”

Iʼm cut off by the unmistakable laughter of my mother in the background.

What the heck—?

I move closer to the window and look out. Then I hear her voice. Anikaʼs. Just as she steps into my line of sight through the window. Hernanʼs eyes meet mine when he looks up. And for a minute I felt Iʼm hallucinating due to the hunger. Until his lips move in synch to his voice ringing through the phone thatʼs still pressed to my ear.

“Get down here, now.”

✯✯✯✯✯✯

“What the heck dude!” I whisper yell at Hernan who meets me right on the landing.

“Me? Iʼm the one who has been calling and texting you like my life depends on it!” he whisper yells back.

“What are you doing here?”

“Oh yeah, because thatʼs the hot topic!”

I groan.

“What is Anika doing here, Hernan?”

“Two words. Your mother.”

I groan.

Of course.

I rub my forehead.

“Reid, there you are, sweetheart” my mother smiles, stepping into the house with Anika and Clayton in tow.

Of course heʼs in on this.

“Did you sleep well?”

I frown.

“Can I talk to you, please mom?”

“Oh, whatʼs the matter, sweetheart?” she asks innocently.

“What is she doing here?” I frown in Anikaʼs direction.

“Hey woah now, Ben. Thatʼs not nice, cʼmon man” Clayton frowns back at me.

“You, shut up, okay?” I glare at him.

“Reid!” my mother scolds. “Donʼt speak to him like that. Heʼs your brother—”

“Cousin, mom,” I say firmly. “Because the last time I checked, he didnʼt have my family name. Now what is Anika doing here, Mom?”

“Reid—”

“I told you this was a bad idea, Portia” Anika cuts her off, reaching out for her suitcase. “Iʼll just—”

“No, no. You stay right there” My mother stops her, then turns to me with a frown. “I didnʼt raise you like this, Ben. What had gotten into you?”

“Youʼve not answered my question, Mother. What is she doing here?”

“Visting. On vacation. Whatever you wanna call it. But sheʼs my guest and you will show her respect.”

“Visting who?” I frown.

“Why me of course. Since youʼve clearly lost your manners. Being around that girl is ruining everything about you.”

“Leave Aileen alone for just one second Mom, would you please? Sheʼs done nothing wrong. Not to you or anybody else. And with all due respect, Anika, you can visit my mother when weʼre back home, alright? And before you start, Mom, this is not a vacation home for your guests.”

My mother rubs the side of her head.

“Mind your language, Ben. Youʼre upsetting her. Canʼt you see that?” Clayton glares at me, rubbing my mother on the shoulder.

Iʼm this close to bringing up his own mother but I stop myself.

Thatʼs too much of a low blow, even for him.

“Itʼs alright, Clay” my mother pats his hand and faces me. “Look, sweetheart, I know this is quite a little shock for you and that's why youʼre reacting this way...”

Little?! Who invites their sonʼs ex-girlfriend out to join their family vacation?!

But I hold my tongue.

“Exactly why I didnʼt bother telling you about my plan—”

“To force Anika on me?” I canʼt stay quiet anymore.

“No oneʼs forcing anyone on you Reid” She frowns a little. “Listen, we all know Anikaʼs engagement was called off. And look at her, Reid. Sheʼs going through so much. So I decided to help her free her mind. Take a trip and relax a little before going back to the real world.”

“So your grand idea was to invite her over here where her ex-boyfriend has moved on with his fiancée? Thatʼs your way of helping, Mom?”

She frowns deeper.

“Listen to me, Reid. Anika needs to be around family and the people who love her.”

“But the last time I checked, weʼre not her family” I stand my ground.

“Oh for the love of God, Reid—”

“Itʼs okay, Portia” Anika speaks up. “When you told me I could come out here I told you it was a bad idea. I told you this would be your sonʼs reaction.”

“You expected me to react differently, Nikki?” I throw at her.

“Enough Reid!” my mother scolds, “Anika here is my guest and you will respect her!”

“No, Portia. Iʼve long overstayed my welcome. Iʼll just get a hotel and book the next flight back to Idaho.”

“You will do no such thing, Anika! I invited you here.”

“And itʼs not safe out there with you all by yourself” Clayton chips in.

“Okay so youʼll go with her to the airport then, Clay. Gentleman of the hour” I say.

My mother frowns at me.

“You would seriously throw her out, Ben?” Clayton asks, shaking his head.

“Itʼs not me throwing her out, Clay. Look Iʼm sorry but you shouldnʼt have come here, Nikki. Mom, this was not a good idea. Does Gammy even know about this?”

“No, but at least your grandmother wouldnʼt immediately suggest she leaves. After all, if she can tolerate that... thing you call a fiancée, Anikaʼs presence shouldnʼt be a problem because we all happen like her and she will continue to be the daughter-in-law of my choosing.”

I chuckle and nod.

“Right, right, Mom. Of course” I suck my teeth briefly. “Well if youʼll excuse me, Iʼll go get Mrs. Docherty to spruce up Claytonʼs room for the daughter-in-law of your choosing because Iʼve already chosen Lee, and nothingʼs going to undo that,” I say firmly and move up to pat my cousin on his shoulder, “Congratulations, man.” Then in a tone only he can hear, “You secondly deserve it.”

I squeeze his shoulder and step back.

“Cʼmon Hernan. Iʼm sure Gammy would love to see you.”

And without sparing anyone else another glance, I walk away.

Thank you for reading!
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Ciao
~the_atticwriter