Barefoot Beach

by Debbie Mason

  “Caine Elliot. He’s Theia’s boss, isn’t he? The CEO of Wicklow Developments?” The man behind the plan to bring down the Gallaghers. The guy who’d dragged Theia into this mess.

  “Yes, but she quit because he didn’t tell her she was a Gallagher. He said he’d done it to protect her. They were the best of friends. Just like family from what he said.”

  Marco finally understood whom she’d been talking about that day she learned she was a Gallagher. It was Caine who’d betrayed her. Not Daniel like he’d thought. Though it sounded like her father had spent the past couple of days making up for lost time.

  “What did Caine Elliot say that made you decide to dump Daniel?”

  “Oh no, I’d already planned to dump him. But after hearing what Caine had to say, I wanted to tar and feather him.”

  He wasn’t sure he could bear to hear much more. “What did he tell you?”

  “Caine thanked Daniel for proving to Theia that he’d been right to keep Daniel’s identity from her. Said how he wished Theia’s mother had found Daniel because once she saw him for the man he really was, she wouldn’t have wasted her time and love on him and would have given it to her daughter. From the sound of it, Theia’s life with her aunt and uncle wasn’t much better.”

  That wasn’t news to him. But learning her mother had basically checked out for the first twelve years of Theia’s life made Marco realize how easy he’d had it. How much he had to be grateful for. Whatever had been going on in his parents’ marriage, they hadn’t let it ruin his childhood. Unlike Theia’s mother, they’d put their kids first.

  “Um, Caine had a message for you.”

  “For me?”

  “Yes. He knew you were my son. People used to say they could see the resemblance between us.” Her wistful smile faded. “Rosa always shot them down. She…” His mother made a face. “Sorry. I’ve been trying to tap out my resentment toward Rosa, but I think it must be wired pretty deep in my brain.”

  He was afraid to even ask what that meant. “So, Caine…?” he prompted.

  “I’m sure he didn’t mean it. He was just feeling protective of Theia at the time. You can’t really blame him—”

  “Mom, what did he say?”

  She pressed a hand to her chest. “Oh, Marco. You haven’t called me ‘Mom’ in years.” She blinked back tears, and he didn’t think she could make him feel worse.

  “I’m sorry. I’ve been a jerk.”

  “That’s what Caine said. He also said if you’re too stupid not to see the woman Theia is, you don’t deserve her. But if you ever hurt her again, you’ll join Daniel as shark bait.” She wrinkled her nose. “I’m sure he didn’t mean it.”

  He was pretty sure he did.

  * * *

  Theia had learned an interesting fact about sisters these past few days. While they could say any number of horrible things about her, Lord help anyone else who did. And there had been a rather large number of people in town and at the manor who had unfavorable opinions of her since Ryan Wilson had outed her in the Gazette and her sperm donor had spewed his vitriol in the dining room the other day. She no longer thought of him as her father. She’d rather not think about him at all.

  Today’s wedding at the manor made that easy to do, and it wasn’t only because the bridal party was demanding or that the wedding planner had been missing in action for the past two days. It was because Marco was a groomsman.

  She hadn’t seen or spoken to him in days. She’d done a lot of dreaming about him though. She’d even considered hanging out by the fire station or calling in a false alarm at the manor. But she didn’t have to do any of those things now because there he was, in perfect view of the window where she stood.

  He wore a navy tux like the three other groomsmen on the beach. He was laughing, his white teeth flashing in his tanned face. She lifted her phone, hoping the glare from the glass wouldn’t ruin the picture. She adjusted the aperture for a close-up. She wouldn’t need a photo to remember him by if she’d figured out a way to make him understand that her feelings for him had nothing to do with the job she’d been sent here to do. If she’d been able to find the perfect words to tell him how she felt about him, she would have been down there, sitting on one of the chairs she and Jasper had set up early this morning.

  His face blurred, and she blinked the tears away. She couldn’t blink away her regret.

  Her sisters came into view as they showed the guests to their seats. They looked gorgeous and confident in their red dresses. Daphne had insisted they wear the same color to make it easier for the guests to identify them. Theia had suggested they wear the same uniform as the waitstaff, but she’d been outvoted. It happened to her a lot, the outvoted thing.

  Jasper had assumed because of her military background and their birth order, Theia would be running the show. He hadn’t factored in that she was clueless when it came to all the things girlie and sparkly. Her sisters were taking great pleasure in educating her.

  Just that morning, she’d endured a two-hour makeover session. Penelope and Daphne had turned the bathroom in Colleen’s suite into a torture chamber. Still, they had the best intentions. With their love lives more or less taken care of—she’d flown Penelope’s husband in from California yesterday, and Daphne was officially dating Sully—they were determined to help her win over Marco.

  But the makeover was just step one. She would endure a lifetime of plucking, prodding, and pampering if she could bypass step two—sharing her feelings for Marco in a song. And singing that song to him. At the wedding. It was, she’d learned, a long-standing Gallagher-family tradition, and one her sisters were positive would ensure she had a second chance at love.

  Marco’s handsome face filled up her screen. He was no longer smiling or laughing. She followed his narrowed gaze to a dark-haired man staring down at the beach. She zoomed in on his profile and gasped. Ryan Wilson. What was he doing here?

  She followed the direction of his gaze. At first she thought he was staring at Penelope. But it was Jasper who came into view. She turned the camera back on Ryan, shifting to get a better angle and a close-up. She took several photos, noting the self-satisfied smile on his face as she sent them to Jasper.

  Ryan Wilson was up to something. She thought about what had happened the last time the man had taken his revenge out on the Gallaghers, and her heart began to race. She needed to stop him before he hurt someone else. She hurried from the atrium to the stairs into the dining room, walking fast instead of running so as not to draw attention from the guests enjoying Saturday high tea.

  Once she’d made it out the French doors and onto the patio, she had a clear visual of Ryan. He was no longer alone. Jasper was with him, his stance aggressive.

  Afraid things were about to get out of hand, she fast-walked along the garden path. Smiling at an older man and woman taking a stroll, she hopped over a bed of daylilies and cut across the lawn. Her right heel sank deep in the grass. She bent to pull it out, perhaps a little too forcefully because the heel remained in the soil, the shoe in her hand.

  Her sisters would be heartbroken, but she wasn’t. She lifted her left foot to slip off the other shoe and then took off at a run. Only the recently watered lawn was slick, and she slid about two feet. She wobbled but didn’t fall down. With an inner cheer, she continued on.

  Her quarry now in sight, Theia picked up speed. Which would have been fine if she’d been paying attention to where she was going instead of focusing intently on the two men. Her right foot sank into a hole, sending her into the air and flat on her face. It took her a couple of seconds to catch her breath. She pushed herself to her hands and knees. The grass really was wet, she thought as moisture seeped through her dress.

  She reached the two men just as Ryan was about to walk away. “Because I’m a nice guy, I’ll give you a second chance. A hundred grand before midnight tonight, or I go public.” His eyes skimmed over her and then back to Jasper. “If you think what happened to her was bad, it’s nothing compar
ed to what will to happen to you.”

  “Be careful who you threaten, Mr. Wilson. Not everyone plays by the same rules,” Jasper said, looking completely unruffled by the man and his threats. Except Theia picked up on the telltale tic in his jaw. Ryan had rattled him, and that rattled her.

  She thought it only fair that Ryan with his smug grin was rattled too. “How’s that lawsuit against HHPD going for you? I wonder what a judge will think when they discover just what you’ve been up to on behalf of Wicklow Developments? And now blackmail? It goes to character, doesn’t it?”

  His lip curled. “My price just went up. Two hundred grand.”

  She held up her phone. “Could you say that a little louder? I want to make sure the police hear it.”

  He laughed like she had no idea what she’d gotten herself into. “He’s not going to let you go to the cops about this, are you, Jasper? Remember what I said. Before midnight.”

  “What was all that about? We should call the police,” she said as the other man sauntered across the lawn. She wanted to throw her shoe at his head.

  As though reading her mind, Jasper covered her hand with his. “Let it go. He’s bluffing.”

  “No. He’s desperate.” She turned to face Jasper. “Tell me what he has on you. Please, I want to help.”

  “Believe me, if I needed help, you would be one of the first people I turned to. But at the moment we have bigger worries than Ryan Wilson.”

  “Like what?”

  “For one, the wedding planner quit.”

  She grimaced. She’d been worried that was why the woman wouldn’t answer her cell phone. “Don’t believe anything she told you. She’s jealous of Daphne and was trying to make her look bad. But Daphne has everything under control, so no worries there. And you’ll save a pile of dough.”

  His lips twitched. “I see, and would you happen to know what happened to the swans? The bride was promised they would be available for her photo session by the pond.”

  “Um, that might be a problem. But I’m sure I can find some ducks. Would ducks do?”

  “No. I don’t believe they would.”

  “How about big ducks and I’ll spray-paint them white?”

  He sighed. “What did you do with the swans, Theia?”

  “The twins like to fish in the pond, and the swans were terrorizing them, so I…”

  “Please don’t tell me you murdered the birds.”

  “No, but if I did, it would qualify as justifiable homicide. I captured them and brought them to the hotel in Bridgeport and put them in their pond. Just yesterday, one of the swans chased a woman, and she fell and broke her wrist. She’s suing.” She smiled. “You’re welcome. Now that we’ve dealt with the problems, you can tell me—”

  “Oh no, you have far bigger problems than I do. Here come your sisters. And they don’t look particularly pleased with the state of your attire.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Theia endured another session of pampering and polishing at her sisters’ hands, but it wasn’t as long as the first, mainly because they had a wedding to orchestrate. Well, Daphne orchestrated, and Penelope and Theia carried out her instructions. Most of which involved Theia acting as a liaison between kitchen- and waitstaff and ensuring the wedding guests found what they needed in the manor. Which meant Marco sightings were depressingly few and far between. But that was about to end when, through their headsets, Daphne ordered Theia to the tent.

  She glanced at the bridal party’s table as she walked by. She tried to catch a glimpse of Marco, but it was difficult to see past the floral arrangements. Daphne had told the wedding planner they were too high, and she’d been right.

  Theia was just about to tell Daphne the same thing when she appeared by her side, taking her by the arm and dragging her to the far side of the tent. So instead of complimenting her, Theia said, “What’s going on?”

  “You know perfectly well what’s going on, and don’t even think about chickening out. This is your…What did you call it?” Daphne poked Penelope, who was talking to someone inside the tent.

  She pulled her head out. “Her grand gesture. It’s that moment in every book and movie where…well, usually it’s the hero, but that’s because the woman is rarely the bad guy in the story and has nothing to make up for. But you do,Theia. Everyone in Harmony Harbor thinks you used Marco, and that can be hurtful to the male ego.”

  She wished they’d stop talking. She was getting more nervous by the minute. She’d never done anything remotely like this before. Putting herself out there for a man, leaving herself open to rejection and ridicule. What the heck had she been thinking? “Seriously? Then he should grow a pair or get over himself,” Theia said.

  Daphne laughed. “Keep it up, Pen, and she’ll be throwing the microphone at him instead of singing her little Gallagher heart out as she expresses her love for him.”

  “I don’t know why you keep insisting I’m in love with him. I just like him a lot. We had fun together. He’s the only guy who ever challenged me. The only guy who isn’t threatened by me.” The only guy who ever made her heart race. She couldn’t remember missing someone as much as she missed him. She had to stop lying to herself. She was in love with him.

  “Let’s get this over with.” She sounded as cranky as she felt. She also thought she might throw up.

  “Okay, let’s do it.” Penelope looped her arm through Theia’s right arm while Daphne looped her arm through the left.

  “What are you guys doing?”

  “This is our grand gesture too,” Daphne said.

  “Oh, come on. You can’t sing to Marco. You’ve got your own guys.”

  “No, silly. It’s our grand gesture to you,” Penelope said.

  Theia was pretty sure her mouth was still hanging open when they half-walked, half-dragged her through the curtains and into the bright lights.

  Daphne released her and walked to the microphone at the center of the small stage. “Hi, everyone. We’re the Gallagher girls, and we’d like to welcome you to the manor.” Daphne shielded her eyes from the lights. “We hope you’ve all been enjoying yourselves. Before the band plays our lovely bride and groom’s first dance, our sister, Lieutenant Theia Gallagher, has a very special song she’d like to sing for a very special man. Marco DiRossi, where are you?”

  People looked around and then began to whisper, some wondering aloud why he’d respond after what Theia had done. Others wondering if he’d left. Someone else suggested they’d seen him with a blonde down at the beach. Another man chuckled and said it was a blonde and a redhead.

  “I can’t do this. He’s not going to—” She tried to tug her arm free from Penelope’s death grip.

  “There he is. You’re looking handsome tonight, Marco. Isn’t he, Theia? Theia, get over here,” Daphne said through a tight smile. “Now.” She pointed to the spot beside her.

  Penelope waved at the band to start the music with one hand while she pushed Theia with the other toward the front of the stage. Theia froze like a soldier caught behind enemy lines.

  “Cara.”

  She glanced down to where Marco stood in front of the stage in his navy tux, his white shirt open at the neck, his hands in his pockets.

  He smiled. “You look beautiful.”

  “So do”—her voice cracked with nerves—“you.”

  “I’ve missed you.”

  She swallowed, fighting back tears. She would not cry. It was bad enough she was going to sing in front of a bunch of people who thought the gorgeous man in front of her deserved so much better. “I’ve missed you too.”

  “Sing,” Penelope and Daphne hissed from behind her. It was then she noticed their audience had gotten antsy.

  Marco turned, shooting a look at whoever was booing and telling her to get off the stage. She glanced back at her sisters, who nodded, mouthing, You’ve got this.

  Theia focused on Marco, reminding herself why she was doing this. She wanted him in her life, and she hoped the song’s lyrics wou
ld let him know how much. She held up the mic and opened her mouth, putting all her feelings for him into Wynonna Judd’s rendition of “I Want to Know What Love Is.”

  She sang from her heart and from her soul, and maybe because she did, it touched not only Marco but her audience. As she ended on a last husky note, the wedding guests rose to their feet. Several people called for an encore, but by then Marco had joined her onstage.

  He took the microphone from her. “Sorry, folks, but the only one she’s singing for is me.” He kissed her softly, sweetly, then whispered in her ear, “Come home with me tonight.”

  * * *

  Marco glanced to where Theia talked to Johnny and Callie. The couple had seemed genuinely pleased for him and Theia, and for once they looked happy together. As though she knew what he was thinking, Theia gave him a discreet thumbs-up. He smiled, returning his attention to his best friend, who sat beside him. “Sorry. What did you say?”

  “I asked if you’re sure about this, but since you haven’t heard a word anyone has said to you since she told you she loved you in a song, I’m guessing nothing any of us says will matter.”

  “You’re right. It won’t.” Because she didn’t sing a song of love; she sang a song of pain and loneliness and wanting to be loved, and she sang it in a voice that grabbed hold of his heart and showed no signs of letting go.

  Liam turned to his wife. “Soph, talk to him.”

  She glanced from Theia to her husband and patted Liam’s arm. “Don’t worry. He’s a big boy and can take care of himself, honey. Besides, Jasper supports Theia a hundred and fifty percent, and I’ve seen a lot I like about her over the past few days. She really pitched in with the wedding. Between her, Penelope, and Daphne, I didn’t have to worry about a thing.” She moved her head from side to side. “Other than the wedding planner quitting and the swans disappearing. But it looks like another wedding success for the manor. Right, Theia?” she said to the woman who walked their way.

  Liam frowned. “What do you mean the wedding planner quit and the swans disappeared?”