by Ava Miles
“I hope I can eat as much as Uncle Rye when I grow up,” Rory said, racing toward his uncle.
Paige caught sight of Haley and Annabelle running across the back of the house with what looked like rainbow streamers flying behind them. Rory might have been asked to watch out for Haley, but Annabelle had made it her mission to make her feel at home. She was so glad her daughter had found another friend.
Once the tour was over, she caught Vander watching her from the back porch. She decided she needed to firm up her courage and speak to him. If she couldn’t face him, how in the world was she going to face Louisa McGuiness?
She squeezed Mark’s hand, and he must have understood what she needed because he kissed her cheek and headed off after the others to find the appetizers.
“Would you take a walk with me?” she asked Vander.
He nodded and came down the porch steps. The chocolate garden called to her, and she sought out its beautiful warmth again.
“I know you were the one who helped everyone find Preston McGuiness,” she said, not wanting to refer to him as her father.
“Yes, I was,” he replied, tucking his hands in his pockets as they stopped near a cluster of maroon flowers with chocolate leaves.
“I’ve never even seen a picture of him,” she told him, looking down at her feet, waves of vulnerability washing over her like the low tide in Dare River. “In all honesty, I’m not sure if I even want to.”
He was silent, as if waiting for her to continue.
“I looked you up online,” she said, feeling it was only fair to meet his eyes as she said so. “I know you’re a well-respected private investigator.”
He nodded.
“I…what I’m trying to say is…” She felt her throat burn with heat. “You would be thorough. You would know…everything there is to know about my mother, Skylar Watkins.”
His face didn’t give anything away, and she rocked back and forth on her feet.
“I want you to know I’m nothing like her,” she said, clenching her hands. “She’s…made her choices, and I don’t condone them or even pretend to understand them.”
“I know you’re nothing like the woman I read about, Paige,” he told her, reaching out to hold her forearm. “You don’t need to worry that I’ll think less of you because of what your mama did. You’ve clearly risen above your background, and I admire that.”
She blew out a breath. “Mark and I had to cease all contact with her. She was coming around for money for drugs, and it…”
His touch was oddly comforting. “I know all that, and you did right. You chose your family. Sometimes people who are troubled never stop trying to take.”
“Is Preston McGuiness like that?” she asked, old fears circling like creeping jenny on her insides. This was why she understood Riley’s lingering fears about his ex. “I…need to know. I mean, it’s a fear I can’t completely shake…that the two of them are the same and I won’t be able to avoid one or both of them coming around. I haven’t told Mark it still sneaks up on me. That fear.”
Vander waved to someone, and she looked over her shoulder to see it was Shelby, standing on the edge of the porch with J.P., watching them with concerned looks.
“Let’s walk a bit,” Vander said, guiding her to the river path.
The quiet of the trees seemed to embrace her, and she took a moment to gather herself.
“What I’m about to say, I say as both a member of this family and a private investigator. I figure you need to hear both perspectives. When Preston McGuiness ran on me from the little town he’d been holed up in for about a year, I knew he was a coward.”
Her belly clutched. Only a coward could have done what he’d done.
“Later, when I met him at his mother’s house—Lenore is a wonderful woman, by the way, although she’s had a hard life—I found him to be a worthless excuse for a man. Selfish. Destructive. A total victim. He looks like J.P. in some ways, but he’s nothing like anyone in this family. Louisa has done her job as a mother, and every one of the McGuiness children has done the rest to become who they are today.”
His confidence in Lenore McGuiness, her grandmother, made her wrap her arms around herself. Hadn’t the McGuiness children told her the same thing?
“Would Lenore want to meet with me? I mean…I’m… Some people might call me—”
“You’re her granddaughter,” Vander said, cutting her off. “We haven’t told her we’ve found you yet or how wonderful you are. Shelby said you didn’t want to talk about the past.”
She’d thought that at first, but learning there might be an opening with the grandmother she’d never known… She’d lain awake at night thinking about it.
“But to answer your original question, you don’t need to worry about Preston McGuiness ever taking anything from you.” He kicked at a rock on the ground, using an angry, punishing force. “I’ll be blunt, even though it’s hard to say this to you. He said he’d never wanted to find you.”
Her heart, one she’d thought healed by love, felt stabbed by a million stickpins. She stopped and turned her back on him.
“He blames me for being alive then?” she asked.
“He blames everyone,” Vander said, coming closer to her. “Paige, he’s… I’ve seen a lot of men like him in my time, but because I love this family, I hate him for the selfish, mean-spirited coward he is. Frankly, every one of you is better off without him. I mean, you’ve dealt with plenty of misery from your mother from what I can tell.”
“And I didn’t need another deadbeat parent, right?” She gave a tortured laugh. “Sometimes I don’t understand life.”
He kicked at another rock. “Me either. You may know this already, but my daddy was murdered in a Nashville alley twenty-five years ago. The killer was never found and brought to justice, and I’ve had to live with that.”
This time she put her hand on his arm in comfort. “I’m so sorry.”
“This year something amazing happened,” he said, a half smile crossing his lips. “Boone was born on the day my father died, and even though that little boy doesn’t know it, he’s changed that date forever for me. It’ll always be the day I lost my daddy, but now I’ll spend it with this new family of mine, celebrating one of us.”
Tears gathered in her eyes.
“I can’t say I understand life either, and perhaps Louisa has been impacting my way of seeing things, but there seems to be something greater at work. While I don’t claim to understand it, I respect it. And I’m grateful for it too.”
She gave a nod and dashed at the tears in her eyes.
“I watched this family learn about something so dark, so painful…something that hurt every one of them down to their bones. Then I watched them come together and love each other through it. And then Sadie, who is supposedly the baby in the family that everyone looks out for, went out and found you. All on her own. She didn’t come to me. She didn’t go to anyone. She just…up and found you. And you and Mark and Haley seem to be terrific. Again, I don’t understand how life works most days, but I find I’m grateful to see you here among the McGuinesses.”
“Oh, goodness, I’m totally going to cry,” she said. “I’m sorry. You should just leave me here for a minute.”
He pulled her into his arms. “That’s not what a future brother-in-law would do.”
She’d never imagined him being this kind, but she found herself pressing her face into his chest, tears streaming down. “I’m so grateful for y’all too.”
After she collected herself, they walked down the dirt road. When the house came into view, all of her siblings were waiting for them. She could feel their concern radiating toward her.
“Vander, there’s only one last thing I want to ask,” she said, stopping in her tracks. He did the same. “If there’s any health issues I need to be aware of on Preston’s side.”
“I have that information,” he said, rubbing her arm. “The family wanted it too. I’ll give it to you at the next get-together.
”
“Thank you,” she said with a soft smile.
“If you ever need any help or want to know anything, you just tell me. I’m here for you too, Paige.”
“Again, thank you.”
“We should probably head back. Everyone looks a touch concerned. But there’s something I wanted to tell you first. You don’t need to be afraid to meet with Louisa. She’s one of the most loving women I’ve ever met, and this will help both of you, I believe.”
While she believed all of the warm fuzzies about Louisa, she was the daughter of the woman who had ultimately ruined her marriage and home life. Surely even a pastor couldn’t shake that kind of ugliness.
“I’m happy to go with you if you need,” Vander said. “I’ve been part of a lot of difficult conversations surrounding Preston.”
“That means a lot,” she said. “Other than Mark and Riley, our neighbor…and Sadie’s beau, as you probably know…I haven’t had a lot of men stand up for me.”
“Well, you have a whole bunch of people who will now,” he said, putting his hand to her back and leading her forward. “And I’m glad to hear that about Riley. Sadie means a lot to us.”
Her siblings reached out to her a little extra when she and Vander reached the porch. Sadie and Shelby hugged her. Susannah offered to get her a lemonade. But it was J.P. who stopped her and looked directly into her eyes.
“Everything okay?”
As she studied him, she thought of what Vander had said, how J.P. favored Preston. She realized this was the closest she would ever have to a firm picture of her father in her mind. Then she discarded that because she didn’t want to search for similarities between her deadbeat father and her siblings. Her siblings were so much more than he could ever be.
“It is now,” she told him, and surprised them both by leaning in and kissing him on the cheek.
He flashed a smile at her, and when she turned away, Mark was waiting to enfold her in his arms.
“You’re the bravest woman I know,” he whispered in her ear. “I’m so glad you’re mine.”
She should have known he would sense the upshot of her discussion with Vander.
“Back at you,” she said, squeezing him tight.
When they all went inside and gathered around the large dining room table for dinner, the children’s table tucked at the end, Paige was moved when J.P. asked everyone to join hands.
She was sitting between Mark and Sadie, the man of her heart and the first of her sisters to make her feel loved and wanted.
“Dear God, I want to thank you for the food we are about to eat and for all of the lovely hands that prepared it. But most of all, I want to thank you for bringing our sister, Paige, to us. For looking out for her while we were apart. For the wonderful man you blessed her with in Mark. And for the beautiful daughter they have in Haley. This family has always been in your hands, and despite tough times and heartache, we’re grateful for the love you’ve continued to give to us. And we look forward to sharing more family dinners and get-togethers with Paige, Mark, and Haley. Amen.”
“Amen,” everyone echoed.
“That was a really good prayer, Dad,” Annabelle said, leaning forward and looking at Haley. “When you make someone cry, it’s a really good prayer. Who needs a tissue?”
Eyes awash in said tears, Paige started to laugh and then put her hand over her mouth to cover it, not wanting to hurt the little girl’s feelings.
“I do!” Shelby said, dabbing at the corner of her eyes.
Annabelle leapt up and ran out of the room, returning with a box of tissues. Most of the women took one when she came around the table offering them. Rye grabbed three and blew his nose loudly, causing Paige to giggle.
“That prayer got to me right here,” he said, pointing to his heart. “Preacher boy there knows how to say it. Paige, you should see the music he writes for me and Jake and a whole host of other singers. He’s got a gift.”
It struck her that she’d been listening to her brother’s heart through Rye and Jake’s music for as long as she could remember. She’d gotten to know J.P. long before meeting him. No wonder she loved the singers’ songs.
“How about another bourbon after dinner, Paige?” Rye asked, waggling his brows.
“Why not switch to tequila?” she countered.
Everyone looked around at one another, waiting to see how he’d respond. Tory shook her head and tucked Boone closer to her chest, rocking him softly back and forth.
Rye sat back in his chair and nodded. “Gold or silver?”
So, he wasn’t a man to fold. In that moment, she decided she wouldn’t give in either.
“We could start with silver and go to gold, if you like. I can do either or both.”
There was an audible pause before his lips twitched. “Whatever you say, sugar.”
She nearly bounced in her seat, hearing him call her that. And while they never did end up having bourbon or tequila, which she’d suspected might be the case, it didn’t matter in the end.
She’d become one of them.
Chapter 16
“Jess, you look beautiful,” Riley told her for umpteenth time.
“Dad,” his daughter said in that tone of hers, “I have to look really spectacular for my first outing with Sadie.”
His heart continued to spasm with pain as she reached for a third outfit to try on. This was why he’d been worried about them meeting. His daughter was making a huge deal out of it. And, of course, it was. He and Sadie were committed to each other now. That meant something to both of them.
“Sweetheart, you’re the most beautiful girl in the world. All of the outfits you’ve tried on look spectacular.” He refrained from repeating that Sadie wouldn’t care what Jess wore. That hadn’t gone over well.
“This is important, Dad,” she said, tugging on the blue dress Paige had bought her last Christmas. The bodice was covered in little red hearts, which only served to remind him that his little girl was wearing her heart out in the open today.
She was nervous.
Then again, so was he. He wanted to know that he’d made the right decision. In the moment, it had seemed like the perfect suggestion, but that dark voice every superhero wages war with had whispered in his ear all night. He’d countered by calling those whispers bullshit. After all, the Bradshaws’ time with Sadie’s family had gone incredibly well. They’d even popped by last night to tell him and Haley about it. There was no reason to think their outing would be any different. Sadie was Sadie, after all, and he was as wild about her as she was him. And she adored Jess.
It’s all going to be fine, he silently repeated again, rubbing the tense muscles in his stomach.
“Do you want me to get Paige and Haley to help you choose?” he finally asked. Maybe it was time to call in the troops.
“That would be great,” she said, looking at herself in the mirror over her small girl’s dresser.
He thought about texting Paige, but he could use a break from the tension in the room. “I’ll be right back.”
Dashing down the stairs, he jogged across the short divide between their properties and rapped on the door.
Mark yelled, “Come in,” and he opened it to find the Bradshaws seated at the kitchen table having lunch.
“I need some help,” he said without preamble. “Jess can’t decide what to wear.”
Haley jumped up and ran toward him. “I’m on it.”
He glanced at the clock in the kitchen. Sadie would arrive in about twenty minutes. Surely that would be enough time.
Paige crossed the room to give him a hug. “Breathe. It’s going to be fine. She only wants to make a good impression.”
“But Sadie already knows her and likes her,” he said, hugging her back. “It breaks my heart to see her trying so hard.”
Paige patted him on the cheek. “I know it does. Don’t worry. We’ve got her. Why don’t you hang out here with Mark until she’s ready?”
He nodded, and she ushered him
into the room before leaving and closing the back door behind her.
“I’d offer you a drink,” Mark said, “but…”
“Yeah, but,” Riley responded. “Sorry to interrupt lunch.”
His friend came over and slapped him on the back. “You didn’t. Paige and Haley were practically jumping out of their seats. They were both hoping to see Sadie before y’all headed out. In fact, Haley might have asked us if she could go with you. We had to explain this was separate time.”
Riley put his hands on the kitchen counter and bent over at the waist. “I won’t deny I’m a little jumpy right now, but I’m still really glad things went so well for y’all yesterday.”
“Me too,” Mark said, “and today is going to be great too. Y’all need to relax a bit.”
“No kidding,” he said, rocking back and forth with his hands on the counter.
“Jess is going to be fine,” Mark said, “and Sadie will be careful with her. I expect even more careful than she is with her quilts.”
Riley shook his head. “And that’s saying something.” Her Japanese quilt had blown his mind.
“I think we have a winner,” Paige announced from the doorway.
He turned around, not having heard the back door open. “Oh, Jess. You look so beautiful, sweetheart.”
“See, I told you I needed another outfit. This is so much better, right?”
She spun around, showcasing the dress she’d worn most of the summer—a stretchy cotton dress accented with some white see-through fabric at the sleeves and skirt. The dress was a little formal for an outing in the park, but she’d topped it with the jean jacket she’d talked him into. Besides, he knew she felt like a princess in it.
He walked toward her and scooped her up. He often had moments where he felt he could see her growing up right before his eyes. This was one of them.
“I’m glad you feel better,” he said, tucking her freshly combed hair behind her ears. “We’re going to have fun today.”
“Yes, we are,” she announced, wrapping her arms around him.
