by Meg Maxwell
“Well, you’re here now.” He pictured Olivia, playing with Danny, singing to him, hoping that Carson was able to convince her aunt to come back. He didn’t want Olivia hurt. He wanted to be happy. He gave her his address. “Six thirty, tomorrow night.”
“I’ll be there. But I’m not sure you’re going to get what you want. You may end up with a bigger problem.”
“Meaning?” Carson drew in a deep breath.
Sarah Mack stood up and lifted her chin. “Might as well wait till you cross that bridge, as they say.”
He didn’t want to cross whatever bridge she was referring to.
Chapter Twelve
“Dad?” Carson called out as he let himself in his father’s house in Blue Gulch the next morning.
He had no idea how this was going to turn out—tonight, dinner at his house. With his father. Sarah. And Olivia, of course.
“In the kitchen,” his dad called back.
Carson entered the kitchen to find his dad trying to frost a very lopsided cake. Except every time Edmund swiped the rubber spatula against the side of the vanilla sponge, the frosting took off a slab of the cake.
“Yesterday I promised Danny I’d bake him a cake for his half birthday,” Edmund said, frosting all over the striped apron he wore and a glob on his shearling house slipper. “It might not look good, but it’ll taste good. That’s what counts.”
Carson froze, staring from the cake to his father. What would he do without this man? What would Danny do without him? “You’re a great grandfather,” he said, looking at the ridiculous cake again. Carson wouldn’t be surprised if it caved in on itself. “Danny is very, very lucky to have you.”
Edmund lifted his chin, the way he did when he was touched by praise. “Maybe I’m trying to make up for what I didn’t do the first time around. When I had a terrific eighteen-month-old of my own running around my house in Oak Creek and I was too busy with my work and committees and the town council. I let you down and I let your mother down.” He dropped the rubber spatula on the counter, another glob of chocolate icing splattering against his apron. “I won’t let Danny down.”
“Dad, you know what I’ve been realizing? When I was a kid, you did what felt right to you. You worked. Hard. The way you saw it, you were supporting your family and so you put work ahead of everything so that nothing would interfere. I never understood that before.”
“That doesn’t make it right. I wasn’t there for you, Carson. And I wasn’t there for your mother.” He took a deep breath. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking the past couple of days. I’m calling off the hunt for Sarah. After the way I lived my life when I had everything a man could want, I have no business trying to find a second great love. I had my chance the first time around and I blew it. Right now, I’m going to focus on Danny. He only has one parent. I’m going to make up for everything he doesn’t have.”
Carson’s stomach twisted. “Dad, you do have a right to a second chance and a second love. You’re a completely different person than you were when I was growing up. You’re here, one hundred percent for both me and Danny. When Jodie left and I realized she wasn’t coming back, you were there in the NICU. You were there when I was scared to death that my newborn son might not make it. And you’ve been by my side ever since, for eighteen months. You’ve been more than an amazing grandfather. You’ve been an amazing dad.”
Edmund grabbed him in a bear hug. “You have no idea how much that means to me. How much you mean to me. I know you know how much I love Danny. But I also love you with all my heart, Carson. I always have since the day you were born. I’m just better at making it clear these days.”
Carson could feel decades’ worth of old resentments ungluing from the cells of his body.
Suddenly, Carson wanted his father to take one look at Sarah Mack and hear those parade cymbals clanking and drumbeats, and for fireworks to go off over his head. He wanted cartoon hearts pouring out of his chest as he staggered around, shot by Cupid’s arrow. He wanted his father to feel what Carson felt every time he looked at Olivia.
Oh, God.
What?
He loved Olivia?
He loved Olivia.
But he couldn’t love her. He’d shut himself down, off, wasn’t letting anyone in. Final answer.
And just because you felt something didn’t mean you had to give in to it. Wasn’t that what Sarah Mack had said last night? She’d meet his dad, and if she felt anything for him, she’d simply not act on it. She wanted to focus on finding the twins she’d given up for adoption. And on her niece, with whom she’d just gotten reunited. She’d closed herself off to love, like Carson, and would simply not go there. It was that easy.
Feeling better about everything, except the part about his dad possibly getting hurt, Carson picked up the spatula. “Want some help frosting this cake?”
His dad would not get hurt. His dad would meet Sarah, feel absolutely nothing, be a little disappointed that the prediction was silly nonsense and find his second great love on his own. He’d meet a lovely woman whom he chose. Everything would work out just fine.
Edmund smiled. “I sure do. I might be good at being a grandfather, but I’m a terrible baker.”
“Dad, the reason I stopped by is to tell you that I found Sarah Mack.”
His dad stared at him. “What?”
“I found her, Dad. And she’s agreed to come to my house for dinner tonight to meet you. I’ll warn you—she’s not looking for love.” Just like I’m not.
“I wasn’t necessarily looking for love, either,” Edmund said. “But the idea presented itself. It’s funny—once it did, I couldn’t stop thinking about. A second chance. A fresh shot. A new beginning.”
Carson frowned. All things he was refusing to take for himself. “Well, just be forewarned that she’s got a lot going on right now and doesn’t seem very interested in romance.”
“I’m not worried,” Edmund said. “Madam Miranda said it was so and it’ll be so. You can’t ignore destiny.”
“Well, you can.”
“You can try to ignore destiny, Carson. There’s a big difference.”
Carson swallowed.
* * *
Six thirty came and went. So did six thirty-five. Now, as Olivia glanced at the grandfather clock against the wall of the living room in Carson’s house, she realized that Carson and Edmund were doing the same thing.
What if her aunt changed her mind? About everything? What if she’d gone back to her incognito life? Although now, Olivia had Sarah’s address and telephone number. Of course, that didn’t mean her aunt would answer the door or the phone or ever speak to Olivia again. Last night, after Carson had called Olivia and let her know he’d talked to Sarah and that she’d agreed to come to dinner tonight, Olivia had left her aunt a voice mail message. She’d said only that she’d missed her so much the past five years and couldn’t bear to lose her again, and that no matter what, to call when she was ready to talk.
So far, she hadn’t heard from Sarah. Not last night, not all day today.
“The suspense is killing me,” Edmund said. “I’m going to check on Danny.”
Danny had been so tuckered out from a fun afternoon of playing with his grandfather that he’d fallen asleep on the car ride over to Carson’s and had been effortlessly transferred to his crib.
As Edmund headed down the hall, Olivia peered out the windows. No little yellow car.
Now it was six forty.
“We have to accept that she might not come,” Carson said, sitting down on the leather sofa. “She’s skittish, that’s for sure.”
“I can understand why,” Olivia said, too jumpy to sit. Based on what Carson said, even if her aunt fell instantly in love with Edmund, she was going to fight it to focus on her own mission. And to continue to ignore her sister’s
ability, something she never made peace with.
There was a knock at the door, and Olivia’s eyes widened. Carson leaped up.
“She came,” Olivia whispered, relief flooding her.
Carson opened the door, Olivia standing behind him.
And there was Sarah Mack, wearing a navy blue dress, her hair in a low ponytail. She carried a small yellow box from Drummond’s Bake Shop. One day, if it ever seemed like the right time, Olivia would tell her aunt all about Dory and her own fortune.
“Thank you for coming,” Carson said to Sarah. “It means a lot.”
Olivia slipped past Carson and hugged her aunt. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
Sarah smiled at her. “I still can’t get over how good it feels to see you, Olivia. Five years without and suddenly now, twice in two days. I’ve missed you so much.”
“Me, too,” Olivia said, a little lump forming in her throat.
Sarah handed Carson the box. “Cookies from my favorite bakery in Blue Gulch.” She glanced past Carson, looking around the living room. “Is your father here?”
“He’s upstairs, checking on my son,” Carson said. “Danny’s eighteen months. Sometimes my dad says he’s going to check on Danny while he’s napping and he ends up just sitting there, staring at him sleeping, marveling at his features. I’ve caught him doing it and it always makes me choke up a little. When you witness love.”
Olivia stared at Carson, dumbstruck by what she’d just heard come out of his mouth. Choking up? Witnessing love?
“He sounds like a nice man,” Sarah said, her expression a bit strained.
“I’m not trying to make his case, I promise,” Carson said. “I just see him differently now so I guess I’m Team Edmund now.”
“Wait,” Olivia said. “Make his case? Suddenly you’re hoping my aunt does fall for your dad?”
He took a breath and let it out. “All I know is that I want my father to be happy. I was missing that piece before. There’s no scam involved—I know that now. So all that’s left is...feelings.”
Sarah glanced at the floor. “Or a lack thereof.”
Footsteps sounded from the stairs and then down the hall as Edmund’s voice carried into the living room. “Of course, I got caught up watching Danny’s little face—”
He stopped speaking as he rounded the corner into the living room archway. He stared at Sarah, who was staring at him.
Olivia looked from her aunt to Edmund and back again as though at a soccer match; Carson stood across from her doing the same. Sarah. Edmund. Sarah. Edmund.
“Dad, this is Sarah Mack. Olivia’s aunt,” Carson said. “Sarah, my father, Edmund Ford.”
Edmund stepped into the room, his gaze never leaving Sarah. He was neither smiling nor frowning. His expression was completely neutral, as was Sarah’s.
Huh. Maybe there was nothing here. Or maybe there would be no great spark in the first moments but they would work up to falling in love. If they did.
Of course they would. Miranda Mack had predicted it.
Edmund stopped in front of Sarah and extended his hand. “The longer version. My name is Edmund Ford. I’m a widower of five years. This is my son, Carson, who you’ve met, of course. And my grandson, Danny, is asleep upstairs. I’m a banker at Texas Trust, where I’ve spent the past thirty years. About two months ago, I went to Madam Miranda to have my fortune told. She said my second great love was a green-eyed hairstylist named Sarah. She said I would know her right away, but that she had a small tattoo of a brush and blow-dryer on her ankle. I’ve been looking for her ever since. And now here she stands before me.”
Sarah hadn’t taken her gaze off Edmund, either. She lifted her chin as he clasped both his hands over hers.
“I understand from Carson that you’re not comfortable with or particularly interested in your sister’s prediction,” Edmund continued. “So I’d like us to just forget that and have a nice dinner, welcoming you back into your niece’s life. That’s what this dinner will be. A welcome home celebration. Nothing more.”
Olivia could tell her aunt liked that; Sarah’s shoulders relaxed and she accepted a glass of wine from Edmund. They all sat down, Sarah and Edmund across from each other on the two couches, Olivia and Carson beside each other on the facing love seat.
They spent the next ten minutes making small talk about Tuckerville, Oak Creek, Blue Gulch, the rodeo, hairstyles, toddlers and Hurley’s food truck. But it was very clear to Olivia that her aunt could not take her eyes off Edmund Ford. And the same went for Edmund.
Carson excused himself to the kitchen to check on dinner, and Olivia popped up to help.
“Olivia,” Sarah said, worry in her eyes as she sat up very straight, staring at her niece.
“What’s wrong?” Edmund asked, looking from Sarah to Olivia and back again.
“Please tell me the truth, Olivia,” Sarah said. “Did you make dinner? Did you help?”
Ah. Olivia knew what her aunt was asking. She was worried that Olivia had infused dinner with amorous vibes. She hadn’t cooked, helped or even stepped foot in the kitchen tonight.
“I promise you that I did not,” Olivia said.
Sarah nodded. “Okay. Sorry for being so anxious.”
“I must be missing something,” Edmund said, confusion in his expression.
Olivia explained about her gift in as few words as possible so as not to make her aunt uncomfortable—and requested that Edmund keep it a secret. “I’ve never been all that comfortable with it myself, but I’ve come to accept that I do seem able to mend spirits with my cooking. At the least, I seem able to affect people positively.”
Edmund grinned. “Well, no wonder you have lines for the food truck every day. Aside from the delicious po’boys. Who can’t use a boost?”
“You feel differently about special abilities than your son does,” Sarah said to Edmund.
“I’ve always been a realist,” Edmund said. “But my mind and heart are open. I think that’s the key to life.”
Sarah bit her lip and sipped her wine but didn’t respond.
“Well, I’ll just go help Carson,” Olivia said.
In the kitchen, Olivia practically slumped over at the counter. “I didn’t even realize until this moment that I needed to come up for air.”
Carson smiled as he slid the pasta carbonara, which looked and smelled amazing, into a serving dish. “You okay? I had the same reaction when I came in.”
“I can’t tell if there’s anything between them,” Olivia said. “I can see that they can’t stop looking at each other, but no one’s flirting or giving anything away.”
Carson kneeled to peer into the oven, then shut it off and took out the garlic bread. “I know. My dad wears his heart on his sleeve these days but I’m not getting anything. Not a sign.”
He wasn’t gloating. He wasn’t even smiling. Olivia took a knife and cut the garlic bread into pieces. “Could my mother have been wrong? I can’t even imagine it.”
Maybe her aunt didn’t feel anything for Edmund Ford and vice versa. Maybe her mother had been wrong—this time. Maybe Carson had been right all along and this was some kind of a ruse for Edmund Ford to use his time and resources to find Aunt Sarah and bring her back to Blue Gulch for Olivia’s sake?
No. Olivia just couldn’t see her mother doing that.
“Dinnertime,” Carson said, picking up the pasta and heading for the door. “Who knows, Olivia. They’re both being so cagey. Maybe they’ll announce their engagement by the first bite.”
Olivia smiled. Carson sure had changed his tune.
* * *
By the time Carson was ready to serve dessert, chocolate-almond gelato, he still couldn’t tell if there was anything between his father and Sarah Mack, but he knew the woman felt comfortable around Edmund because she�
��d opened up about her new willingness to look for the twins she’d given up for adoption, five years after her sister had told her that one of them had begun the process to find her. His dad had listened intently, asked questions without being too personal, and offered to help in any way he could.
“Dad, help me get dessert, will you?” Carson said.
His father excused himself and they headed into the kitchen.
“I have to say I’m almost a little let down,” Carson said as he pulled out the gelato from the freezer. “Based on Olivia and Sarah insisting that Madam Miranda was the real deal, I was expecting firecrackers to be exploding across the ceiling, but I guess Miranda had it wrong.”
Edmund peered through the archway, then leaned close to Carson. “Are you kidding? Madam Miranda was anything but wrong. I’m completely crazy about that woman.”
Carson stared at his father, seeing the far-off dreaminess in the man eyes. “What? You haven’t been acting like you’re madly in love.”
“For Sarah’s sake. I know she’s not looking for love. I know she’s skittish and has a lot on her mind. And I know she’s probably fighting what she may feel—if anything. I don’t want to scare her out of my life.”
“So what does it feel like?” Carson asked. “Attraction? Intrigue? Interest?”
“Much more than that,” Edmund said. “It feels like I just met the woman I’m going to marry.”
“Really?”
Edmund nodded. “Trust me, I was expecting to feel like I did back in high school, a wild crush, that kind of thing. But the feeling that swept over me when I laid eyes on Sarah Mack for the first time, and as I’ve gotten to know her a bit over the past hour, it’s like I’ve known her my entire life. It’s a depth of feeling I can’t explain, Carson. But it looks like it’s one-sided.”
“But you’re her great love, Dad. I’m sure she feels the same way—she’s just fighting it like I told you she said she would.”
