by Marie Force
“I can’t tell you.” She kissed the outrage off his sexy mouth. “Customer confidentiality.”
“If Upton or his wife are shopping at your store, I’d rather have my eyes poked out with sharp spears than hear those details.”
Tiffany burst into laughter. “Tell me how you really feel.”
“I’d be happy to.” He pulled her in as close to him as he could get her and laid his lips over hers. “I love you. I love Ashleigh. I can’t wait to marry you in two days. And I can’t wait to have forever with you.” He kissed her again and gave her a swat on the rear as he released her. “Now call you sister so you can stop worrying that she’s going to say no when you know damned well she’ll go batshit crazy over this plan of ours.”
“Yes,” Tiffany said with a smile, “she will.”
“That’s more like it. I want to see more smiles and fewer frowns. You got me?”
“I got you.” She grabbed a fistful of his shirt, not caring that she was wrinkling him. “And I’m going to keep you.”
“Let me go to work, you saucy wench. I have a family to support.”
“Wait.”
“What?”
She flattened her palms over his chest and looked up at him. “I want you to know that even if I’m a bit anxious about having two days to plan a wedding… Who I’m marrying? Not one single doubt. I love you madly.”
“Aw, baby,” he said, letting his forehead rest against hers, “you know how to hit a guy where he lives. I love you, too. I want you to relax, enjoy and accept that whatever happens happens. Who the fuck cares what goes wrong? As long as we’re married by sunset on Saturday, I’ll have everything I’ve ever wanted. I’ll have more than I ever dreamed possible.”
She smiled up at him, determined to follow his advice and chill about the details. He was right. Who cared if the whole thing was a mess? She’d still be his wife, and that was all that mattered. “So when are you going to tell your parents that you’re getting married on Saturday?” Was it her imagination or did he go a little pale?
“Um, today, I guess.”
“Might be a good idea, since they may have other plans.”
He blew out a deep breath. “Hopefully they’ll change whatever plans they have.”
“I’m sure they will. Now go to work. I’ll see you later.”
With one last kiss, he released her and headed for the door. “Call your sister!”
“Tell your mother!”
His chuckle followed him out the door.
The time with him had turned her nervousness to giddiness. She’d never done anything quite so spontaneous in her life—other than open a store full of sex toys, she thought with a giggle as she called Maddie.
Her sister answered on the first ring. “Hey! I was just going to call you! You’ll never believe it, but David has put Janey on full bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy. How bad does that blow?”
“So bad. Is she okay?”
“I guess so, but her BP is up a bit, protein in the urine.”
“Those are signs of preeclampsia,” Tiffany said, recalling the books she’d read while pregnant.
“They’re trying to keep it from becoming that by prescribing the bed rest. Anyhow, what’s up?”
“Um, well, I need a favor. It’s kind of a big favor, and you should feel free to say no.”
“Spit it out, Tiff,” Maddie said, laughing. “Whatever it is, you know I’ll do it for you if I can.”
“I was wondering…” Tiffany’s heart pounded erratically. “Would it be okay if Blaine and I took over your cookout this weekend?”
“What do you mean? You want to have everyone over there?”
“Not exactly. We were hoping your cookout might double as a wedding reception.”
Maddie let out a bloodcurdling scream that had Tiffany holding the phone away from her ear.
“OhmyGod! I think I’m hyperventilating. This weekend, as in two days from now?”
“Apparently so.”
Maddie went quiet on the other end of the line until Tiffany heard the distinctive sound of sniffling.
“Are you crying?”
“Maybe a little. This is so bloody exciting! But are you sure you’re ready, honey? I mean, you just got divorced, and I know you’re crazy about Blaine and vice versa—”
“It’s probably way too soon, but we have a bit of an ulterior motive with Jim digging in about Blaine living with me.”
“Ugh, he is such an asshole.”
“Yes, he is, but we figured if we were married, he’d have much less of a case than if were living in sin, and Dan agreed. It was Blaine’s idea to do it this weekend to take the wind out of Jim’s sails, and because he can’t live without me. Blaine, that is.” Tiffany giggled nervously. The whole scheme sounded ridiculous as she relayed it to her sister.
“Oh, Tiff. That’s so romantic. Of course you can take over my cookout. Have at it! This is so exciting!”
“Blaine said you’d be all for it.”
“I love my new brother-in-law. He’s so smart. What can I do? Anything! Oh my God! I can’t wait to tell Mac. Have you told Mom?”
“I’ll go over there later to see them,” Tiffany said, encouraged by Maddie’s excitement.
“How about Ashleigh?”
“She was at Mom’s last night and Jim’s tonight. We’ll tell her tomorrow morning when she gets home.”
“I’ll come over later, and we’ll plan everything. Will you be at home or the store?”
“Home. I’ve already realized I’ll have to turn the store over to Patty if I’m going to pull off a wedding by Saturday.”
“This is going to be so awesome. Wait until everyone finds out they’re there for a wedding! Oh! Mac’s Uncle Frank is coming, and he’s a judge. He can marry you!”
“Are you sure he won’t mind? He barely knows me.”
“He’d love to do it. I know he would. I’ll have Mac ask him, though.”
“You don’t think it’s crazy, Maddie?”
“I think it’s over-the-top crazy wonderful. You’re getting a great guy who worships you and who’d do anything for you and your daughter. What else is there?”
“Nothing,” Tiffany said softly. “Absolutely nothing.”
*
Returning home from the clinic, Seamus insisted on carrying Carolina into the house, where his mother was brewing a cup of tea in the kitchen.
“There you two are. I was beginning to wonder where you’d gotten off to.” She did a double take when she saw the scratches on Carolina’s face. “For the love of God! Whatever happened to your face?”
“I had an encounter with a thorn bush last night. Tripped and fell.”
“Oh my Lord! What can I do for you?”
“She needs to rest, Mum. She’s been up most of the night, and we’ve just come from the doctor.”
His mother followed them to the hallway that led to their bedroom. “What did he say? Are you all right?”
“I will be,” Caro said, putting up a brave front for his mother. “My pride is more injured than anything else.”
“That’s not true, love,” Seamus said as he put her down as gently as he could. When she winced from the pain, Seamus felt as if he were the injured one. It killed him to see her hurt or in pain. And to know it was his damned fault that she’d gotten hurt in the first place… Well, that was almost too much to bear. “You’ve got some very serious wounds, and you’re under doctor’s orders to take it easy until they begin to scab up.”
Caro looked up at his mum. “Which is not at all what I had planned for your visit.”
“Oh, pish. Don’t you worry about me. I’m nothing if not resourceful. Seamus and I will take care of everything, won’t we, son?”
Seamus felt torn in a thousand different directions after getting a call from Joe earlier, letting him know about Janey’s bed rest. He was out of commission and off the schedule for the foreseeable future, which meant there was no way Seamus could stay home with
Carolina, where he yearned to be.
Caro reached for his hand. “What’s wrong?”
“I hate to say this, love, but I’ve got to go to work. That call I took while we were at the clinic?”
She nodded.
“It was Joe. Apparently they were in another exam room at the same time we were there, and Janey has been put on full bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy.”
“Oh no! Poor Janey. How awful for her, especially this time of year. And look at me, all banged up and of no use to her.”
“You’ll be back on your feet in no time, but you heard Dr. David. You need to take it easy until the worst of the wounds scab over. You don’t want them to get infected.”
As they talked, Nora bustled around the bedroom, folding abandoned clothes and straightening up. Seamus knew that Carolina would hate that his mother was cleaning or working on her vacation. “You don’t have to do that, Mum.”
Carolina sent him a grateful smile. She’d probably been about to say the same thing herself.
“Not to worry. Now off to work with you, my boy. I’ll be here with your Caro to make sure she takes it nice and easy. Go on along. We’ll be just fine, won’t we, Caro?”
“Of course.” Carolina took his hand and smiled up at him. But he saw the strain she was trying hard to hide from him.
Seamus bent to kiss her. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“I know.”
Lowering his voice to a whisper, he added, “I owe you big for this.”
“Yes, you do.”
He barked out a laugh and kissed her again. “Love you.”
“Same. Be safe on the water.”
Seamus straightened and had to summon the wherewithal to leave her. But Joe was counting on him, and letting his boss down was never something Seamus wanted to do. Joe had been very good to him and far more understanding than Seamus had expected over Seamus’s relationship with his mum. Keeping the business running smoothly so Joe could focus on his pregnant wife was the least Seamus could do for him.
His mother followed him to the kitchen. “Sorry this happened right when you got here, Mum.”
“You know there’s nothing I’d rather do than putter around the house anyway. Caro and I will be fine.”
“Where do you suppose Shannon spent the night?”
“I’m sure he found a warm bed and a warmer woman.” She clucked with disapproval. “I’ve despaired of that one ever settling down, but then again, I once said the same about you, and look at you now.”
“I know you were surprised when you met Caro, but I hope you can see what I see in her and give her a chance.”
“’Tis clear to me that the two of you are mad for each other. I fully intend to give her every chance to show me she’s worthy of my son.”
“Mum…”
“Don’t take that tone with me, Seamus Padric O’Grady. I’m still your mum, and don’t you ever forget it.”
“As if I ever could.” Seamus kissed her cheek. “Behave today. I mean it. If you do anything to drive her away from me…”
“If you think that’s my goal here, you don’t know me at all. Now don’t you have a boat to drive?”
“Indeed I do. I’ll be back for dinner.”
She crooked her finger to bring him down close enough for her to kiss his cheek. “Fair winds and following seas, my love.”
“Thanks, Mum. And thanks for taking care of Caro. She’s acting brave, but she’s hurt real bad.”
“I can see that, and I’ll take very good care of her for you.”
She followed him to the driveway, which reminded him of the many times she’d walked him to the car, lecturing about safety all the way, when he’d first begun driving. He hadn’t thought of that in years. Standing before the company truck Joe had given him right after he started, Seamus had never felt so torn between what he needed to do and what he wanted to do. He turned to his mother.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the age difference.”
“So am I, and only because I think your Caro was embarrassed when she discovered I didn’t know.”
“Yes.” Seamus ran both hands through his hair roughly. “You could say that.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I wanted you to meet her and know her and see me with her before you decided she was all wrong for me.”
“You don’t give me enough credit.”
“Probably not.”
“I’m not going to deny I’m disappointed that you’re giving up your chance to be a father. I think you would’ve been a wonderful father, so that causes me a bit of grief for what’ll never be. But I know true love when I see it, Seamus. And I see it here.”
“You do, really?”
“I really do. So lose the pinched and pickled look to your face, and let’s enjoy our visit, shall we?”
Laughing, Seamus hugged her. “I’d like that.”
“If you catch sight of your cousin in town, send him home.”
“Will do. He hasn’t changed a bit since last I saw him.”
Her grimace told the true story. “He’s never gotten over poor Fiona. I’m not sure he ever will. So he runs around chasing everything in skirts, thinking that’ll somehow soothe the ache inside him.”
“It’s how he survives,” Seamus said simply.
“Yes, I suppose it is, but I wonder all the time how long he can keep it up.”
Seamus kissed her cheek. “He’ll keep it up until he finds something—or someone—who can soothe the ache. I’ll see you tonight, Mum.”
“I’ll be here.”
And that, Seamus thought as he drove away, was comforting.
Chapter 12
Carolina heard the low rumble of their voices but couldn’t make out what was being said. Wondering if they were talking about her only made her more uncomfortable than she already was. She shifted in the bed, trying to sit up and find a better position, but with deep cuts on the front and back of both legs, there was no such thing as a good position. The pain brought tears to her eyes as she resettled her aching limbs.
“Ah, love,” Nora said when she came into the room. “Now why are you moving all about? You’ll reopen those cuts if you do that.”
“I can’t find a comfortable spot. Everything hurts, and I’m so sorry this happened as soon as you got here. I had all kinds of plans and things I wanted to show you on the island and…” The tears that rolled down her cheeks made her feel even more pathetic than she already did. She wiped them from her face. “Sorry for the pity party. That’s not like me.”
“Now, now. I can tell you’re not the simpering sort of gal. From what I’m told, you raised a fine son more or less on your own. Seamus thinks the world of him, you know.”
“Yes,” Carolina said tentatively, not at all sure where this conversation was heading. “I know.”
“Seamus doesn’t give his respect to people who haven’t earned it.”
“I’m sorry he didn’t tell you…the truth…about me…before you came.”
Nora folded a T-shirt of Seamus’s that he’d left in a heap on the floor and then sat on the corner of the mattress. “He told me about you.”
“He told you half the story.”
“Indeed.”
“And you were shocked to realize the woman he’d fallen for is closer to your age than to his.”
“A tad bit surprised.”
Carolina waited for her to say something else, but she maintained her silence long enough that Carolina was tempted to squirm. If only it didn’t hurt so much to move. “Are you angry?”
“No, but I won’t deny I’m sad that he won’t be a father.”
“I am, too. In fact, I tried for months to talk him out of…this…for that very reason.”
“And if I know my son, the more you tried to talk him out of it, the harder he dug in.”
“You know him well.”
“Aye, I do, which is why I’m also able to say that I’ve never seen
him look at a woman the way he does you. He appears completely smitten.”
Carolina wished she could control the flush of heat that stole over her cheeks at Nora’s frank assessment.
“Is the feeling mutual?”
“Completely.”
“Well, that brings me a measure of comfort. As a mother yourself, you’d understand how much knowing that means to me.”
“I do.” She ventured a glance at Nora. “I’m due to be a grandmother this summer.”
“So I heard.”
“He told me you lost your other sons. I’m so sorry.”
“Aye, it was a terrible thing. Both times. It’s true what they say that no mother should have to bury her children.”
“Seamus is your only living son…”
“I know what you’re thinking, but we have Shannon and other nephews. The family will carry on just fine.”
“Do you know that when this started with Seamus, I thought of you.”
“Of me? How so?”
“I thought about it as a mother, about how I’d feel if my son had taken up with a woman who could never give him children.”
“How would you feel?”
“I’d be sad to never have grandchildren. From what I hear, they’re the best thing since ice cream.”
“I can attest that ’tis true, and while I wish Seamus would have that experience in his life, I have other children whereas you do not. I imagine my perspective is slightly different from yours for that reason.”
Carolina hadn’t considered that.
“Do you love him as much as he obviously loves you?”
“I do. I love him very much.”
“No mother could ever ask for anything more than that for her children.”
Seamus’s mother knew about them, and while she had her reservations, she apparently had no plans to get in the way of their happiness. Nothing was now in the way of them living their lives happily together. For the first time since the roguish Irishman had stormed into her life, Carolina felt a measure of peace come over her.
Although her skin burned like the devil, and she hurt everywhere, she finally believed her relationship with Seamus might just work out after all.
*
Daisy woke up groggy and disoriented, worried that she’d slept through her alarm. But a quick glance at the clock told her she had an hour before she had to be at work. Her entire body ached, and her eyes felt gritty as she recalled the disaster the night with David had become after her panic attack.
