Where You Least Expect It (16 page)

Six months later

M
aybe having Christmas dinner at the house hadn’t been such a great idea. A strand of hair hung over Penelope’s face as she stuck her gloved hand inside the turkey, grabbing out the gizzard, heart, liver and neck that the recipe card on the counter told her she needed to make the dressing. She moved to push her hair out of the way but found both gloved hands covered with gunk. She settled instead for blowing the strand out of the way, only to watch as it drifted down again, impeding her vision.

She’d never cooked a turkey in her life. And she was beginning to wonder if now was the time to start.

She eyed the bottle of cooking sherry on the counter and considered opening it, even though it was only eleven o’clock in the morning.

Laughter drifted in from the living room, chasing the grimace from her face and replacing it with a blissful smile. Aidan and Joshua were playing with all the gifts Santa had left under their tree that morning.

In the past six months she and Aidan—he’d decided to keep the name, softly telling her that his real name was connected to too many bad memories while his life as Aidan was bonded to only good—had gotten married at the courthouse with far more than the handful of people she had expected to be present. They’d moved Aidan and Joshua into Mavis’s old house, and, it seemed, within the blink of an eye the ramshackle structure had been transformed into something from a Norman Rockwell painting. When Aidan wasn’t working at St. Joe’s, he and Joshua were working on one of their many home projects. Everything had been painted, repaired, replaced and decorated. And while their house didn’t exactly match up with other houses, with its purple painted shudders and yellow stars etched into the porch railing, it was home. Their home.

And Penelope was happier than she’d ever been.

Or she would be if she could only get this blasted turkey in the oven so she could go join Aidan and Joshua in the fun.

“Do you need any help?”

Penelope glanced over her shoulder to find Aidan standing with his hands braced against the doorjamb, as if hesitant to come in. Not that she could blame him. She’d chased him from the kitchen no fewer than three times so far this morning.

She watched Joshua peek at her from behind Aidan’s hip, then push through into the room. He linked his small arms around her legs.

“Can I help, Popi?”

She glanced down at the munchkin who had brought so much sunshine to her and Aidan’s lives. Four-year-old Joshua was so generous and loving and such a happy boy despite all he’d gone through.

He was also a fellow Capricorn, which meant that she and he got along exceedingly well. And it also meant he had a birthday coming up, while hers had just passed.

She and Aidan had agreed that they should allow Joshua to decide if and when he would call her Mom. Which might be never, since he’d overheard Mavis call her Popi and had started calling her the pet name with great enthusiasm. But that was fine with Penelope. She was happy to include the little boy in her life, and she caught her breath when she saw the love in his deep blue eyes.

Penelope glanced at Joshua’s father, the outnumbered Scorpio. She smiled secretly, wistfully. What would he say when he discovered he was to be outnumbered again by one? Not by another Capricorn, but rather, by a little Leo?

Shortly after they were married, he’d gone and had the necessary surgery to clear the block that would have prevented them from adding to their family. Both of them had been too busy to talk about the possibility of her being pregnant over the past two months, but she’d confirmed last week that she was carrying his child, purposely holding off until today to tell him.

There was a brief knock on the front door, and they heard Mavis call out, “Is it safe to come in?”

After Aidan’s return to Old Orchard with little Joshua in tow, Mavis had decided that she liked staying with Edith O’Malley. Liked the action of the town. Liked that she didn’t have to wait until summer to wreak havoc on her neighbors.

And, Penelope supposed, the move probably made it easier for her to date Mayor Nelson.

“Grammy!” Joshua called out, releasing Penelope’s legs and throwing himself into Mavis’s arms when Aidan moved to let her into the kitchen.

It never failed to touch Penelope to see how well the two got along. It seemed that Mavis filled some sort of void in Joshua’s life, and he in return did the same for her.

“Merry Christmas,” Aidan said, giving Mavis a kiss on the cheek that made the old woman blush, then doing the same to Mrs. O’Malley, who as usual had come along.

“Careful or you’ll make me drop the bird,” Edith said, maneuvering around the logjam near the doorway.

Penelope blinked at her. “Bird?”

Mrs. O’Malley smiled at her, then took in the uncooked turkey on the counter. “First mistake all women make, sweetie. Tom should have been in the oven hours ago.”

Penelope stared at the recipe card, then turned it over. Her shoulders slumped and she sighed in frustration and annoyance.

Mrs. O’Malley put a pan down on top of the stove, then draped an arm over her shoulders. “Don’t worry about it. Stuff Tom in the fridge and I’ll help you make him later.”

Penelope smiled her thanks at the woman who had become like another grandmother to her.

“Humph.”

Mavis’s sound of disapproval pulled all gazes to where she stood in the middle of the kitchen, her too-thin arms crossed over her chest, staring at Penelope.

“What?” Penelope asked hesitantly, afraid of what her grandmother was up to now.

“Nothing. I’m just wondering when you planned to tell us all about what you already have cooking in your own little oven.”

Penelope’s mouth fell open. Her gaze flew to Aidan’s shocked face. How was it possible that she knew?

Mrs. O’Malley patted Penelope on the shoulder where she still had her arm around her. “Don’t worry. She doesn’t have X-ray vision or supernatural powers. We ran into Bernice at the General Store yesterday morning. She’s Dr. Tinsdale’s nurse, you know. Anyway, she shared the good news.”

Aidan slowly came to stand in front of Penelope, hope and love filling his rich brown eyes. “Is it true?”

“Is what true?” Joshua asked, pushing his way through the forest of adult legs so he could look up at Penelope.

She smiled down at him and rested her hand on his head. She looked back up at Aidan. “Yes,” she breathed. “In eight short months the Dekker family is going to grow to include one more.” Penelope crouched down so that she was eye level with Joshua. “And you’re going to have a little brother or sister.”

Joshua’s features were sober as he considered her. Then he grinned and said, “Cool!”

Aidan helped Penelope back to her feet and embraced her so tightly she couldn’t breathe. She laughed, returning the hug with equal intensity.

“Congratulations, Daddy. It looks like the operation was successful.”

Aidan waggled his brows at her. “You have no idea….”

He kissed her, which shoved every thought from her mind. Vaguely she registered Joshua saying, “There they go again,” then Mrs. O’Malley suggesting that maybe they should leave the two newlyweds alone. Then, as she heard footsteps leaving the kitchen, she heard Mavis retort, “Newlyweds? They’re not newlyweds anymore. They’re an old married couple with one kid already and another on the way.”

Penelope smiled as she cuddled closer to Aidan. “I like the sound of that,” she whispered to her husband.

He grinned back at her. “I do, too.”