Gracie started strumming the familiar tune and Zach joined in. Mac leaned close to Jessie and whispered, “Oh, my god, they are the most precious things I’ve ever seen and that includes Zach.”
Jessie nodded because she had no powers of speech. Watching the girls up there under the lights on the big stage, she felt so very fragile, as if her insides were made of glass and could shatter and at any second. She was thrilled and terrified, proud and petrified.
She watched, not blinking, as Maddie brought the mic up. She looked so tiny on the massive stage. Maddie had her hair up on the top of her head with a blue bow that matched her dress placed precisely in front of it. Gracie’s hairdo was the same, making the sisters look impossibly cute. She wondered if Zach had done their hair. It seemed improbable, but then he did have five little sisters; maybe his skills were richer than Jessie knew.
Jessie wanted pictures, video, all of it, but she was incapable of functioning, she was so nervous. She glanced past Mac at Gavin and handed him her phone.
“Can you tape it for me?” she asked.
“Got it,” Gavin said. He took her phone and opened up the video app.
“I’ve got it, too,” Carly said from behind her.
“Thanks,” Jessie whispered.
She turned back to the stage. She watched as Maddie glanced over her shoulder at Zach and Gracie, nodding her head to their beat, waiting to come in. Then she turned back to the crowd and took a deep breath.
Zach and Gracie exchanged a look while playing their ukuleles. Zach was keeping the time and Gracie was following him. Jessie noticed right away that Zach played the harder chords while Gracie played a lesser version, but she was keeping up with him and her smile was so bright it practically lit up the room. Jessie felt her heart lift out of her chest as if it had sprouted wings.
Gracie glanced at her sister and then at Zach. She didn’t stop playing but Jessie knew immediately that something was wrong and then she looked at Maddie’s face. Her fearless little warrior girl looked wide-eyed in terror. She wasn’t moving, she wasn’t singing, she looked frozen in place as if she had forgotten not only the words to the song but everything she had ever learned in her short life.
Jessie leaned forward, trying to catch Maddie’s eyes. She wanted to give her a signal to let her know she was there and she would save her. She half rose out of her seat, but just then Gracie looked at Zach and he nodded at her.
As Jessie watched, her older daughter moved to stand beside her little sister. She stopped playing her ukulele, but that was okay because Zach kept playing, and she dropped an arm around her sister’s shoulders. In a calm, clear voice that reached all corners of the cafeteria-turned-auditorium, she sang the opening line to the song.
“You’ve got a friend in me,” Gracie sang.
Maddie ripped her gaze from the crowd to her sister. A wobbly smile curved her lips, and she put her arm around her sister’s waist and pulled her close.
“You’ve got a friend in me,” they sang together, continuing the song, grinning at each other with every word.
Jessie felt a sob choke her. It was too much. She was feeling too much, love for her girls, pride at how they were there for each other, joy at their achievement, and gratitude for Zach who was giving them this moment in the sun.
At the bridge, Gracie stepped back to play her ukulele, but it was okay because Maddie was over her case of stage fright and continued the song herself. Her voice was clear as she hit every note with confidence and a grin as wide as the sky.
When they finished the song, both girls moved to stand beside Zach and they all sang the last lines together. The crowd went nuts. Jessie jumped to her feet and clapped like a crazy woman as the Maine crew around her did the same. Carly put her fingers in her mouth and let loose a piercing whistle, while Brad yelled, “Bravo! Bravo!”
Gavin handed Jessie her phone and said, “They were awesome.”
Mac handed her a tissue out of a small pack and took one for herself. It was then that Jessie realized she was crying happy tears. She dabbed at her cheeks and laughed as the girls joined hands with Zach and the three of them walked to the front of the stage to take a bow. When Zach straightened up, he looked right at Jessie and blew her a kiss. She felt her knees buckle just a little and she grabbed the chair back in front of her to stay upright.
The show continued but Jessie saw none of it. The happy glow inside of her filled her to bursting and all she wanted to do was rush backstage and hug her people hard. Finally, the show was over and Zach and the girls came out onto the stage for one more bow with the rest of the performers. As soon as it was done, Maddie jumped off the stage and ran straight at Jessie.
“Momma, did you see? Did you see?”
Jessie bent down and opened her arms wide. Maddie threw herself into Jessie’s arms, hugging her hard.
“I did see!” Jessie said. “You were wonderful! Amazing! Fantastic!”
“I know!” Maddie said. She laughed and wriggled out of Jessie’s arms to hug and high-five the rest of the Maine crew.
Gracie, quieter than her sister, came up to Jessie and leaned against her. Jessie wrapped her arms about her and hugged her tight.
“I am so proud of you,” Jessie said. “Not just for your brilliant ukulele playing but also because you were there for your sister when she needed you. And, Gracie, you sang, too, and it was beautiful.”
“Thank you, Momma,” Gracie said. She hugged Jessie back, and hid her face against Jessie’s side before she broke away to get her congratulations from the crew.
Jessie watched as Sam pulled two giant bouquets of flowers out from behind his back. He handed one to Maddie and one to Gracie. Both girls turned bright pink and made little O’s with their mouths. In a move that charmed the entire crew, they each curtseyed to Sam, who gave them a very gallant bow.
He straightened up and looked at Jessie and said, “They are never allowed to date. There is no man alive worthy of them.”
“Agreed,” Zach said. “Good luck to any poor boy who thinks he’s going to get past all of us.”
“Count me in,” Gavin said.
“Me, too,” Brad added.
As if Jessie’s heart wasn’t already about to explode, this just wrecked her. She felt as if she and the girls had been alone for so long and now here they were belonging to all of these wonderful people.
“Hey, my girl, what’s this?” Zach leaned close and wiped the tear from her cheek with his thumb.
“I’m just . . . I’m . . . I’m undone,” Jessie said. Her throat felt tight as she watched her girls flocked by their school friends, all of whom wanted to see the spectacular flowers they’d been given. She glanced up at Zach, meeting his warm gaze and feeling like she could stare into his velvet brown eyes forever. She pressed a soft kiss to his cheek and said, “Thank you for this, and for being you.”
Zach swallowed, looking a bit undone himself. He opened his mouth to speak, but Mrs. Abbott shouted at him from the stage.
“Zach!” she cried. “A word, please.”
He waved that he heard her and then turned back to Jessie. He gave her a quick squeeze. “We’ll talk more later, okay?”
“Yes, please,” she said.
He stared at her for a second and then he scooped her close and planted a kiss on her. “I’ll see what Mrs. A wants and take the girls to grab their coats. We’ll meet you back here. Don’t move.”
“I’ll be right here,” she promised. She hoped by the time he and the girls got back that she had stopped feeling so choked up, although she doubted it. Tonight had been a night she’d never forget.
The crew filed out with hugs and waves. Jessie loved that they’d come to see the girls. She was beginning to see that even though she had no family left and Zach’s family lived far away in California, they had a family of sorts here in Bluff Point. She’d never had that before,
certainly not while she’d been married, and she desperately didn’t want to lose it.
She moved aside to let people exit and found a spot out of the traffic flow up against the back wall, where she waited for Zach and the girls to return. She glanced at her phone and opened the video feature. She hit play and as she watched Zach and the girls perform, her heart puffed up again inside her chest. This. This was what a father was supposed to be. Zach had been more of a father to her girls in the past week than Seth had been in their entire lives.
She didn’t know what was going to happen between her and Zach but she knew that he cared for her girls and no matter how it played out for them, he would be a constant in Maddie’s and Gracie’s lives. Maybe just as a neighbor or a friend, but still a constant. He was, she was coming to understand, a remarkable man.
A shadow crossed over her phone, bringing her attention up to the person standing beside her. The man was tall and mostly bald, with a silver beard that he kept meticulously trimmed, as if it made up for the hair missing on the top of his head. He was dressed in a business suit, always a suit, with his overcoat draped over his arm and his hat, a trilby, clutched loosely in his hand. It was Jessie’s former father-in-law, Judge Vincent Connelly. As he stood glaring, it was easy to surmise he was very unhappy with her. Oh, joy.
Chapter 20
“Who was that man?” he asked. His voice was harsh, filled with outrage as he stood there bristling with anger.
Jessie tipped her chin up. She had put up with a lot from the Connelly family and she refused to take it anymore.
“Hello, Judge,” she said. “Why, I’m fine, thanks so much for asking, and you?”
“Do not mock me,” Judge Connelly said.
Jessie ignored him, continuing her one-sided conversation. “Yes, the girls were particularly good in their show tonight, weren’t they? I am so proud of them and you must be, too.”
“Who is he, Jessica?” Judge Connelly persisted. “A boyfriend? Some lowlife you picked up online or in a bar? I heard you were out at Marty’s Pub the other night making quite a spectacle of yourself.”
Jessie felt her temper flare. After all of the nights her ex had gone trolling around Bluff Point, cheating on her by sleeping with any woman who’d have him, his father dared to sit in judgment of Jessie, when she’d never so much as looked at another man while she was married. She sucked in a breath, trying to calm herself.
“Zach is a friend of the family, and he’s a good man, a very good man, a much better man than your son,” she said. “Not that it’s any of your business.”
“Those are my granddaughters,” Judge Connelly snapped. “It is absolutely my business. This is a father-daughter talent show; how dare you let a stranger take the place of my son?”
“The son who’s been missing since before the holidays? Surely you’re joking.” She felt her voice get louder and she consciously lowered her tone before continuing. “I’m sorry your son skipped out on us. Last I heard, he was enjoying a life of leisure as a beach bum ex-pat in Costa Rica. No one is replacing him. He isn’t here to be replaced, is he?”
“I am working on bringing him home,” Judge Connelly said. “And when I do, I know you’ll do the right thing and give him another chance.”
“At marriage?” Jessie stared at him bug-eyed. He could not be serious. “No way in hell.”
“He is their father—” Judge Connelly began but Jessie cut him off.
“And as such, he is always welcome in their lives,” Jessie said. “But that’s it. Our family unit will never consist of the four of us again. After all your son has put me through, I will never ever take him back. Ever.”
“Then you leave me no choice,” Judge Connelly snapped.
“No choice about what?”
“If you continue to fraternize with unsuitable men, I will be forced to petition the courts for custody of my granddaughters.” He glared at her. “In short, I will take them away from you.”
Jessie felt her entire body go cold. Could he do that? Would he do that? How could she stop him? Then she shook her head. Seth was a bully and he’d probably learned it from his father.
“No court will take my girls from me,” she said. “I’m a good mom and if you try to prove otherwise then every nasty thing your son ever did to me, and the list is quite extensive, will come to light. Do you really want to do that to Audrey?”
Judge Connelly glared at the mention of his wife’s name, but Jessie knew that Audrey was his weakness. She had been the only Connelly who had been consistently nice and kind to Jessie but she was no match for her powerful husband and miserable son.
“Audrey will understand that what I do is for the greater good,” he said.
The look in his eyes was cold and Jessie realized he wasn’t bluffing. He would do this. He would try to take the girls away from her. She refused to let him see her fear.
Seth had never suffered any consequences for his actions growing up. The privileged only child of a very powerful judge, every misdeed he’d ever committed—from cheating on tests to drunk driving—had been made to go away, disappear, by the power and purse of his father. She would never let her girls grow up like that. She’d take them and run if she had to.
“Jessie, how are you?” Audrey joined them, breaking their staring contest. “Thank you so much for letting us know the girls were performing tonight. I would have been crushed to have missed it. I was just telling the girls backstage how wonderful they were. I had no idea that Gracie could play the ukulele and Maddie could sing. What a nice man your neighbor Zach is to fill in for Seth.”
Jessie ripped her gaze away from the judge and forced a smile at Audrey. Fill in? As if Seth had a bad cold and couldn’t make it and had asked Zach to take his place at the last minute. She studied her former mother-in-law with her silver hair bobbed in a stylish cut, the pink pearls she wore at her throat with her navy sweater set. How deep did the denial go about her own son and his lack of fatherly skills? Jessie reminded herself that this was not her problem.
“I’m glad you enjoyed it. I was just telling the judge that the girls are very fond of Zach and he of them.”
Audrey glanced from Jessie to her husband and back. “Yes, well, it was a lovely performance.”
“Thank you. If you’ll excuse me, I should go see what’s keeping them.”
“Mind what I said,” Judge Connelly said. His voice was low with warning. “I meant it.”
Jessie suppressed a shiver of dread and nodded at her former in-laws before striding toward the door that would lead backstage. Why had she invited them? She could have said nothing and they never would have known about the show or Zach.
She sighed. She couldn’t do that. Like it or not, Audrey loved the girls and she knew that the judge did, too, in his own bossy, manipulative way. She hadn’t thought he’d see Zach as a replacement for his son; rather, she’d assumed he’d be happy that the girls had someone to do this sort of thing with. She should have known better.
The Connellys, at least the men, had an inability to experience life without filtering it through their own ego. Everything and everyone was a statement upon them or their existence. Truly, it was exhausting and Jessie didn’t know how Audrey put up with the judge. Then again, as far as she knew he wasn’t the cheating party boy that his son was so maybe that made it easier.
“Momma, Zach says we can celebrate the show with ice cream. Can we? Please?!” Maddie cried.
She came flying out of the door that led backstage, followed by Gracie and Zach. They all had their coats on but the girls still clutched their big, beautiful bouquets while Zach carried the two ukuleles.
“Of course we can!” Jessie said. “You have all earned enormous ice cream sundaes, and I do believe I have all of the fixings at home.”
“Hot fudge and whipped cream, too?” Zach asked.
“Naturally,” Jessie said
.
“Let’s go!” Zach cried and the girls cheered as they all hustled out the door to Zach’s truck. He helped both of the girls into the backseat of the crew cab and then offered Jessie his hand as well.
She knew she could have hauled herself up into the cab of the truck but it was so nice to have him help her. Jessie had forgotten what it was like to have a man show her courtesy and kindness. It warmed her heart and made her even more furious with the judge for trying to taint the goodness that was Zach.
“Are you okay?” Zach asked as he handed her the ukuleles. “You look mad.”
Jessie widened her eyes. There it was. The Connelly poison, seeping in where it shouldn’t be, causing grief. She wouldn’t let it. Not anymore.
She reached up and cupped Zach’s cheek. In a soft voice, she said, “Sorry. I’m not mad. Quite the opposite.”
Then she winked at him and he blinked, once, twice, then he grinned and said, “Well, okay, then.”
Hot fudge, whipped cream, three different types of ice cream, chopped up strawberries, and bananas, with a cherry on top. Jessie looked at the sundaes Zach created and noted that they were about the same size as the girls’ heads.
Gracie’s eyes were huge and Maddie looked like she was going to die of sugar rapture without even taking a bite of the ooey-gooey confection. Jessie snapped a few pictures of the girls with their spoons poised.
“Okay, now!” Jessie cried and the girls dug in with gusto.
“All right, my girl, get over here,” Zach said. He had made another huge bowl that she’d assumed was for him, but he pushed it between them and handed her a spoon. “Help a poor guy out.”
Jessie took the spoon, figuring if she could manage a quick workout tomorrow on her lunch hour it would totally be worth it. She tucked her spoon into the double chocolate ice cream and lifted it up through the hot fudge, grabbing some bananas and whipped cream on her way.
Maybe it was the hot guy watching her eat, maybe it was the fact that her girls were giggling with the joy of a mountain of ice cream on top of a triumphant performance in front of their classmates, or perhaps it was the knowledge that life moments like this one were rare and magical; whatever it was, Jessie closed her eyes as she took the first bite of her sundae and savored it.
Every Dog Has His Day Page 18
