“Please help yourself to our cocktail buffet, Miss Dane.”
Morgan went over to the bar. “I’d like a ginger ale.”
“Are you certain you don’t want something stronger?” asked a sonorous male voice.
She turned to find a man staring boldly at her. His deeply tanned skin, straight salt-and-pepper hair, which he had brushed off his forehead, and refined features were mesmerizing. His eyes were a mixture of brown and green. She towered over him by several inches in her heels, but that didn’t seem to bother him as he continued to leer at her.
She smiled and heard him suck in his breath. “I’m very sure.”
He extended his hand. “Ian Rush.”
Morgan took his hand. His palm was smooth, just the opposite of Nate’s. “Morgan Dane.” Ian smiled, exhibiting a mouth filled with a set of natural white teeth that would’ve pleased both of her dentist parents.
“A beautiful name for a very exotic and exquisite woman.”
She avoided rolling her eyes. If Ian was flirting with her, then it was all for naught. Morgan wasn’t looking for a man, because she already had one. “Thank you. But as to something stronger, ginger ale will do.” She accepted the glass of pop from the bartender.
“Is it because you’re driving?” Ian asked.
Morgan took a sip of the cold beverage, staring at him over the rim. “No, I’m not driving.”
He cocked his head. “Are you here with someone?”
She gave him a mischievous grin. “I will be when the best man arrives.”
Ian’s expression did not change. “So you’re dating Bryce’s brother.” The query was a statement. Morgan nodded. “I’m the principal at Stacy’s school. She’s a dynamic teacher, and all the children love her.”
Nate had mentioned Stacy’s plans to have her baby, take a six-week maternity leave, and then return to the classroom for the remainder of the school year. Odessa had offered to babysit her grandson or granddaughter, obviating the need for the young couple to pay for child care.
Morgan was introduced to Bryce’s fiancée the second night of the Island Fair, and found her warm and bubbly. She had the perfect personality for interacting with young children. “After meeting her, I know why they would.”
Ian glanced over Morgan’s shoulder. “Please excuse me. I see another one of my teachers.”
She breathed a sigh of relief when Ian walked away. For all his attractiveness, she still wasn’t interested, and he was trying too hard.
As more people filled the Wine Room, the noise level escalated. More than half the guests were on staff at the school where Stacy taught. A few had come with their husbands, wives, and partners, and Morgan found herself at the singles table seated between Ian and his assistant principal, who had indulged too much during the cocktail hour. The wedding party and their parents finally arrived amid applause and cheers.
Sommeliers circulated with bottles of wine, and Morgan opted for rosé. Waiters hovered over guests, jotting down their dining selections. Meanwhile, the appetizers—fried green tomatoes; salt-and-pepper fried shrimp; southern-style egg rolls filled with collard greens, chicken, tasso ham, and red pepper purée and served with spicy mustard and peach chutney dipping sauces; and pickled shrimp served on house-made benne-seed crackers—were set out on each table.
She ordered the maple-glazed salmon. The entrée came with a warm spinach salad, which included goat cheese, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and mushrooms, all dressed with a dill-shallot vinaigrette. Ian ordered a New York strip steak, and his assistant principal ordered the bourbon-glazed porterhouse pork chop. Conversations floating around the table were lively as waiters efficiently refilled cocktail orders.
Morgan’s eyes met Nate’s when she glanced in his direction. Stacy’s sister, Amber, leaned against him as if her spine wouldn’t allow her to sit upright. She wondered if the woman had had too much to drink or was desperately seeking Nate’s attention. From his expression he appeared to be totally immune to her overt attempt at seduction. Amber, like Ian, was trying too hard.
Nate narrowed his eyes when he saw his sister-in-law’s boss taking furtive glances at Morgan’s décolletage. She’d worn a black tank dress with a scooped neckline, and the pervert couldn’t take his eyes off her.
“What on earth did that napkin do to you?” Odessa asked sotto voce. “You’re strangling it to death.”
He stared at the cloth and at the veins protruding in the back of his hand. “I’m okay.”
“Are you really?”
He looked at Odessa, who was sitting on his right. She was stunning. She’d positioned a small pillbox hat covered with pale pink silk rose petals on the back of her head. It matched her silk suit and high-heeled shoes. He met her dark eyes, which glistened like polished coal.
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“I don’t think you are,” Odessa said accusingly. “If looks could kill, Stacy’s boss would be facedown in his plate as we speak.”
Nate gritted his teeth. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You think not? I saw you with Morgan at the fair, and it’s as plain as the nose on your face that you’re in love with the girl.” She paused when Nate refused to confirm or deny her claim. “Have you told her?” Odessa continued.
“What goes on between Morgan and me doesn’t concern you, Odessa.”
“Why shouldn’t it? I’m married to your father, and that makes us family.” She leaned closer. “You think I don’t know that you resent me for marrying him.” She had lowered her voice to a whisper. “I love your father and he loves me. What you think or believe will never change that. What I can’t understand is how you can hate me yet love Bryce.”
Nate stared at his plate. “I don’t hate you, Odessa.”
“But you do resent me.”
He shook his head. “Not as much as I used to.”
“What’s changed?”
A hint of a smile touched the corners of his mouth. “I’ve matured enough to accept things as they are. You’re my father’s wife and my brother’s mother. And you’re right about Bryce. I do love him, and I’d do anything to help him.”
“You…you’ve done so much for him already…” Her words stopped with the flow of tears flowing down her face.
Nate sat, stunned, and then pushed back his chair, cupping a hand under her elbow. “Come with me.”
Lucas half rose from his chair. “What’s going on?”
Nate patted his father on the back. “Don’t worry, Dad. I’ve got this.”
“Why is Odessa crying?”
“I’ll take care of her,” Nate told Lucas.
Wrapping an arm around her waist, he led Odessa out of the private room and to a waiting area in the restaurant. Easing her to a padded bench, he reached into his jacket’s breast pocket and withdrew a handkerchief. Nate hunkered down in front of his stepmother and held her chin, gently blotting her tears.
“Hey, mother of the groom,” he crooned. “You’re ruining your makeup.”
Odessa took the handkerchief, pressing it to the corners of her eyes. “I’m sorry, Nate. I have recurring nightmares of Bryce going to jail.”
“He’s not going to jail. He’s a married man with a baby on the way. There’s no way he’s going to jeopardize that.”
She sniffled. “I took up for him even when he was wrong. Lucas would tell me that I was too soft on Bryce, but he’s my only child and I wanted him to love me.”
Nate sat next to Odessa, stretching out his legs and crossing his feet at the ankles. “You can’t make someone love you if they don’t.”
Odessa held the handkerchief against her nose. She closed her eyes, exhaling an audible breath. “I promised your mother I’d never repeat this, but you have a right to know.”
Nate went still. “What are you talking about?”
“You were still so young when Manda had been diagnosed with cervical cancer. She was pregnant with Sharon. A month after she delivered, she was admitted to t
he hospital for a total hysterectomy. She underwent chemo and radiation, and for years she was in remission. Then the cancer came back, but in her pancreas.
“We talked at least twice a month, and not once did she tell me she was sick. We grew up a block from each other. Manda told me I was the sister she never had. I used to hang out at her house so I didn’t have to hear Mama and Daddy fighting about his gambling, drinking, and whoring. I wanted what Manda had. Two parents who loved her and each other. And it was no different when she grew up. She married a man who adored her and their children.”
“You wanted to be my mother so much that you took her husband?”
“It’s not like that, Nate.”
He glared at her. “Please tell me how it was.”
“I’m not going to deny I wanted a man like your father, but it was never my intention to marry him.”
“But you did.”
“Because Manda knew I had feelings for Lucas.”
“Do you expect me to believe you?” Nate forced himself not to raise his voice. Not only was Odessa deceptive, she was also a liar.
“What I’d like is for you to hear me out. I had no idea that Manda was sick again until I spoke to her and she broke down crying because of the pain. I left my job and gave up my apartment to come to Cavanaugh Island to take care of her. One look at Manda and I knew the cancer had ravished her body.
“One day she asked me to get Lucas because she wanted to talk to both of us. She made me promise to not only take care of her children but also to take care of her husband.”
Nate looked at Odessa as if she’d taken leave of her senses. “You’re telling me that my mother told you to sleep with her husband?”
“No. She didn’t tell me directly. She knew I loved her and respected her relationship with your father, but she also knew that I wanted what my best friend had, and that included her husband. I’d fallen in love with Lucas, but wallowed in guilt because Manda saw what I’d tried so hard to hide. She said it was okay to act on my feelings. She was dying and wanted her husband to have someone who would love him and her children as much as she did.” Odessa’s voice broke with emotion. “Manda was admitted to hospice care. Lucas was lonely and I was there to comfort him. One thing led to another, and one day we wound up sleeping together. You can’t imagine the guilt I felt, but I loved him too much to stop.
“Once I realized I was pregnant, Lucas and I went to see Manda to let her know, but she had slipped into a coma. I sat with her around the clock until she came out of it long enough for me to tell her that Lucas would get his third child. She couldn’t talk, but managed to smile and nod her head. Then she slipped away.”
Nate buried his face in his hands. He did not want to believe what Odessa had said, because it was too bizarre. “I can’t believe my father went along with this,” he said through his fingers.
“We granted a dying woman her wish. She wanted me to take care of her husband and children, and I did. You and Sharon aren’t just Lucas’s children—you’re our children. You’re as much my son as Bryce is. The only difference is that I didn’t give birth to you. It’s the same with Sharon. She’s my daughter, and Gabby and Greg are my grandchildren.”
Lowering his hands, Nate felt as if he’d gone a few rounds with a professional boxer. His head and chest hurt. He couldn’t believe he’d spent nearly twenty years harboring distrust and resentment, when it’d been his mother’s wishes for Odessa and Lucas to get together.
The words he’d carved on the plaque came to mind: The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult; the day he forgives himself, he becomes wise.
He felt the gentle touch of Odessa’s hand on his. His fingers closed around hers. “I know it sounds incredible, but if you don’t believe me, then ask your father.”
Nate reversed their hands, kissing her fingers. “No. What we talked about should stay between us.”
“Like what goes on in Vegas?”
He smiled. “Exactly.”
Odessa sobered. “We’ve talked about everything and everyone but Morgan. Do you love her, Nate?”
Lines fanned out around Nate’s eyes when he smiled. It was the second time within a week someone had asked him if he loved Morgan. “I don’t know.”
Pulling her hand from his grip, Odessa stood up. “Don’t be no fool, Nathaniel Shaw. Every single man sitting in that room would like to have what you’re about to lose if you don’t put a ring on her finger.”
Nate also stood. “Why you put the mout on me?” he asked, slipping into dialect.
Odessa sucked her teeth. “I’m not. You married that hungry-looking whore when you should’ve never given her a second look. But with Morgan, you tell me you don’t know. I bet you’ll get it together after she’s gone. A girl like Morgan won’t stay single forever.”
Odessa was wrong. He wasn’t going to lose Morgan. Suddenly, Nate saw movement out of the corner of his eye. “Mrs. Shaw, your husband is looking for you,” he said in a singsong voice.
“Hi, honey,” she said sweetly, as Lucas approached.
“Are you all right?” Lucas asked.
Nate rested a hand on Odessa’s back. “She’s better now,” he answered for Odessa.
Odessa gave Nate his handkerchief. “Thanks for lending me your shoulder. If I get this emotional over my son’s wedding, what am I going to do when I become a grandmother?”
Cradling his wife’s face, Lucas kissed her forehead. “We’ll probably have to sedate you.” He nodded to Nate. “Thanks.”
“No problem.”
Waiting until Lucas and Odessa had disappeared from his line of vision, Nate pounded his fist into his other hand. He was still attempting to process what Odessa had disclosed about the secret agreement.
Odessa’s disclosure and her warning about losing Morgan made him feel as if he’d entered an emotional vortex, that he was spinning out of control and had no chance of slowing down.
Nate knew he couldn’t just shake off the distrust that had festered within him for half his life. It would take time, and he knew his reluctance to open himself to loving Morgan was a result of that distrust. However, he’d been given a chance to start over.
Adjusting his bow tie, he returned to the private room. He froze when he saw Morgan laughing as Ian whispered something in her ear. I saw you with Morgan at the fair, and it’s as plain as the nose on your face that you’re in love with the girl. Every single man sitting in that room would like to have what you’re about to lose if you don’t put a ring on her finger.
Could Odessa see what he couldn’t? There were times when he felt he was in love with Morgan and suppressed the feeling as it came up. There was no denying the intense physical attraction, but their relationship went beyond sleeping together. And how long could he refuse to acknowledge what was obvious to everyone but himself?
Walking over to her, he rested a hand on her shoulder. She turned to smile up at him. “Let’s go.” Pulling back her chair, he helped her to stand.
“Uh, okay. Is something wrong?”
“I need to talk to you.”
“What do you want to talk about?” Morgan asked.
“We’ll talk outside.” Nate escorted her out of the room and over to an area across from the lobby. “What’s with all the flirting?”
Morgan’s jaw dropped. “What?”
“Do you enjoy disrespecting me in front of my family?”
Her eyes narrowed. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. But if it’s because I’m laughing and talking with a man—”
“Not a man, Morgan,” he said, interrupting her. “It’s been a few men.”
Going on tiptoe, Morgan leaned into him. “Don’t you dare go there! If you’re that concerned about me talking to other men, then you should put up or shut up. I’m sick and tired of you giving me mixed signals. I’m also not your ex-wife! I’m going to ask you one question and I’d like an honest ans
wer. Do you love me?” The seconds ticked by as tension swelled between them. “Wow. Your not saying anything tells me everything I need to know.” Turning on her heels, she walked back into the room, leaving Nate staring at her back.
Nate waited to return to the dining room. He was reeling from the realization he may have lost Morgan. When he saw her laughing and talking with the other male guests, all he could think of was his ex bragging about the number of men she’d slept with. He ran a hand over his face. How could he be so stupid? He knew Morgan was nothing like Kim. He must have still been affected by the conversation he had with Odessa.
He walked back into the room to find Morgan talking to his father. Lucas had nodded to whatever it was she said to him. She avoided Nate’s eyes when she returned to her table.
“What’s going on between you and Morgan?” Lucas asked as Nate reclaimed his chair.
“Nothing.”
The older man’s eyebrows lifted a fraction. “Don’t tell me it’s nothing. She just asked me to drive her back to the Creek.” He rested a hand on Nate’s sleeve. “Listen, you don’t have to tell me what went down between the two of you, but from experience, son, you need to give her time to cool off.”
He flashed a brittle smile. “Everything’s cool, Dad.”
“Why don’t I believe you?”
Nate gave his father a direct stare. “You don’t have to. As I said, everything’s all good.”
He’d said it not only to reassure his father but also to reassure himself. He had to move past his trust issues or he would lose Morgan forever.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Nate realized his mistake when he didn’t hear from or see Morgan for a week. Lucas had mentioned not crowding her and giving her time to cool off. Well, a week had come and gone, and she still hadn’t contacted him.
He did what he’d done when he first returned to Cavanaugh Island—he threw himself into his projects. With Bryce helping him, he finished the armoire doors in record time. Even when his brother and sister-in-law closed the door to their bedroom, Nate continued working. There were some nights when he managed to get by on three hours of sleep, even though he would pay for it the next day. It was the first time that working hadn’t been therapeutic, and he knew why.
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