Just One Dare (The Kingston Family 5)

“And do you? Love her, I mean?” Linc asked.

“Do you really think that’s any of your business?” But Nick took pity on the guy. “Aurora is all I can think about. She’s the only woman I’ve ever considered having a future with. We just…click.”

Linc tapped his feet on the floor. “I screwed up things with Jordan badly. She was in my life for years and I was blind to what she meant to me. Let’s hope Aurora didn’t inherit those stubborn genes.”

Nick hoped for the same thing.

* * *

Aurora sat on the small couch in Leah’s hospital room while Melly read to her daughter from a short book she’d brought with her. Aurora was grateful. Melly’s presence distracted Leah from thinking about her ordeal, and that distraction gave Aurora a much-needed break. She could sit and breathe for a few minutes. Of course, her thoughts were on Nick, who was downstairs with her family, which made her wonder if that ought to make her nervous.

Melly sat down beside her and sighed. “Poor baby. She’s so exhausted.”

They glanced at Leah, who’d fallen asleep, wheezy noises still coming from her chest. Thank God they weren’t as bad they’d been last night.

“You need to get some rest, too,” Melly said, running a hand over Aurora’s tangled hair in that motherly fashion that Aurora recognized. She did the same thing with Leah, even though she’d never experienced it as a child.

“Once we get home, I’ll sleep when she does,” Aurora said.

“Or you can let Nick come home with you and look after Leah while you take care of yourself. You won’t be any good to that child if you crash and burn.” Melly’s Chanel flats tapped against the hospital floor.

Aurora bit down on the inside of her cheek. “I could, but I don’t want to put him out. He’s been traveling and working hard for the last couple of days—”

Melly put her hand up, stopping Aurora mid-sentence. “Are you trying to make that man so exasperated he walks away?”

Aurora blinked. “What? No? I’m just telling you the truth.”

“Are you? Or are you being a martyr, doing everything yourself, so you don’t have to risk your heart?”

That was as blunt as Melly had ever been with her, and Aurora turned to face her in shock. “Why would you say that? I’m not a martyr.”

Melly took her hands in hers. “Can we agree that I’m the closest thing to a mother that you’ve ever had?”

Tears filled her eyes as she nodded.

“Then listen to me. I married a man I loved and he cheated on me. Repeatedly. Instead of divorcing him, I opted to keep my family together and ignore what he did behind my back.”

Even though Kenneth Kingston had been Aurora’s father, Melly had never spoken of him before. Not even when she’d graciously taken a pregnant Aurora into her home. She’d just moved in and they’d formed their own relationship. If it was odd that he’d been some sort of background spectre in their lives, gone but hovering between them, Aurora never let herself think about him. Her heart pounded hard and her mouth grew dry as she waited for Melly to continue.

“When Linc told me about you, I was horrified that Kenneth had abandoned you. And when I discovered what your mother had done? I was furious on your behalf. I took you in because you deserved to have the opportunity to have a good life. What do you think others thought?” Melly asked.

Aurora looked around the hospital room, at the painted flowers on the bland walls, anywhere but at Melly. “You took your husband’s mistress’s pregnant daughter into your home. I’m sure they thought you’d lost your mind.” Some had said as much.

Aurora recalled the baby shower Melly had thrown for her and the cruel words she’d overheard from some of Melly’s friends about the bastard child having her own bastard.

She shuddered at the memory. She’d been new to town, new to the family and had felt so out of place. But she’d been so grateful, she’d never said a word about it to Melly. The woman had done way too much for Aurora to ever complain or hurt her. But Aurora realized that Melly’s inner circle had grown smaller over the next couple of years.

“Aurora, look at me.”

She turned to meet Melly’s gaze and focused on the hands that now squeezed hers tighter.

“No matter what they said—and I was aware people would talk, by the way—I knew I’d be getting so much more out of my choice than they could understand. I got you, who I consider another daughter, and my first grandchild.”

“Oh, Melly.” Aurora threw her arms around her and hugged her tight. The other woman reciprocated. “I love you and I’m so grateful,” she said, telling her mother-by-chance the words for the first time.