Page 33 of Waggs

The wind blew across her skin as she sat in Amy and Ben Wagner’s back yard a week later. She’d been a little surprised to get the call from Amy to come over for coffee but not hugely. They had grown close after AJ was born. Amy had become the mother she didn’t have and had been there every step of the way, showing her how to be a mom to AJ and cheering her on from the side lines.

She didn’t know what she’d have done without her and the thought of losing her because of her relationship with Aiden frightened her. Willow loved Aiden deeply. Just a look from him and her heart flipped over with excitement. The last few weeks had been perfect, and she never wanted it to end but for that to happen, she knew their relationship had to come out.

Willow also didn’t want Aiden to lose his parents again. He’d already lost so much, and she wasn’t sure anyone who wasn’t a twin would be able to understand the bond the two men had. They were more than brothers; they were a unit and with one gone, the other struggled to function properly as a whole.

Aiden’s words about AJ giving him a part of Aaron he’d thought he’d lost had forced a lump to clog in her throat, so she’d had to swallow it down. How could she tell him that AJ might be his? Whatever the outcome, he’d be hurt. She knew he loved AJ as his own and seeing them together was bittersweet. If he was his father, then that piece of Aaron was gone forever, and if he wasn’t, then she realised that could hurt too because Aiden loved AJ like a son.

“Here you go.”

Whipped out of her thoughts. Willow turned and took the mug of coffee from Amy with a smile. AJ was playing on the slide in the back yard and, with Decker out front, she was safe here while Aiden and Liam carried out a job so covert, he wouldn’t share the details of it.

“Thanks, Amy.”

“My pleasure, sweetheart.”

Amy settled herself down in the chair beside her as she’d done a thousand times, both watching the little boy who had mended their hearts play. “Thank you for bringing my boy back to me.”

Willow blinked as she looked at Amy. “I don’t think that was the plan when I ran.”

Amy pinned her with eyes so very much like her sons. “I don’t mean physically. I mean giving me back the warm joy I see in his eyes.”

Willow blushed and tried to think of a way to explain without sharing the truth. “I don’t see a difference.”

“When you’re a mother you learn the differences between your children. Even as boys I could see them. Aaron was always easy to smile but he’d get moody when he was worried about something. When he met you, I saw the love he had for you in the way he’d smile when you walked in a room, so open so alive.”

Willow felt the burn of tears hit the back of her nose as Amy spoke of her son.

“Aiden was different, quieter, more in tune with people. He’d hold his feelings close, but he was the most thoughtful boy and would do anything for anyone.” Amy turned to her then with a soft sad look. “Even hide how much he was in love with his brother’s fiancée because he didn’t want to hurt people.”

Willow felt the sob escape her and tears fall down her face.

“Both my sons loved you and I know you loved Aaron. I do but he’s gone, and I’d do anything in this world to change that because it breaks my heart every day I wake up and face it without him. But Aiden is alive, and he loves you. He’s always loved you and I know you love him too.”

Willow gripped Amy’s hand tight as the two women cried. “I didn’t mean to.”

“Oh, my sweet girl. I know that and I don’t blame you. How can I when they’re both wonderful men. And you’ve given me so much. My wonderful grandson, who I adore, and now my Aiden is smiling again.”

Willow felt herself pulled into Amy’s arms and held on as she let the guilt of loving two men leave her. Taking the tissue Amy handed her, she wiped her eyes and composed herself. She must look a right state with red eyes and blotchy face after that ugly cry. A laugh escaped her as she looked at the woman who had become a parent to her too. “I guess I have a type.”

Amy laughed and wrapped an arm around her. “You certainly do and what a type it is.”

“Seriously, Amy, I never meant to fall in love with them both and I know it looks like I must have loved one more than the other, but I didn’t. What I felt for Aiden never took away from what I felt for Aaron.” She shredded the tissue in her hands. “If he were alive still, I’d be with him but that doesn’t make Aiden second best. If we’d met first, I have no doubt that the situation would’ve been reversed.”

“Do you know before I met Ben, I dated his best friend.”

Willow looked at Amy in surprise. “You did?”

“Oh yes, and I cared about them both, but they were very different men, and, in the end, I knew it was Ben for me.”

“I would hate for you to think that either Aaron or Aiden would be second best because hand on heart, that’s not the case. I love Aiden with everything in me and I always have, I just loved Aaron too.”

“Oh, honey, I know that and so does he. My point is you make my son happy and that makes me happy, and you have our blessing.”

Willow reached out and took the woman’s hand. “Thank you.”

“No, thank you. You brought my boy back to me.”

The rest of the visit they talked about her situation with work and what she might do now she couldn’t go back to work.