Chapter Twenty-Three
On this early December afternoon, there wasn’t a single taxi waiting outside Vancouver International Airport. Taking her place third in line, Eden sighed impatiently.
It wasn’t raining, but the wet ground and the raindrops on passing cars told her it had been. No surprise; she’d learned that on the West Coast, bouts of rain were as predictable in fall and winter as spells of sunshine on summer days.
Finally, she climbed into a cab and told the driver her destination. Though the distance wasn’t far, the drive seemed to take forever.
When the cab pulled up at the seaplane dock on the Fraser River, Aaron stood waiting on the side of the road. He was so tall and handsome in jeans and his brown leather bomber jacket, a dramatic figure against the smoke-gray winter sky.
He opened the door for her and she almost tumbled out in her eagerness to be in his arms. They kissed hungrily until a cough broke the spell.
“Lady,” the driver said, “you want your stuff or not?”
She’d paid him as they approached the dock but had forgotten about her bags.
Laughing, Aaron pulled them out of the backseat and handed her purse to her, then looped the strap of her giant tote bag over his shoulder. He put his other arm around her and guided her to the ramp that led to the dock. “Fly away with me, Eden Blaine. No, wait, let me change that. Fly home with me.”
“There’s nothing I’d rather do,” she said fervently.
“I was beginning to wonder. You’re half an hour late.”
“There was a headwind and then no taxis.”
“Always an excuse,” he teased. “I’d almost think you didn’t want to see me.”
“No, you wouldn’t, because you hate being wrong.” She wriggled her shoulders, the tension of the past few days dropping away. “It’s good to be here. I love you so much, darling.”
“Same goes.” He squeezed her shoulders. “You got everything packed up?”
“The furniture’s all been dealt with, either in storage, to the auction house, or to charity.” For the time being, her parents and sister were in a guest cottage at SkySong, planning next spring to buy a house on Destiny. “The cleaners and gardeners did a wonderful job. The new owners are going to love it.” She felt a pang at the thought of someone else living in the house that had always been home to her, yet when she’d met the family who’d bought it, she’d had a good feeling about them. “It’s someone else’s turn to build happy memories there.”
She climbed into the Cessna, the only passenger on this special flight. As Aaron went through the now-familiar routine, a light drizzle started to fall. Soon they were motoring through choppy waves. When the little plane separated itself from the river and launched itself into the gray sky, Eden’s heart rose with it. The man she loved was flying her home.
“About tonight . . .” he said. “There’s good news and bad news.”
“Bad news?” Her pulse fluttered, but she took a breath and calmed herself. If anything bad had happened to her mom, he’d never break the news this way.
“The bad news is, you’re not going to get to spend the evening alone with me, making mad, passionate love. That’ll have to wait for a few hours.”
“Damn, and I was counting on it.” She was only half-joking. Being away from Aaron for five days had, despite phone sex, left her body and heart aching for him. “And the good news?”
“A family dinner at SkySong, to celebrate tidying up all the details in Ottawa and, uh, how did Di put it? Turning the page on that chapter of the book and fully committing to the next one. Something like that.”
“A celebration does seem to be in order. Mom feels up to it?”
“You’ve talked to her on Skype. She’s better every day.”
“Yes, thank God.” Her mom had finished chemo and was on hormonal therapy and also on a diet and exercise regimen prescribed by Di. She participated in a cancer support group on Destiny and, along with Kelsey, had joined a local art club. Her health was still fragile and she had some bad days, but on the whole Destiny Island was agreeing with her. With Eden’s dad, as well. He was doing part-time consulting with the charity he used to run and learning to golf.
As for Eden, she was excited about starting her new job in January. She’d be the lawyer and program director for Arbutus Lodge, where her friend Gertie Montgomery lived.
“I talked to Di before I left Destiny,” Aaron said. “Your mom’s having a nap, resting up for the fancy dinner, and Miranda and Fairy-ana are with Di and Seal, getting everything ready.”
“I love it that they all get along so well. Miranda’s doing better, too, isn’t she?”
“Seems so. She has her down days, but on the whole she’s more confident.” He glanced over, a smile crinkling his eyes. “Your mom’s hooked on Ariana. Don’t be surprised if she starts hinting about wanting a grandchild.”
“Oh my! Has she been doing that with you? I’m mortified.”
“No, it’s cute. I’m just glad she’s finally decided I’m a good guy.”
“You know it was never about you personally. It was what you represented: the idea that she might lose me.”
“I know. And instead, I led her to Di and to Destiny, and I helped bring you here, too. So I’m in her good books.”
“Where you deserve to be.”
Contentedly, she gazed out the window even though the usually spectacular scenery was partially obscured by the drizzle. As long as Aaron had sufficient visibility to fly, who cared what the weather was like? All the pieces of her world were falling so wonderfully into place.
Except for one niggling question. “Aunt Di and Uncle Seal still won’t say anything more about Merlin and Starshine.”
“You heard what Marlise said about the cornucopia of drugs at the commune. Some of those drugs fried people’s memories.”
“There’s more to it than that. They’re holding back. You’re a mystery reader, too. Can’t you sense they know something they’re not saying?”
“Yeah, maybe. But it’s their right. We may have to accept that we’ll never know the whole truth.”
“I hate it when a book ends like that.”
He chuckled. “You and your mom, the romance reader. You want your happy endings.”
“That’s the truth,” she said wholeheartedly. She really hoped she and Aaron were getting theirs and, perhaps even more than that, she hoped her mom won her battle with cancer.
Aaron pointed out the windshield. “There’s Blue Moon Harbor.”
They were approaching from the south, flying into the bay. The days were so short now that lights shone from every building in the village. “It looks so welcoming,” she said. “I love that it’s so small that I’m getting to know every business, every owner, every employee.” Her friendships with Iris, Marlise, and Gertie continued to grow, as well.
When Aaron had tied up the plane and helped Eden off, she pulled up the hood of her coat against the light rain. She expected him to hoist her tote, but instead, to her surprise, he got down on one knee on the dock. She caught her breath. “Aaron?”
He gazed up at her, his face and hair growing damp from the drizzle. “This would be better in sunshine. Or moonlight. I hadn’t planned on rain.”
“This?” Her voice quivered. “What’s this?”
“I love you, Eden. Well, you already know that. And you love me back. We’ve known each other six months now, and these have been some crazy months. But they’ve been the best ones of my life. I figure that if we can survive everything we’ve been through so far, we can do anything together.”
She gave a tremulous smile. Was he really doing what she thought he was?
“You told me right at the beginning,” he went on, “that what you value most in the world is your family. Well, I dream of us being family. I want to marry you, love you, and raise children with you. I want to be your friend and partner—and lover—for the rest of my life.”
He unzipped the pocket of his jacket and produced a small box, which he opened. Inside was a stunning ring, a band woven of gold and silver strands and studded with little diamonds that managed to sparkle even in this gray weather. “What do you say, Eden? Will you share my dream? Share my life?”
She stared into his soulful bluish-gray eyes, the lashes dotted with tiny raindrops almost as dazzling as the diamonds in the ring. “You are my dream, Aaron. Yes, I’ll marry you, love you, and build a family with you.”
Carefully, he took the ring from the box and slipped it onto her finger. Then he rose, giving her the sexy grin she loved so much. “Who’d have guessed, when I first flew you here, that this is how we’d end up?”
She smiled back, showing him all the love in her heart. “I suppose there’s no arguing with destiny.”