He pushed her shoulders back and cocked a bushy, silver eyebrow at her. “It’s been two whole weeks, Baby Girl! I’s about to send the boys down to the city to check up on you.”

“I’m sorry, but things have been a little crazy lately.” She noticed her grandfather’s gaze was no longer focused on her. Instead, he stared quizzically at Aidan. “Oh, Granddaddy, I want you to meet someone.” Grabbing Aidan’s hand, she pulled him forward. At the sight of their fingers intertwined, the congenial expression on Granddaddy’s face evaporated, much to her dismay, and was replaced by one of veiled anger. Emma couldn’t help noticing that Aidan’s forehead had broken out in beads of sweat not from the heat, but from Granddaddy’s intense glare. “This is Aidan Fitzgerald. He’s my baby’s father.” She smiled at Aidan. “And this is my grandfather, Earl.”

“Nice to meet you, sir,” Aidan said, his voice cracking slightly.

Earl shifted his chaw of tobacco and eyed Aidan’s hand. He reluctantly pumped it up and down. “Nice meetin’ ya.”

“Emma!” someone called. When she threw a glance over her shoulder, her cousin Dave waved.

“One second. I’ll be right back.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Aidan reluctantly let go of Emma’s hand. Frankly, he wanted to be a downright pansy and run after her. The last thing in the world he wanted was to be left with the old man. He shifted uncomfortably on his feet, wiping the sheen of sweat off his face with the back of his hand.

Earl spit out a stream of tobacco juice. “So you plannin’ on stickin’ around after the baby is born?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You gonna help out with raisin’ it?”

“Well, we haven’t really worked all that out yet.” As Earl’s expression darkened even more, Aidan quickly replied, “But I’m going to try. Honest, I am.”

Earl’s eyes narrowed. “What about marryin’ her?”

Aidan felt like he’d been kicked in the balls. He fought to catch his breath. Shit, if I answer this question wrong, this dude is seriously going to kill me. His mouth ran dry, and he licked his lips. Is it getting darker out here, or am I’m going to pass out?

“Son, you didn’t answer my question. Are you gonna marry my Emmie Lou or not?”

“Granddaddy!” Emma cried, her eyes wide with horror. Aidan wheezed in relief that he was momentarily off the hook.

“What darlin’? It’s an honest question.”

Emma flushed red from her cheeks down to her neck. Even her bare shoulders were tinged. “No, it isn’t. Aidan and I are comfortable with the arrangement we have. If we get ready to change anything, we’ll let you know, but until then, we don’t want to feel any pressure, okay?” When her gaze flickered over to Aidan’s to see if he was okay with her answer, he nodded.

Earl kissed the top of Emma’s head. “Fine, Baby Girl. I won’t mention it again.” He gave Aidan one last smoldering look of disgust before strolling away.

“He’s just messing with you,” Emma said. When he didn’t reply, Emma reached over and rubbed his arm. “You aren’t really afraid of him, are you?”

He glanced back at Earl. Surrounded by four of his grandsons, he sat whittling on a stick. The long blade of his knife gleamed in the sunlight causing Aidan to shudder. “Hell yes, I am! I know he seems like your sweet little grandfather, but the man could end me if he wanted, probably with his bare hands. And I’m sure your uncles and cousins wouldn’t mind helping him bury me in a shallow grave.”

The corners of Emma’s lips turned up. “You aren’t serious?”

He snorted. “Frankly, I’m a little scared to go to sleep tonight for fear he’ll sneak in my room and whittle my dick off for getting you pregnant.”

“That would be a tragic loss now wouldn’t it?”

“Oh yes, it would.”

Emma giggled. “It’s not just about me being his only daughter’s child or his baby granddaughter or the typical grandfatherly/fatherly protecting me from the Big Bad Wolf aka men stealing my virtue.” Her amused expression turned dark. “He’s taking my pregnancy a little harder than Grammy because he’s old-fashioned. Being a deacon at his church, he’s never going to be able to accept that I’m bringing a ‘bastard’, so to speak, into the world.”

Aidan sucked in a sharp breath and narrowed his eyes. “He actually said that to you?”

“Not in those exact terms, but yes.”

“That’s a hell of a way to think about his great-grandchild.”

“Yeah, well, your father felt the same way. Remember how he wanted to give the baby his name?”

“That’s true,” Aidan relented.

The clanging of a bell interrupted them. Aidan whirled around to see Virginia holding an old cowbell. She grinned. “All right everybody! Dinner time!” she shouted, motioning towards the barn.

“Hungry?” Emma asked.

“Famished.” He grinned and draped his arm over her shoulder. “I worked up quite an appetite this afternoon.”

Her mouth dropped open before she elbowed him in the gut. “You’re terrible!”

“You know you love me,” he teased.

When she stiffened slightly, he knew he had said the wrong thing. His loaded words had a different connotation than what he intended. Quickly, he tried recovering. “I mean, what’s there not to love about a foul mouthed pervert who is always looking for the sexual innuendo in life, right?”

“Exactly,” she replied, with a grin.

Aidan’s couldn’t stop his jaw from dropping when they reached the barn. The outside rustic appearance was quite deceiving when it came to the inside. All the stalls had been cleared out to leave one giant room. There were ten to twenty round tables set up with folding chairs. In the center of the room, a small, wooden stage rose from the ground where several guys were tuning their instruments.

“Pretty cool, huh?” Emma asked.

“I had no idea you guys took it this serious.”

“Yep. There’s even a small kitchen in the back, too.” She giggled at what he assumed was his bewildered expressions. “With as much extended family as I have, we needed a place where we can all get together.”

“Jesus, I don’t think I even know this many people, least of all be related to them,” he mused, as she steered him toward the food table.