The Summer Garden

by Sherryl Woods

  Her expression turned hopeful. “Do you swear it? I don’t want you to have regrets.”

  “My only regret would be letting you get away.”

  She nodded then, and stepped into his arms. “Then we’ll figure out all the rest,” she said softly.

  “What about your photography, though? If you’re spending all your time here, you won’t have nearly enough time for it. I don’t want you to squander that amazing talent to work in a pub.”

  “My choice,” she reminded him. “Not yours. I love photography. I can’t wait for this one show that Megan’s planning.” She held his gaze. “But I don’t need fame or fortune, Luke. I need you. I’ll be content with the photography as it began, taking pictures of people I know at weddings and other occasions that truly matter to them. And, since I’ll have an in with the boss here, I imagine I can have a permanent collection right on the walls of this pub. If there’s more and I’ve the time for it, well, we’ll see how it goes.”

  “I’m sure you can manage it all,” Luke said, taking the first deep breath he’d had in what seemed like days. He felt as if his world had finally righted itself as they stood on the sidewalk, oblivious to everything except each other. He never wanted to let her go, not even to go back inside and finish those ridiculous interviews.

  “I should get back in there,” he said eventually. “What kind of boss leaves a slew of potential employees waiting while he stops just sort of seducing a woman right out here in public?”

  She smiled at that, then glanced inside. “Is there a one of them worth hiring? I may want a day off now and again.”

  He grinned at that. “Would you care to sit in on the interviews with me?”

  “I could just take over, save you the trouble.”

  “The pub is O’Brien’s,” he reminded her dryly, but he couldn’t help chuckling at her take-charge manner.

  She glanced up at the sign over the door. “So it is.” She winked at him. “Then, again, aren’t we about to add me to that roster? In no time at all, I’ll be an official O’Brien.”

  Luke laughed at her sudden embrace of the concept. “Then, by all means, get in there and take charge.” Still, though, he held her in place. “But not before we clarify just how much I love you. I’ve said it before, but I think it bears repeating until you truly believe it. I’ve loved you since the first night I laid eyes on you when you were behaving at your absolute worst.”

  She smiled at that. “Now that’s just plain crazy,” she said. “Only a fool could have fallen in love with me then.”

  “It was Christmas,” he reminded her. “In my family the season of miracles seems to work out pretty well.” He studied her. “So, is it yes? Just to have it on the record, I’d like a formal acceptance.”

  She gave him an odd look. “Why are you so intent on solidifying my response?”

  “Just answer me. Is it yes? Are we to be engaged for something like five minutes, and then married at the first opportunity?”

  “We are,” she said demurely, then leaped into his arms with an exuberance that had him staggering back.

  It also drew applause and cheers from quite a crowd of people gathered on the sidewalk, openly listening in—most of them O’Briens. He’d seen them gathering as word apparently spread about what was happening in plain view on the sidewalk outside the pub. He’d wanted witnesses. He smiled, satisfied.

  Now there’d be no turning back. Moira would never back out on a deal she’d made in front of the family she’d always envied and wanted so much to be a part of. He’d always taken it for granted, but it was new to her and he’d come to view its value through her eyes.

  As she saw it, the things he’d considered a nuisance—the meddling, the intrusiveness—were the best things about this town and about this family. There was unconditional support to be found everywhere. Even when it was at its most exasperating, it was exactly the thing that made Chesapeake Shores the best possible place to build a life.

  Add in this impossible, maddening, wonderful woman by his side and the future looked very bright indeed.

  Epilogue

  The white Victorian gazebo in Nell’s backyard was decorated naturally with climbing yellow roses in full bloom. The groom stood by the steps in his tuxedo, his eyes filled with anticipation. A quartet usually more adept at traditional Irish tunes than the wedding march began to play. As it did, all eyes turned toward the house, where the bride emerged wearing a simple silk suit and holding a bouquet picked from her own summer garden.

  Nell took Mick’s arm and walked slowly toward the man she’d once fallen in love with as a very young girl, and now had the chance to love again in the twilight of her life.

  A few steps behind her, another bride stepped out of the house and took the arm of her mother, who’d flown over from Ireland just days before.

  Nell glanced back over her shoulder and smiled at them.

  The July day couldn’t have been more perfect. She and Moira had agreed to a double ceremony, since time was definitely a factor for both of them, though for entirely different reasons. Nell had been willing to wait for her own wedding, but Moira had taken one look at her grandfather and shaken her head.

  “You’ve waited long enough,” she’d told them. “Luke and I want to share this day with you, if you don’t mind. And we’d like it to be simple, right here in your garden. I can’t imagine a more perfect setting for the start of our marriage.”

  “If you’re certain, then nothing would please us more,” Nell had assured her.

  Beside her now, Mick gave her arm a squeeze. “You sure about this, Ma? It’s not too late to make a run for it.”

  “Stop that!” she scolded. “You know I want to marry Dillon.”

  Mick grinned. “Just checking. Sometimes women can be fickle.”

  “I’ve loved the man for more than sixty years,” she said. “There’s nothing fickle about that.” She gave him a rueful look. “And that’s meant as no disrespect to your father. He was a wonderful man, and he gave me three of the most amazing sons a woman could ever hope to have. I have no regrets on that score, either.”

  “I know,” Mick said quietly. “And you deserve this, Ma. Dad would want it for you, too. I know he would. You deserve Dillon’s love and the happiness it will bring to your life.”

  “I don’t know if I deserve it, but I’m grateful for it. It’s a blessing at my age to find this kind of joy. I feel like the girl I was when he and I first met.”

  “Would you two stop with the heart-to-heart chat en route to the priest?” Luke called out from his place beside Dillon. “I have a bride back there, too, you know.”

  The entire family laughed at his impatience. It had been a while coming, but there was no denying it now.

  “Behave,” Moira called back. “It’s not too late for me to change my mind.”

  Beside Nell, Mick chuckled. “So much for a solemn, dignified ceremony.”

  “Oh, who needs that?” Nell said. “We’re O’Briens. We do things our own way.”

  “So we do,” Mick said quietly. He bent down and kissed her cheek before placing her hand in Dillon’s. “God bless, Ma. I love you.”

  “I’ve always been able to count on that,” she told him, misty-eyed even though she’d sworn that today was not a day for tears, even of the happy variety.

  Then Moira was there, her hand in Luke’s, and the priest began the service. He’d argued for holding the ceremony at the church in the traditional way, but Nell had been adamant.

  “The Lord is everywhere,” sh
e’d insisted. “And this town, the beautiful bay, they’re a part of who I am. I want to be surrounded by family and friends in God’s setting.”

  He’d had no further argument for that.

  As they said their vows, all four voices rang out strong and sure, the promises carried on the breeze.

  “I will love you now, and always,” Luke assured Moira.

  “And I will love you with the very best part of who I am,” she responded.

  Dillon gave his granddaughter a wink before turning to Nell. “My love for you has been a constant for a very long time, through a lifetime apart and too little time together. For whatever time we are given, I will count you as my greatest blessing.”

  Once more, Nell felt her eyes sting with unexpected tears as she heard his heartfelt words. She glanced around at her family, took in the scenery and the garden that meant so much to her, then faced Dillon.

  “All of this—the blessings I’ve had throughout a rich, fulfilled life—pale beside this chance to share the rest of my life with you. For the one thing I’ve always believed is that it is the people who live in our hearts who make us strong, who give us hope. There may be tears along the way, but in the end without those we love, there can be no true happiness. I’ve had great joy as an O’Brien all these years, and I will continue to take pride in the name and in this incredible family.” She smiled at Dillon. “But I will embrace being an O’Malley for as long as we both shall live.”

  When the priest would have concluded the ceremony, Nell stopped him, drawing laughter when she said, “I’m not done just yet. I don’t plan to do this again, so indulge me.”

  She turned to Luke and Moira. “Though my name may be changing today, the family is gaining another O’Brien who’ll do the name proud. Moira, when the reviews of your show rolled in, no one could have been more thrilled than we were. You have an exceptional talent and, if you’ll take one last bit of advice on this day of all days, it’s to stay true to your heart. There are many paths open to you, and I have no doubt that you can succeed at whichever one you choose. All I ask is that you choose wisely.” She grinned. “And I wouldn’t mind a few more great-grandbabies.”

  The words had no sooner left her mouth than there was a startled gasp from the front row. Nell turned to see Connie clutching her stomach.

  “How about one more grandchild first?” Thomas asked, his complexion pale. “I think we can grant you that any minute now, if you can wrap this up so I can get my wife to the hospital.”

  The declaration that Dillon and Nell, and Moira and Luke, were wed was made in a rush and then the entire family piled into cars and headed for the hospital to await the arrival of Thomas’s first child. Sean Michael O’Brien came into the world, screaming impatiently, barely an hour after they got there.

  It was late evening before the wedding reception finally got back on track. Nell was already beyond eager for bed and a night’s rest, but she couldn’t help gazing around at everyone one last time. Dillon stood beside her as the sun set.

  “It’s been a memorable day, hasn’t it?” he asked quietly.

  She nodded, looking into his eyes. “One of the best yet,” she said.

  “I’m counting on many more, you know.”

  She touched a finger to his lips. “Hope for them, but treat each one as a miracle. That’s what they’ll be.”

  He smiled as he looked from her to his granddaughter and Luke across the yard, wrapped in each other’s arms. “It seems we’ve been showered with miracles today, doesn’t it? Our grandchildren settled. A new life to give us hope for the future.”

  He was right, she thought. And that he’d lived long enough to understand all that was reason enough to love him. But, she thought, her heart full, there were so many more reasons. Too many to count.

  She hoped Luke and Moira would be wise enough and lucky enough to be able to say the same sixty or seventy years from now. Looking at them tonight with stars shining in their eyes, she felt confident that they would. At least she’d be around for a while to give them a gentle nudge from time to time if they got off track.

  That, after all, was the reason she’d been put on this earth, to see her family happy and content. Thinking of Thomas and Connie so elated about their new son, then glancing around from Luke and Moira, to Mick and Megan, to Jeff and Jo, to Abby and Trace, Jake and Bree, Kevin and Shanna, Connor and Heather, Jess and Will, Susie and Mack, and finally to Matthew and Laila, she thought in all modesty that she’d done a darn fine job of it so far!

  * * * * *

  Look for Sherryl’s next original

  Sweet Magnolias novel,

  Midnight Promises,

  coming in July to your favorite retail outlet.

  Questions for Discussion

  Before Moira Malone leaves Ireland for Chesapeake Shores, she worries that her holiday fling with Luke O’Brien might not have meant as much to him as it did to her. Have you ever taken a risk to see someone again after a casual encounter? What happened?

  Luke is very single-minded about his goal of opening the pub and keeping romance on hold until he sees how it’s likely to turn out. Have you known men like this, who like to approach life very methodically? If there’s someone in your life like this, did you try to change them?

  After a lifetime of feeling as if she’s a disappointment to her family, Moira suddenly has a chance to grab possible fame and fortune through her photography. Do you think she should pursue that, no matter what, so she has a career and the recognitions she’s long wanted? Or can you identify with her desire to focus on a family first?

  Moira struggles with her realization that love and family will always matter more to her than a career. Have you ever felt that you had to choose between the two? What did you decide? If you’ve tried to balance both, how successfully do you think you’ve done it?

  As the youngest in his family, Luke feels tremendous pressure to succeed with his new venture. Have you ever felt pressured to achieve a goal because of the successes of people around you, whether family or friends? How have you handled that?

  Mick struggles a lot with his mother getting involved with another man, especially someone she knew before she married his father. Have you ever had to cope with a parent remarrying after a divorce or the death of a spouse? Was it difficult for you? What did you do? How about your siblings? Did it cause problems for your family?

  Nell views this as her second chance with Dillon O’Malley, the man she fell in love with years ago in Ireland. Do you think this in any way lessens the love she felt for her late husband, the father of her children? Or are the two relationships entirely separate?

  O’Brien’s is intended by Luke to be more than just a place to drink. He wants it to be a community gathering spot. Do you have a place in your neighborhood where you go to see friends, have a meal or a drink? How important is it to a community to have a place like that?

  The O’Briens are well-known for their meddling. Mick, at least, views it as evidence of how much they care. Do you agree with him? When does meddling cross the line and become intrusive and controlling? Have you ever told a parent, sibling or well-meaning friend to “butt out”? How did that person take it?

  ISBN: 9781459220300

  Copyright © 2012 by Sherryl Woods

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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