by Marie Force
He wanted to go back in time twenty-four hours, when it would’ve been impossible to imagine her saying the things she’d said this morning, things that had rocked the foundation under him. How could she think for one minute that he would leave her rather than face whatever might happen to her? How could she give voice to such a thought? How were they supposed to go forward now that she’d said such things out loud?
Adam no sooner had these disturbing thoughts than he shook them off, determined to file them under things Abby said when confronted with a life-changing condition. It wasn’t her talking. It was the fear. That had to be it, because any other possible explanation didn’t bear consideration.
His Abby, the woman he loved with his whole heart and soul, didn’t want to spend a day apart from him, let alone the rest of her life. The very idea of a life without her at the center of it left him feeling bereft. He would be, quite simply, inconsolable if she gave up on them.
Which was why he was insisting on a wedding next week. He had to get that second ring on her finger before she could do something stupid like actually break up with him. He couldn’t let that happen.
“You okay, honey?” he asked, speaking close to her ear so she could hear him over the drone of the plane’s engines.
She nodded.
Right next to him but still a million miles away…
Twenty minutes after they took off, Slim began the final approach to the Gansett Island airport. And as the wheels touched down on the island, Adam relaxed ever so slightly. They were home, and he could wage war—if that was what it took—to keep Abby right where she belonged—with him.
At six o’clock, Ned and Francine arrived at the “White House,” as the locals called the McCarthy home. Big Mac’s best friend was turned out in a blue sport coat, khaki pants, new boat shoes, a blue shirt and a tie. Ned, who preferred his clothes old and holey, had worn a tie for him.
“Must be one hell of an occasion,” Big Mac said as he hugged his longtime best friend.
“T’aint every day yer best friends celebrate forty years a marriage,” Ned said.
“I suppose that’s true.” Big Mac hugged and kissed Ned’s wife, Francine, who glowed with happiness these days. Long gone was the bitter, spiteful woman who’d been knocked down once too many times by life before she ended up with her one true love.
“Congratulations, Mac,” Francine said. “You two set the gold standard.”
“What’s this about gold?” Linda asked as she came into the living room, where Big Mac was fixing drinks for the four of them.
“Gold standard,” Ned said. “Ya set the bar awfully high fer the rest a us.”
Linda kissed his cheek and hugged him for a long moment, making him blush the way she always did when she showed him affection.
“Happy anniversary, doll,” Ned said.
“Thanks, old friend.”
“T’aint no one in this room is old. We’re young at heart.”
“That we are,” Linda said, beaming with happiness. She wore a slinky, sexy black dress and sky-high heels that had made Mac want to skip the festivities to have her all to himself tonight. But he’d never do that to the kids, suspecting they’d gone to some trouble for the occasion.
Linda hugged Francine, and Big Mac was struck by how far the two women had come from the days when Linda had had no choice but to report Francine for repeatedly writing bad checks to pay her bar bill at the hotel. Linda’s complaints—and those of other island merchants—had resulted in a three-month jail sentence that seemed like a lifetime ago now that Francine was happily married to Ned. Not to mention, her daughter Maddie was married to their son Mac. Speaking of happy.
The women shared two grandchildren, and had managed to put the past where it belonged for the sake of their families.
While Francine and Linda chatted about their favorite subjects—Thomas and Hailey—Big Mac took Ned aside. “I was thinking about you today.”
“What about me?”
“Remember when you were practically the only person I knew on this island?”
“Sure do,” Ned said with a chuckle. “Gave ya a ride over to North Harbor to check out the marina that first time.”
Big Mac smiled at his old friend. “I was thinking, too, about how you sold me this house for dirt cheap.”
“Ya had yer bride sleeping in the back room at the marina. Desperate times. Someone had ta do somethin’.”
Throwing his head back, Big Mac let out a big laugh. He put his hand on Ned’s shoulder. “Just want you to know—I never could’ve gotten through those first couple of years without Linda. But I couldn’t have done it without you, either. Getting in your cab that day was one of the best things I ever did in my whole life.”
Ned blinked furiously. “Aww, shit…yer all sappy today. Hell, yer sappy every day.”
“Maybe so, but I wanted you to know, just the same.”
“Means a lot ta me. Before Francine came back ta me, this was my home as much as yours. You and Linda and yer family…my family, too,” he said gruffly. “Woulda been a lonely life without y’all ta keep things interesting fer me.”
“This life of ours wouldn’t have been the same without you, either. My third brother.”
Ned continued to blink back tears, so Big Mac changed the subject before they turned into a couple of blubbering idiots.
“How big of a deal are we looking at tonight?”
Ned’s eyes widened.
“Did you really think they were fooling Voodoo Mama?”
“Suppose not,” Ned said with a chuckle. “Y’all will act surprised so they don’t think I spilled the beans, woncha?”
“Of course. So, big deal, small deal?”
“I ain’t tellin ya nothin’, so quit askin’.”
“We should get going,” Francine said. “Our reservation is for six-thirty.”
“After you, my dear.” Ned followed his wife to get their coats in the foyer.
“Ready for this?” Linda asked as she took hold of Mac’s outstretched hand.
“You bet. How about you?”
“It’s already been an amazing day. I’m looking forward to an amazing evening with our family.”
Mac held her coat. “It was a pretty great day, wasn’t it?”
“The best. The ring, the trip, the memories… Doesn’t get much better.”
Mac couldn’t agree more. It had been a fantastic day, and now he couldn’t wait to see what their kids had planned for the evening.
Chapter 10
Dashing through the snow, the foursome made their way to the front porch of the Sand & Surf Hotel. Mac kept a tight hold on Linda’s arm so she wouldn’t fall on the slippery sidewalk or stairs with those crazy shoes on. They entered through the main doors of the hotel, where their family waited to greet them.
“Surprise!”
Adam, Abby, Mallory, Janey, Joe, Evan, Grace, Mac, Maddie, Stephanie, Grant, Thomas, Hailey and P.J. made up the welcoming committee.
Thomas stepped forward to present a wrist corsage made of white roses to Linda and a white rose for Big Mac’s lapel. “Are you surprised, Papa?” Thomas asked.
“So surprised, pal. How did you keep this a secret?”
The blond boy smiled widely. “I promised Daddy I wouldn’t tell.”
Big Mac hugged the little boy who’d made him a grandfather when Mac married his mother. “You did a good job keeping the secret.” Standing upright, he accepted a hug from Evan, who’d spent the last three weeks touring with Buddy.
“So good to have you home, son.”
“Good to be home. Happy anniversary.”
“Thank you.”
After lots of hugs and kisses and congratulations, Stephanie said, “Ready to go in? We’ve got a table all ready.”
“Ready when you are,” Linda said, reaching for Big Mac’s hand.
Though he was prepared for a party, he was floored by just how many people had braved the elements to come celebrate with them. The main din
ing room of Stephanie’s Bistro was packed with friends and neighbors and extended family, who broke into a long round of applause as he and Linda entered the room.
Overwhelmed by the outpouring, his heart expanded in his chest. His brothers Frankie and Kevin hugged him, as did his adorably pregnant niece Laura, his nephews Shane, Riley and Finn, Linda’s sister Joan and her family, Alex and Jenny Martinez, Dan Torrington, Kara Ballard, Luke and Sydney Harris, Paul Martinez and his fiancée Hope Russell, Shane’s fiancée Katie Lawry and her brother, Laura’s husband, Owen Lawry. Katie and Owen’s mother Sarah and her fiancé Charlie Grandchamp were there, as were Carolina and Seamus O’ Grady, Maddie’s sister Tiffany and her husband Blaine Taylor, David Lawrence and his girlfriend Daisy Babson, and Jared and Lizzie James. Everyone who was anyone to them had come. Even the Mayor Upton and his wife, Verna, were there.
He saw Linda receive a tearful hug from Mallory.
Though a hundred people wanted to talk to him, he stayed with Linda, needing her close to him as much today as he had on their wedding night night forty years ago. While they visited with their guests, Stephanie’s waitstaff delivered glasses of champagne that were replaced the minute they were empty. After a while, they were shown to a head table that included the members of their original wedding party, including Frank and Kevin and Linda’s friends from Providence College. Frank’s beloved wife Joann, who died of cancer more than twenty years ago, was the only one missing.
And then someone handed their son Mac a microphone, and everything went downhill from there in the most hilarious way possible.
“Oh, dear God,” Linda muttered as Mac cleared his throat dramatically to get everyone’s attention.
“As Mac and Linda’s oldest and wisest son,” Mac said to jeers from his brothers, “it’s my pleasure to welcome you to their fortieth anniversary celebration. When I first had the idea for this party last summer,” he said to more moans and groans as he spoke now directly to them, “we tried to think of how we could do justice to the example you set for us, the life you’ve led together, your lifelong love affair.” He made a choking sound. “That was Janey’s contribution, and for the record, I voted to leave that part out.”
Their guests were crippled with laughter while Mac and Linda just shook their heads at his usual irreverence. From the day he was born, Malcolm John McCarthy Junior had been a character, to say the least.
“After many conversations,” Mac said, “we decided that all we really needed to do was bring together your family and closest friends. We knew that’s all you’d need to be happy—because that’s all you’ve ever needed.”
Aww jeez, Big Mac thought. He’s going to make me cry in front of all these people.
“Mom, we like to call you Voodoo Mama, because you’ve always been wise to whatever we were up to. I’d be shocked, in fact, if we actually managed to surprise you tonight.”
Linda made a zip-her-lips-and-throw-away-the-key gesture that fooled none of her five children. They knew her far too well.
“Despite your voodoo ways, we’ve always known that you had our backs no matter what. We appreciate the way you’ve made our spouses and significant others part of our family, and we all agree that you’re a world-class grandmother.”
As Linda dabbed at her eyes, Mac put his arm around her.
“You’re the one who makes it all happen. You made the White House a home not only to us but also to our friends and now the families we’re creating. And everyone knows you’re the brains behind the hotel—and the marina.”
“Now wait just a minute,” Big Mac said, smiling at his son.
“You can’t deny it, Dad.”
“I wouldn’t even try.”
“And you, Dad,” Mac continued, “are the emotional heart of our family, the one we run to—to this day—whenever the slightest little thing goes wrong, because we know, without a shadow of a doubt, that you’ll know just what to say to make us feel better. When we were kids, we used to be embarrassed by how much you loved us. Now, we’re thankful.”
Holy moly. Linda handed him a tissue that he gratefully accepted.
“You also taught us how to have fun, because no one—and I do mean no one—knows how to have fun quite like you do. Whether it’s a Wiffle ball game on the dock, a bonfire on the beach, coffee-and-donut hour at the marina or a fishing trip for all the guys you love best, you bring the fun no matter where you go. One of my earliest memories is catching crabs with you on the docks, and now that’ll be one of my son’s earliest memories, too. Not only did you and Mom teach us how to be married, you also taught us how to live life to the fullest by showing us when to work and when to play.”
Mac raised his glass of champagne. “Please join me, my sisters Janey and Mallory, and my brothers Grant, Adam and Evan, in saluting our parents on their fortieth anniversary.”
After shouts of “hear, hear” and the insistent tinkle of silver on crystal as the guests called on Big Mac to kiss his bride, which he was more than happy to do, Mac directed their attention to the huge flat-screen TV at the other end of the room. “Take a look back with us, thanks to Adam’s video wizardry. Enjoy.”
The lights dimmed, and the TV came to life along with the song “Time of My Life.” They giggled at the photos of themselves as a young couple, including one taken the day they met at Frank’s house, up through their wedding.
“Hey!” Linda said. “No wonder I couldn’t find my wedding album today!”
“I’ll have it back to you in the morning, Mom,” Adam said.
The video included photos of each of their children as babies, scenes from the early days at the marina when Linda had run the restaurant while he oversaw the docks, a picture of them holding the keys to the hotel—which they bought three years after the marina—and images of early Christmases at the White House with toddlers underfoot.
A ripple of laughter went through the room when a photo of four pajama-clad little boys precariously balancing their newborn sister appeared on the screen.
“Should’ve dropped her when we had the chance,” Evan said.
“I could’ve beat you up even then,” Janey said.
“She could’ve,” Grant said.
“Children, stop bickering,” Linda said. “I’m watching my video.”
“Adam’s going to be her favorite now,” Mac said.
“He already was,” Linda said, setting off a furor at the “kid table.”
Summers with Laura and Shane, proud new drivers, proms, graduations, weddings and grandchildren. It had gone by far too quickly. Big Mac was particularly touched by the photo toward the end of the video of Mallory with him and Linda as well as one with her and the five siblings she hadn’t known she had, both of which had been taken at Grant’s wedding this past Labor Day.
The video told the story of a beautiful life from the very beginning and ended with a photo of him kissing Linda in what he’d thought was a private moment at Jenny and Alex’s wedding in October. It had been captured for all the world to see and touched him more than almost anything else in the video. Their story, his story, began and ended with her.
As the video finished, the room erupted into applause. Big Mac kissed Linda, lingering longer than he normally would in public, and then leaning his forehead against hers. “What a story,” he whispered.
“What a story, indeed.”
“Extremely well done, Adam,” he said.
“Thank you,” Adam said. “It was fun.”
“Mom and Dad,” Mac said, “Evan was put in charge of the music for tonight, and first up is your wedding song, ‘You’re The First, The Last, My Everything,’ by none other than Barry White. And let me apologize in advance to our guests for all the disco you’ll be hearing tonight, but that was their groove way back then. Dad, how about you dance with your bride?”
Mac took Linda’s hand to guide her to the dance floor in the middle of the big room. As he took her into his arms, it felt like yesterday since he’d done the same thing in a b
allroom at the Biltmore. God, they’d been so young and so in love and so determined to make a life on the island.
And against many odds, they’d done it.
“What’s wrong?” Grace nudged Abby’s shoulder, which was when Abby realized she’d zoned out of the party.
“Nothing.”
“Something’s up. You’ve been super-quiet since we met at the airport. What were you guys doing on the mainland, anyway?”
“Last-minute Christmas shopping in Providence.”
“Did you have a fight with Adam?”
“No.”
“Abby! Come on! This is me. I know you too well. What’s going on?”
To her horror and mortification, Abby’s eyes filled with tears.
“Oh my God. What?”
She couldn’t say it. Saying the words out loud, to someone other than Adam, who’d been with her when she first heard the news, would make it real. Her throat closed up, and the tears spilled down her cheeks.
“Abby.” Grace put an arm around her. “Whatever is wrong, we can fix it.”
Abby shook her head. If only it were that simple. She wiped her face with a napkin, determined not to ruin Big Mac and Linda’s night by having an emotional breakdown. “Adam and I have been trying to have a baby for a long time.” She wiped away more tears. “We found out this week why it’s not happening. Why it may never happen. I have something called polycystic ovary syndrome.”
“Oh. Oh, Abby. I’m so sorry.”
“You know what it is?”
Grace nodded. “I’ve heard of it and read about the treatments in my journals.”
“Then you know it’s more than just fertility challenges.”
“Yes, but I also know it can be managed.”
“That’s what my doctor said, too. I know there are worse things they could’ve diagnosed me with, but the stuff online—”
“Stay off the Internet, Abby. Trust me on that. You might read about thirty different things that can happen, but only two of them will happen to you. Do you really need to worry about all of them?”
Grace made a good point.
