Chapter 10
Ten
Dashing through the snow, the foursome made their way to the front porch of the Sand & Surf Hotel.
Mac kept a tight hold on Linda’s arm so she wouldn’t fall on the slippery sidewalk or stairs with those crazy shoes on.
They entered through the main doors of the hotel, where their family waited to greet them.
“Surprise!”
Adam, Abby, Mallory, Janey, Joe, Evan, Grace, Mac, Maddie, Stephanie, Grant, Thomas, Hailey and P.J. made up the welcoming committee.
Thomas stepped forward to present a wrist corsage made of white roses to Linda and a white rose for Big Mac’s lapel. “Are you surprised, Papa?” Thomas asked.
“So surprised, pal. How did you keep this a secret?”
The blond boy smiled widely. “I promised Daddy I wouldn’t tell.”
Big Mac hugged the little boy who’d made him a grandfather when Mac married his mother. “You did a good job keeping the secret.” Standing upright, he accepted a hug from Evan, who’d spent the last three weeks touring with Buddy.
“So good to have you home, son.”
“Good to be home. Happy anniversary.”
“Thank you.”
After lots of hugs and kisses and congratulations, Stephanie said, “Ready to go in? We’ve got a table all ready.”
“Ready when you are,” Linda said, reaching for Big Mac’s hand.
Though he was prepared for a party, he was floored by just how many people had braved the elements to come celebrate with them.
The main dining room of Stephanie’s Bistro was packed with friends and neighbors and extended family, who broke into a long round of applause as he and Linda entered the room.
Overwhelmed by the outpouring, his heart expanded in his chest. His brothers Frankie and Kevin hugged him, as did his adorably pregnant niece Laura, his nephews Shane, Riley and Finn, Linda’s sister Joan and her family, Alex and Jenny Martinez, Dan Torrington, Kara Ballard, Luke and Sydney Harris, Paul Martinez and his fiancée Hope Russell, Shane’s fiancée Katie Lawry and her brother, Laura’s husband, Owen Lawry.
Katie and Owen’s mother Sarah and her fiancé Charlie Grandchamp were there, as were Carolina and Seamus O’ Grady, Maddie’s sister Tiffany and her husband Blaine Taylor, David Lawrence and his girlfriend Daisy Babson, and Jared and Lizzie James.
Everyone who was anyone to them had come.
Even Mayor Upton and his wife, Verna, were there.
He saw Linda receive a tearful hug from Mallory.
Though a hundred people wanted to talk to him, he stayed with Linda, needing her close to him as much today as he had on their wedding night forty years ago.
While they visited with their guests, Stephanie’s waitstaff delivered glasses of champagne that were replaced the minute they were empty.
After a while, they were shown to a head table that included the members of their original wedding party, including Frank and Kevin and Linda’s friends from Providence College.
Frank’s beloved wife Joann, who died of cancer more than twenty years ago, was the only one missing.
And then someone handed their son Mac a microphone, and everything went downhill from there in the most hilarious way possible.
“Oh, dear God,” Linda muttered as Mac cleared his throat dramatically to get everyone’s attention.
“As Mac and Linda’s oldest and wisest son,” Mac said to jeers from his brothers, “it’s my pleasure to welcome you to their fortieth anniversary celebration.
When I first had the idea for this party last summer,” he said to more moans and groans as he spoke now directly to them, “we tried to think of how we could do justice to the example you set for us, the life you’ve led together, your lifelong love affair.
” He made a choking sound. “That was Janey’s contribution, and for the record, I voted to leave that part out. ”
Their guests were crippled with laughter while Mac and Linda just shook their heads at his usual irreverence. From the day he was born, Malcolm John McCarthy Junior had been a character, to say the least.
“After many conversations,” Mac said, “we decided that all we really needed to do was bring together your family and closest friends. We knew that’s all you’d need to be happy—because that’s all you’ve ever needed.”
Aww jeez, Big Mac thought. He’s going to make me cry in front of all these people.
“Mom, we like to call you Voodoo Mama, because you’ve always been wise to whatever we were up to. I’d be shocked, in fact, if we actually managed to surprise you tonight.”
Linda made a zip-her-lips-and-throw-away-the-key gesture that fooled none of her five children. They knew her far too well.
“Despite your voodoo ways, we’ve always known that you had our backs no matter what. We appreciate the way you’ve made our spouses and significant others part of our family, and we all agree that you’re a world-class grandmother.”
As Linda dabbed at her eyes, Mac put his arm around her.
“You’re the one who makes it all happen. You made the White House a home not only to us but also to our friends and now the families we’re creating. And everyone knows you’re the brains behind the hotel—and the marina.”
“Now wait just a minute,” Big Mac said, smiling at his son.
“You can’t deny it, Dad.”
“I wouldn’t even try.”
“And you, Dad,” Mac continued, “are the emotional heart of our family, the one we run to—to this day—whenever the slightest little thing goes wrong, because we know, without a shadow of a doubt, that you’ll know just what to say to make us feel better.
When we were kids, we used to be embarrassed by how much you loved us. Now, we’re thankful.”
Holy moly. Linda handed him a tissue that he gratefully accepted.
“You also taught us how to have fun, because no one—and I do mean no one—knows how to have fun quite like you do. Whether it’s a Wiffle ball game on the dock, a bonfire on the beach, coffee-and-donut hour at the marina or a fishing trip for all the guys you love best, you bring the fun no matter where you go.
One of my earliest memories is catching crabs with you on the docks, and now that’ll be one of my son’s earliest memories, too.
Not only did you and Mom teach us how to be married, you also taught us how to live life to the fullest by showing us when to work and when to play. ”
Mac raised his glass of champagne. “Please join me, my sisters Janey and Mallory, and my brothers Grant, Adam and Evan, in saluting our parents on their fortieth anniversary.”
After shouts of “hear, hear” and the insistent tinkle of silver on crystal as the guests called on Big Mac to kiss his bride, which he was more than happy to do, Mac directed their attention to the huge flat-screen TV at the other end of the room.
“Take a look back with us, thanks to Adam’s video wizardry. Enjoy.”
The lights dimmed, and the TV came to life along with the song “Time of My Life.” They giggled at the photos of themselves as a young couple, including one taken the day they met at Frank’s house, up through their wedding.
“Hey!” Linda said. “No wonder I couldn’t find my wedding album today!”
“I’ll have it back to you in the morning, Mom,” Adam said.
The video included photos of each of their children as babies, scenes from the early days at the marina when Linda had run the restaurant while he oversaw the docks, a picture of them holding the keys to the hotel—which they bought three years after the marina—and images of early Christmases at the White House with toddlers underfoot.
A ripple of laughter went through the room when a photo of four pajama-clad little boys precariously balancing their newborn sister appeared on the screen.
“Should’ve dropped her when we had the chance,” Evan said.
“I could’ve beat you up even then,” Janey said.
“She could’ve,” Grant said.
“Children, stop bickering,” Linda said. “I’m watching my video.”
“Adam’s going to be her favorite now,” Mac said.
“He already was,” Linda said, setting off a furor at the “kid table.”
Summers with Laura and Shane, proud new drivers, proms, graduations, weddings and grandchildren.
It had gone by far too quickly. Big Mac was particularly touched by the photo toward the end of the video of Mallory with him and Linda as well as one with her and the five siblings she hadn’t known she had, both of which had been taken at Grant’s wedding this past Labor Day.
The video told the story of a beautiful life from the very beginning and ended with a photo of him kissing Linda in what he’d thought was a private moment at Jenny and Alex’s wedding in October.
It had been captured for all the world to see and touched him more than almost anything else in the video.
Their story, his story, began and ended with her.
As the video finished, the room erupted into applause. Big Mac kissed Linda, lingering longer than he normally would in public, and then leaning his forehead against hers. “What a story,” he whispered.
“What a story, indeed.”
“Extremely well done, Adam,” he said.
“Thank you,” Adam said. “It was fun.”
“Mom and Dad,” Mac said, “Evan was put in charge of the music for tonight, and first up is your wedding song, ‘You’re The First, The Last, My Everything,’ by none other than Barry White.
And let me apologize in advance to our guests for all the disco you’ll be hearing tonight, but that was their groove way back then.
Dad, how about you dance with your bride? ”
Mac took Linda’s hand to guide her to the dance floor in the middle of the big room. As he took her into his arms, it felt like yesterday since he’d done the same thing in a ballroom at the Biltmore. God, they’d been so young and so in love and so determined to make a life on the island.
And against many odds, they’d done it.
“What’s wrong?” Grace nudged Abby’s shoulder, which was when Abby realized she’d zoned out of the party.
“Nothing.”
“Something’s up. You’ve been super-quiet since we met at the airport. What were you guys doing on the mainland, anyway?”
“Last-minute Christmas shopping in Providence.”
“Did you have a fight with Adam?”
“No.”
“Abby! Come on! This is me. I know you too well. What’s going on?”
To her horror and mortification, Abby’s eyes filled with tears.
“Oh my God. What?”
She couldn’t say it. Saying the words out loud, to someone other than Adam, who’d been with her when she first heard the news, would make it real. Her throat closed up, and the tears spilled down her cheeks.
“Abby.” Grace put an arm around her. “Whatever is wrong, we can fix it.”
Abby shook her head. If only it were that simple.
She wiped her face with a napkin, determined not to ruin Big Mac and Linda’s night by having an emotional breakdown.
“Adam and I have been trying to have a baby for a long time.” She wiped away more tears.
“We found out this week why it’s not happening.
Why it may never happen. I have something called polycystic ovary syndrome. ”
“Oh. Oh, Abby. I’m so sorry.”
“You know what it is?”
Grace nodded. “I’ve heard of it and read about the treatments in my journals.”
“Then you know it’s more than just fertility challenges.”
“Yes, but I also know it can be managed.”
“That’s what my doctor said, too. I know there are worse things they could’ve diagnosed me with, but the stuff online—”
“Stay off the Internet, Abby. Trust me on that. You might read about thirty different things that can happen, but only two of them will happen to you. Do you really need to worry about all of them?”
Grace made a good point.
“I’m so scared, Grace. I’ve wanted to be a mother for as long as I can remember, and the possibility that it won’t happen is devastating.”
“It may not happen naturally, but there’re lots of ways to become a mother that don’t require you to carry a child, Abby. You know that.”
“I do know, but still…”
“It’s devastating to hear you might not be able to get pregnant.”
Abby nodded and wiped away more tears.
“I’m sure the doctors told you there’s lots they can try.”
“They did.”
“What did Adam say?”
“All the right things, of course. Right down to scheduling our wedding for New Year’s Eve so I can’t escape.”
Grace stared at her, agape. “Do you want to escape?”
“Of course that's not what I want, but it’s not fair to him to be saddled with this.”
“Abby, how can you say that? He loves you. He’s crazy about you.”
“I know he is! And I love him, but he didn’t sign on for this. I could go bald and get chest hair and never be able to have a baby and… Are you laughing?”
“I don’t mean to laugh, because it’s honestly not funny, but you’re focused on the worst-case scenario before you even have all the information. It’s very possible that none of that will happen to you, but you’re willing to sacrifice the love of your life for something that might happen?”
“It’s not what I want, but it might be what’s fair.”
“Can I be really blunt with you right now?”
“When are you anything but blunt?” Abby asked with a ghost of a smile.
“You've just received very upsetting news that has you understandably reeling. There’re a lot of things you don’t know yet and may not know for some time.
The worst thing you could do while you’re in crisis mode is to make major decisions that affect you and Adam.
That wouldn’t be fair to either of you.”
“You’re right. I know you are.”
“He’s been watching us the whole time we’ve been talking.”
Abby looked over to the nearby table where Adam was sitting with Mac and Maddie.
His niece, Hailey, was asleep in his arms, and sure enough, he was keeping a close eye on her while he talked to his brother.
Seeing him holding the baby drew a sob from deep inside Abby.
He would be the best father ever, and the thought of that not happening cut her to the quick.
Grace hugged her. “You and Adam will get through this. We’ll all be there for you, and we’re going to put together one hell of a New Year’s Eve wedding for you guys.”
“I feel like we’re stepping on your toes by sneaking our wedding in ahead of yours.”
“Don’t be silly. Yours will be weeks before ours, and if you wanted to do it the same damned day, I wouldn’t care. I get to marry Evan, and that’s all that matters.”
Abby rested her head on Grace’s shoulder, thankful for the love and support of such a good friend who would soon be her sister-in-law, too.