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  Would Joshua recognize him? What had he been told about the father who had been accused of his mother’s murder? Was he old enough to understand? Would Joshua want to see him? Or would Aidan be upsetting a carefree life that was much better without him?

  His fingers tightened on the steering wheel. Maybe it had been a mistake to come—

  The screen door slapped against its frame, and Aidan glanced up to find the woman standing in the doorway again…looking after a young boy who was darting out into the front yard with an older boy, both of them wearing ball mitts.

  Oh, God, he’s grown so much.

  And he was the spitting image of Kathleen.

  Aidan blindly reached for the door handle and let himself out of the car before he even realized he was going to do so, his gaze glued to the young figure lobbing a ball at the older boy. He met the young woman’s gaze through the screen door. She stiffened. He held up his hands, and all at once she seemed to realize who he was. She nodded her approval and hugged herself.

  Aidan’s knees seemed to weaken the closer he drew to the yard and the boys. Would Joshua understand that Aidan had sent him away for his own protection? Not just from his uncle, but from having to witness the possible arrest of his father? Would he see that what he’d done had been done out of love and a desire to see Joshua have a safe, stable family to love him?

  Would he recognize Aidan at all?

  “Joshua.” He murmured the boy’s name as the woman opened the screen door and called for the other child, likely her son.

  The towheaded younger boy watched his friend walk toward the house, puzzled, holding the ball tightly in his glove. Then he slowly turned toward Aidan’s voice.

  Aidan knew a moment of love, of fear, so great he nearly collapsed with the power of it.

  He doesn’t recognize me….

  He tried to reason it out. The lack of reaction was only natural. He hadn’t seen the boy for over a year. And Joshua had been only three then, barely aware of himself as a person, much less of anyone else.

  But the reality cut Aidan to the bone, creating in him a pain so deep, so acute that—

  “Dad?”

  At the sound of that one word, so simple really, Aidan’s legs threatened to give out on him. He dropped to his knees and held his arms out. “Joshua.”

  Joshua dropped the ball and mitt and slammed his young body against Aidan’s. Aidan enfolded him in his arms, holding him so tightly he was sure the poor kid couldn’t breathe.

  This little human being who looked so much like Kathleen was his blood, his kin, the only family he had left in the world.

  His son…

  Chapter Eighteen

  Fourth of July

  Penelope lingered on the fringe of the group of townspeople crowded into Lucas Circle. All around her people were busy playing carnival games, drinking free punch, listening to the sound of a local jazz band that had replaced the high school band two hours earlier. The sun had just set and soon it would be time for the fireworks display to begin in Old Man McCreary’s farm, just over the south skyline. Nearby, Mavis and Edith O’Malley sat on either side of the mayor, vying for his attention and getting it in spades, making the older man grin as if he’d been given his Christmas present early.

  But despite the festive atmosphere that she had helped create, Penelope felt as hollow as the papier-mâché sculpture of Uncle Sam that someone had erected near the fountain. She listlessly walked through the area where families were spreading blankets on the lush grass near the fountain or setting up chairs in the surrounding streets that had been closed off to traffic, kids of all ages tracing their names with glowing sparklers. She absently sat down on the concrete lip of the wall surrounding the fountain and looked up at the man-made stars in the trees above her, then at the real things in the sky above.

  She sighed wistfully. The busyness of the past two days ebbed away, leaving a void that held nothing but Aidan’s name.

  Where was he? she wondered. Was he thinking of her, just as she was sitting there thinking of him?

  “Great job on the decorations, Penelope,” Darby Parker Conrad Sparks said, passing by with her husband, John, her twin seven-year-old girls and a baby stroller.

  Penelope weakly smiled her thanks, trying not to stare at the twins, who were arguing over a lollipop.

  She wondered at the tremendous change her life had undergone in the past couple weeks. Where just last year—and every year before that—she and Mavis had barely recognized the holiday, much less celebrated it, now both of them were participating in the public celebration. Where they once might have caught a glimpse of the tops of the fireworks over the forest bordering their land, now they had the best seats in the house.

  And she would trade it all for just five more minutes alone with Aidan.

  She missed him so much sometimes that she feared her heart might collapse in on itself. This from a woman who had learned to rely only on herself for so many years. No friends. No family beyond her occasionally crazy grandmother. Only her shop and her dog, and the sporadic presence of the town cat.

  Now…

  Well, now that she knew there was oh-so-much more to life, now that she’d been touched by love’s magic brush, she longed to have everything.

  She’d never really seen herself as a mother. Never imagined herself a wife. Never considered living in a house that was truly hers.

  She thought about her brush with death, hanging over the same rocks that had taken her mother’s life—and she shivered. The temperature was warm but still she wrapped her arms around herself to ward off a chill. What had it been like for her mother, standing there staring at those rocks and thinking that there was nothing to live for? Not her mother, not even her young daughter? What had it taken to make her climb over that ledge and jump? And what had she thought of in those last moments before death took her? Had she even considered the solemn map that she was charting for her family? Had she regretted her action two seconds too late? Or had her last thought been of the man who had come to town? Penelope’s unnamed father who had swept Heather Moon off her feet, then left her, pregnant and alone, to face the future?

  Penelope looked down to find herself caressing her flat stomach. What she wouldn’t give to be pregnant with Aidan’s baby. To have something that was so solidly, undeniably his. A breathing reminder of the precious moments they had shared—

  “Penelope?”

  She looked up, a light sheen of tears blurring her vision. She had to have imagined Aidan’s voice. He’d left her two days ago with no promise to return. She blinked against the moisture that obscured the figure standing some ten feet away. Her heart skipped a beat. No, not one figure. Two.

  She wiped at the dampness on her cheeks. Her gaze dropped to the face of a boy of no more than four or five, with hair the color of corn at the peak of ripeness, looking at her with the biggest blue eyes she’d ever seen. She jerked her eyes upward to stare into Aidan’s face, understanding in that one moment why he’d had to leave her with no promise for tomorrow. He’d still had commitments that stretched to yesterday.

  She unsteadily rose to her feet as Aidan moved closer. His large hand was wrapped around the much smaller one, the boy moving easily, trustingly, with his father.

  “Hi,” she said, unsure as she stared into Aidan’s hopeful, loving eyes. She swallowed the emotion blocking her throat, then crouched down. “And who do we have here?”

  The boy shyly looked down, then back up. “My name’s Joshua Burford…I mean Dekker.”

  Penelope’s smile was quick and all-encompassing. She slowly extended her hand, watching in wonder and fascination as the young boy took it. “Well, hello, Joshua Burford Dekker. I’m Penelope Moon.” So small, so delicate, so sweet. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

  Something on his wrist caught her eye. She recognized the leather strap wrapped around his hand twice, the Greek eye twinkling under the white lights strung from the trees. She glanced up at Aidan to find such a look of pri
de and love on his face that it took her breath away.

  She reluctantly released her grip. She wanted to keep the small hand in hers forever.

  “My daddy says you’re going to be my new mommy.”

  “What?” she whispered, looking from the boy’s hopeful face to Aidan’s.

  Aidan chuckled softly. “I said I’d like it if Penelope would consider the position.”

  The boy tilted his head slightly, staring up at her. Then he nodded. “I’d like it, too.”

  Overwhelmed with happiness. Joy. Love. That’s how Penelope felt as Aidan looked at her.

  “So what do you say, Penelope? Would you like to become a member of the ragtag Dekker clan?”

  He held out a ring box.

  Max chose that moment to remind them of his presence, sticking his nose between them and sniffing at something on the front of Joshua’s shirt.

  “Oh, cool, a dog!” The boy enthusiastically patted Max’s head. “Is this Max?”

  Neither Penelope nor Aidan answered him. They were too busy gazing at each other. Not that it mattered. It seemed Max had found his match in energy as he tackled the boy to the ground. Joshua laughed and hugged the dog’s beefy neck, begging for mercy.

  Penelope honestly didn’t know what to say as the first of the fireworks shot up overhead. The townsfolk clapped their approval, as she and Aidan and Joshua and Max stood in the middle of them all, a part of them, yet separate. Alone, yet together. The town was a patchwork quilt woven of many colors and textures and styles.

  And looking at Aidan, Penelope could see their square come together with delicate ease.

  “Are you asking me to marry you, Aidan?” she whispered.

  His half grin made her toes curl in her sandals. “That’s usually what a ring like this means.”

  With a flick of his thumb he popped open the box. And there, nestled in black velvet, was a perfect oval sapphire in platinum.

  He began to get down on one knee, and Penelope knew a moment of panic. She wanted to tell him to get up before anyone saw him.

  Too late. She noticed that heads were beginning to turn away from the fireworks display and toward them.

  “Penelope Moon, will you marry me? Will you promise to love me as I love you? Will you love and care for my son and pack our lunches and help me with school fund-raisers and zany town projects? Will you fill my heart with happiness and my bed with—”

  Nearby, Mrs. O’Malley cleared her throat. Penelope noticed Joshua attached to Max’s neck but watching, wide-eyed and eager.

  “—flowers,” Aidan finished, sliding Mrs. Noonan a sly glance.

  Penelope laughed softly.

  “Flowers? Why would anyone want flowers in their bed?” Joshua asked, his face creased in a comic grimace.

  Penelope laughed again, unsure what to say, unsure if there really was anything she could say that would match the swell of emotion in her heart. But she was sure of one thing. That she and Aidan were meant to be together. And that the little boy next to them was a vital part of that love.

  “Yes,” she said simply. “Well, except for the making lunch part. You, um, may want to do that yourself.”

  Aidan rose and put the ring on her finger. Penelope marveled at it against her pale skin, then at him as he enveloped her in a hug. Max barked, and Joshua wound his skinny arms around them both, holding tight. The fireworks exploded, but there was a healthy round of clapping and hooting and whistling from spectators more interested in the couple near the fountain.

  Penelope hugged the two men who would be a part of her life. The one man she had grown to love, the other she had fallen in love with on sight. She caught a movement out of the corner of her eye and shifted her gaze to watch Spot twitch her tail, apparently in approval, then turn and disappear into the night.

  Epilogue

  Six months later

  Maybe 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.”