“I loved it.”
“Aiden?”
“Yes?” Was she going to tell him to kiss her again? Anytime would be his answer.
“Is there any hope of a future … for us?”
Aiden’s gut clenched. He remembered—had it only been yesterday morning?—telling her that there wasn’t any hope. He felt like so much had changed since then. Yet had it? Long distance and a relationship with a SEAL would be tough enough, but add in her intense and demanding career and who knew when they’d ever see each other? He’d happily take any FaceTime calls, but never being physically in the same place would probably kill the relationship pretty quickly. He didn’t want to let fear and uncertainty rule, but unless one of them got a change in calling from heaven above, he didn’t know how to proceed.
He opened his mouth, not even sure what to say. Should he claim they’d make it work? Should he admit he was falling in love with her? Should he tell her she was incredible but they had no future?
A door slammed downstairs and a whoop, then a yell, “Ding dong, the witch is dead!”
Aiden exchanged a look with Melene, but the churning in his gut told him he’d soon get the answer to his apprehension.
Footsteps pounded up the steps and Thor yelled, “Greer! Get your butt out here. You’ll want to hear this.”
Greer’s door opened below as Thor ran up to Aiden and Melene. He grinned at them. “Sorry to interrupt, but I think you’d all like to know …” He paused dramatically and waited until Greer reached the top steps and raised his eyebrows expectantly. “Just got a call from Papa. General Carl Phillip has been confirmed killed in a training exercise. Ha! Friendly fire got the son of a gun.”
Aiden eased back from Melene, stunned, relieved, and oddly sad. This was it. He’d known something was coming. It was a mixed bag of blessing and curse. Phillip was dead. He and Melene’s time together was done. He’d known it would come eventually, but … so soon? She blinked up at him and he could see she was feeling the same.
“Truly? He’s gone?” Aiden asked.
“Yep. Poor, poor King Frederick, losing his best support financially and otherwise.” Thor seemed unable to wipe the smile off his face. “You know what this means, right, bro?”
“Melene is safe.”
“Well yeah, for sure. The bounty has been retracted by Phillip’s brother, a Duke of some sort in England. He claims he’d never want to hurt an innocent American, but he obviously doesn’t want a bad rap with his own government or the media, or to lose any of his inheritance money. What the Brits don’t confiscate or Frederick hasn’t already stolen.” He winked. “But the best part … you two can come to my wedding! Mostly importantly, I can get there.”
Aiden smiled. “That is awesome news.” He was thrilled he could be there for Thor when there were many times he hadn’t been. He was happy Melene could go see her family. But he hated the thought of parting ways. No, hate wasn’t strong enough. He abhorred the very thought of it.
Please help us through this, please give me the faith that’s gotten me through so many hard spots, he begged heaven above. Then he had to quickly add, And thank you so much for keeping us safe and setting Melene free and freeing the world of evil like General Phillip.
He stared into her gorgeous dark eyes. She was as conflicted as he was. Neither of them had expected to fall this hard and fast. Could the way they both felt about each other change their future? He didn’t know, but he honestly didn’t see a different path for either of them than what they’d been walking before he rescued her.
Saying goodbye to her was going to shred him from the inside out. He should start distancing himself now. What a kick in the pants.
Fear not, I am with thee, played through his mind. But what could his faith do in this situation? Faith couldn’t get Melene to stop doing charitable missions or him to quit the SEALs. Not when they’d both felt called to their life’s paths by heaven above. Faith couldn’t magically marry them and give them time to build the deep trust and love they’d need to sustain a challenging marriage with all-encompassing careers in this cynical and physically and spiritually dangerous world.
Fear not? Usually he could find a way to trust, even in the darkest of circumstances. But tonight, he had to admit … he was terrified of losing Melene.
ChapterFifteen
Melene had a hard time settling down, but she finally crashed in the early hours of the morning and was able to get a few hours’ sleep before they drove to the airport at seven a.m. and took a chartered jet back to Colorado. Thor complained that Aiden had been pacing the room above him all night. Aiden didn’t even fire back. She wondered why he hadn’t slept, and then he either dozed throughout the flight or pretended to sleep.
She couldn’t blame him for being tired after two nights of no sleep and rescuing and protecting her, but oh, how she wanted to have him answer her question. Did they have hope of a future? She couldn’t come up with an easy or foolproof scenario for being together, but she didn’t want to let him go. She was willing to let go of the fear of what the future might hold and try to carve a relationship with Aiden into her story. She was ready to make him the foundational block of her story, right next to her faith in the Savior. If only he’d be willing to answer her question and figure out where they could go from here.
They landed at a private airport near Denver and their families surrounded them. Melene was thrilled to hug her parents, her sisters, and her grandmother, but Aiden was far too somber, and he only had time to give her a quick hug and tell her goodbye before they were whisked into separate vehicles with their own families for the drive to Summit Valley. When her parents turned into their home on the east side of the valley and his family’s vehicles kept going, she had to stop herself from crying. There had been something in his blue eyes she hadn’t liked when he’d said goodbye. She didn’t even like the word goodbye. Why not “see you later”?
The next couple of days passed slowly, with no sign of Aiden. It was wonderful to spend a couple days with her family, but she had to neatly sidestep questions about Aiden from her boy-crazy youngest sister Abigail. Worse, she ached for Aiden and couldn’t understand why he hadn’t come for her. It hurt.
Could their relationship have just been a fling for him? True, the fire had been a quick flame and sometimes those burned out fast, but her feelings for him were stronger than ever.
As she evaluated and reevaluated each moment, especially their kisses, she realized she didn’t understand the meaning of “hard to get.” She’d been far too willing and probably pushy. She had initiated, or asked for, every kiss they’d shared. He’d told her originally they couldn’t have a future and he’d never amended that, despite how wonderful, sweet, and perfect he’d been to her and for her. It all boiled down to him not falling for her like she’d imagined. She knew hurt and pain would be in her future loving a Navy SEAL. It had been a risk she thought she’d been willing to take. She just hadn’t foreseen it would happen this quickly and while they were still in the same zip code.
The evening of Thor and Shelly’s wedding finally came. She’d been away from Aiden for close to forty-eight hours. She wasn’t trying to whine and complain, but inside she was. Had he been too busy with his family and wedding preparations, or had he not wanted to come for her? Maybe his mom wouldn’t let him out of her sight. Who knew? The excuses she conjured up for him seemed thin.
She should praise heaven above that General Phillip was gone and that she was safe. She’d contacted her boss, Avalyn Shaman-Hawk, and they’d chatted for an hour. She loved Avalyn and really appreciated the strings her boss had pulled when she learned a few hours later they’d created an opening in Costa Rica for her.