Page 39 of Under the Northern Lights

“I can’t believe I have to head back to Seattle tomorrow,” Aurora said, tears in her eyes.

“Even worse, my relocation deadline is getting closer. I’m not sure I’m ready to leave Seattle.

Or this little one I haven’t even had the chance to meet and love up yet.

” Reaching out, she ran a hand over her sister’s adorable little baby bump.

“You have to be here when I have her,” Jade said with a pout.

“The moment I hear you’ve gone into labor, I’ll catch the first flight out from wherever I am at that time.

” Because she would be traveling. That was a given.

Hopefully, her sister would deliver on time.

Aurora would plan her travel schedule around Jade’s due date, give or take a week on either side, just to be safe.

But what if she couldn’t get there right away because the flights were all booked? Or a mandatory meeting in the editorial offices that she had to take part in? What if something happened that Aurora didn’t even want to think about, and she wasn’t here with her sister when she needed her most?

“I know you’ll do your best to get here,” her sister replied with a loving smile. “But you’ve been given this wonderful opportunity that you’ve been dreaming of for so long. If getting home puts your dream job in jeopardy, I don’t want you to risk it.”

“I love being a professional wildlife photographer,” Aurora admitted, “but I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since flying home from Alaska.”

“Thinking about what?”

“About whether or not the timing was right for this career opportunity to come into my life.”

“Aurora,” Jade gasped, “you’re not seriously thinking about quitting the magazine.”

Aurora frowned. For the first time since she’d received the call telling her World Adventures Magazine wanted to offer her a position with their company, she was considering not only the positives of doing so, but the negatives as well.

She didn’t want to constantly be in some far-away country when everyone she cared about was on the West Coast. Especially now that her sister was expecting.

“I want this job, but I also want to be around for long enough periods of time to allow me to be a part of my new little nephew’s or niece’s life as they’re growing up.

Not easily done when you’re thousands of miles away. ”

“Niece,” her sister interjected.

Aurora’s gaze lifted from the loose piece of thread on the quilt she’d been fidgeting with. “What?”

Jade giggled, something Aurora noticed she did far more often than she used to. Pregnancy and the nearing arrival of her first child had softened her sister, made her so much happier with everything in the world around her.

Jade leaned in and, in a conspiratorial whisper, said, “David and I are having a girl.”

Scrambling to her knees on the queen-size bed, Aurora leaned over to give her little sister a hug. “Oh, Jade, I’m so happy for you! And how exciting to know what your baby is going to be!”

“Shhh ... not so loud,” she said, hushing Aurora. “Mom and Dad don’t know yet.”

“Oops,” she replied in a hushed tone.

“We’re telling them at family dinner tonight, but I couldn’t wait to share my little secret with my lifelong best friend and sister,” Jade told Aurora as she smoothed a hand down over her rounded abdomen.

“Mom is going to be so excited when she finds out you’re having a girl,” Aurora said with glee.

Her sister’s smile widened. “I know.”

“I certainly am,” Aurora told her. “Oh my goodness, knowing that I’m going to have a niece soon makes this all seem so much more real.”

“Tell me about it.”

“I promise to be the best aunt ever for that precious little one you’re carrying.”

“I have no doubt about that whatsoever,” Jade said with a tender smile. “I also know, without a doubt, that you are going to be her favorite aunt.”

Aurora laughed. “I would certainly hope so, seeing as I’m her only aunt.”

“Knock, knock.”

They looked up as the bedroom door creaked open, and their mother poked her head inside. “I thought I would find you girls in here reminiscing.”

Aurora’s bedroom was where she and her sister had spent hours upon hours of sisterly bonding time while growing up, sharing troubles, joys, secrets, and talking about boys.

“Come in and join us,” Aurora said, patting the empty spot on the bed beside her.

Their mother crossed the room and settled comfortably onto the edge of the bed.

“I’m so happy to have both of my girls here with me.

” Her smile quivered as she looked at Aurora.

“I’m so proud of you for going after your dream.

I just wish that dream didn’t take you to places so far away.

Motherly whining aside, I know this new job opportunity is going to be so very exciting for you. ”

“I’ll be home as often as I can to visit,” Aurora assured her. Her mother and father always made time to drive up to Seattle to visit her once or twice a year.

“Of course you will,” Jade agreed. “This little one is going to need to have his or her aunt in their life.” She looked at Aurora with a conspiratorial wink.

Guilt filled Aurora, knowing she might not be able to be there for her niece as much as she would like to be. But there were phone calls and video chats. She would make it a priority to use every source of communication she had to build that special relationship.

“Mom . . .” she said.

“Yes?” her mother replied.

“How did you know Dad was the one?”

Her mother looked surprised by the question and then smiled.

“I would have to say that my heart knew first,” she told her.

“My head, however, took a little bit longer to catch up. I knew I was almost done with the job I was sent there to do in Alaska and would be heading to Glacier National Park next. I couldn’t allow myself to start something I wouldn’t be around to continue.

Your father’s job in Alaska was permanent.

It hurt my heart, knowing that our time there was coming to an end. ”

Aurora understood that feeling. She had experienced it during her last few days there on Conley Island.

“A few nights before I was supposed to leave Alaska,” their mother went on, “your father asked me out for a goodbye dinner. On our way back after eating, the night sky came alive with the most wondrous colors. We pulled off the main road and then sat on the hood of his car, watching the Northern Lights swirl all around us.”

“How romantic,” Jade said, tearing up. Something she also did more often since becoming pregnant.

Their mother nodded. “The Northern Lights took my breath away. At least, I thought it was the colorful phenomenon above us causing it. But the longer I sat there with your father, the more I realized it was being there with him that made it hard for me to breathe. I was in love with this man I had worked alongside professionally. That night, your father told me he loved me, and I knew I couldn’t walk away from what we had between us.

I ended up staying and going to work for his company.

We married and stayed in Alaska until we started our family.

Then, we moved here to Oregon, where your father’s family was from, and have been here ever since. ”

“I just love that story,” Aurora said with a sigh.

Their mother looked her way. “Trust your heart, sweetie. When it’s right, your heart will let you know.”

Aurora was pretty certain hers already did. She nodded her response.

“Is it almost time to eat?” Jade asked. “I’m starving.”

“You’ve been eating all day,” Aurora teased.

“ We’ve been eating all day,” her sister replied with a playful jab at her expanding abdomen.

Aurora’s cell phone vibrated in the back pocket of her jeans, signaling the arrival of a text. Slipping it free, she glanced down to see that Gage had sent her a text. As it always did whenever he called or texted, her heart did a little flip.

Clicking on the screen to open the message, Aurora read what he’d sent her:

I just wanted to wish you and your family a Happy ‘Early’ Thanksgiving!

“What, or maybe we should ask who, just put that big ol’ smile on your face?” her mother inquired with a querying glance.

“I bet I know,” Jade said in a singsong reply.

Aurora smiled. “Gage texted me to wish all of us a happy Early Thanksgiving.”

“Oh, that was really sweet of him,” her mother said.

“That’s Gage,” Aurora told them. “Always thinking of others.”

If he only knew how often she thought of him.

When Aurora had least expected it, she had found love under the Northern Lights, just as her parents had all those years ago.

Things hadn’t worked out as easily for her and Gage as they had for her mother and father.

But anything worth having was worth investing the time into getting.

She loved Gage. That was the first time she admitted that to herself.

“I love him,” Aurora said aloud.

Both her mother’s and Jade’s eyes widened with that blurted-out admission, joy lighting their faces.

“I knew it!” Jade exclaimed.

“The Northern Lights did it again!” her mother declared in delight.

“I think the connection happened long before that,” Aurora told them.

“I think something special sparked between us the moment I shoved the rain-soaked hood of my poncho back, and our eyes met. Not that I’m saying he felt the same way.

That’s just how I felt. It’s just taken me a while to acknowledge it for what it is. ”

“That meet-cute is right up there with Mom and Dad’s,” Jade decided. “So, what are you going to do about it?”

“It’s not a conversation I want to have with Gage over the phone,” Aurora replied. “I have that art show this coming Saturday at Emmy’s studio. If I can get a flight out on Sunday, I’m going to make my way back to Conley Island to tell Gage in person how I really feel.”

“Oh, honey,” her mom said, “I’m so happy you found someone who makes your heart smile.”

“He does, Mom,” Aurora replied wistfully. “More than I ever thought possible.”