by Marie Force
“That would be great.” And then she caught herself. “If I get to keep him, that is.”
“Why wouldn’t you?”
“I’m sure someone must be looking for him. If they come back and want him…” She shrugged.
“Finders keepers.”
“Owen said they shouldn’t get him back because they let him fall off a boat.”
“I agree with Owen.”
“I’m hoping they’re far away from here by now and that I get to keep him.”
“I hope so, too.” He detailed a generous salary and benefit package that included vacation and sick time. “Will that work for you?”
“Um, yes, that would be great.” She wanted to weep from the relief of knowing she would soon have a decent paycheck to help her dig out of the financial hole she’d fallen into.
“I can help you find housing if you need it.”
“My sister Cindy rented your cousin Finn’s place. I’m hoping she wants a roommate.”
“That’d be perfect. It’s within walking distance of my office in town. When can you start?”
“Is tomorrow too soon?”
“Absolutely not. I’ll warn you that everything is a bit of a mess, so you’ll have a heck of a job at first.”
“That’s totally fine. I’ll get you whipped into shape in no time.”
He gave her the address of the office in town. “I’ll meet you there tomorrow at nine?”
“I’ll be there.”
“Tonight, we’re having a gathering at the Wayfarer to thank all the people who helped us renovate and get ready for the season. I’d love if you could stop by to meet my team and see some of our work.”
“Sure, I can do that.”
“Any time after six. And feel free to bring a friend. There’ll be dinner and entertainment from your brother and mine.”
“Sounds good. I’ll be there.”
Mac reached across the table to shake her hand. “Thank you so much, Julia. I’m looking forward to working with you.”
“Me, too. Thank you.” He would never know how desperately she’d needed the job or the relief she felt at having landed it, in no small part, she was certain, because Owen had put in a good word for her. Whatever it took.
They walked out to rejoin the others, and Julia was surprised to see that Owen had waited for her.
“Say hello to my new office manager,” Mac said.
The others responded with applause that made Julia feel thankful for the series of unfortunate events that had brought her home to Gansett.
Owen stood and gave Julia a hug. “Congrats.”
“Thank you for helping to make it happen.”
“Anything for you, kid.”
The expression brought back a lifetime of memories. She and Katie and Owen had done whatever it took to survive their upbringing.
Anything for you had become their motto. Knowing they had each other had kept them going during the worst of times, and it had fortified them between crises. To know that bond remained in place, unshakable by time or distance or marriage or anything else, was the reminder Julia needed that she was never alone in this world as long as she had Owen and Katie to prop her up the way they always had.
Overcome by emotion, she squeezed her brother’s arm. “Back atcha.”
“I know.”
They shared a look that contained a lifetime of devotion. There was literally nothing they wouldn’t do for each other or their siblings, a fact that had been tried and tested more times than either of them cared to remember.
“I need to get to the clinic to meet Maddie,” Mac said.
“Is everything okay?” Big Mac asked.
“Yep. Just a routine check. Vic wants to see her weekly since she’s expecting twins this time around.”
“Let us know how she is,” Big Mac said.
“Will do. See you tonight, Julia.”
“See you then.”
“You’re going to the party at the Wayfarer tonight?” Owen asked.
“Yes, he invited me to come to meet everyone.”
“Awesome. I’m playing, and Laura is going. Mom and Charlie are watching the kids.”
“Sounds like a fun night out.” Julia wondered if Deacon might want to go with her. She said goodbye to the other men and walked to Owen’s truck with him. “He seems really great,” she said of Mac when they were on their way back to town.
“He is. Everyone likes him. He’s fun and funny and hardworking and desperately in love with his wife and kids. Their family is a lot like ours, without the horror-show father, of course. His dad is one of the best men I’ve ever met.”
“He was so nice.”
“He always is. Not only did he raise his own five kids, but he was like a father to Joe Cantrell, who’s now married to his daughter Janey, and Luke Harris, who lost his dad really young and ended up working at the marina. And when he found out about Mallory, the daughter he never knew he had from a previous relationship, he welcomed her into the family with open arms.”
“What it must’ve been like to grow up with a dad like him rather than what we got.”
“No kidding.” Owen glanced over at her. “John told me he got a letter from Dad.”
“What? When?”
“A couple of months ago. He wrote to John because he’s a cop, thinking John might be able to help him get special favors in prison.”
Julia stared at Owen, shocked to the core. “Tell me John ignored him.”
“He did, but he said getting the letter screwed him up for a few weeks.”
“Of course it did. Just when we think that son of a bitch is out of our lives, he pops back in, acting as if he has a right to anything from us.”
“I’m going to call him and tell him if he ever contacts any of us again, I’ll report him to the prosecutors. He’ll get time tacked onto his sentence if they tell the judge he’s harassing us.”
“You shouldn’t do that, O. You don’t need to hear his voice and fall into that rabbit hole again.”
“I’ll gladly do it if it means keeping him away from us.”
“Have the prosecutor do it. Call him and not Dad.”
“I suppose I could do that.”
“Please do that. I don’t want you talking to him ever again.”
“Trust me, that’d be fine with me. I’ll call the prosecutor.”
“Good,” Julia said, releasing a deep breath. Just thinking about her father triggered massive anxiety for her, Owen and the rest of their family. “I hate him so much for what he did to all of us.”
“I do, too. And oddly enough, I hate that I hate him. I hate having that in me for anyone.”
“I know what you mean. I feel the same. It’s like we were assigned this burden as kids that we can never escape no matter how far we run or how much time goes by.”
“Finding out that he was abused as a kid helped to explain some of the why of it,” Owen said, “but you know what? I was abused as a kid, and it never occurs to me to take out my frustrations about that on my own children.”
“You could never do what he did. He wanted us to forgive him because of how he was raised, but I don’t know if I ever can. He had a choice about how he wanted to live his life, and he chose wrong.”
“Yes, he did.”
Owen drove the truck into the back lot at the Sand & Surf and parked in an empty space. After killing the engine, he turned to look at her. “I’ve mostly escaped from it, Jule. Having Laura and the kids has been the best thing to ever happen to me. I’m so busy being happy with them that I have very little time to think about shit from the past. I think Katie would say the same thing since she’s been with Shane and got the job at the clinic.”
“I can only take your word for it. I’ve never been busy enough or distracted enough for it to totally disappear for me.”
“It doesn’t ever totally disappear, but it becomes more manageable when you replace the hate with love.”
“I’m so happy for you. After all the
battles you fought for the rest of us, you deserve all the good things more than anyone I know.”
“You deserve it, too, Julia. You fought most of the battles right along with me.”
“Not like you did.” She would never forget the night their father had broken Owen’s arm and then passed it off as an accident at the hospital. Or when he’d had Owen charged with assault for daring to defend himself. Those were some of many times she’d wished she had the courage to commit murder.
“Still,” Owen said. “I want you to be happy. I want you to have more love than you do hate.”
“I’m working on that. The job will help me to stay busy. It’ll be good to throw myself into a new challenge. Mac said he needs everything.”
“You’ll love working for him.”
“I think so, too. Well, I’d better take Mr. Pupwell for a walk before my appointment at the clinic. And yes, I’m going to the clinic, so you can text Katie and tell her you did your job as my keeper while she’s gone.”
Owen grinned. “I’ll let her know.”
“You do that. I’ll see you later. And thanks again for the ride, the recommendation and everything else.”
“You got it.”
He went inside while she took the puppy for a walk through the parking lot, hoping he would quickly learn that peeing was meant to be done outside, not on the shirt of one’s mother.
Stop. Don’t do that. Don’t get attached. Protect yourself from getting hurt.
She’d spent a lifetime trying to avoid getting hurt, for all the good that had done her. Hurt was almost all she’d ever known. Puppy looked up at her, making sure she was still there before continuing to sniff around the bushes.
“Go pee, buddy.”
Magically, he lifted his little leg and peed. “What the hell? I have to tell you to pee?” She couldn’t wait to tell Deacon that. He’d crack up.
Deacon.
Just that quickly, she was back to thinking about kissing him the night before and wondering how long she had to wait before she could do it again.
Chapter 17
Mac drove faster than he should have, eager to get to the clinic in time so he wouldn’t miss the weekly appointment. He’d wanted to pick up Maddie at home and drive her there, but she’d insisted on driving herself. His mother-in-law, Francine, would be at the house with Hailey and baby Mac while Thomas was at school.
Three kids five and under was too much for Maddie, even when she wasn’t carrying twins, but this pregnancy was kicking her ass. Not that she’d ever say so.
They’d been arguing lately about hiring help. She wanted to wait until the twins arrived. He wanted help now, as his busiest time of year began, giving him much less time to spend at home helping her. Between the construction company that went full tilt all summer while they had good weather and the marina he ran with his father and their partner, Luke Harris, Mac had way too much on his plate. And his plate was about to get that much heavier when the twins arrived in September.
Sometimes he would swear that he could actually feel his blood pressure rising. His chest ached almost all the time, and his jaw was killing him from clenching his teeth while he slept. Something had to give, for sure, and it wouldn’t be his wife and kids. They would always come first with him. Hiring Julia would help. Hiring a nanny would also help, and they were going to talk about that after this appointment.
In the meantime, thank God for his parents, Francine and Ned, all of whom pitched in to help out whenever they were needed. Mac’s parents wanted to travel now that they were semiretired, and he didn’t want to be the cause of them staying on the island when they wanted to go see the world.
He also planned to have a talk with Luke about taking on more at the marina to free Mac up to focus on the construction business in the summer. He’d been juggling too many balls for a couple of years now, and he was getting tired. As he was soon to be the father of five children, he needed to get his shit together so he could be there for them rather than running himself ragged trying to be all things to all people.
His jaw was throbbing by the time he got to the clinic, which meant he was grinding his teeth again. He tried to remember not to do that, but he had so much to remember that he forgot not to clench.
After parking, he jogged into the clinic and stopped short at the sight of his gorgeous wife being supported by Victoria and another woman he didn’t recognize. For a brief second, Mac’s heart stopped when he wondered what could be wrong. He drove himself mad thinking of the many ways her delivery could turn into yet another disaster. The possibility of anything happening to her or their babies was more than he could handle.
His chest started to seriously hurt, and his jaw… Wow, that hurt, too. He took a step forward, and then he was falling, hitting the floor hard, but he didn’t feel anything other than the searing pain in his chest.
Maddie…
She needed him. He had to get up and go to her.
Then he was surrounded by people, and in the background, he could hear Maddie screaming his name. Was she crying?
He hated when she cried. She knew that. Why were they holding him down? Where were they taking him? He needed to get to her. Something was wrong with her, not him. The ceiling above him flew by. David was there. Mac used to hate him for cheating on Janey, but he saved Hailey’s life and Janey’s. They owed David so much.
“Mac. You need to calm down.” David’s shouted words permeated the fog in Mac’s brain.
“Maddie.”
“She’s fine.”
“Mac, I’m here.” She was crying. That wouldn’t do.
He tried to sit up.
Stronger hands pushed him back down. “I don’t want to restrain you, but I will if you don’t relax,” David said. “Let us figure out what’s going on.”
“His BP is sky-high,” Victoria reported.
Where had she come from? She’d been with Maddie. The babies. Something was wrong. He knew it. He had to get to her.
A pinprick in his hand and then… nothing.
“What’s wrong with him?” Maddie was trying not to get hysterical, but when your perfectly healthy husband collapses right in front of you when you’re six months pregnant with twins, staying calm was easier said than done.
David had a stethoscope pressed to Mac’s chest, which was now covered with patches attached to wires.
Was he having a heart attack?
Dear God, please. It couldn’t be that.
“Has he ever had any sort of heart issues before?” David asked Maddie.
“No, nothing.” And then she recalled when they first met. He’d come home to Gansett after a health incident in Miami where he’d had a high-pressure job in the construction industry. “There was one thing.” She frantically tried to recall the details. “I think it was an anxiety attack. He ended up in the ER because they thought it was a heart attack. Could that be what happened?”
“I like that a whole lot better than a heart attack,” David said, “but we’ll need to do a complete workup before we can say for certain what happened.”
“He’ll be okay, though, right?” She simply couldn’t fathom what she would ever do without the man who’d stormed into her life and made himself essential to her and her son.
“We’ll know more after we get some labs back. Try not to worry.”
“Maddie,” Vic said. “Let’s get you off your feet.”
Her ankles had swollen to the point that she feared they might explode at any moment.
Victoria settled her in a chair next to Mac’s bed, raised her feet onto another chair with a pillow under them and then put another pillow behind Maddie’s aching back.
“Thank you.”
“No problem. Try not to worry. He was in the right place when this happened.”
Maddie took hold of his hand, noting the roughness that came from hard work. “He’s got to be okay. He just has to be.”
“Can I call someone to come sit with you?”
Maddie th
ought about that. She had so many people she could and should call, but she asked for only one person. “Call his dad for me, will you?”
“Of course.”
Big Mac would know what to do for Mac, and having him there would calm Maddie as well.
Watching over her normally unstoppable husband, seeing him so still and attached to beeping machines, Maddie experienced a wave of fear unlike anything she’d ever known, even when they’d lost their unborn son, Connor. That had been the worst loss of her life. But if she lost Mac, she’d never survive it.
The first day of work was busy for Deacon. He had a half day of training with one of the Gansett Island Police Department officers, who walked him through the system for filing reports and other department policy. None of it was all that different from what he’d seen before, so he absorbed the information quickly and was able to get out on the water right after lunch.
It was a relief to be on the boat after a morning in a stuffy conference room dealing with administrative bullshit. That was always the part of the job he’d hated the most and knew many other officers felt the same way. He liked to be out on the street—or on the water—doing the actual job, not dealing with the paperwork that was a necessary evil.
He wore the uniform of the Gansett Island Police Department, carried a badge and weapon as well as handcuffs and had all the rights and privileges other members of the department enjoyed. But he got to do the best job, if you asked him.
He’d met the other young men and women who would be working with him on harbor patrol this summer, most of them college students on summer break, and had exchanged contact info with them.
All morning throughout the training and now that he was on the boat, his thoughts kept returning to Julia, to the day they’d spent together, the sexy kisses they’d shared and her delight in the puppy. He wanted to know how her interview went and whether she’d gotten the job. Sure, he could text her to check in, but he was afraid of being too much too soon for her. He didn’t want to overwhelm her, but keeping his distance from her would take effort. She was just so damned sweet and sexy and wounded. That last part had touched him more than anything.
