The Proposal Read online

  “In the eighteen months since I lost Jade, I could never imagine ever wanting to date another woman again.” He smiled at her. “Until today.”

  “But why me?”

  “Why not?”

  “You do realize I’m six months pregnant right?”

  “I’ll tell you the same thing I did Mr. Fitzgerald’s son when he mentioned it.”

  Emma’s cheeks burned at the mention of Aidan. She didn’t even want to begin to imagine what the conversation had been like between Patrick, Aidan, and Pesh. Her mortification was interrupted by Pesh squeezing her hand. “The fact you’re pregnant has no bearing on how beautiful you are outwardly or the kindness that radiates from within you.”

  Unblinking and not breathing, she stared at him in disbelief. How was it possible that a handsome, successful, compassionate man was interested in dating her when she was six months pregnant with another man’s child? “Pesh, I’m very grateful for your flattering compliments, but my life is so very complicated at the moment.”

  “And I’m not helping matters with my amorous declarations, am I?”

  She gave him a sad smile. “You’ve been through so much that you deserve true happiness. I have to be totally honest when I say I just don’t know if I have anything to give you at the moment.”

  Pesh tilted his head to one side in thought. “What if we just tried getting to know one another as friends and see where it goes? I know you’re not going to be able to get out and about much in the next few weeks, so I could come and do house calls. You know, check your vitals.” He momentarily grimaced. “That sounds completely stalkerish, doesn’t it?”

  “No, I—”

  “It’s been so long since I was in the dating game. I’m sure I’m saying and doing everything that is a major turn-off.”

  Emma gazed at his drop dead gorgeous face and wondered how he could ever turn any woman off. “I would love to have you come and check on me.”

  His eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Really?”

  She nodded. “I’m sure after a few days stuck inside, I’d love the company as well as the medical expertise.”

  A pleased smile cut across Pesh’s face. “I would like that very much.”

  “Me too.”

  The pager on Pesh’s belt went off. “Guess that means I better head out.” He rose up from the chair. “So I look forward to seeing you sometime this week.”

  “But how will you—”

  Pesh held his hand up. “Mr. Fitzgerald has already taken care of that.”

  Emma rolled her eyes but smiled in spite of herself. “Why am I not surprised?”

  He laughed. He once again took her hand in his and then brought it to his lips. “You better promise to take very good care of yourself.”

  Finding it hard to breathe, she could only murmur, “I will.”

  He then turned and went to the door. Just before he slipped out of it, he gave her one last wave. Once she heard the door click shut, her head fell back against the pillows. Shaking her head, she couldn’t believe the insanity of the day’s events. If anyone had told her the day before a gorgeous man would be asking to go on a date with her, she would have told them they were out of their mind. The same could be said for everything that had transpired at dinner with Aidan from his admission about Amy to his desire for her forgiveness.

  Exhausted from the day’s events, she closed her eyes and tried to block out all of her out-of-control thoughts and fears.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Around three in the morning, Emma’s full bladder woke her up. As she swung her legs out of the bed, she froze. Warmth spread through her chest at the sight of Aidan fast asleep in the chair. Sometime during the night he had come back so she wouldn’t have to stay by herself. Her heartbeat accelerated at how much he truly cared for her. Any thoughts of Pesh vanished from her mind as she sat on the bedside staring at Aidan.

  His neck hung forward at a precarious angle, and she knew he would have a terrible crick in it. She stood up on her wobbly legs and leaned over him. “Aidan,” she murmured, bringing her hand to his cheek.

  “Hmm?”

  “Wake-up.”

  His eyes snapped open, and he sprung up so fast he almost lunged into her. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

  She smiled. “I’m fine. I just needed to go to the bathroom, and you were about to break your neck sleeping that way.”

  Wincing, he rolled his shoulders. “You should get a nurse to do a bed pan and stay off your feet.”

  She snorted. “I’m not that helpless, thank you very much.”

  Amusement twinkled in his eyes. “Want me to carry you?”

  “Absolutely not! The last thing I need is my soon-to-be caregiver to get a hernia from trying to lift me.”

  “Em, you would not give me a hernia,” he replied.

  “Whatever,” she murmured before padding into the bathroom. After she finished and washed her hands, she came out to find Aidan already asleep again and snoring slightly.

  Shaking her head, she slipped back into bed. She felt like she had barely closed her eyes when she felt someone’s breath warming her cheek. “Em, wake-up sweetheart.”

  Fluttering her eye-lids, she saw Aidan hovering over her. “What time is it?”

  “Six. I wanted to let you know I was going upstairs to be with Pop before his surgery.”

  “Okay. Tell him I love him, and I’m praying for him.”

  “I will.” He hesitated a moment before leaning over to kiss the crown of her head. “I hate to leave you.”

  “No, you need to be with your dad.”

  “I’ll be back just as soon as I can.”

  Emma nodded. When he turned for the door, she said, “Aidan, wait.”

  He whirled around with his eyebrows cocked, waiting for her response. “I just wanted to say thank you for staying with me last night. It really means a lot that you didn’t leave me alone.”

  He smiled. “Although you don’t need to say thanks, you’re more than welcome.”

  When he closed the door behind him, Emma laid her head back against the pillows. In no time she was asleep again until the morning breakfast trays came rumbling around on their carts. Along with the morning meal came another nurse to check her vital signs. Emma was forcing down some of the hospital’s rubbery bacon and overcooked eggs when her hospital room door swung open. “Morning sunshine!” Casey said, sweeping inside.

  “Good morning.”

  “I brought you something comfortable to go home in…well, I guess I should have said something to go to the douchenozzle’s place.”

  Emma rolled her eyes. “How did it go last night?”

  “Fine. I managed not to maim him or draw blood.”

  “I’m glad to hear you didn’t cause any more physical harm. Did you spare him emotionally as well?”

  Casey grunted as she plopped down in the chair. “I probably said five words to him tops.” Gazing around the room, she asked, “Speaking of, where is the douchecanoe this morning?”

  Emma grunted in frustration before replying, “He’s with his sisters waiting to see how Patrick’s surgery goes.”

  “Ah, I see.”

  She had just opened her mouth to tell Casey about Aidan staying the night when Pesh entered the room. “Morning. I just wanted to check in to see how you were feeling before I started my shift.”

  Emma bit down on her lip to keep from laughing at Casey’s expression. Open-mouthed and wide-eyed, Casey drank in Pesh’s appearance from his head down to his toes. When he glanced at her, he thrust out his hand. “I’m Dr. Alpesh Nadeen.”

  “C-Casey Turner,” she replied.

  “She’s my best friend,” Emma informed him as Casey kept staring.

  “It’s very nice to meet you.” Side-stepping Casey, he came to Emma’s side. “I’m hoping you won’t think it was completely inappropriate, but I snuck a little peek at your chart this morning.”

  “You’re a total stalker,” she teased.

  Pesh
grinned, causing dimples to appear in his cheeks. “Well, with that said, everything looks good. I think once you take it easy these next fourteen days, you’ll be fine for the rest of your pregnancy.”

  “I hope so.”

  “Have faith. It’s all going to be just fine.” Once again his pager interrupted them. He glanced down at it and scowled. “Guess I better get downstairs.”

  “Thank you so much for coming by.”

  He nodded. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, and we’ll iron out our dinner plans.”

  “Dinner?”

  He cocked his dark eyebrows at her. “You didn’t think I would just come check your vitals and run out the door, now did you?”

  Emma felt her cheeks warming at the insinuation. “Well no, but—”

  He held up a hand and smiled. “We’ll talk about it later.” He turned to Casey. “Nice meeting you.”

  “Yes, nice meeting you too,” she replied, her gaze honing in on his ass as he walked out the door. Once they were alone, she whirled back to Emma. “Holy shit, Em! You have precisely five seconds to fill me in on who the hell Dr. McDreamy Bollywood is!”

  Emma laughed and then she proceeded to tell Casey everything. Once she was finished, Casey shook her head slowly back and forth. “Wow…I mean…just wow.”

  With a dreamy sigh, Emma said, “Tell me about it.”

  “So are you going to give him a chance?”

  Emma shrugged. “Maybe.”

  “I think a man like that warrants a little more than a ‘maybe’.” Casey gazed longingly at the door Pesh had only moments ago exited. “I mean, incredibly good looks aside, the man is compassionate and caring…and completely the opposite of the commitment-phobic dirt-bag.”

  “I’m already too stressed, Case. I can’t throw in a potential new man to the mix right now.” When Casey started to protest, Emma shook her head. “Besides, I’m still not sure I’m ready to move on from Aidan.”

  Casey rolled her eyes. “Seriously? You’re going to let your feelings for the douchenozzle screw up a potentially amazing soul-mate?”

  “Aidan is the father of my child. I’ll always love him for that fact alone, but there’s still so much between us.” At Casey’s tight lipped expression, Emma said, “There’s no easy black and white here, Case. It’s all grey. Besides what I still feel about him, his actions in the last twenty-four hours are very endearing. He’s risking his job to take care of me. He came back last night so I wouldn’t be alone. He’s begging and pleading for my forgiveness. I can’t just ignore that.”

  Casey’s shoulders drooped in defeat. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

  “I know you don’t. And trust me, neither do I. But I have to at least let him try and see this thing through, or I’ll always regret it.”

  Casey started to protest but was interrupted by Emma’s phone buzzing. She glanced down at it. “Aidan’s on his way up.”

  Casey wrinkled her nose. “I better get a move on, or I’ll be late to work.”

  “Hold down the fort for me while I’m gone.”

  She grinned. “Will do. You just make sure to take extra good care of yourself and Mr. Noah, so you can get back as soon as you can.”

  Emma smiled. “I sure will try.”

  Casey leaned over and gave Emma a quick hug and a kiss. “I’ll be over to see you soon.”

  “Good.”

  As Casey started out the door, Aidan breezed in. He flinched and pushed himself as far away from her and her pocketbook as he could. “Easy Big Papa, your boys are safe this morning.”

  He sighed in relief. “I’m glad to hear it. They’re still a bit traumatized from last night.”

  Throwing a glance over her shoulder, Casey winked at Emma. “Bye.”

  Emma waved before turning her attention to Aidan. “How’s Patrick?”

  “Good,” Aidan replied.

  Emma sighed in relief. “Thank God.”

  “You’ll be happy to know the first thing he did when he got back to his room was ask about you.”

  Tears welled in Emma’s eyes. “Really?”

  Aidan nodded. “He said to give you and Noah his love, and he would be over to see you just as soon as he got sprung out.”

  Emma laughed and wiped her eyes. “That’s so sweet.”

  “Yes, sweetness runs in the Fitzgerald DNA, especially with the males,” Aidan mused.

  She shot him an exasperated look. “Isn’t it a little early for you to be this cocky?”

  Aidan chuckled as a nurse came into the room with Emma’s discharge papers. Once she had signed everything, Aidan said, “Guess that means we get to hit the road, huh?”

  Emma nodded and started to get out of the bed. “As soon as I change clothes and run a brush through my hair.”

  Aidan’s brows furrowed. “Don’t stand too long while you’re changing. Sit on the edge of the tub or the toilet seat.”

  Emma huffed out an exasperated breath. “Are you going to be this overprotective when we get to your house?”

  He bobbed his head. “Yep, at least until I know you and Noah are out of the woods.”

  Her frustration evaporated a little at his sincerity. “Okay, okay, I’ll sit down while I get dressed.”

  After she padded into the bathroom, she happily tore off the hospital gown and then threw on the yoga pants and long sleeve shirt Casey had brought. She then slid her somewhat swollen feet into the size bigger tennis shoes she recently had to purchase. She pulled her long hair back into a ponytail.

  When she was done, she came out to find a nurse waiting with a wheelchair. She eased down in it while Aidan grabbed the bag Casey had brought along with her purse. The nurse then wheeled her down the hallway to the elevator. “Make sure you read your discharge papers about what to do and not to do. It also indicates when you need to go back to see your doctor.”

  Before Emma could respond, Aidan replied, “I’ll make sure she does.”

  The nurse gave Aidan a big smile. “I bet you’re going to take very good care of her.”

  “Yes, ma’am. I’ll be giving her lots of TLC.”

  When Emma cocked her head at him, he winked. Once they got to the lobby downstairs, the nurse said, “We’ll wait here while your husband goes and gets the car.”

  Emma made a slight strangled noise while Aidan skidded to a stop. “Um, okay,” she finally squeaked.

  Aidan cut his eyes over to her before jogging out to the parking lot. It didn’t take him long to return with the car. “Good luck,” the nurse said before she closed the car door.

  “Thanks,” Emma replied. She quickly buckled her seat belt and turned to Aidan. “Okay then.”

  As they pulled out of the parking lot, Aidan said, “There’s someone else who is very anxious to see you.”

  “Oh?”

  He took his gaze off the road and grinned at her. “Beau.”

  Emma laughed. “I hope you brought him home last night.”

  “I thought his home was your house?”

  “His original home.”

  “Ah, then yes, I did. Of course, he kept circling through the rooms looking for you.”

  “Poor baby.”

  “I’m sure he’ll be more than ready to share your bed and your leftovers when you get there.”

  She grinned. “I hate sleeping alone, so I’ll be thrilled to have him as my bed buddy again.”

  Aidan opened his mouth to say something but then closed it.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Nothing.”

  Since she sensed his comment dealt with offering his services as her bed buddy, she decided to drop it. When they turned on Aidan’s street, Emma’s chest clenched as she was enveloped by a mixture of both happy and painful memories. As he pulled into the driveway, she couldn’t help but flashback to the night she had found both his car and another’s.

  When he killed the engine, he glanced over at her. “Why don’t you sit tight while I go unlock the door, so you don’t have to wait?”
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br />   She shot him a look. “Aidan, I think I can stand for two seconds while you open the door.”

  “Fine,” he grumbled.

  She couldn’t believe how extreme he was taking her bed rest. One minute it was infuriating and the next it was endearing. She just hoped her hormones would allow her to appreciate him rather than verbally berate him.

  The next thing she knew Aidan had moved like lightning from the car and through the garage, so by the time her slow-moving form reached the door, he had it unlocked and opened. “Nice footwork, Speedy,” she remarked.

  “You’re welcome.”

  Beau came yipping into the kitchen. “Hey boy, did you miss me?” He whined and then nudged her belly. “Aw, we’re both okay. I just have to take it easy,” she informed him.

  “Speaking of taking it easy, let’s get you on to bed.”

  “You’re so bossy,” she replied as she padded down the hallway.

  When she entered Aidan’s bedroom, she gasped. The quilt Grammy had made her when she was a little girl was draped over the bed while the antique silver framed pictures of her parents sat on the nightstand. Her glider and ottoman rested to the right side of the bed. She turned back to him, unable to hide her surprise. “Did Casey suggest this?”

  “No,” he murmured.

  Her heartbeat broke into a wild sprint. “You mean, you did this? For me?”

  “Yeah, I did.” Aidan rubbed his neck furiously when she continued staring at him. “Casey got your essentials and all, but I thought you needed some things to make you feel more at home here. Even if you say you aren’t staying long.”

  She couldn’t breathe, let alone speak. Oh God, why did he have to be so amazing? Every time he did something caring and compassionate, it almost broke her heart, instead of warming it. It was like throwing it in her face once again that besides the one glaring mistake he had made, at his very core, he was a good man—one who deserved to earn her forgiveness.

  Emma took a few tentative steps over to him. Standing before him, she stared into his questioning blue eyes. She leaned in and gave him a hug. “Thank you, Aidan. This means so much to me.”

  He quickly wrapped his arms around her. She closed her eyes and let the feeling of comfort and even love wash over her. His warm breath tickled the skin on her earlobe. “I’m glad you like it. I want to do anything and everything I can to make you happy.”