Chapter 480 - Las Vegas - after conference

Sarah and Aiden checked in to a hotel in Las Vegas after they returned from security conference.

Plan is that they spend one night in Vegas for dinner with Mr. Patel, and next day they will head to Seattle. Orion Enterprise annual meeting is in five days, and until then Sarah wants to see Sophia's new house so that she can start planning for getting Eve there and also to check on their kids in the Cabin.

Sarah was happy that finally she can use Internet and her phone freely. She checked her phone first, and saw that she has number of messages from her sisters.

"I should call them and let them know we are OK." Sarah mumbled as she checked messages. "It seems they are worried…"

They exchanged few messages and agreed on a video conference since everyone was available.

"Hey, sorry to get you worried. But the conference we attended was off the grid, so we were not able to get back to you.", Sarah said as soon as she logged in and saw that Sophia and JoAnna are giving her reprimanding looks.

"If you told us in advance, we would not be this worried.", Sophia spoke for herself and for JoAnna.

"Sorry… but we didn't know either until we reached there.", Sarah was apologetic.

"Jeff is still working. Where is brother-in-law?", JoAnna asked seeing that Aiden is not next to Sarah.

"Shower. He should be out any minute…", Sarah glanced toward the shower. "How are things on your side?"

Sophia started. "We ordered furniture and kitchen… it should all be ready in about one week. Then we can move into our new home." She leaned onto Felix as she spoke.

"And we have new ultrasound pictures…", Felix added proudly. "I sent them in email."

JoAnna nodded acknowledging that she saw the pictures.

Sarah saw Felix's expectant look and had to provide explanation, "I still didn't get a chance to go through my emails. But I will check it after we finish this… Anna, anything new on your side in last few days?"

JoAnna was about to talk when Aiden came out of the bathroom. "You started without me?" He sat next to Sarah.

"It's your fault for taking too long, hubby…" Sarah raised her hands to pinch his cheeks, but he held her hands in his, preventing her. He was happy that he blocked her cheek-pinching-attack this time.

"YOU GOT MARRIED?!!", Sophia and JoAnna screamed in unison.

Sarah was confused, "What?"

"How dare you get married without me there! I told you that I will not forgive you! You have sisters! How can you forget about us?! …", JoAnna whined.

Sophia was only looking at Sarah with a slight frown. JoAnna was speaking for both of them.

Sarah waited for JoAnna to slow down, and then interrupted her whining by repeating her question, "What?"

"Don't you 'what' me?! How can you do such a thing and get married without us…?", JoAnna looked as if she is about to cry.

Sarah exhaled in frustration, "Why do you think we got married?"

"You didn't?" JoAnna glared at Sarah. She didn't believe her.

"Why did you call him hubby?", Sophia finally asked.

Aiden grinned and took the opportunity which Sarah's confusion provided to answer in her place, "We are just practicing for the real thing."

"Oh…", JoAnna was not sure how to respond to this.

After some silence, Sarah finally spoke. She was irritated about JoAnna's outburst which was fueled by Sophia's support, "We didn't get married, we are not even engaged… OK? Now let's switch topic. Anna, you were about to say what is new on your side… and hurry up. We have dinner plans."

JoAnna rolled her eyes, "Well if you are so busy, we can talk some other time."

"Fine!", Sarah disconnected from the call abruptly.

Aiden looked at Sarah and spoke while carefully choosing his words. "Are you sure it's OK to end the call like that? Everyone got online because they were worried about us…", he reminded her gently.

Sarah was still upset. "Why are they overreacting? What is the big deal even if we got married? Is that a reason to make such a fuss?"

Aiden gave her a minute to calm down before speaking. "Of course, it's a big deal. When we get married, it will be the biggest deal of our lives."

"Yes. But it will be OUR deal, not theirs.", Sarah puffed her cheeks in frustration, not realizing that his face lit up.

Aiden did his best not to grin at her words and pinched her nose. "What if they get married without telling us? Would you be upset that you got left out of the fun?"

Sarah listened to him and had to agree. Their intentions are good… they only want to be part of her life to make sure she is fine… and to share her burdens as well as happiness. The more Sarah thought about it, the more remorseful she felt for overreacting and not thinking things through.

Sarah looked at Aiden while guilt consumed her. "I probably hurt their feelings…"

He responded with a small nod.

She took her phone and texted both Sophia and JoAnna: "Sorry for my reaction and dropping out of the call like that. I don't know what got into me… When I get married, I will make sure it does not happen without you… I love you very much"

Aiden saw the message she sent and smiled. "That's better", he pulled her into his embrace, and grinned as he remembered their exchange. 'Yes, it will be the biggest deal…'

Within a minute, she got responses from both sisters.

[Sophia]: "It's OK. Don't worry about it. I have temperamental episodes because of hormones as well…"

[JoAnna]: "What big sis said! But think if your hormonal issues are because of PMS or pregnancy… do the test and let us know the result!"

Sarah looked at their responses and froze. She was not sure how to respond to this.

Aiden wanted to see what she received, but she turned off her phone swiftly.

"It's nothing… they accept my apology…", Sarah awkwardly smiled and saw that he does not believe her. She was thinking how to avoid him probing any further... "I'm going to shower!", Sarah abruptly stood up and headed to the bathroom.

Aiden looked after her in disbelief. "You showered less than half an hour ago!"

She didn't hear him, or maybe she did, but decided to pretend that she didn't… and took another shower.

Aiden was curious what caused such reaction. His options are: hack into Sarah's phone, ask her sisters, ask Sarah. The most straightforward approach is to ask Sarah, but it does not seem that she will talk about it. If he wants to hack into her phone, and she finds out, he is in trouble. If he asks sisters… what can happen?

He texted both Sophia and JoAnna: "What did you tell Sarah? She is all zoned out…"

They were prompt to respond.

[Sophia]: "Yes, it happens to me as well… hormones…"

[JoAnna]: "Hehehe"

Aiden looked at their responses and didn't know what to make out of them. 'Maybe I should just drop the topic… or I can check on Sarah's phone later, when she sleeps off…' He was doing his best to contain his curiosity which got fueled up by Sophia's and JoAnna's strange responses.