One by one, the cars pulled into Walt’s lot, and one by one, the members of the party filed into the bar for a predinner drink on the house since their room was still being set up. Vanessa ordered a glass of white wine, and sipped it while the others crowded around the few available stools. It was the first time she’d taken part in such an event and she felt more an observer than a participant. She knew that by the time most people were her age, they’d taken part in any number of weddings, funerals, christenings-all those rites of passage that were based around family and tradition and ritual. She had none of that in her past. She couldn’t decide if she felt more included than excluded, or vica versa.
The one thing she had decided was that Grady Shields was no tongue-tied recluse who needed to be led around by the hand.
She’d been on edge from the minute Mia had called her that morning and told her that Grady was on his way over to pitch in with the cookies. Vanessa hadn’t wanted him there-hadn’t invited a man into her house since she moved in, other than Hal, Beck, and the occasional workmen-but before she knew it, he was standing on her front steps and she’d had to let him in. Far from being the shy dolt his sister had described, she’d found him funny and easy to be with and sexy. Definitely sexy.
Watching Grady now, with his fingers curled around the neck of a bottle of beer, she felt a tension growing inside her and twisting into a knot. She liked the way he looked-well, who wouldn’t?-and she liked the way he laughed. Add that to the fact that he hadn’t been the least bit hesitant to admit to his cooking skills, and that he’d spent almost the entire day cutting out little heart shapes in cookie dough just because it would make his sister happy on her wedding day, even though he’d probably wished to be somewhere else, and you had one damned attractive package. Certainly Vanessa was attracted.
He was such a contrast to the men in her past. God knew that neither of her ex-husbands had so much as opened a can on their own. Make their own soup? Wash their own dishes? Ha! In her dreams!
As if he’d read her mind, he glanced over at her and smiled.
“Do you need a drink?” he asked.
She held up her wineglass in response. He grabbed a basket of peanuts from the bar and made his way toward her, stepping between Andy and Connor, who were arguing over who would kick whose butt at darts later that night. As Grady drew closer to Vanessa, he held the basket out to her.
“No, thank you.” She shook her head. “If I’m going to eat anything before dinner, it’s going to be the artichoke-and-crab dip.”
“It’s good?”
“The best ever.”
“In that case…” He handed the basket to Andy to return to the bar.
“You won’t be sorry you saved the room,” she promised.
“Dinner, everyone.” The hostess waved them to the private room Hal had reserved.
Grady stepped to the bar to put down his empty bottle, and Vanessa lingered a moment, waiting for him while trying to appear not to be. Suddenly she had the strangest sensation of someone’s eyes boring into her. She glanced around the room but saw no one who appeared to be looking in her direction. Still, the feeling was almost overwhelming, strong enough to accompany her into the room where their dinner would be served.
Vanessa stood in the doorway, her discomfort momentarily edged aside while she studied the table. As she’d requested, the centerpiece was low and long and packed with all of Mia’s favorite flowers: white hydrangeas tinged with green; lush, fragrant dark pink peonies; fat pale pink rosebuds, all set off by the drama of purple anemones. At each place setting was a gift bag in either lime or navy-the primary wedding colors-tied with a floppy pink satin bow. Into each Vanessa had tucked a DISCOVER ST. DENNIS! mug, a jar of honey from a local farm, a box of truffles from Sweetie Pie’s, the confection shop that opened last fall, a walking map of St. Dennis, and a certificate good for breakfast on Sunday morning at Let’s Do Brunch, the newest eatery in town. At the last minute, she tucked in one of the snow globes from the gift shop on the first floor of the Inn at Sinclair’s Point. Beneath the glass dome was a perfect likeness of the Inn, right down to the Adirondack chairs that overlooked the Bay. Shaking it, watching the white whirls engulf the stately old building, reminded her that she’d first arrived in St. Dennis on just such a snowy day.
“The flowers are lovely and so is the table,” Mia whispered in her ear. “I see your touch in everything.”
“I may have suggested a little something here and there.” Vanessa straightened a bow on one of the bags. “But Olivia did the flowers.”
“After you told her what the centerpiece should look like.”
“I merely mentioned what you like.” Vanessa smiled modestly. “Olivia did the rest.”
Once everyone found their place at the table, there were toasts and speeches, the most memorable being from Hal.
At Beck’s insistence, Hal was seated at the head of the table. When he rose silently, a glass in his hand, one by one, everyone’s eyes turned to him. Several times he appeared to be about to speak, but several moments passed before he finally did.
“A long time ago, I fell in love with a lady who, I believed back then, loved me, too. War and time came between us. When I returned from Vietnam, I’d discovered she’d married another man. I came back here to St. Dennis to lick my wounds and get on with my life.”
The room had fallen so quiet, Vanessa could hear Grady breathing over her right shoulder.
“A long time passed. I thought I’d meet someone else and fall in love again, but I never did. I’d always wanted a family to raise here in my hometown-a son, maybe even a daughter-but that didn’t seem likely, either. Until one day, my doorbell rang.” Hal cleared his throat, his emotions beginning to catch up with him. “I opened the door, and there on my porch stood the woman I had fallen in love with years before-and a sullen-looking boy of about thirteen who looked like he was ready to bolt. The lady handed the boy over to me and said something like, ‘Here, see what you can do with him. He’s an awful handful.’ Well, by the time I recovered from the shock, the woman had gone, but the boy was still there.”
“Hal, you don’t have to-” Beck’s voice cracked.
“Oh, but I do, son.” Hal took a minute to compose himself before continuing. “The woman was right: the boy was an awful handful. Tested me at every turn, in ways I could never have imagined. But one thing was true: he was my boy. My son. Eventually, somehow, we made our peace, and that awful handful of a kid… well, he turned out to be the son I’d always prayed for, a son any man would be proud of. And I am proud of you, Beck.”
Hal turned directly to Beck.
“I always thought you were a smart boy. But falling in love with Mia… well, that just proves the point, doesn’t it? If it had been up to me to pick a bride for you, I couldn’t have done better. I’m hoping that you’ll both be as happy as you deserve to be. And maybe one day, you’ll ring my doorbell and bring me a little one to add to our family.”
He looked as if he had something else to say, but instead, he tilted his glass to toast the couple. When no more words came, Beck stood and embraced him. The two men clung to each other for a very long moment. A teary-eyed Vanessa stood and completed the toast.
“I think what Hal was trying to say was, may you have a long and happy life together.”
“Here, here!”
“Amen!”
Glasses clinked as they touched across the table and cameras flashed as pictures were taken to record the moment.
Andy spoke next, about how the three brothers used to play tricks on their little sister, until they discovered she was a better shot than any of them, which lightened the mood at the table. Mia’s matron of honor, Anne Marie McCall, the profiler from Mia’s old FBI unit, spoke of how Mia had grown up in the FBI and how much she was missed, but how happy all her former co-agents were that she’d found exactly what she’d needed in St. Dennis.
Vanessa had wanted to make a toast of her own, but after listening to Hal
, she found she was incapable. Every thought she had stuck in her throat. How to put into words, in a room full of near strangers, what his acceptance of her had meant to a young woman who had felt so lost, so unsure of herself, so totally alone? How the welcome she’d been given by Beck and Hal both had given her direction and the sense of place, the sense of herself, that she’d needed?
Well, maybe tomorrow at the wedding I won’t feel so weepy, she told herself. Or maybe not. Either way, it’ll be all right. Beck and Mia know how much I love them, how I want so much for them to be happy. And that’s the important thing, right?
She cleared her throat and blotted under her eyes with her fingers. When she felt Grady’s eyes on her, she turned to him and said, “Sorry. I usually don’t cry in public.”
“Me, either,” he said, and they both laughed.
He leaned closer and whispered, “You may not have noticed, but there’s hardly a dry eye in the place. Like Andy said in his toast, Mia was the only girl in the family, and she’s had a rough couple of years lately. To see her this happy… well, let’s just say we’re all happy for her, and we’ll leave it at that.”
“Were you all overbearing big brothers when she was growing up?”
“We were merciless,” Grady admitted. “We all kept an eye on her. Made her life a living hell when she started getting interested in boys. Any guy who looked at her twice got worked over. You know how it is.”
“Actually, I don’t. But I wish I had. I might have made some better choices.” She regretted the words as soon as she’d spoken them. To change the subject, she told him, “Hal said he was thinking about taking the boat out again tomorrow. It’s supposed to be a beautiful day. You might want to go. I’m sure he’d be happy for the company.”
“Are you going?” He repositioned his leg under the table, and for a moment, it rested against her bare thigh, so that the soft fabric of his khakis brushed her leg. The old Vanessa-the one who’d been so needy for attention-would have taken that casual bumping of knees as an invitation. The new Vanessa-the one who’d learned a lot about herself since she moved to St. Dennis-kept her shoes on her feet and her feet to herself.
“I wish I could, but I need to work,” Vanessa explained. “I’ve been out of my shop so much already this week, and I’ll be out all day Saturday. I have someone really good filling in for me, but you know that no one takes care of your own business as well as you do.”
“True enough.” He moved slightly to the right while the waiter refilled his wineglass.
Vanessa put her hand over the top of hers to indicate she didn’t care for a refill. She smiled at the waiter and he moved on to the other side of the table.
The staff served an excellent meal, and soon the chatter inside the room was almost deafening. It was fun, though, Vanessa thought, to be part of a group like that, even if it was for just a little while. It was almost like being part of a big family. She studied the easy way the Shields cousins teased each other, the playful way they traded insults, the stories they told about each other, the shared history that bonded them and kept them close. She listened wistfully, wishing she’d had that growing up. Much of the time, Maggie wasn’t around when she got home from school or in from play. Most days, there was no one to tell that she’d fallen in the school yard and hurt her leg, that she’d been laughed at when she didn’t know how to properly pronounce a word, that she’d gotten the highest grade on her history test, or that the teacher had hung her artwork on the bulletin board outside their classroom. Her childhood was not one she cared to look back on very often. She’d been lonely and neglected, and many times, she’d been afraid. She squeezed her eyes closed for a moment to squeeze away the images that haunted her.
“Are you all right?” Grady leaned over to ask.
“I’m fine.” Vanessa flashed a smile.
“You look like you’re a thousand miles away,” he said.
“Close enough,” she murmured.
The pretty cake she’d ordered from Sweet Somethings was served with coffee, and before long, it was clear that the evening was winding to a close.
“Are you coming back into the bar with us?” Grady asked. “Andy’s challenged me to a game of darts.”
“It’s tempting, but actually, I was just thinking that I should be getting home. I have an early day tomorrow.” She pushed her chair back and stood.
His hand was on her wrist as if to hold her there.
“You sure?”
She nodded. “I have a lot of catching up to do since I was out all day today.”
“Well, thanks for letting me join in the fun today. And thanks for saving me for the crab dip. You were right. It was the best.”
“You’re welcome. Thank you for your help today. If you hadn’t come by, I’d still be in the kitchen, rolling out endless little hearts.” She was tempted to grab onto the hand that encircled her wrist and just hold on for a moment, but she resisted. “By the way, how did the samples measure up?”
“There’s not a crumb left. That should tell you something.”
“Good. Then I suppose they’ll do.”
“So, I’ll see you tomorrow night.” He let go of her wrist, then pushed back his seat and caught Andy’s eye. “What time is dinner tomorrow night?”
“Seven,” Andy replied as he held the chair for his wife. “Hey, Grady, do you have a minute? There’s something I want to run past you…”
“Sure.” He turned back to Vanessa. “Let me know if you need any help icing those cookies.”
“I know where to find you.”
She kissed Hal and Beck and Mia, waved good night to everyone else. She went back through the bar and the main dining room, and was almost to the door when she felt it again: that feeling of being watched. It was so strong that for a moment she thought of going back and asking someone to follow her home.
Silly, she told herself. Shake it off.
She left by way of the side door that opened directly into the parking lot. She walked across the macadam and opened her car with the remote when she was almost upon it. She’d read somewhere that if you used the remote to unlock your car while you were still a distance away, anyone following you would know which vehicle was yours, and that it was open, and that could put you in danger. The parking lot was still full. Who knew who or what could be lurking there?
She shook her head as if to shake out the uneasy feeling and drove home with one eye on the rearview mirror. There were no cars behind her as she made her way from Walt’s at the far end of the pier to Kelly’s Point Road past the municipal building where the police department had its offices, and past the long parking lot that, at the height of the tourist season, would be filled even at this hour. No car followed her onto Charles Street, and she drove up Cherry alone.
She pulled into her driveway, and noted for the first time how dark it was between her garage and her house, how the trees along her neighbor’s side of the drive made it seem even darker. She really should have a light installed outside, she thought, one that would illuminate not only the garage, but the entire yard and drive. Maybe one of those motion-sensor things that lit up when someone came within so many feet of the house or the garage.
She was glad she’d had the presence of mind to leave some lights on in the house, and once she was inside, the door closed securely behind her, the feeling that unseen eyes were following her lifted. She even felt a little silly for letting her imagination get the best of her. Still, first thing tomorrow she’d call Stan Wescott, and have him get right on those outside lights. Tonight, she’d lock her doors, check her windows, and try not to spook herself any more than she already had.
Grady’s participation in the impromptu darts tournament had been short-lived. Beck had knocked him out in the second round, and he’d spent the rest of the evening spectating and cheering on his brother, who lost to Hal in the finals. The losers paid up in beers at the bar, and soon they were all sitting around a table trading dart stories. Then they talked cars, follo
wed by fish tales of questionable veracity. Finally, the topic of conversation turned to law enforcement, and everyone had a story or two to share.
“The worst crime scene I ever saw…”
“The dumbest guy I ever arrested…”
“There was this time I was sent to Maine to work on a serial-killer case…”
“I was in Arizona on a child abduction…”
Grady tuned it all out. He’d been a damned good agent in his day, but he left the Bureau because he found he could no longer separate the good memories from the bad. He’d found peace in his mountains, but even that was proving to have run its course. He’d told Mia that he’d made a life for himself there, and it was a good one. But if nothing else, being back with his family this week, seeing his old friends again, reminded him that the life he’d left behind hadn’t been so bad, after all. The thing was, he liked what he was doing, really enjoyed being a wilderness guide. He loved hiking, camping, and he’d found it easy enough to support himself doing just that. Of course, his expenses were minimal in Montana. He owned the house outright, and his car had long been paid for. His biggest expenses were food and enough wood to keep the woodstoves going in the winter when the oil truck couldn’t get through.
It both amused and annoyed him that his sister seemed to think that he spent his days sitting in a corner, sucking his thumb and watching game shows. Amused, because it was so far from the truth, and annoyed because, well, because it was so far from the truth that he couldn’t believe that she honestly believed it. He’d have to set her straight one of these days.
The entire wedding-week extravaganza amused him, as well. There’d been many weddings in their large family over the past few years, but none of them had taken a week to build up to. His own wedding to Melissa had been spur of the moment. They’d eloped, an act he’d later regretted when he realized how it had hurt his family to have been shut out. He’d never make that mistake again. Not that he was looking to get married again anytime soon, but still, these few days with his family reminded him why sharing the moments of your life with people you love who love you back was important. Sometimes you just needed a little tap on the shoulder.
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