“I don’t understand,” she said.
“It’s an application for a marriage license,” he said.
“Yeah, that part I got, but I’m not sure why you’re handing it to me,” she said.
“Because I think the solution to your problem is crystal clear. You should marry me,” he said. “There is no blood test or waiting period required in the state of Maine, so I think we should get it done as soon as possible.”
Chapter 28
“Oh, Zach,” she said. “That is really the sweetest gesture, but I can’t—”
“Don’t say no,” he said. “Hear me out.”
Jessie opened her mouth to protest but then pressed her lips together and nodded. She was going to let him have his say.
Okay, then; Zach felt as if he was making the sales pitch of a lifetime.
“If we get married, the judge can’t touch you,” he said. “We’ll be providing the girls with a stable home with two parents and two incomes. I have character references up the wazoo and the girls like me. Really there is no argument he can make that would allow him to try and take your daughters.”
Jessie stared at him in wonder. A small smile lifted the corners of her mouth and he felt his heart begin to swell with the rightness of her in his life forever. He was certain this was the best idea he had ever had in his entire life and he’d had some doozies.
She cupped his face in her hands, and pulled him down so she could brush her lips across his. “Zach, I have to tell you that the two days we were apart were the worst I can remember in a long time. I’m sorry about our date, and I’m sorry I freaked out. I wanted to come and talk to you about Alexa and what I said, but I didn’t know how.”
“It’s okay,” he said. “It’s ancient history. She’s ancient history.”
She gave him a shaky smile.
“Listen, this idea to get married is the most thoughtful, lovely gesture anyone has ever made to me, but my answer has to be no. If the judge is upset now, he will be furious if I marry you.”
“So what?” Zach asked. “Who cares what he thinks?”
“I do. I can’t afford to give him any cause to doubt my parenting skills, and a quickie marriage would do just that,” she said. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him again, lingering just a little bit longer this time before she said, “I’m sorry. I can’t marry you.”
“Why not, Momma?” Gracie asked from the doorway.
“Whoa! Are you two kissing?” Maddie asked.
Jessie dropped her hands and stepped back from Zach. She gave him a wide-eyed look that clearly asked, How are we supposed to deal with this?
“I did kiss Zach,” Jessie said. “Just like I kiss you when you have a boo-boo.”
Maddie, ever the little attorney, looked at Zach with one eyebrow raised and asked, “Do you have a boo-boo on your lips?”
Jessie turned her back to the girls and gave Zach a frantic look. He would have laughed if his heart didn’t feel squashed flat. He ran a finger over his lips. He wasn’t giving up on his idea. Not yet. So, he had some options here. He could tell the girls that he loved their mom but that might come as a bit of a shock to Jessie since he hadn’t even told her yet. No, that needed to be just between them first.
Okay, then he’d keep his feelings on the down-low for now. He nodded at Maddie and said, “I am feeling a bit chapped.”
He saw Jessie practically wilt in relief. Well, that really didn’t fluff up his ego or anything else for that matter.
“But what about marriage?” Gracie asked. “I heard you say ‘marry.’”
Maddie looked from her sister to them and back. Suddenly the room felt very stifling. Zach wasn’t sure what to say to this. Since Jessie had said no, maybe he’d let her field this one. To his surprise she was honest with the girls.
“Zach said he would like to marry me someday,” she said. “But since we’ve really just gotten to know each other, we think it’s too soon.”
“Like Anna and the bad prince in Frozen,” Maddie said.
“Yeah, you need to take time with these things,” Gracie agreed.
Zach would have laughed, really hard, if this was someone else’s life. But the truth was he wanted to marry Jessie. He didn’t think it was too soon. And he was deeply worried about Judge Connelly coming after her and taking away the girls if he was as vindictive as he seemed.
“Oh, look at the time, you two need to get ready for skate lessons,” Jessie said.
“I’ll take them,” Zach said. Jessie looked at him in surprise. “You could probably use the hour to deal with some stuff. You know, call your lawyer and let them know what happened and ask what you should do about it.”
Jessie nodded. Then she gave him a small smile. “Thank you. That would be a huge help. And thanks for understanding.”
“Sure, no problem,” he said. He shrugged and ran a hand through his hair. “It was a crazy idea.”
“But it came from a good place,” Jessie said. She put her hand over his heart and Zach shoved his hands in his pockets to keep from grabbing her and pulling her close in front of the girls.
“All right, troops, let’s roll out,” he said. He stepped away from Jessie and turned toward the door with Gracie and Maddie skipping along beside him.
Maddie tucked her hand into one of his and then Gracie did the same. Dang. They were so small and trusting, they made him feel ten feet tall, and he would gladly slay all of their dragons for them. Even if one of them was their crotchety old grandfather.
• • •
The ice rink was freezing. Being a southern California boy, Zach had always been more about surfing and skateboarding than he was about winter sports. Oh, he liked playing in the snow, but he loved the sand and surf of the Maine summer so much more.
He hunkered into his jacket and watched his two favorite girls as they whipped around the ice on blades of steel. Surprisingly, Gracie was the bolder of the two. She hit the ice with some serious speed and threw herself into turns that made Zach’s heart clutch. Maddie was more cautious. She stayed closer to the wall, she didn’t go as fast, and she clenched up when she lost her balance as if already bracing for impact. Gracie seemed to accept falls as a part of the process but she also had two more years of experience than Maddie.
Zach watched their instructor, who looked like little more than a kid herself, line them up and have them practice their spins. When Maddie nailed hers, she glanced right at Zach and yelled, “Did you see? Did you see?”
He grinned at her, feeling pride leak out of every pore in his body. When Gracie executed a jump and landed on her backside, he had half vaulted over the edge of the rink before she yelled at him “I’m okay!” and popped back up on her feet to try it again. Again, he oozed pride like sweat.
Zach sat back down on a cold hard bench and watched the girls for the rest of their practice. He loved watching them with their friends, how they giggled and smiled, how their brows furrowed when they were concentrating. Several times he saw mannerisms that reminded him of Jessie and it occurred to him that for most of the girls’ lives, their mother had been their only role model. They were good kids, with kind hearts, big brains, and wicked senses of humor. He considered himself lucky to be in their lives.
As the lesson ended the girls skated over to where Zach sat. He met them at the rink door, helping them onto the rubber flooring. He untied their skates and slipped on their boots.
“Girls, you were just wonderful!”
Zach glanced behind him to see Judge Connelly and a woman he presumed to be Mrs. Connelly. She was the one who was gushing to the girls.
“Thank you, Grandma,” Maddie said and hugged the woman hard around the middle.
“Thank you,” Gracie said. She hugged her grandmother, too, but she looked warily at Judge Connelly and Zach figured Gracie was a little bit more aware of what was happening bet
ween the grown-ups.
The judge bent down and both girls hugged him. Zach found he didn’t like that. He didn’t like it at all, as if he was afraid the judge might take the opportunity to snatch them.
“Hi, I’m Audrey,” the woman said to Zach. She held out her hand and he shook it. She had curly gray hair and hazel eyes. She was bundled up in a puffy coat with a hat and a scarf and expensive leather gloves.
“Hi, I’m Zach, the girls’ neighbor and a friend of Jessie’s,” he said.
“He’s going to marry our mom,” Maddie said.
“Hush,” Gracie said. As if she understood the complexity of the situation, she added, “These things take time.”
Both of the Connellys were looking at Zach as if they wanted him to confirm or deny. He refused. It was none of their business and he took a certain satisfaction in meeting their alarmed stares and saying nothing.
“A word, Caine,” Judge Connelly snapped.
“Truffle,” Zach said.
The judge frowned and the girls laughed. They got it. They got him and darned if he didn’t love them for it.
“You asked for a word, so I gave you one,” Zach explained.
The judge glowered. “Follow me. Please.”
It was the please that made him follow. Zach stood and glanced at Audrey. She seemed distressed but not angry like the judge. He decided he would trust her with the girls but only if he could keep an eye on her.
“Stay with your grandmother,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”
Judge Connelly moved out of earshot of his wife and the girls, and Zach moved so that he was able to talk and watch Maddie and Gracie at the same time. Their grandmother seemed to dote on them, so he had to assume that most of the ill will came from the judge. Fine. He was more than capable of giving it back one hundred percent.
“You can’t marry Jessica,” Judge Connelly declared.
“Not really seeing how it’s your concern,” Zach said. He wasn’t a violent man by nature but, oh, he was really feeling the urge to hit something.
“Those are my granddaughters,” Judge Connelly said. “Everything that concerns them concerns me. If you marry Jessica, I will ruin you. I will find a way to revoke your liquor license and drive your brewery right out of Bluff Point.”
“We’re the largest employer in the town since the local lobster industry dried up, so good luck with that,” he said. He crossed his arms over his chest. This self-important blowhard couldn’t touch him.
“You think you know so much.” Judge Connelly shook his head. “You know nothing and you haven’t seen the last of me.”
“I hope not,” Zach said. He studied the man in front of him, who was turning a mottled shade of purple. “You are my future stepdaughters’ grandfather, I would assume you’re going to stay in their lives and will, of course, also be in mine.”
“Stop!” Judge Connelly barked. “Don’t you play with me. I deal with smart-mouthed slackers like you every day in court. You want to keep up the joking, fine, I will do everything in my power to take those girls away from Jessica permanently.”
“That’s crazy,” Zach argued. “Why would you do that? Why are you so angry? What’s wrong with you?”
“What’s wrong with me?” Judge Connelly looked incensed. “My son is gone. Gone! And why? Because that woman, Jessica, is an unfit wife and mother. She drove him away from his children, his home, his family. Everything I ever tried to give to him, a good life with a loving woman in a happy home, he has rejected, and why? Because she is poison and she drove him away. She drove my only child away from me and I can never forgive her.”
Zach gaped at him. He had heard some pretty screwed up revisionist history in his time but this guy took the cake.
He could not let it stand.
“Are you even listening to yourself speak?” he asked. “You know you can repeat a lie a million times but it doesn’t make it true.”
“I am not—”
“Oh, please, you’re spouting so much fiction, you’re going to find yourself shelved in a library. You know it, I know it, your wife knows it, hell, everyone knows it. You won’t succeed at taking the girls from Jessie, and the only people you are going to hurt are the girls because they won’t have their grandparents in their lives and that’s just sad.”
“You have no idea—”
Zach held up his hand in a stop gesture. Maybe it was because he was thirty years younger, six inches taller, forty pounds of solid muscle heavier, but for whatever reason, the judge let him speak. Which was good because Zach knew it was time someone called this jackass on his bullshit and Zach was thrilled to be the guy to do it.
“Let’s be real here for a second,” Zach said. “Jessie is an amazing mother. Look at those girls. They shine like bright, beautiful diamonds. Why? Because of their mother not their father. Jessie has a big heart and a lot of love to give and I am betting that she gave it all to your son, and being the selfish prick that he is, he didn’t appreciate it one bit.”
Judge Connelly opened his mouth to argue but Zach shook his head.
“Nope, I’m not done yet. I think Jessie was probably as wonderful of a wife as she is a mother. I am betting that your son spent their seven-year marriage trying to crush her soul with his lying, cheating, and drinking. None of that is Jessie’s fault. All of that is your son’s fault. If you want to blame someone for the end of their marriage, blame your son. You know, the guy who is MIA, missing holidays, father-daughter talent shows, yeah, all of that.”
The judge’s nostrils were flaring. He was practically quivering with rage. Zach was giving zero fucks about the judge’s fragile feelings.
“Just so we’re clear, if you go after Jessie, you’re going to have to take on me and most of the town of Bluff Point. She works for Dr. Tolliver at the animal clinic and everyone, and I do mean everyone, loves her. Hurt her or the girls and they will fight you with everything they’ve got and that’s assuming there’s anything left of you when I get finished.”
“Are you threatening me?” Judge Connelly demanded.
“I thought it was more of a promise,” Zach said. He gave the judge a hard stare until the man turned away. Good thing because Zach’s more natural tendency to crack a joke in times of tension was bubbling to the surface and he didn’t think he could squelch it much longer.
Chapter 29
Judge Connelly spun on his heel and stormed toward his wife and the girls. He muttered a terse good-bye at the girls and grabbed his wife’s elbow in his hand. He started to pull her away and she dug in her heels and shook him off.
She bent over and hugged the girls close, promising to see them again soon. The judge stood fuming but he waited. When he took his wife’s arm again, Zach noted he was much more gentle.
Audrey Connelly gave him a concerned look, and Zach forced himself to give her as much of a smile as he could muster. He didn’t think she was participating in her husband’s campaign of terror but he wasn’t going to be overly friendly either. If she had any influence with her husband at all, now was the time to use it.
Zach strode over to the girls and picked up their skates. They each latched onto his coat sleeves as he made his way to the front door. He was seized by the overwhelming feeling that he wanted to protect them and keep them safe. They were so precious, so innocent and young. When he glanced down at them, they looked up at him as if he knew what he was doing in this crazy adult world. He was a fraud. He didn’t have a clue and, wow, adulting was really hard. So he reached for his old standby, a joke.
“Why kind of key opens a banana?” he asked.
The girls frowned and then shrugged.
“A monkey,” he said. He made a funny face. Gracie laughed and Maddie rolled her eyes.
“How about some ice cream?” he asked.
“Yeah!” they answered together.
Zach knew
he was doing it to extend his time with the girls. Now that Jessie had rejected him for marriage, he didn’t know what role he was going to have in their lives. The thought filled him with an unhappy feeling of panic.
Today had been on the dramatic side and he wanted to make sure they were okay after seeing their grandparents. He also wanted to go eat his feelings. All of this emotion these Connelly women were pulling out of him was straight-up exhausting and yet if he thought about it, he had never felt more alive.
• • •
Zach paced around his house, while Rufus watched him from the couch. He had dropped off the girls after ice-skating and ice cream, deciding not to mention his altercation with the judge to Jessie. She had enough to worry about without adding Zach’s kerfuffle to it.
Things had been awkward between them. Despite the time apart or maybe because if it, Zach felt as if there were a million things they’d left unsaid. He knew there was for him. He’d asked her to marry him but he hadn’t told her the real reason. He’d stuffed the cotton balls of logic and problem solving around his suggestion of marriage as if they could cushion the raw truth, which was that he was in love with her. He wanted to marry her not to help out her and the girls but because he loved her and he wanted to be with her. Always.
But since she’d said no to him, where could they go from here? He couldn’t tell her he loved her now because she likely wouldn’t believe him. She’d think he was just saying that to pressure her to say yes to marrying him. Damn it.
He had totally messed this up. And what was killing him, what was crushing him all the way down to his soul, was the fact that she was a couple hundred yards away in her house, alone, just like him, when they could be together. He felt as if they’d barely begun exploring what could be between them and it was over.
The snowy front yards between them might as well be a snow-covered Alp for all he knew how to close the gap. He’d been texting the crew and none of their suggestions had helped.
Every Dog Has His Day Page 25
