“I was definitely being honest on both occasions,” she agreed, then amended, “Up to a point.”
Seth frowned. “How does that work?”
“I told you how I felt, or at least what I thought you wanted to hear, and then I got scared.”
“Of what?”
“Losing you if I got too serious. I mean, we were all about easy, right? No complications. No demands. Moving forward, maybe, but at a snail’s pace?”
“That is what we agreed,” Seth said. “But we’ve also acknowledged that it’s starting to get serious. Is that the part that’s bothering you? Isn’t it true?”
“Oh, it’s true,” she said. “The serious part, anyway. But I’m not just getting there. I am there. Pretending otherwise isn’t working for me anymore. I want complications, Seth. I want a commitment. I might even want forever.” She gazed directly into his eyes. There was a hint of fear in hers. “I hope you can deal with that.”
For the first time since he’d arrived, Seth released the breath that had seemed caught in his throat. “So, if I were to go for broke right here and now and propose, if I were to ask you to marry me, you might say yes? Even though there’s medical school to get through?”
“That’s just one of those complications I was talking about. It’s not a deal breaker,” she said, smiling.
She leveled a lingering look into his eyes that had his hand shaking so badly he had to set the wineglass on the table to keep from spilling the wine all over the place.
“Seth,” she said quietly. “Maybe you ought to try that proposal on me. If you really want to, that is.”
He swallowed hard and tried to wrap his mind around what she was saying. For so long now he’d been so sure he’d never take another chance on love, but the irony was, without even realizing it, he already had. The risky part was in the past. All he had to do was utter the words and he could have everything he’d thought was lost to him.
“I love you,” he said, his gaze locked with hers. “I didn’t go looking for love. I didn’t expect it. But here you are.”
“Here I am,” she echoed, moving closer and placing a hand against his cheek.
“Want to make it for a lifetime?” he asked.
Tears welled in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks, but her eyes were shining, which he considered a good sign.
“There’s nothing I want more,” she said.
And then she was in his arms and neither of them needed words to communicate what they wanted. Their hearts were totally in sync.
Even though everything he’d ever imagined was within reach, Seth couldn’t help thinking of the obstacles.
“What if Blue Heron Cove doesn’t get approved?”
“Then I’ll come live in some dinky little apartment near campus and cook for you while you study,” she said without hesitation.
He smiled at the image. “You’d be satisfied with a dinky little apartment?”
She glanced around at the small house she’d turned into a home. “I might have to spruce it up a little,” she conceded. “But we’d have this to come home to.”
He searched her face. “So, this is it for you? Seaview Key is home? No reservations?”
“Not a one,” she told him. “As long as you’re here, I’m home. I never told you this but that contractor I wanted tried to convince me to work with him, rather than pursuing Blue Heron Cove. He thought we’d make a good team.”
Seth felt his heart stumble. “Why didn’t you say something? It sounds as if it would have been a great opportunity.”
“Because Seaview Key is what I want. You’re what I want. I don’t have a single doubt about either of those things.”
Relief flowed through him. “That’s good, then.”
She hesitated for a minute, worry etched on her brow. “Seth, we’re not entirely crazy for thinking we can make this work, are we?”
“I certainly don’t think we are. Did Luke suggest otherwise?”
“No, actually I think this was exactly what he was hoping for when he came over here. He seemed to think we’d gotten way off track by not admitting what we really wanted.”
Seth smiled. “I’ll have to thank him one of these days. Not right away, of course. He’s already entirely too smug about thinking he knows what’s best for me.”
“That’s what good friends do,” she reminded him.
“Then I’ll thank him sooner rather than later,” Seth said, pulling her into his arms. “But not just now. I have much better things in mind.”
And he set out to prove it.
* * *
There was one thing Abby wanted to do before she and Seth walked down the aisle. It was the one thing that might change their plans. She made an appointment with a fertility expert on the mainland, then made the trip over on the ferry on her own.
After the examination and several tests, she sat across from the doctor in her sunny office and waited for the verdict.
“I’m not seeing anything obvious to explain why you haven’t gotten pregnant in the past,” she told Abby. “We’ll have to wait for the test results to know definitively whether there’s a problem.”
“And if nothing turns up, it would be okay for me to try?” Abby asked, her heart in her throat. “It’s not too late?”
“A pregnancy at your age would be high risk,” she replied candidly, “but not out of the question. You seem to be in excellent health overall, so as long as you get good prenatal care, follow directions and are prepared for the possibility of bed rest at some point, I think it would be safe to try. You’d want to consider amniocentesis to be sure there are no abnormalities, but we can discuss that when the time comes. Let’s get the results of these tests first, then see where we are.”
Abby nodded, trying hard not to let her excitement get ahead of the results that would be the true test of what might be possible. “Thank you so much.”
“I’ll be in touch as soon as I know more,” the doctor promised. “May I ask, is there some reason this is so important to you? Your patient questionnaire indicates you’re divorced.”
Abby couldn’t stop the smile that broke across her face. “I’m engaged, actually. We both want children. I just don’t want to get his hopes up if it’s not likely we’ll have them.”
“Then we’ll both hope for the best,” the doctor told her.
When Abby got back to Seaview Key, she found herself stopping by Hannah’s. When her friend opened the door, she regarded Abby with concern.
“Is everything okay? You look a little shaken.”
“I saw a fertility expert today,” she admitted.
Hannah’s eyes widened. “Come on in. I’ll pour tea.”
They settled at the kitchen table with glasses of iced tea and a plate of homemade oatmeal raisin cookies.
Abby bit into a cookie, then grinned. “Jenny’s,” she guessed.
“Of course. Mine are more like hockey pucks.” She studied Abby closely. “Why the sudden decision to visit a doctor?”
“Can you keep a secret?”
Hannah chuckled. “How many of yours are still locked away in my head?”
“Okay, crazy question,” Abby conceded. “It’s just that Seth and I don’t want word to get out just yet. We’re engaged.”
Hannah’s eyes lit up. “Oh, sweetie, that’s fantastic. But why the secrecy?”
“We both want to savor it for a little bit,” Abby admitted, then shrugged. “And we don’t want Luke to get all smug and take credit for nudging us in the right direction.”
Hannah laughed. “Yeah, I can see why you’d want to avoid that. My husband does love being right. And here I told him not to meddle.”
“Well, he did meddle and it worked,” Abby said. “Anyway, after Seth and I decided to get married, I started t
hinking that maybe it wasn’t too late to try for a baby.”
“How does he feel about that, especially with this whole medical school thing I hear he’s considering?”
“That’s the thing, I didn’t want to say anything to him until I knew if a pregnancy was even possible.”
“But what if he sees it as a huge obstacle to his plans?” Hannah asked worriedly.
“There’s no reason it has to be,” Abby said defensively. “We’re not two young kids. We’ve both juggled a lot of balls in the air in our lives. And we have financial resources.”
“Yours,” Hannah reminded her. “We both know how he’d feel about relying on your money.”
“Well, it will be our money when we’re married,” Abby said defensively.
Hannah merely lifted a brow.
“Well, that’s how I’m going to think of it,” Abby said. She hesitated, then asked, “Do you think I’m nuts?”
Hannah smiled. “For what? Wanting to marry Seth? Absolutely not. For wanting a baby? Of course not. But I’m not the one whose feelings count.”
“I will talk to Seth,” Abby promised. “But only after I hear from the doctor. There’s no point in getting his hopes up or fighting about this, if there’s no chance I’ll get pregnant.” She regarded Hannah hopefully. “Right?”
“I suppose so, though I’ve learned the hard way that being open and honest always pays off in marriage. Secrets, even innocent ones, tend to get all twisted around and out of proportion.”
Abby sighed. “You’re probably right. If the opportunity presents itself before I hear from the doctor, I’ll fill Seth in. Now I think I’ll go home and fix something amazing for dinner.”
“You do that and it sounds to me as if opportunity will be knocking,” Hannah suggested.
“I’m not sure I hear it,” Abby told her.
“Well, listen more closely,” Hannah advised.
Abby hugged her hard. “Thanks for listening.”
“Anytime,” Hannah said. “And I’ll add this secret to that data bank in my head.”
As Abby drove home, she realized that for the very first time, she truly felt as if she and Hannah had recaptured the friendship she’d been so afraid might be lost forever. Everything had felt totally right about sharing this secret with a woman she’d known almost her entire life.
* * *
There was something on Abby’s mind, but for the life of him, Seth couldn’t figure out what it was. She wasn’t talking. He assumed it had something to do with the vote on Blue Heron Cove that was coming up tonight. With its potential to impact Abby’s future, that would make anyone tense.
“Are you nervous about the vote?” Seth asked her over breakfast.
“A little,” she admitted.
“Any idea about how Sandra will vote?”
“She’s called a couple of times to ask questions,” Abby said. “I couldn’t tell which way she was leaning, though. Jenny’s tried to pry it out of her, but Sandra’s been tight-lipped. Jack says her cohorts haven’t said a word when they’ve been by The Fish Tale for beers. He guesses Sandra hasn’t told them how to vote yet.”
“You do know that no matter how this vote goes, we’re going to be just fine,” he said.
She smiled at that. “Of course we are. Totally separate issue.”
“And after the vote, we’re announcing our engagement,” he continued. “This secrecy thing is for the birds. I’ve almost blurted it out to Luke half a dozen times. Even Ella Mae knows something’s up. She’s called me over there twice in the past week without even bothering to pretend she doesn’t feel well. She just asks a bunch of prying questions, then kicks me out when she doesn’t like my evasive answers.”
Abby chuckled. “You really like her, don’t you?”
“Sure. I told you before she reminds me of my grandmother.”
“Speaking of your family,” she began pointedly, “what have you heard from Meredith or Laura?”
Seth stiffened. “Nothing, which should be a relief, but it isn’t. It scares me to death.”
“Are you thinking they’ve had it out and put each other in the hospital?”
“It’s not out of the realm of possibility,” he admitted. “I should call and see what’s going on.”
“What about Laura’s lawyer? Any word from him?”
“No. I think my deposition discouraged him.”
“Well, I hope that situation gets resolved. I want them here for our wedding.”
Seth stared at her incredulously. “You want my sisters in the same room for our wedding?”
“I insist on it,” she said.
“Boy, you really must love me even more than I imagined to be willing to take that risk.”
Abby laughed. “I love you plenty. Now, you’d better get out of here and work your shift. I may need your shoulder to cry on at that council meeting tonight.”
“I’ll be there,” he promised.
Though he still wasn’t satisfied that he knew what was really on Abby’s mind, he could tell he wasn’t likely to get any straight answers until she was ready to reveal them.
On his way to work, he called Meredith, hoping to put his mind at ease on that front, anyway.
“Hey, Seth,” she said wearily. “I’ve been meaning to call you.”
“And yet you haven’t,” he said. “How are things between you and Laura?”
“Surprisingly calm,” she admitted. “No threatening calls in days now. No pleading. I’m a little worried she’s dreaming up some new sneak attack. Have you spoken to her?”
“Nope. I didn’t even hear from her over the holidays. She’s my next call.”
“Well, let me know if you find out anything.”
“Will do. Everything else okay?”
“If I could get this particular albatross off my back, my life would be great,” she said.
“One way or another, it will be over soon,” he assured her. “If Laura’s attorney has his way, he’ll have a court date this month.”
“So I hear,” she said. “Love you.”
“You, too,” he told her. He disconnected, then called Laura. To his astonishment, it was Jason who picked up.
“Hi, Seth,” his ex-brother-in-law said.
“Hey, pal. What are you doing answering Laura’s phone or do I even want to know?”
“We’ve kind of made peace,” Jason admitted.
“You’re kidding me!”
“It’s true.”
“When did this happen?”
“Christmas day,” Jason told him. “She showed up at my place with a handful of credit card statements. Every one of them had zero balances. She said that was my gift.”
“Where’d she get the money to pay them off?” Seth asked suspiciously.
“That was my first question,” Jason admitted. “She sold her car.”
Seth didn’t even try to hide his astonishment. “But she loved that Jaguar.”
“I know,” Jason said. “She said she loved me more.”
“So, what’s she driving?”
“A used VW,” Jason said. “She says it’s cute and that it gets good gas mileage.”
“She actually knows what kind of mileage it gets?” Seth asked incredulously.
“I know. It blew my mind, too. You probably think I’m nuts to give her another chance, but she’s really trying.”
“No,” Seth told him. “I’m actually happy for you. I hope she sticks to it this time.”
“All I know is that she stood right in front of me and cut up her credit cards,” Jason said.
“All of them?”
“Every one,” Jason confirmed. “Believe me, I checked. She’s out of the shower now. Want to speak to her?”
; “Sure,” Seth said. “Good luck, pal. I mean that.”
“Thanks. Here’s Laura.”
“Hi,” she said hesitantly.
“I am so proud of you,” Seth said. “What finally got through to you?”
“The lawyer told me what you’d said. I know it was nothing you hadn’t said before, but he explained that he was starting to see that I didn’t stand a chance of winning. He asked me if I hadn’t lost enough without paying him a fortune just to lose in court. I guess I needed to hear it from an objective outsider, or maybe even more from someone I was paying to be on my side. I weighed winning against getting Jason back. It was no contest.”
“How come you haven’t told Meredith you’re dropping the suit?”
She hesitated, then admitted, “I don’t want to listen to her gloating.”
“Laura, she’s not going to gloat, any more than I am. We’ve both always wanted what’s best for you. Sounds to me as if you finally have it.”
She laughed. “I really do, don’t I? Who knew I didn’t need all that stuff to be over the moon? All I need is Jason. Now, tell me about you.”
“Do you realize this is the first time you’ve asked about what’s going on in my life in months?”
“I know. I know. Selfish me. But I’m asking now.”
Seth filled her in on his plans to marry Abby. “She wants you and Meredith at the wedding. Jason, too.”
“I can’t speak for our big sister, but Jason and I will be there. I want to meet this woman who was smart enough to grab the second best man on the planet.”
Seth laughed. “Meaning Jason tops the list, I assume.”
“Of course.”
“Abby might take exception to that, but you two can battle it out when you meet. See you soon.”
“How soon? When is this wedding?”
“Soon, if I have my way. I’ll keep you posted.”
He drew in a deep breath after he’d hung up. Knowing that Laura and Jason had worked things out was a huge relief. Not only was he happy for the two of them, but it reassured him that even complex differences could be resolved if two people worked at it with open hearts.
* * *
Abby’s presentation to the council was much more succinct this time. She figured there was very little to add to what she’d already told them, collectively and, in Sandra’s case, individually.
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