Return of the Last McKenna (Harlequin Romance)

by Jump, Shirley

  “Is he doing nice things like opening the door for you?”

  “Well, yes, but—”

  “And is he finding excuses to run into you when he doesn’t have to be there?”

  “Well, yes, but—”

  “Then he’s interested. Trust me, Brody doesn’t waste his time on things that don’t matter to him. If he’s around you all the time, he’s interested. Not to mention, he manages to bring up your name about…oh, a hundred times in conversation.”

  Stace slid into the booth beside Riley and handed Kate a cup of coffee. “You talking about Brody?”

  “Yup. And how the middle brother is the last to learn that a good woman is the secret to happiness.” Riley pressed a kiss to Stace’s cheek. “It’s always the smart ones that are the dumbest.”

  “I agree with that.” Stace gave him a gentle nudge, then turned to Kate. “Riley was just as bad as Brody. Kept on pretending he didn’t have any interest in me. And meanwhile, he was drooling behind my back.”

  Riley feigned horror. “I was not. That was Finn with Ellie.”

  Kate laughed. “Brody mentioned him a few times.”

  “The first to fall and get married, and he surprised the hell out of all of us by eloping. He’s got one kid already, another on the way. By taking the plunge, he blazed the trail for the rest of us.” Riley chuckled. “And this weekend, it’ll be my turn. I can’t wait.”

  Stace beamed at him. “Neither can I.” Riley slipped his arm behind Stace and drew her a little closer, a little tighter.

  Kate dug a notepad out of her purse. “While I have you two here, I wanted to ask you some questions about the cupcakes. Brody gave me information, but—”

  “He’s a guy and they aren’t big on details, right?” Stace said. “Whatever Brody told you, though, is probably just fine. I’m the least fussy person you’ll ever meet. Just make them edible and pretty and I’ll be happy.”

  “Because all you want to do is marry me, right?” Riley said.

  “No. All I want to do is gorge on cupcakes.” She laughed. “Okay, and marry you.”

  Riley swiped a hand across his forehead. “Phew. You had me worried there for a minute. I thought the wedding was all an elaborate plot for dessert.”

  “Oh, it is,” Stace said with a grin. “And you’re the dessert I’m getting.”

  The two of them embodied happiness. Kate envied them a bit. No, a lot. Would she ever meet a man who would love her that much? “I’m not sure my cupcakes can live up to that,” she said with a smile.

  “I’m sure they’ll be all that and more. I heard all about your chocolates from Mary at dinner last week.”

  “A family dinner that Brody skipped,” Riley said. “I heard it was because he was working with you.”

  “I’m sorry, if I had known he should have been at a family dinner—”

  Riley put up a hand to stop her. “It was no big deal, really. Honestly, we’re all glad Brody started working with you. It’s been good for him.”

  Stace nodded. Concern filled both their faces. “Be patient with Brody. He’s been through a lot.”

  Did that explain the distance he maintained? The way he pulled back every time they got close? What could possibly be that bad that he felt he couldn’t tell her?

  “He told me his parents died.” Kate shook her head. “I meant yours, Riley. I’m sorry about that.”

  “Thanks, but that isn’t what troubles Brody these days. He’s been through something…traumatic. In the recent past.” Riley exchanged a glance with Stace.

  Something Brody hadn’t shared. The big thing he kept dancing around, then dropping? Hurt roared inside Kate. She had sat there with him and poured her heart out, sharing her deepest fears, and he had yet to do the same. Why?

  “He said he’s working with me because it helps him get his mind off things,” Kate said. “I’m glad that baking can do that for him.”

  And that he can avoid the hard topics yet coax them out of me.

  “Brody hates to cook,” Riley said with a laugh. “Like seriously runs the other way if someone turns on the oven. He’s a takeout only man.”

  “Then why would he offer to help me?”

  Again, Riley and Stace exchanged a glance and again, Kate got the feeling there was something—something big—they weren’t telling her. “You need to ask him about that,” Riley said. “Just know that if Brody is there doing the thing he hates the most in the world, there is a really, really big reason for him doing so.”

  “Bigger than your wedding?” Kate asked.

  Riley thought a second. “Brody’s not there for our wedding. He’s there because—” Stace laid a hand on Riley’s arm and he cut off the sentence. “Brody’s a good man,” Riley said instead. “And he’s trying his damnedest to do the right thing. So before you judge him, think about that. And give him the benefit of the doubt.”

  * * *

  Thursday afternoon, Brody sat in his office, surrounded by charts he needed to finish up and notes he should be reviewing, and ignored it all. He’d come so close to telling Kate the truth on Saturday, but at the last minute, chickened out, using the emergency as an excuse to get out of there. And in the days since, he’d found one excuse after another to avoid the bakery. Instead, he’d gone for long, hard, punishing runs that hadn’t solved a damned thing.

  The problem? He liked Kate. Liked her a lot. And he knew if he wanted a future with her, then he had to start being honest. Trust that she could handle the information, and not be worse for knowing it.

  Andrew’s concerns continued to nag in the back of Brody’s head, though. Who would know her better than her brother? Maybe Andrew was right to protect her, or maybe he didn’t realize his sister’s strength.

  How well did Brody know her, though, after only a couple weeks? Better than her own flesh and blood?

  Mrs. Maguire gave his door a soft knock, and came inside. “Do you need anything else before I leave, Doctor?”

  “No, thanks, Mrs. Maguire.” His head nurse had been a model of efficiency this week, and kept him on track despite his uncharacteristic lack of attention to his practice. She’d noticed, and mentioned it a few times. He’d attributed his inattentiveness to exhaustion, an excuse that didn’t work, given he’d worked half days all week.

  She lingered in the doorway, then came inside and put a hand on the back of his visitor’s chair but didn’t sit. “I’ve noticed you’ve been troubled lately, Doc.” He put up a hand to argue, but she cut him off. “Can I give you some advice? The same advice Doc Watkins gave me one day?”

  Concern etched her features. Working side by side with him for years had given Mrs. Maguire an insight into what made Brody tick. Maybe she’d share something that could take the edge off his emotions, give him a way to find his direction again. “Sure.”

  She swung around to the front of the chair and eased into it. “Did I ever tell you about my daughter, Sharon?”

  “Just that she’s married and given you two, no, three grandchildren to spoil.” Every day it seemed Mrs. Maguire put out a new picture of one of the three kids on her desk. Or a new drawing colored with thick crayons, and marked with love for Grandma. The kids lived a couple towns over, and Brody knew Mrs. Maguire devoted every spare minute to seeing them.

  A smile curved across Mrs. Maguire’s face. “She has indeed. But for a time there, I didn’t think she was going to do anything with her life, anything except die.”

  As far as
he could remember, Mrs. Maguire had only shared the good news about her family, never any kind of troubles beyond the typical colds or restaurant meltdowns. “I didn’t know that. What happened?”

  “This was before your time, and back when it was just me and Doc Watkins. As a single mom, I juggled everything—work, school, soccer matches. Sharon felt neglected, I think. When she got to high school, she made a lot of bad choices. Fell in with the wrong crowd. Pot led to coke, led to crack. In those days, crack ran rampant.” She shook her head. “I thought I was going to lose her. I did everything I could to try to keep her safe. Console her, stay home with her, whatever it took to keep her on track. But nothing worked. One day at a time, I watched my baby die.”

  “Oh, Mrs. Maguire, I’m so sorry.” He couldn’t imagine the stress on her shoulders during those days, coupled with working full-time and paying the bills.

  “And here I was, a nurse. The kind of person who should know better, you know? I kept trying to fix it, like putting a band-aid on a cut, but it wasn’t a cut, it was a hemorrhage, and she didn’t want the help.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I came in here one day and I cried to Doc Watkins. Told him I had to quit so I could take care of my baby. I was going to devote myself full time to trying to fix Sharon. And you know what he told me?”

  Brody shook his head.

  “He said if I quit, it would be the worst thing I could do. Well, he said more than that, and a whole lot more colorfully than I would. You know Doc Watkins. He was nothing if not direct.”

  Brody chuckled. “I remember.”

  Mrs. Maguire crossed her hands in her lap and dropped her gaze to her fingers. “Back then, there wasn’t a lot of that fanciness about enabling and codependency, but that’s what it was. I just didn’t see it. All I saw was that I was protecting my daughter, helping her. Doc gave me the number of a great rehab. Told me to drop her off and drive away. I did, but damn, I didn’t want to. She was crying and screaming and calling me names, then begging me to come back in the same breath. I had to shut the windows, turn the rearview mirror, so I wouldn’t give in.” Tears filled the older woman’s eyes at the memory, and she leaned forward, grabbed a tissue from the box on his desk, and dabbed at her face. “I left her there. Hardest damned thing I ever did in my life, and also the best. Three months later, she came out clean. Moved to Brookline, got herself a job in a dress shop, and after a year or so, met the man that became her husband.”

  “I’m glad that all worked out.” He’d admired Mrs. Maguire before, but his esteem for her increased tenfold. The woman sitting across from him possessed an incredible inner strength. “You must have been so worried.”

  “I was, but more than that, I was beating myself up for not fixing it. It took me a long time to realize that some things are out of my hands. I couldn’t make her come clean. I couldn’t make her want it; she had to want it for herself. Just because I have medical training doesn’t make me a miracle worker.” She crumpled the tissue into her fist, then leaned forward. “Most of all, I had to learn that sometimes, you just have to cut yourself some slack. You and me both.”

  “I try, Mrs. Maguire. I really do.”

  “No, you don’t. I’ve seen your face ever since you got back from Afghanistan. Whatever happened over there, you are blaming yourself for and now that weight has become an albatross around your neck.” She put up a hand. “Now I don’t know the whole story, and I might be just talking out of my hat, but all I can say is that I have been in shoes similar to yours, and if you put your faith in others, and stop beating yourself up for what you can’t control, what you couldn’t fix, it’ll all work out. You are a doctor, and you’re used to fixing, bandaging. Not everything can be fixed. Some things just have to be.” She got to her feet, and smoothed a hand down her jacket. “I’ve said my piece, and I’ll let you be. I’m not trying to tell you what to do, Dr. McKenna, just trying to offer you a solution. Take it if you want.” She gave him a kind smile, then left the room.

  Brody got to his feet and went to the window. He looked out at the busy streets of Newton, beginning to fill with cars now that the clock had ticked past five. For the next few hours, it would be bumper to bumper with people trying to get home to their lives, their homes, their families. They would sit around the table and talk about their days, and few, if any, would realize just how lucky they were to be together.

  He thought of Mrs. Maguire and her daughter, and how close his head nurse had come to losing her only child. He thought of albatrosses and choices, and after a long time, he pulled out the card, read it over for the millionth time, then tucked it back into his wallet. It was time he told Kate the real story about her brother.

  And let the chips fall where they may after that.

  CHAPTER NINE

  KATE had baked and decorated, frosted and sugared. But it hadn’t been enough to make her forget what Riley and Stace had said. Or to put Brody McKenna out of her mind.

  Because she’d started to like him. He kept his cards close to his chest—heck, hidden inside his chest—but every once in a while, the other side of Brody peeked out. A playful, sweet side. Like when they’d danced together at the rest home. When he’d dug in and started baking, even wearing the pink apron. At the same time, he showed this dimension of caring. Like the kind of man a woman could lean against, depend upon. Even if being around him stirred her in a way she hadn’t been stirred before.

  Would it be worth it to take the risk and fall in love with him? Or would she be burned by a man who was keeping part of himself hidden? She’d seen her mother do it time and again with her father. Giving, giving, giving, and never receiving his full heart in return. Would Brody be the same? Would she be repeating her mother’s mistakes?

  Her conversation with Riley and Stace had only stirred the pot. What had Brody been hiding behind those blue eyes? The flame of Brody McKenna drew her again and again. She needed to exercise caution—or she’d get burned.

  “Somebody’s got a lot on her mind.”

  Kate jerked her head up and looked at her grandmother. “Huh?”

  “You just turned that rose into a radish.” She pointed at the red clump of buttercream on top of the cupcake.

  “Oh, no.” She swiped the ruined decoration off, then set down the piping bag. “I guess I am a little distracted.”

  “And I know why.” Nora hefted a heavy tub of frosting onto the counter and started to peel off the lid.

  “Grandma, quit that!” Kate said, sliding in to finish the job before her grandmother hurt herself. “No helping.”

  “You need the help. I have the experience. Let me give you a hand.”

  Kate sighed. She knew her grandmother. She wouldn’t give up. “Okay. If you promise to take it easy, and sit down while you work, can you frost those cupcakes over there?”

  Nora laughed. “You sound like you’re the grandmother and I’m the granddaughter.”

  “Just watching out for my favorite grandma.” Kate slid a stool over to the counter, then plopped a platter of red devil cupcakes and a piping bag of cream cheese frosting in front of her grandmother. She laid a hand on Nora’s shoulder. “Thanks, Grandma.”

  Nora took Kate’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Anytime, sweetie. I love this place almost as much as I love you.”

  “Ditto.” She grinned, then dipped her head to focus on assembling the order she’d been working on. Maybe talking about work would keep her from thinking about Brody. “By the w
ay, I looked at that second location the other day.”

  “You did? What’d you think of it?”

  “It was…perfect. In this quaint little town square in Weymouth, across the street from an old-fashioned movie theater. There’s a florist and a café nearby, and a hospital right down the street.”

  “I don’t think it gets much better than that,” Nora said. “Did you make an offer?”

  “Not yet.”

  “What are you waiting for?”

  Kate shrugged, then threw up her hands. “I don’t know. A sign? A big, blinking, this is the right decision to make sign.”

  Nora laughed. “Life never gives us those. If it did, every choice we make would be easy as pie.”

  “True.”

  Nora laid a hand on her granddaughter’s shoulder. “You’ll know the right answer when the time comes. Meanwhile, you have a big night tonight. Are you ready?”

  Kate glanced down at the dress she’d put on, the heels she’d brought to work just for tonight. “As ready as I’ll ever be. If I just stick with the desserts, I’ll be fine. Either way, I’m packing tissues in my purse.”

  Her grandmother gave her a quick hug. “Such a smart, practical girl. No wonder I’m so proud of you.”

  The bell over the door rang, and Kate turned to go out to the shop when she heard Brody’s voice call out a hello. Her heart tripped, and a smile curved across her face. Not thinking about Brody had worked for, oh, five seconds.

  “Hmm…and you wonder why you’re distracted,” Nora said. “I think the reason just walked in.”

  “It has nothing to do with him,” Kate whispered. “Nothing at all.”

  “Mmm, hmm.” Nora drew a little frosting heart on the stainless steel counter. Kate swiped the romantic symbol onto her finger and plopped the sweet treat in her mouth before Brody walked in and saw it.

  Damn. Every time she saw Brody McKenna, she forgot to breathe. He had on a suit jacket with his shirt and tie today, and he looked so handsome she could have fainted. “Hi,” she said, because her brain wouldn’t process any other words.