The biggest surprise was my mother’s attendance and her date. Her date was only a year older than me and for the rest of the trip I had to deal with Dixon referring to my mother as a cougar. When I got her alone to talk to her about her new boy, she said she was having fun, enjoying life, and that they both cared for each other.
Viola had summed it all up after she squeezed every last breath from my mother in one long hug and exclaimed.
"Damn girl, you went and got you a young stud. I bet he has great stamina. He has great stamina, doesn’t he?" As my mother and Viola began that conversation, I quickly excused myself from the gory details.
Returning to the present, my teenage children's birthday party, my eyes landed on Viola. She stood next to Liam with a champagne flute in one hand, while the other slipped onto Liam's butt with a pat. Oh no.
Obviously, Viola hasn’t changed and I don't think any of us ever want her to. Her naughty side often appeared and seemed to do so more often with each passing year. It was evident, by the things Viola would say, that she and Liam were still as active as they had always been, though she did mention Viagra a few times.
Liam still worked with Aidan at AIS and was very much the man he had always been; a leader and a loyal friend. Aidan still looked to him as his father figure and his opinion only seemed to come second to mine. Liam was also extremely happy these days that they had Ryan. He finally had another boy in the house with him and he felt this evened out the estrogen levels.
Glancing back over to my husband, I caught him looking at me. A sly smile crept over his lips and a gleam of the kinky boy deep inside him flashed in his eyes. When I smiled, his face lit up in a brilliant smile. His smile made me wonder if he was planning another getaway for us.
On our seventh wedding anniversary we went back to the cottage Aidan had given me for our first anniversary. Aidan had made prior arrangements before we arrived. I walked into the large open room lit and warmed by fire and candlelight. There were seven dozen roses in different colors placed all around the cabin.
"Aidan." I gasped, then smiled.
His arms wrapped around me from behind.
"You like?" I could feel his breath against the back of my right ear. I nodded. He kissed my right cheek quickly. "Good." He walked us to the center of the room and that’s when I saw the pillows and blankets strewn about the floor in front of the fireplace.
We sat down with a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries. I sat to the right of Aidan, who was facing the fireplace, with my legs stretched out in front of me, my feet resting on his thighs.
"I have one more surprise for you." He smiled and stretched back to reach into his black leather bag.
He pulled out a manila envelope and pulled a stack of white papers from it. I wrinkled my forehead in confusion.
"What is all of that?"
Chuckling, he answered me.
"The Agreement." His eyes met mine and I half smiled over my champagne flute.
"What are you doing with that?" I laughed out after I took my sip.
"Well, I was thinking that we should officially rid ourselves of this." He leaned forward and aimed the papers for the fireplace. I grabbed his wrist quickly. The expression on his face when he quickly looked at me was confusion and shock. "What?"
"I don’t know…maybe…we should keep it." I took it from his hand and started to leaf through the paper, biting my lip.
"You don’t want to get rid of it?" He placed his hands on the bottom of one of my feet and massaged.
"God that feels good." Moaning at his touch, I put my head back for a second and then looked back up to his face.
"Aidan, this brought us together." I held up the agreement papers. "This is the start of us."
He released my foot and crawled up my body, until he was on all fours over me. Grabbing the papers, he tossed them into the fire.
"Those are not the start of us." He kissed me softly. "The moment that I walked into Dixon’s place and saw you dancing and singing in that tight blue shirt, short shorts, and those damn striped white socks, you had me. It just took me months to figure it out." He gave me gloriously brilliant smile before capturing my lips in a searing kiss.
The past fifteen years had indeed been a rollercoaster of emotions and trials, but it was all worth it. Watching our family and friends at the twin’s birthday party was a reminder of the hardships, but also of the greatness that was still happening.
The entire family was thrilled Maggie made it home from Dartmouth for the twin’s birthday. She surprised us by bringing Jason home with her and sporting a large engagement ring, especially after the two had split up before college, agreeing that a long distance relationship wouldn't work.
Viola and Liam were surprised but thrilled for their daughter. Aidan grumbled about her being too young. James and Elora congratulated them. Phoebe offered to design her wedding dress. Celia offered up all of her girls for flower girls. I simply hugged her tightly and then hugged Jason. The way he looked at her was like someone saw an angel.