Chapter 6
Carolina stood next to Seamus at the ferry landing as the last boat of the day from the mainland cleared the breakwater and entered South Harbor.
The sun was just beginning to set over the dunes, firing the water with vivid red, orange and yellow reflections and casting a glow over the town.
At least the island was at its most lovely for Mrs. O’Grady’s arrival, Carolina thought, touching her hair to make sure everything was where it belonged.
“Stop fidgeting, love. You look beautiful.”
“I look old.”
He put his arm around her, drew her in close and spoke directly into her ear. “I’m starting a new list of grievances I need to address with my hand to your bum the next time I have the chance.”
Carolina shivered from the heat of his breath against her ear and the promise she heard in his tone. She was still recovering from the shock of how decadent their night in the tent had been.
“You do not look old. You, my love, look sexy and delicious and ripe and—”
She pressed her hand against his mouth. “Stop it. Right now.”
Naturally, he sent his tongue to do his dirty work for him. “You stop it.”
“You.”
His eyes danced with mischief and amusement. “No, you.” He stopped her from replying by kissing her senseless right there on the ferry landing where anyone could see them, including his mother, who was somewhere on the boat that was about to dock.
Oh my God! He drives me nuts! Never, in her wildest imagination, could Carolina have pictured a relationship quite like this one.
Her quiet, satisfying—if somewhat lonely—life before him seemed like a hundred years ago when it had actually been less than a year.
At times, she craved her former uncomplicated life.
But would she want to go back to life before Seamus?
No, she thought, resigned to her fate with the big, burly, outrageous Irishman who made her heart beat fast and loved her with such abandon she could no longer picture life without him.
She’d had absolutely no clue that a love like this even existed.
Sure, she’d seen it portrayed in movies and in romance novels, but experiencing it firsthand had been an eye-opening journey.
At times she still felt guilty when she had to acknowledge that her marriage to Pete Cantrell had been nothing like her relationship with Seamus.
While she’d loved Pete with her whole heart and soul and mourned deeply when she lost him so young, the quiet, respectful love they’d shared was very different from the fiery, all-consuming passion she had with Seamus.
“Why the deep sigh?” Seamus asked, tuned into her as always.
“No reason.”
“I hate that you’re so wound up over this visit, Caro. I wish I’d never let you talk me into it.”
He sounded so uncharacteristically defeated that Carolina decided it was well beyond time to let it all go. She loved this man. She wanted a life with him, and if his mother didn’t approve, well then, so be it.
“I’m sorry I’ve been such a wreck.” She looked up at him, swayed as always by the intense way he gazed at her, telling her with every look and touch and smile that she was his entire world. “I love you. I love us. I want this, and if she doesn’t approve, well then, I guess she doesn’t approve.”
Resting his hand on his heart, he shook his head as if he hadn’t heard her correctly. “Don’t tease me, love. If you don’t mean it—”
“I mean it.” She kissed him. “I love you. No matter how crazy I get, please don’t ever doubt that.”
He took a series of deep, dramatic breaths. “I might be hyperventilating.”
Carolina elbowed him in the ribs. “Knock it off.”
Laughing, Seamus kept an arm tight around her shoulders as they watched the boat turn around to back into port. “Look who’s at the helm,” Seamus said.
“I didn’t know Joe was on this boat.”
“I didn’t either. He must’ve swapped with someone.”
As they watched Joe competently align the huge ferry with the pier and back it smoothly into port, Carolina was filled with pride. “He’s so darned good at that.”
“He sure is. I remember the first time I did it here. Damn near crapped myself with that tight turnaround in the smallest harbor I’ve ever seen. But Joe stood right next to me and talked me through it. He showed me all the Gansett Island tricks in that one lesson.”
“I remember so well the first time my father taught him. They came home that night, and my dad was bursting with excitement. ‘The boy’s a natural,’ he said.”
“I wish I could’ve met your folks.”
“I do, too. My dad would’ve liked you.”
“Would he have approved of you and me?”
“Oh, God, yes. They begged me for years after Pete died to go out with someone else. They would’ve loved you and the way you boss me around.”
“I do not boss you around.”
She gave him her most withering look.
“I encourage you to expand your horizons. That doesn’t count as bossing.”
“Whatever you say.”
The cars and trucks came first off the ferry, followed by a flood of people with suitcases, bicycles and dogs on leashes.
Because he still had his arm around her, Carolina felt Seamus stiffen.
“Holy hell. What in the name of Jesus, Mary and Joseph is he doing here?”
“Who?” Carolina followed his gaze to a compact gray-haired woman accompanied by a young man—an extremely handsome young man.
“My cousin, Shannon.”
Oh perfect, Carolina thought. A surprise guest!
Seamus released his tight hold on her and walked toward the ramp to greet them.
Nora O’Grady’s bright blue eyes lit up at the sight of her son as the evening breeze lifted a lock of her gray hair.
Seamus scooped her up and swung her around.
The pure joy she saw on his face as he hugged his mother told Carolina a lot about how much he’d missed her.
His extremely handsome cousin stood next to them, taking in the town with an aura of disdain.
Fabulous. His hair was a darker shade of reddish brown than Seamus’s and longer, Carolina observed, as Seamus hugged Shannon.
He was a bit taller than Seamus, at least five years younger, and lanky but muscular. He must have women falling at his feet, Carolina thought as the three of them came toward her with Shannon carrying a duffel bag and Seamus positively beaming as he pulled a suitcase on wheels.
Carolina had never seen him look so happy as he took her hand and squeezed it.
“Mum, Shannon, this is Carolina Cantrell, the love of my life. Carolina, my mother, Nora O’Grady, and my cousin, Shannon.”
As they all shook hands, Carolina felt the heat of Nora’s stare on her.
How would it feel, she wondered, to meet the love of your son’s life and to discover she was nearly twenty years older than him?
Judging by the shock Nora was trying hard to hide, her son had failed to mention the age difference to his mother. This just got better and better.
Joe came off the boat and walked over to them. “Hey, Mom, Seamus.”
Carolina smiled up at her son as he kissed her cheek. “Hi, honey. I want you to meet Seamus’s mother, Nora O’Grady, and his cousin, Shannon. This is my son, Joe.”
“And my fabulous boss,” Seamus added.
“Oh, hey, great to meet you,” Joe said as he shook their hands.
Nora’s sharp gaze darted between Joe and Seamus before finally landing on Carolina. “Well,” she said in a heavy Irish burr, “t’isn’t this going to be an interesting visit?”
As Janey got closer to her delivery date, Maddie started bringing dinner to her and Joe at least once a week. She remembered all too well how clumsy and cumbersome she’d felt toward the end, especially with Thomas.
She’d been on her own then, panic-stricken about bringing a baby into the world without the help of the child’s father. Those frightening and uncertain days seemed like a far-off time now that she was happily settled with Mac and their children, but it wasn’t all that long ago.
She knocked lightly on Janey’s front door, hoping she wasn’t disturbing her sister-in-law.
“Come on in,” Janey called.
Maddie walked into the foyer of the contemporary house Joe and Janey had bought a mile from where she and Mac lived. She absolutely loved having them close by. Janey’s dogs came rushing to see who’d come to visit. “It’s just me, guys,” Maddie said to them as they gave her a thorough sniffing.
“I’m beached on the sun porch,” Janey said.
Maddie put away the chicken, roasted potatoes, salad and brownies in the kitchen and went to find Janey stretched out on a chaise in the screened-in back porch.
“What a lovely spot this is,” Maddie said, taking in the mature landscaping in the big back yard and the colorful pots of flowers Janey had put on the patio outside.
“We quite love it and so do the dogs,” Janey said. “Can I offer you something to drink that you’ll have to get yourself?”
Maddie laughed and collapsed into a chair. “No, thanks. As long as I can sit here long enough for Mac to get the kids in bed, I’ll be happy. It’s been a long day at the ranch.”
“What’s going on?”
“Hailey is teething and starting to cruise around, which means she can get into Thomas’s stuff, which means I have to be hypervigilant about what he’s playing with so she can’t get ahold of something she can choke on.
And then she gets something of his, and suddenly that’s the thing he most wants to play with, and he forgets all about how much he loves his baby sister. Ahh, good times.”
Janey laughed. “Sounds like it. So my mom might’ve mentioned that you and Mac put on a bit of a show for Thomas the other night…”
“Ugh! Don’t remind me. I’m still recovering from the trauma!”
“And how is he?”
“Hasn’t mentioned it again, so we’re hoping we can leave that special moment in the past.”
“Tell me the whole thing, leaving out any disgusting details about my brother that’ll scar me for life.”
Maddie relayed the story in the least amount of detail possible, which made Janey howl with laughter.
“I’m going to pee my pants if I don’t stop laughing,” she said when she recovered her breath. “That is freaking hilarious.”
“Glad you think so. It was mortifying for us.”