Gansett Island Boxed Set Books 1-16 (Gansett Island Series)

by Marie Force

  Ned met her steely stare. “Yes, ya will.”

  “Mom?” Tiffany looked at her mother expectantly.

  After a long pause, Francine said, “Of course I’ll understand.” She rested her hand on top of Tiffany’s. “Whatever you want is what I want.”

  “I need to think about it,” Tiffany said. “What’ll we do about Maddie?”

  “Let me worry about that,” Francine said.

  The two women embraced, and the knot in Ned’s belly finally loosened. He stood and stepped back to give them some space.

  “I have to pick up Ashleigh from Jim.” Brushing the tears off her face, Tiffany stood and shocked the hell out of Ned by hugging him. “Thanks,” she said.

  Ned brushed a kiss over her forehead. “Any time, honey.”

  After she left, Ned kept his hands on his hips as he studied Francine. “Why didn’t ya just tell me, doll?”

  “Because,” she said, playing with her glass, “it’s humiliating. All these years he’s been gone, and I’m still married to him? How was I supposed to tell you that?”

  “The way ya just did. Ya think there’s anything ya can tell me that’ll change the way I feel aboutcha?” He sat next to her, put his hands on her face and compelled her to look at him. When he had her attention, he said, “I love ya, Francine. I always have. From the first day I ever saw ya. I never stopped wanting ya, even when ya were married to him.”

  She blinked back tears and sniffled. “You’d have to be crazy to want to be dragged into all this madness.”

  “Then call me crazy,” he said, kissing her. “Yer craziness is my craziness. Did ya hear what I said, Francine? I love ya. If it’s what ya want, I’ll marry ya the second yer free from him. Ya got me?”

  “Ned.” She rested her forehead against his. “You’re just saying that because I told Bobby I want to marry you.”

  “Are ya tryin’ to make me mad?”

  Shaking her head, she smiled at him. “I love you, too.

  “I know ya do, doll.” He pressed his lips to hers, hoping she’d welcome his advance.

  Her arms came around his neck, and before he knew it, he was stretched out on top of her on the sofa. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to—”

  Resting a finger over his lips, she flashed the seductive smile he remembered from a lifetime ago when she’d had him firmly wrapped around her little finger. “You wanna make out?”

  His mouth fell open in surprise, and then he was laughing as hard as he ever had in his life. “Yes, Francine. I wanna make out with ya.”

  Chapter 22

  His ringing cell phone woke Grant from the best nap he’d had in ages.

  “Hi, Grant, it’s Uncle Frank. I got your urgent message. Is everything all right with your dad? Laura?”

  “Hi there. Yes, sorry, everyone’s fine.” Grant slipped from Stephanie’s embrace and stood to pull on his shorts. Since she was still asleep, he stepped out of her tiny room and closed the door behind him. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “Oh, good,” Frank said, sounding relieved. “How was the wedding? And the storm? I haven’t heard a word from Gansett.”

  “We’re all fine. Janey’s wedding was great, and you’ll never believe it, but Mac’s wife had their baby right in the middle of the storm. Hailey McCarthy.”

  “Wow, I’m sorry I missed all the excitement.”

  “We missed you, too.”

  “How does Laura seem? I’ve been worried about her lately. She hasn’t been acting like a happy newlywed.”

  “I’ve only seen her at the wedding and in passing since then, but she seems fine to me.”

  “That’s a relief. She loves being there so much. She loves any excuse to visit Gansett.”

  “It’s good for all of us to get back here once in a while. So the reason I called… Do you remember a case in Providence involving a guy named Charles Grandchamp about fourteen years ago? Kidnapping and sexual assault of a minor?”

  “Vaguely. The victim was his stepdaughter?”

  “That’s the one.”

  “What about it?”

  “I’ve become involved with his stepdaughter, Stephanie Logan.”

  “Is that right? How old is she now?”

  “She’s twenty-eight and working for my parents at the marina restaurant.”

  “Doesn’t that beat all?”

  “Uncle Frank, she swears to God that Grandchamp never touched her with anything other than love and affection. Her mother used to beat the hell out of her, and the night she was supposedly kidnapped, Grandchamp walked in on her mother beating her and got her out of there.”

  “Wait a minute. As I recall, she testified—”

  “And the prosecutor twisted everything she said to make Grandchamp look bad. The guy never touched her, and he’s been in prison for fourteen years.”

  “I’m looking up who the presiding judge was in that case.” He paused, and Grant could hear the clicking of computer keys. “Oh, Christ, it was Dugan.”

  “What about him?”

  “We’ve had issues with a couple of his cases. He died about five years ago after a long battle with Alzheimer’s.”

  The implication was left unspoken, but Grant heard it loud and clear. “I’ve hired Dan Torrington to look into it.”

  Frank let out a low whistle. “Heavy hitter.”

  “This whole thing is so wrong, Uncle Frank. Tell me there’s something we can do.”

  “I’d like to hear the story from her point of view.”

  “She goes to the mainland every Friday for visiting day at the prison. I could go with her and bring her to see you afterward.”

  “That’d be great. I’ll make dinner reservations on Federal Hill.”

  He expected nothing less than a five-star restaurant from his uncle. “Thank you so much. I really appreciate this.”

  “You know I can’t make any promises, Grant.”

  “I understand, and she will, too.”

  “What’s she like?”

  “Brave and tough on the outside, but inside… The battle has taken a toll.”

  “I can imagine. I’ll look forward to seeing you Friday.”

  “Me, too.”

  “Give my love to your parents and tell my wayward daughter to give her Pop a call one of these days.”

  “Will do. See you soon.” Grant ended the call and returned to Stephanie’s room. She was facedown asleep in bed with just a shoulder peeking out from under the sheet. As he studied her face, soft with sleep, Grant’s heart beat a little faster.

  He couldn’t remember a time when he’d been more conflicted. Even when he’d known Abby was growing tired of their life in LA and pondering a move home, Grant hadn’t felt this gut-deep conflict. His path had always been clear—career first, everything else second. That so-called clarity had cost him his relationship with Abby, and he now realized that as much as he’d loved her, he hadn’t been “in love” with her. Not like he was with Stephanie.

  “Oh boy,” he whispered, the realization practically knocking him off his feet. He loved her. He was in love with her. Everything about this was different from what he’d had before, but one important thing was the same—the career he wanted so badly required he work in a city three thousand miles from her. She’d never leave Rhode Island as long as her stepfather was incarcerated, so it wasn’t like she could go with him the way Abby had.

  So here he was again in roughly the same boat he’d been in with Abby, except this time the stakes were so much higher.

  He sat on the edge of the small bed and bent to press his cheek to her exposed shoulder. The feel of her skin against his somehow calmed him, which was ironic, since he was rarely “calm” around her. He was either aroused or infuriated—often both at the same time. The thought made him smile as he pressed kisses to her shoulder, the curve of her neck and finally the delicate shell of her ear.

  “Mmm,” she said as she came to and found him hovering over her.

  Their eyes met and held.
r />   “What’s wrong?” she asked, her voice sleepy sexy.

  “Nothing at all.”

  She raised her arms to bring him back into bed. Her nipples pebbled against his chest, her skin was silky smooth beneath his hands. Even though he wanted her again—he always wanted her—he did nothing more than hold her tight against him. Her lips moving on his neck were soft and persuasive. The hands that skimmed lightly over his back made him shiver with desire. And the contentment that stole over him, the clicking of two halves becoming a whole, made him sigh with happiness.

  Somehow, they’d make this work. The alternative was no longer an option.

  Grant convinced her to walk the short distance to his parents’ home at the top of the hill.

  “My legs are like rubber,” she said with an accusatory glare for him when they were halfway up the steep hill. “We can’t keep having this much sex. It’s not healthy.”

  He laughed at her, which earned him an elbow to the ribs. “It’s very healthy.” Squeezing one of her ass cheeks for emphasis, he added, “And besides, you can’t cut me off now. I’m addicted.”

  Wondering if he had any idea how adorable he could be, she grabbed his hand off her butt and held it tightly as they walked.

  “I got a text from Luke. He has to have surgery on his ankle to repair a torn ligament. He and Syd are going to stay on the mainland since they scheduled the surgery for this week.”

  “He must be relieved to know why it’s not healing properly anyway.”

  “I’m sure. So my Uncle Frank called while you were sleeping.”

  Stephanie stopped short and turned to face him. “And?” She could barely breathe as she awaited his reply.

  “He wants to meet you and hear your story. I told him I’d go with you Friday and bring you to see him.”

  “Oh.”

  Grant tipped his head, seemingly trying to get a read on what she was thinking. “It’s okay if I go with you, isn’t it?”

  She looked past him to his parents’ house on the hill and started to walk again. “Um, sure. I guess.”

  Grabbing her arm, he stopped her. “What? Talk to me.”

  “Look at that up there.” She gestured to the sprawling white home with the big deck and the million-dollar view of the Salt Pond.

  “What about it?”

  “That’s where you come from. You’re bringing me home to your family tonight in that big, beautiful home where all your memories are kept safe from harm. When I take you to meet my family, you’ll be patted down, sent through metal detectors and forced to endure the noise and the smells and the utter chaos of visiting day at a maximum-security prison.”

  “Do you think I care about that?”

  “I care.” She looked up at the house on the hill. “I don’t have that. I’ve never had anything close to that.”

  “Someday you will. You’ll have a home and a family of your own, and you’ll create new memories—happy memories.”

  She wanted so badly to believe that was possible, but at the end of the day, she was a realist. Life didn’t work that way for her. She didn’t get happy endings and happily ever afters. They were reserved for other people.

  Grant put his arm around her and drew her in close to him.

  Surrounded by his familiar scent, she acquiesced to the comfort he provided and slipped an arm around his waist. “Thanks for calling your uncle for me.”

  He answered with a kiss to the top of her head and escorted her the rest of the way up the hill with his arm still around her.

  Big Mac and Linda greeted them both with hugs. Stephanie had been to dinner there before, but never as their son’s guest. Her palms were suddenly damp, and butterflies stormed around in her belly. The McCarthys had never been anything but nice and welcoming to her, but would they really condone their son’s relationship with her once they knew the sordid story of her life? Linda had said she approved earlier, but would she still approve when she found out Stephanie’s stepfather was in prison?

  “What’s wrong?” Grant asked, his lips close to her ear.

  “Sudden bout of nerves.”

  “Nothing to be nervous about. It’s just dinner.”

  “I know.” How could he understand when she didn’t get it herself? She had no reason to feel inferior to these people, but she did anyway.

  Over cocktails and appetizers, Linda was full of gossip, as always. They talked about the storm, the baby and Luke’s pending surgery. “The town hired a new lighthouse keeper—a single gal from Maine.”

  “She’s going to live out there all by herself?” Grant asked.

  “That’s what I hear. And Laura is going to stay on to manage the Sand & Surf.”

  Grant seemed astounded by that news. “What does Justin think of that?”

  “Well,” Linda said, glancing at Big Mac, “apparently that’s already over.”

  “What? They just got married in May!”

  “From what Laura says,” Big Mac interjected, “her ‘husband’ decided to keep dating after they were married.”

  “Oh, no,” Grant said. “Poor Laura.”

  “No kidding,” Linda said. “She’s been through a terrible ordeal, so we think it’s wonderful that she’ll be moving out here for the time being. She’s always loved it here, and the Sand & Surf needs someone to love it and nurse it back to life. It’ll be good for her to have a big project to throw herself into.”

  “I heard she’s talked to Sydney Donovan about redecorating the public rooms,” Big Mac added.

  Linda clapped her hands in approval. “Oh, that’s perfect! I love it.”

  “Wouldn’t it be better for your hotel if the Surf stays closed?” Stephanie asked.

  “Not at all,” Linda said. “There’re never enough rooms to accommodate everyone who wants to be here during the season. Losing the Surf the last couple of years has been a blow to the island’s economy.”

  “I see,” Stephanie said.

  “In fact,” Linda said with a scheming look in her eyes, “you should talk to Laura about her plans for the restaurant. Unlike McCarthy’s, they used to be open year-round. She’ll probably be in the market for someone to manage it. If you wanted to stick around Gansett, that is…”

  Stephanie glanced at Grant.

  “Sounds like a great opportunity,” he said. “You should look into it.”

  “I, uh, it’s nice of you to think of me, but I need to get back to Providence when the season is over.”

  “Tell them why, Steph,” Grant said with an encouraging smile. “If you want to.”

  Linda looked at Stephanie, her eyes filled with concern. “What is it, honey?”

  Right in front of his parents, Grant reached for her hand and linked their fingers. “It’s okay.”

  She stared at their joined hands for a long moment before she returned her attention to his parents and told them an abridged version of her story. By the time she was done, Linda was holding her other hand, and Big Mac was shaking his head with disbelief across the dinner table.

  “What can we do?” Linda glanced at her husband who nodded in agreement. “Tell us how we can help.”

  “I’ve hired Dan Torrington, and I talked to Uncle Frank earlier,” Grant said. “We’re having dinner with him Friday night. Since we won’t make it back to the island until sometime on Saturday, if you can cover the restaurant for Stephanie, that would help.”

  “Of course,” Linda said with a smile. “I’d be happy to. I still remember how to make a donut.”

  “If there’s anything else we can do for you, honey,” Big Mac said to Stephanie, “anything at all, don’t hesitate to ask.”

  The lump of emotion that settled in her throat made it impossible for her to speak. When Grant slipped his arm around her, she dropped her head to his shoulder.

  “I’ve never known people like you,” she was finally able to say. “The way you open your home and your hearts to perfect strangers—”

  “You’re certainly not a stranger,” Linda
said. “You’re our friend now, and Grant’s…” When he refused to fill in the blank for her, Linda said, “Well, at the very least, you’re Grant’s friend, too.”

  “Yes,” Grant said, sounding amused by his mother’s attempt to get him to define their relationship. He brushed a kiss over the top of Stephanie’s head. “At the very least, you’re my friend.”

  “Thank you,” Stephanie said. “It means the world to me that you want to help.”

  “We mean it,” Big Mac said. “If there’s anything we can do, I hope you’ll ask.”

  “I appreciate that.”

  “I think we’ve got it covered for now,” Grant said. “Just keep your fingers crossed that it works.”

  “Fingers and toes,” Linda said as she served up hot apple pie for dessert. “Did you hear the big news in town today?”

  Stephanie was relieved that they’d moved past her troubles and back to island gossip.

  “What news?” Grant asked as he shoveled pie into his face.

  Stephanie filed away the fact that he seemed to love it. Wait until he got a taste of hers.

  “Apparently, Cal Maitland’s mother is bad off after the stroke. He tendered his resignation to the clinic board today. As one of the directors, Dad got the word after lunch. The board met this afternoon and offered the job to David Lawrence, and he accepted.”

  Grant seemed to have lost interest in his half-eaten pie. He put down his fork and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “So what does that mean for Abby?”

  The moment the words were out of his mouth, Stephanie’s stomach began to ache. Of course she would be his first thought.

  “I can’t imagine what she’ll do,” Linda said. “Her store is doing so well.”

  “Huh,” Grant said, seeming lost in thought.

  Stephanie wondered if he was considering that Cal’s absence would create an opportunity for him to pick up where he’d left off with Abby. At that thought, her heart began to ache, too.

  “More pie?” Linda asked her son.

  “No, thanks. I’m full.”

  “Stephanie?”

  “No, thank you. It was all very good.” She couldn’t eat another bite because she feared she might be sick.