But long ago Max had learned that Joe and Rosie Angelica operated on a philosophy that transcended blood. Family by love, they called it. Through the years, Max had learned those ties bound tight. He’d been grateful for this family since long before he’d even understood what he was grateful for.
Love and support. Selflessness instead of selfishness. The things that counted as far as Max was concerned.
Looking for a place to park in front of the neatly kept house, Max wondered if his passenger’s mood would be improved by her welcome committee. Cars filled the driveway and spilled into the cul-de-sac. No one would dare park on the lawn, lest they incur Joe’s wrath.
“Wow, I thought everyone would be at work or school.”
Max couldn’t tell whether or not a big reception was a good thing. “You’re surprised?”
“Not surprised,” was all she said as he maneuvered the car against a curb.
“I’ll bring your things inside,” he told her.
“Thanks. No hurry.”
She didn’t move though, and he thought she was waiting for him to get her door. He had his own opened before noticing how still she was. In his periphery, he saw her inhale deeply.
Nerves? From a woman who could work the media and address massive crowds in her sleep? That couldn’t be right. By the time he circled the car and got her door, he found Lily Susan her usual gracious, poised self.
They wove a path through the cars, her long, lean legs easily matching his pace. Max wasn’t surprised by the royal welcome. This family had been waiting a long time for their youngest to come home.
He got a welcome reception himself when the screen door shot open and his daughter appeared.
She skipped down the stairs with a light step, black ponytail bobbing, excitement glowing from her.
His pulse lurched at the sight. It was a familiar reaction, the instant he came face-to-face with the fact that everything that mattered in his life was all wrapped up in his little girl. There was always a second of awe that she was real.
And alive.
“Daddy!”
Max wished that squeal of delighted glee had to do with him as much as their guest. But his daughter was caught up in the excitement of Lily Susan’s homecoming.
Striding ahead, he braced himself as Madeleine leaped into his arms. Catching her against him, he twirled her around, eliciting another squeal—this one all for him. She tilted her cheek for a kiss, but her curious gaze fixed over his shoulder on the woman behind him.
“Is that her?” Madeleine asked almost reverently.
Max kissed her again to hide his smile. “It is. I’ll introduce you.”
Letting his daughter slide to the ground, he straightened. To his surprise, he found Lily Susan already dropping to Madeleine’s height, which brought his attention to her graceful neck and feminine shoulders in a way he’d have to be dead not to notice.
But he was only dead on the inside.
Smiling warmly, she extended her hand. “Bonjour, Mademoiselle Madeleine. Ça fait plaisir de te revoir. Nous nous sommes rencontrés quand tu étais une petite fille. Regarde-toi. Tu as grandis pour être très, très belle.”
“Merci, madame.” Madeleine beamed, clearly surprised their guest spoke French. Grown up and beautiful—a double compliment if Max’s translation was close. His French was rudimentary at best. She politely replied how pleased she was to see Lily Susan again, too, but Max knew his daughter had no memory of their previous meeting. She’d barely been two the last time Lily Susan had graced the family with her presence.
Felicia had spoken French to their daughter since birth even though her parents had moved to the States before she or Raymond had been born. Max had kept up the tutoring by bringing an au pair from France who was a relative of the Girard family.
Lily Susan had told him she’d been keeping up with his family, and he was astounded she was interested in what was happening in a place she couldn’t find time to visit.
He was also astounded by the way she engaged his daughter in a chat about kindergarten and teachers and friends—in a random mix of English and French Felicia would have appreciated.
Kneeling in the leaf-strewn yard, Lily Susan listened intently to a story about the student-of-the-week breakfast reception that served cookies. Her whiskey-gold hair tumbled down her back, and her long skirt emphasized sleek legs as she wrapped her arms around her knees and nodded in all the appropriate places.
His daughter was generally reserved around strangers, but with the attention Lily Susan graciously provided, she was shedding her shell.
“You got to be on The Morning Show with your student-of-the-week ribbon, too? Wow. Does everyone watch The Morning Show?”
“Oui, madame.” Madeleine beamed. “Even the fifth graders and the patrols.”
Lily Susan gave a suitably impressed gasp. And he was impressed she knew what an elementary-school patrol was.
They made quite a sight. Lily Susan in all her designer-clothes glory. Madeleine, still bearing evidence of summer swimming lessons and weekends spent at the lake. She’d been nut-brown by Labor Day, compliments of Moroccan ancestors. He wondered if their son would have had his mother’s skin, too.
Not the first time he’d wondered.
“Aunt Lily Susan!” More squeals as the screen door creaked open and Riley’s twins burst onto the porch.
“We’ll make time later to chat.” Lily Susan gave Madeleine’s hands a little squeeze before she stood. “I want to hear more about your appearance on The Morning Show.”
His daughter nodded eagerly then Lily Susan was spreading her arms wide to greet her new visitors.
“My little twinnies!”
Riley’s kids weren’t so little anymore. Jake and Camille were a whopping almost nine years old, as Jake was fond of reminding everyone. But they were thrilled to see their aunt, and he witnessed firsthand the results of Riley’s determination to keep everyone in touch with text, email and phone calls.
Max bore a similar responsibility. Felicia’s family was all Madeleine would ever have of her mother. If his in-laws hadn’t been so accessible, he would have made the same effort as Riley.
He hung on to his daughter’s hand while Lily Susan hugged her niece and nephew. “I can’t believe how tall you’ve both gotten. How long has it been since I’ve seen you—a year?”
“Not a year, silly.” Camille laughed. “We saw you this summer. Don’t you remember we went on the boat ride to the Statue of Liberty?”
“How could I forget? You hid so we missed the ferry back.”
Camille giggled and Lily Susan ruffled that white-blond head fondly.
“You’re such a little squirrel,” she said. “It just feels like forever since I’ve seen you.”
While Lily Susan laughed and chattered cheerily, she seemed to be hanging on to the twins for dear life, unable to stop touching and kissing them. Did she see her brother in them? Max remembered how close she and Mike had been.
“Well, it’s about damned time,” a loud voice boomed from the doorway. Joey appeared with his wife, Sarah, behind him, and shoved open the screen door so hard the hinges groaned. “Your father’s about to disown you because he can’t remember what you look like.”
Actually, Joey was the one about to disown his baby sister, as Max well knew.
“Then he must be getting senile since I saw him two months ago,” Lily Susan replied.
Angelicas poured onto the lawn calling out greetings. That was the last Max saw of Lily Susan as the family converged on her. He knew they would all wind up in the kitchen, so he broke from the crowd and headed to the car to unload the luggage.
Madeleine didn’t want any part of leaving the chaos. She stuck like glue to Camille, who stuck like glue to her aunt. He wasn’t surprised his daughter was so caught up in the whole Wedding Angel craze. Lily Susan was the family celebrity, and Madeleine had been listening to everyone discuss her long-awaited return. Particularly Camille, who idolized her aunt
and with whom Madeleine spent a good deal of time.
Riley’s twins were the youngest of all the Angelica cousins, so Madeleine was a welcome addition at family gatherings as the one person who was younger. For Camille anyway, who enjoyed sharing girl things like manicures and hairstyles—the types of activities mothers and daughters shared, but daddies were uncomfortable with, no matter how hard they tried.
And try though Max might, the nuances of shimmery nail polish escaped him.
He’d barely reached the car when he realized that Scott had caught up with him.
“Need a hand?” he asked.
Max nodded. “Anyone but Lily Susan, and I’d think she was moving in for good.”
Scott eyed the hatch and backseat stacked with suitcases and nodded. “Sure looks like it.”
Max liked Scott Emerson. He was another honorary Angelica family member. He’d been Mike’s partner on the vice squad before Mike had met Riley. Scott was now the chief of detectives, and if Max’s sources were correct—which they usually were—Scott was being groomed to become Poughkeepsie’s chief of police.
Once he married Riley, he wouldn’t be an honorary member of the Angelicas anymore. He’d be the real deal.
Between them, they managed the luggage with one trip and headed inside by way of the garage. They couldn’t escape the chaos, which had started trickling in by the time they’d stowed the bags in Lily Susan’s old bedroom upstairs. Max got trapped on the staircase behind Scott, unable to make his way into the hallway through the crowd burrowing to get in from the cold.
An expectant hush fell over the noisy family when Lily Susan approached the stairs. While she’d known of the relationship developing between Scott and Riley for a long time and had agreed to plan the wedding, Lily Susan hadn’t actually seen Scott in person since the engagement.
“Finally, here’s the groom. I wondered where you were.” She stopped the flow of traffic and smiled at him, obliging him to step off the stairs for a hug.
Max heard her whisper, “Couldn’t ask for anyone better to be dad to my little twinnies.”
Her gracious acceptance smoothed over a tough moment, and the effect was visible. Scott gave her a hug that practically lifted her off the ground. “Welcome home, Lily Susan. Thanks for making the trip.”
“Wouldn’t miss your wedding for the world.” When she was on her feet again, she winked at him. “Even if I didn’t need to plan the whole thing.”
With a laugh he moved to let traffic pass, and Max caught sight of Riley and her suspiciously misty gaze.
Bravo for Lily Susan. She might have been away from the family for a while, but distance didn’t mean she couldn’t come through for the people who loved her when it counted.
And that was a very Angelica trait.
CHAPTER FOUR
MAX CAUGHT UP with his daughter again, and they made their way through the kitchen to the adjoining dining room, where so many chairs had been jammed around the table people would be practically sitting on top of each other. Sturdy card tables had been added on both ends to eliminate the need to separate adults and kids. This made Madeleine happy, but there were so many place settings another fork couldn’t be set between them. He wondered where Rosie intended to put the food.
“Come on, come on. Find a seat.” Joe herded everyone into the dining room impatiently. “Lily Susan, you sit there.”
Max watched Lily Susan head to her honorary place at the center of the table, knowing he didn’t stand a chance at getting close. The best he could do was grab a spot across from her, where he had a decent view.
He was surprised by how much he wanted a view. Lily Susan had changed into casual sportswear, the fabric clinging to her every lean curve.
Thankfully the chaos distracted him from thoughts that were traveling in unexpected directions. Everyone knew the drill and was soon crammed elbow-to-elbow. Joey and his wife Sarah and their three kids. Caroline and her husband Alex and their three kids. Riley and Scott and the twins. Only Joe didn’t sit. He was the pulse of the family, with his bald head and hearty laughter—the one who roused everyone into action, the one they all went to for advice or opinions.
And if Joe was the pulse, then Rosie was the heart. She set the tone with her hugs. When she was happy, her nicknames for everyone were happy. Her husband was Joe and her son Joey. When she wasn’t, though, those nicknames were warnings. Joe and Joey became Old Man and Little Boy or Fat Joe and Healthy Joe when she was on a tear about someone’s eating habits.
Still, Rosie managed to keep everyone close with her nurturing kindnesses. A thousand kindnesses.
Max didn’t know what he would have done without her through Madeleine’s recovery during the long months after the accident. And he didn’t understand how Lily Susan could have spent so much time away from this warm and gregarious group.
“Close your eyes, honey-bunch,” Joe commanded Lily Susan in his booming voice. “Jake, make sure she doesn’t peek.”
Jake, who had claimed the spot to his aunt’s right, crawled to his knees in the chair, stretching his hands over her face. She laughed good-naturedly, and Joe made a production of going to the refrigerator then returning to the table. He plunked down a glass jar in the middle of her plate.
“Good job, kiddo. Let her look.”
Jake sprang back, and Lily Susan glanced down. Her lush lips parted then broke into a smile. A real smile. Not the kind she’d been giving Max. Instead of warm and happy, she gave him cool and professional. He wondered why he noticed that she seemed to save her warmth for children and preserved vegetables.
“Aunt Nellie’s pickled beets?” She laughed. “Daddy, you remembered.”
“Of course I remembered. They’re your favorite.” Joe handed her a fork. “You don’t even have to share.”
There was no missing how his expression blurred around the edges when he dropped a kiss onto the top of his youngest daughter’s head. Lily Susan’s eyes fluttered shut for the briefest moment, a rare sign of emotion for a woman so skilled at keeping up appearances.
Taking his seat at the head of the table, Joe said, “Let’s eat.”
The meal began with a blessing then conversations erupted randomly as kids vied with adults to steal Lily Susan’s attention with stories of what was happening in Pleasant Valley. There was a lot to relate. Phone calls could never take the place of Sunday dinners for filling in the details.
Lily Susan fostered the conversations with her questions, asking far more than she shared. But there was one subject that was noticeably avoided by everyone: her broken engagement.
No one asked, and she didn’t offer. Not a word about how she was doing although every adult asked leading questions. Lily Susan skillfully deflected them all. So he wasn’t the only one who got the professional treatment. She was closed with the people who cared so much about her.
And why did that thought make him feel better?
Why was he so aware of her?
She was a beautiful woman, no question. Photos of her crossed his desk all the time, but Max had to admit that no photo came close to doing justice to the real woman. She was a media darling for good reason with a sweet, heart-shaped face. Her Italian heritage lent her an interesting blend of earthiness and wholesomeness with her light olive skin, whiskey-gold hair and caramel-colored eyes.
And that mouth of hers played so well to the camera, whether she was talking, laughing, smiling, kissing…
He remembered one photo in particular. The paparazzi had snapped the shot after she’d announced her engagement. She and her fiancé had been celebrating with friends on a yacht in the French Riviera, their heads close as they kissed.
Max wasn’t sure why he remembered. Maybe because they had seemed so different from the Angelica family he knew. They seemed matched to each other. Both ambitious. Both part of the jet set. Both tanned in their Mediterranean near-nudity, sipping champagne on a yacht, creating the illusion of fantasy romance.
The picture had looked perfect.
Apparently the perfection had been an illusion since the ex-fiancé had proven himself a world-class deadbeat. The man hadn’t troubled himself to come here to meet his fiancée’s family—Joe and Rosie had been forced to travel into the city. That said something. As far as Max was concerned that something wasn’t good breeding.
To this day, Joey had never met him.
“A matter of principle,” he’d told Max. “If the guy wants the family seal of approval, he’ll have to make an effort. Not that family seems important to my sister anymore.”
Max understood how Joey felt. But now, watching Lily Susan, he had to wonder why she hadn’t brought the man home.
“How will Raymond’s wedding impact your plans?” Joey asked her. “Are you going to stay in town or commute from the city?”
Lily Susan shot Max a look that seared a path across the table, but she answered her brother diplomatically. “We haven’t quite gotten there yet. Max’s inquiry arrived in my office yesterday and I haven’t had a chance to figure things out.”
“What’s to figure?” Joe asked. “You’re in town.”
“Daddy, my calendar’s booked. We schedule a year to eighteen months in advance.”
“You’ve got a lot of offices, honey-bunch. You can’t rearrange a few things and make some room? Max needs your help.”
That was that as far as Joe was concerned.
The entire table quieted to listen to the exchange, and Lily Susan was suddenly on the spot. Max dodged another glare and leaned back to enjoy the show.
“I understand,” she said in a conciliatory tone. “But I’m afraid it’s not so simple. A lot of offices means I’ve got people in four countries at different stages of event planning.”
Max recognized the it’s-out-of-my-hands approach and knew she intended to turn him down. He wished her luck with that.
“You’ve been planning weddings since before you could walk.” Joey didn’t even bother with an attempt at humor. “I thought you were supposed to be good. One little wedding shouldn’t be that big a deal.”
“In case it slipped your notice, Joey, I’m already planning one little wedding. That’s the reason I’m here.”
No Groom Like Him Page 3
