“Let’s go to Melanie’s,” she said, standing up and reaching for his hand.
Rick looked momentarily alarmed. “You want to face both of your sisters down?”
She nodded. “We have nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of.”
He laughed. “All right, Maggie!” he enthused.
She frowned at him. “Knock it off. This isn’t going to be a picnic, Flannery. Ashley may have been thrown off stride by discovering she might be wrong about Laurina, but she’s still not through with you.”
“Duly noted.”
“Why aren’t you quaking in your boots?”
“Because I think you’re tough enough to defend me.”
Maggie regarded him with surprise and the slow dawning of pleasure. She was tough, she realized. And getting tougher by the minute. The past had done that for her. It gave her a whole new perspective on all that heartache. Maybe it hadn’t been such a bad thing, after all, if it had made her ready for a man as complicated as Rick Flannery.
“You’re still in one piece, I see,” Mike commented when Rick joined him outside at the backyard grill on which several steaks were cooking.
“Fancy footwork and the truth,” Rick commented dryly. “I imagine Ashley filled you in.”
“Actually, she didn’t. She muttered something about possibly having gone a little overboard. Closest I’ve ever heard the woman come to admitting she might be wrong.”
Rick glanced into the house and saw Ashley sitting quietly, while Melanie and Maggie laughed as they worked to get dinner on the table.
“I only met her once before she turned up here, so you know her better than I do,” Rick said, watching her thoughtfully. “Does Ashley seem okay to you?”
Mike stared in the direction of his sister-in-law. “She’s quieter than usual. Why? You think she’s here for some reason besides grilling you?”
Rick shrugged. “I would have bet on it this morning. Maggie picked up on it, too. I think she got temporarily sidetracked by a phone call of mine she intercepted, but look at her now. She’s way too quiet in there with those two.”
Mike studied her, then nodded. “You could be right, but thankfully, we can leave it to her sisters to wheedle the truth out of her eventually. We’re just men. They don’t expect us to be intuitive about this sort of stuff.”
Rick laughed. “That is a blessing, isn’t it?” Even so, he couldn’t quite shake the sense that Maggie’s sister was bottling up something serious enough to require the support of everyone around her.
“Daddy,” six-year-old Jessie said impatiently, arriving with her hands on her hips and a pouting expression, “are we ever going to eat?”
Mike scooped her up and tickled her until she giggled. “Ten more minutes, kiddo. Your aunt Ashley is the only one around here who likes her meat raw. The rest of us have to wait till it’s cooked medium rare.”
Rick wished he had his camera with him. The look of adoration in Mike’s eyes as he gazed at his daughter was priceless. It was the epitome of what the love between a parent and a child ought to be. Too bad it was so rare in the world, he thought cynically.
He took another look at the happy scene inside and saw that her sisters had finally managed to draw Ashley into the conversation. Maybe close-knit families weren’t as unusual as he’d imagined. Maybe it was simply his own dysfunctional family that had colored his view.
“Mike, you’ve been around all of the D’Angelos. What’s that like?”
Mike regarded him curiously, but before he could reply, Jessie piped up, “They’re the bestest family in the whole world. I’m glad they married us.”
Mike chuckled. “There you have it, a thoroughly unbiased report. She’s right, though. They’re remarkable.” He gave Jessie a squeeze. “I’m glad they married us, too, short stuff.”
Something that might have been longing filled Rick’s chest at the testimonials. For the first time in his life being part of a remarkable family was within his grasp, if only he had the courage to reach for it.
He could choose to do that, just as Maggie had chosen to trust him earlier. He could step out of his comfort zone and take a chance that something better was right around the corner. Or he could retreat and protect his heart the way he always did.
He bit back a sigh as an all-too-familiar panic crept through him. He didn’t have to decide tonight or even tomorrow, but the day would come. Maggie would lose patience with having nothing more than today. She would want a future. She’d been surrounded by people who believed that love could endure. Right now, this second, Rick wanted to believe that, too. Like capturing that image of the adoration in Mike’s eyes as he gazed at his daughter, having such strong faith in love would be priceless.
Ashley was tipsy. Maggie kept staring at her strong, invincible sister, trying to make sense of it. Ashley was never out of control. In fact, she rarely had more than a glass of wine with dinner. Tonight she’d had two glasses, maybe three, which was apparently more than enough to loosen her tongue and make her giggle at the slightest provocation.
“You’re riding home with us,” Maggie told her, steering her toward Rick’s car. There was no back seat to speak of, but she could manage in the cramped space for the few minutes it would take to get to Rose Cottage.
“I’m fine,” Ashley said, balking.
“You haven’t been fine since you got here,” Maggie retorted. “And now you’re drunk.”
“Uh-oh,” Rick muttered, apparently guessing that the accusation wouldn’t sit well with the always-in-control Ashley.
Maggie scowled at him. “Well, she is.”
“I am not,” Ashley said haughtily. “I am totally sober.” She proved it by tripping over nothing more than a loose piece of gravel and almost falling facedown on the ground.
“Yes, I can see how totally sober you are,” Maggie commented.
Ashley tried to jerk away. She dangled her car keys under Maggie’s nose, even as she sank into the passenger seat of Rick’s car. “I have my car here.”
Maggie snatched the keys and tossed them to Rick. “Will you drive her car home? I’ll take yours, since I’ve gotten her this far.”
He cast a worried look at them. “You sure? We could come back for her car in the morning.”
“No, this is better,” Maggie said. “And there’s no need to panic. I promise not to wreck your precious car.”
He grinned. “I wasn’t worried for a minute.”
“Ha!”
Only after he’d gone did Maggie gingerly get behind the wheel of the sports car. She had a hunch if Rick knew she’d never driven a straight shift before, he’d be having heart failure about now. How hard could it be, though? She just had to back up a few feet, get onto the highway and drive a couple of miles. No big deal.
The grinding sound that immediately filled the air when she put her foot on the gas suggested she’d missed some important step.
Beside her Ashley groaned. “The clutch, Maggie,” she muttered. “You have to use the clutch.”
Now was a fine time for her sister to collect her thoughts. “Where the hell is it?” Maggie asked.
Ashley cast a disbelieving look in her direction, then began to giggle. Maggie stared back at her, then began to laugh with her. They were howling and holding their sides when Melanie came out of the house.
“What on earth is going on?” Melanie asked, studying them worriedly. “Where’s Rick? I can’t believe he let you behind the wheel of his car.”
“To be honest, neither can I,” Maggie admitted. “He drove Ashley’s car home.”
“What the hell was he thinking?” Melanie asked.
“He doesn’t know I’ve never driven a straight shift before,” Maggie admitted meekly. “I thought it would be easy.”
Melanie shook her head. “Sit tight. I’ll get my car and drive you both home. I don’t know what’s going on around here tonight. I’ve got one sister who’s smashed and one who’s lost her mind.”
When Melanie pul
led alongside with her SUV a few minutes later, Maggie and Ashley climbed in, both of them duly chastened. Maggie hated to think what Rick was going to have to say when they arrived home without his car.
Fortunately, she noted when they turned into the driveway at Rose Cottage, he was inside. Unfortunately, he appeared in the doorway before Melanie could drive away.
“What the devil?” he said, sounding more than a little unnerved. “Where’s my car?”
“Still at Melanie’s,” Maggie soothed. “It’s fine.”
“Then why didn’t you drive it home?”
Ashley paused in her unsteady walk toward the house to announce, “Because Maggie couldn’t find the clutch.” She patted Rick’s cheek. “And you thought I was the one who shouldn’t be on the road.”
She wobbled on past him and went inside. Rick stared at Maggie. “You can’t drive a straight shift?”
“Apparently not.”
He shook his head. “I don’t believe it.”
She gestured toward Melanie. “Want a ride over so you can get it? You know you won’t sleep a wink till you see it’s in one piece.”
“True,” he admitted, the glowered at her. “But I am coming straight back here. Don’t you dare fall asleep on me.”
Despite the annoyance in his voice, Maggie experienced a little shiver of anticipation. He wasn’t really that mad at her, she reassured herself. Maybe they could salvage the rest of the night yet. And if he was a little irritated, that just made the prospect of make-up sex more appealing.
Then she thought of Ashley and pushed her own needs aside. “Rick, wait till morning to come back, okay? I want to get to the bottom of what’s going on with my sister. She’ll never open up if you’re here.”
He gave her a skeptical look. “And you think you can do that while she’s half-drunk?”
“Actually it’s probably the best time. Her defenses will be down.”
He nodded. “Okay, then, I’ll see you first thing in the morning. I’ll bring very strong coffee and pastries.”
She reached up and kissed his cheek. “Thank you for understanding.”
“You’re giving me too much credit. I haven’t understood much since the day we met.”
She stared after him as he rode off with Melanie. She could relate to his confusion. She was pretty bewildered herself. But one thing seemed clear enough. Neither of them was rattled enough to run.
Inside, Maggie found Ashley at the kitchen table. A kettle of water was already boiling. Apparently Ashley had guessed that Maggie had a lot of questions that weren’t going to wait till morning.
“Where’s Rick?” Ashley asked.
“He went with Melanie to get his car. Then he’s heading back to the B and B.”
Ashley nodded. “Just as well. I have a lot of questions about what you’ve gotten yourself into with him.”
“Save ’em,” Maggie ordered as she plunked a box of tea bags on the table, then poured them each a cup of boiling water. “I’m going first.”
Ashley gave her a startled look. “You have questions for me?”
“A ton of them, in fact, starting with why you’re here.”
“I came to check on you, of course.”
She uttered the words in a way that would have convinced most people. Maggie wasn’t buying it. “And?” she prodded. “That might have been part of what brought you down here, but there’s more to it.”
“What makes you think that?” Ashley retorted defensively. She was suddenly looking everywhere except into Maggie’s eyes.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Maggie said. “Maybe the fact that you got drunk tonight.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Ashley said indignantly. “I am not drunk. I’m under a little stress. I had a couple of glasses of wine to relax. People do it all the time. It’s no big deal.”
“It is when it’s you. You don’t unwind with alcohol. You go to the gym.”
“Yes, well, the gym wasn’t working for me,” Ashley snapped. “Stop bugging me. Don’t make me sorry I came.”
“I can’t give you sympathy if I don’t know what’s going on,” Maggie told her more gently.
“I don’t want sympathy. I want you to leave me alone. I can handle this.”
“Whatever this is,” Maggie said sarcastically. “Sorry. No can do. You wouldn’t leave me alone if you thought I was in trouble, would you?” She paused, then feigned a sudden awakening. “Oh, wait, that’s why you claim to be here, because I’m in trouble.”
“Well, aren’t you?”
“No, and we’re not going down that road right now. Are Mom and Dad okay?”
“Never better,” Ashley said, looking perplexed by Maggie’s abrupt change of topic.
“And Jo’s okay?”
“Our little sister is perfectly fine.”
“Your love life go south?”
“Who has time for a love life?” Ashley responded wryly.
“Okay, that leaves work,” Maggie surmised. “Has something gone wrong with a case?”
For an instant Ashley looked disconcerted, as if she hadn’t expected Maggie to come up with that one, when the truth was that it was the most obvious one of all. Work was all Ashley ever worried about.
“I’m just a little concerned about a case,” Ashley said, which in her world was tantamount to admitting she was terrified.
“Aren’t you prepared?”
Ashley gave her a derisive look. “I’m always prepared.”
“Then why are you worried?”
“Honestly, I can’t get into it.”
“It’s not as if I’ll blab to anyone.”
“I know, but it would violate all sorts of confidentiality stuff if I talked to you about this. Don’t worry. I’m sure everything will turn out just fine. I just needed to get away for a couple of days to clear my head and make sure I’m ready to go into court next week.”
“You’re going to knock their socks off,” Maggie reassured her. “You always do.”
Ashley gave her a weak smile. “I wonder if that’s always such a good thing?”
“Meaning?”
“Nothing. Don’t mind me.” She stood up, leaned down and gave Maggie a kiss on her forehead. “Thanks for the pep talk. I’m going to bed. I love you.”
“Love you, too,” Maggie replied, staring after her, her heart aching. Something was obviously tormenting Ashley about this case. The fact that she’d even come to Virginia days before trial spoke volumes. But Maggie knew better than to think her sister would open up any more than she had.
She wished there was something she could do, but in an odd way, maybe she had. She’d given Ashley a chance to obsess over the relationship Maggie was having with Rick. Maybe that was just the distraction her sister needed.
If so, Maggie would just have to put up with all the annoying questions for another day or two. She just had to pray that Rick would be equally resilient and understanding.
Chapter Eleven
“Would you mind going out to the orchard on your own this morning?” Maggie asked, when Rick called first thing in the morning.
“Be still my heart,” he said with exaggerated shock. “I surely must be imagining things. Maggie D’Angelo, the ultimate control freak, is actually giving up a chance to supervise my work?”
“Very funny. I want to spend some more time with Ashley.”
Rick instantly caught the somber note in her voice. “Did you make any progress with her last night? Did she open up after I left?”
Maggie sighed wearily. “Not much. I just know it has to do with work, but that was pretty much a given. Beyond that, she won’t talk about it.”
“And you think she will today?”
“Probably not, but I have to give it another try. How about meeting us for lunch at the café in Irvington?”
“Sure. That’ll work, if you can make it a late lunch, say, around one.”
“Perfect.”
“Good luck with Ashley. She’s lucky to have you.”
Maggie laughed. “She’d probably disagree. She’s not used to being on the receiving end of so many probing questions.”
“Good at dishing it out, not so good at taking it?” he said. “I can hardly wait to see if you’re still speaking to each other by lunchtime. See you.”
After he’d hung up, he realized he was relieved to have the morning to himself. He could use some time to absorb all these new feelings he was starting to have about her, about being drawn into her loving, if somewhat complicated, family.
Turning off the highway onto the winding driveway that cut through acres of apple trees heavy with fruit, he felt almost as if he were coming home. It was an odd sensation, one he’d certainly never experienced going back to any of the increasingly decrepit places he’d shared with his mother. In fact the only sensation he had to compare it to was the way it felt walking into Rose Cottage and finding Maggie waiting for him with a warm smile and a seductive glint in her eyes.
What the devil was wrong with him lately? He didn’t do the home-and-hearth thing. So why was he suddenly going all soft at the sight of a rambling farmhouse or at the prospect of seeing a couple of old-timers he’d known only a few days? Did it have something to do with the stability they represented? Did he envy them for having lived in the same place all these years, while he’d been like a rolling stone, always on the move?
Or was it the love he truly envied? Were they the reason he was looking at his relationship with Maggie as something other than his usual lighthearted fling? No, he’d been thinking along those lines when he’d come to Virginia chasing after her. He’d just been fighting the implication of his determination to find her. He’d deliberately blamed it on the challenge she represented, rather than on the growing need he felt to be with her.
He was still sitting in the car pondering that when a sharp rap on the window startled him. He looked up to see Matthew staring at him, his expression quizzical.
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