Grammy’s face lit up like a Fourth of July sparkler. “There’s my beautiful baby!” she exclaimed, drawing Emma into her strong embrace. Squeezing her tight, she said, “I’ve missed you so much, darlin’.”
“I missed you, too, Grammy.”
She pulled away and smiled. “You’re going to have to start coming up here more than twice a month. Your granddaddy and I get mighty lonesome for you.”
Emma giggled. “We talk every other day. Do I really need to come up that much more?”
“Yes, you do. Especially when the baby gets here.” She reached out to gently touch Emma’s swollen belly. “Look how big you’ve gotten!”
“Tell me about it. None of my clothes fit.”
“Well, consider yourself lucky you didn’t start showing right off the bat. Your mama had to have maternity clothes the second month she was pregnant with you!”
Emma smiled at the memory of her mother laughing about how she practically showed from conception.
“So how are you feeling?” Grammy asked, her brow creasing with worry.
“Better. Thank God the morning sickness stopped now that I’m out of the first trimester. I’ll get to find out what I’m having next week. I’m doing the early gender sonogram.”
Grammy’s beaming face grew even brighter. “Wonderful. Of course, I still say you’re carrying it like a boy.”
Emma glanced over at Aidan and grinned. “That would make Aidan’s father happy to hear you say that. He’s sworn since the moment I met him, it’s a boy.”
Grammy turned her intense green eyes on Aidan. “So this incredibly handsome and dashing man you’ve brought with you must be Mr. Fitzgerald?”
Heat rose in Emma’s cheeks both at her grandmother’s compliments and how she was to make the introduction. “Yes, this is Aidan. He’s…”
“The sperm donor?” Grammy questioned.
Aidan chuckled. “Yes, but in more ways than one.”
Grammy clutched her stomach and doubled over with laughter. When she recovered, she held out her arms for Aidan. “Well, come here and give me a hug, Mr. Sperm Donor.”
Emma watched in amazement as Aidan willingly hugged Grammy. She couldn’t believe how effortlessly he already seemed to be interacting with her family, considering how he had freaked out so much when she met his nephews and Patrick.
Patting Aidan’s back, Grammy said, “We’re so very happy to have you here with us for the weekend. I hope you’ll enjoy yourself.”
He gave her a dazzling smile. “Thank you, ma’am. It’s a pleasure to be here.”
Grammy wagged a finger at him. “As for fathering Em’s baby, there’s something I need to say about that.”
Emma chewed her bottom lip and threw a worried glance between her grandmother and Aidan. Her chest tightened in apprehension at what Grammy might say to him. If it was anything like the early phone calls and first visit she had with her grandparents about her unmarried pregnancy, Aidan was in for a severe tongue-lashing.
“Yes, ma’am?” Aidan asked pleasantly, but Emma couldn’t help noticing how he flicked Beau’s leash back and forth with nervous energy.
“Having a child on her own is certainly not what my husband or I wanted for Emma. We’d rather she had found a husband and then had children.” She shook her head sadly. “At one time, she had that. But then life hasn’t exactly been fair to Em. She deserves all the happiness in the world, and I know that nothing will make her happier than finally having her dream of motherhood come true.”
Tears filled Emma’s eyes at the overwhelming love and truth in her grandmother’s words. When she dared to look over at Aidan, he was smiling. “I couldn’t agree with you more, Mrs. Anderson. I’m just very grateful I got to help make Emma’s dreams come true.”
Grammy cupped Emma’s chin and smiled. “You’re positively glowing, sweetheart. I don’t think I’ve seen that look in your eyes since before your mother passed away.”
“Oh, thank you,” Emma replied, wiping away a tear.
Grammy patted Aidan’s arm. “So after all of that, I just want to thank you for making Emma so happy and in turn, her family as well.”
“You’re more than welcome, Mrs. Anderson.”
“Please call me Virginia.” She then made a tsking noise at the sight of some women carrying pans of food to the barn. “Oh dear, you’re gone for one minute, and people take it upon themselves to do everything. I better go make sure dinner isn’t a total disaster!”
Once she was out of earshot, Aidan exhaled noisily. “Well, that was certainly unexpected.”
“The warm welcome?”
Shaking his head, he slipped an arm around Emma’s waist. “No, I didn’t realize I’d be such a hero for knocking you up. Don’t they usually get the shotguns after you in these parts?”
Emma giggled. “Let’s just say it would be a whole lot different if we were teenagers.” She titled her head to gaze up at him. “Of course, I highly doubt the teenage Aidan would have given me the time of day.”
“You never know. I would have been very interested in corrupting you and stealing your virtue.”
Emma nudged him playfully. “Then Granddaddy and my uncles would have shot your most prized possession off.”
Aidan chuckled. “That would have been a tragedy.”
“Oh yes, you wouldn’t have been able to get me pregnant later on,” she mused.
He pressed his lips against her ear, causing her to shiver. “Or give you mind blowing multiple orgasms.”
“Aidan!” she squealed, shoving him away.
He laughed at her outrage. “You know I’m right though.”
A booming voice interrupted them. “Emmie Lou, get on over here and give me a hug!”
She rolled her eyes but smiled in spite of herself. “While Grammy might have been a piece of cake, Granddaddy is probably going to be a real pain in the ass about all this,” she said to Aidan. She felt him tense a little as he followed her over to where a silver headed man stood in faded jeans. “Granddaddy, when are you going to learn I’m a little too old for that nickname?”
He grinned. “Nonsense. You’ll always be my baby girl and my little Emmie Lou!”
Emma hugged him tight, closing her eyes in contentment as his familiar scent of peppermint and Old Spice filled her nose. “I’ve missed you.”