Chapter 11
Eleven
“Is Abby okay?” Mac asked Adam. “She looks like she’s crying over there with Grace.”
Adam’s throat tightened, making it impossible to speak. He dropped his head to press a kiss to Hailey’s head, her soft hair brushing against his lips.
“Bro, what’s wrong? You guys haven’t been yourselves tonight.”
With Maddie engaged in conversation with her sister and mother, Adam was tempted to unload on Mac. “If I tell you, you can’t tell anyone else. I mean it, Mac. Top secret.”
“Of course. I’m not always a mouthy buffoon.”
Adam raised a brow, appreciating his brother’s attempt at levity.
“Okay, most of the time I am, but I can be serious when I need to be. Talk to me.”
“We’ve been trying to have a baby for a while now, and when it didn’t work the old-fashioned way, we went to see a specialist in Providence.” He cleared his throat, determined to get through this without breaking down. “Yesterday we found out she has something called polycystic ovary syndrome.”
“What the hell is that?”
“Long story short—it’s going to make having a baby very challenging, if not impossible, but that’s the least of it. Higher risk of all sorts of diseases including cancer and diabetes, among other things.”
“Damn,” Mac said, exhaling. “I’m so sorry, Adam.”
“The worst part isn’t even the medical issue. It’s that she thinks she needs to let me go so I can be with someone who can give me what I want.”
“She actually said that?”
“Yeah.”
“Shit.”
“No kidding, right? As if I’d run for the hills at the first sign of trouble. I have to be honest… She really hurt me by saying that.”
“I can only imagine. What did you say?”
“I told her we’re getting married on New Year’s Eve, and I wouldn’t hear any more talk of her running away or thinking she isn’t what I want and need. Does she honestly think that I wouldn’t want her if she can’t have kids? Like that’s all she’s good for? Making babies?”
Mac rested a hand on Adam’s shoulder. “You have to see this from her point of view, Adam. She was freaking out and probably said things she shouldn’t have. She’s scared and worried that you might reject her because of this.”
“I would never reject her.”
“You and I know that, and she should, too, but she’s reeling. You’ve got to give her a pass on anything she said in the last couple of days. It’s coming from the panic, not from her. She loves you. We all know that.”
“I thought I knew it, too, but she was so detached, I guess you could say, and she’s never like that with me.”
“Give her a few days to get her head around this thing, and try not to go to worst-case scenario. When she’s had a chance to accept her diagnosis and recover her footing, she’ll be okay.”
Adam wanted to believe that Mac was right, but he had a bad feeling that things could get a whole lot worse before they got better.
As the evening began to wind down, Laura McCarthy Lawry worked her way through the room, handing out key cards to family members.
Her gift to her aunt and uncle was having their entire family spend the night under the same roof.
The hotel staff had delivered everyone’s bags, including the one Janey had packed for her parents, to their rooms during the party.
“The key to the honeymoon suite,” Laura said, presenting the key card to her Uncle Mac.
His low chuckle made her smile. “We’re a long way from the honeymoon suite, sweetheart, but we’re looking forward to the sleepover with the kids.” He kissed her forehead. “Thank you for arranging it.”
“My pleasure. It’ll be fun to have everyone here for the night.”
“We’re glad no one has to drive in the snow after partying.”
“That was my thought, too.”
“It’s a lot for you, though. Are you feeling okay?”
“I’m feeling great for someone who’s bigger than a whale.” She rested a hand on her hugely pregnant belly. “I’ll be glad to see these two linebackers born.”
“I’ll bet.” He put his arm around her. “I was thinking about the day I met your Aunt Linda today, which means I was also thinking about your mom. She’d be so proud of you and Shane.”
Unprepared for the sweet sentiment, Laura worked through a surge of emotion. The pain of losing her mother to cancer when she was just nine could still hit at the strangest of times, even all these years later. “Thank you for saying so. That means a lot to me.”
“Your old man sure is happy these days, huh?” They looked toward the dance floor, where Frank was dancing with his girlfriend, Betsy Jacobson.
“He waited a long time for Betsy to come along. I couldn’t be happier for him.”
“Me too. I wondered at times if he’d ever get over losing Jo. Those two were quite a pair from the very beginning. Joined at the hip.”
“I actually remember that. They were always dancing in the living room, laughing, whispering, kissing.”
“I’m glad you remember them that way.” Big Mac gave her another squeeze and kissed the top of her head. “Life goes on even when you think it won’t. Your dad is living proof of that.”
“Yes, he is. And then there’s Kevin.”
“Ahhh, Kevin. Gotta say, didn’t see that one coming.”
Her uncle Kevin was wrapped up in Chelsea, the bartender from the Beachcomber, slow dancing to a fast song.
“He’s crazy about her,” Big Mac said.
“It looks as if the feeling is mutual.”
“Yes, it does. Good for him after what happened with Deb.”
Owen came up behind her and slid his arm around her waist. “You promised you wouldn’t be on your feet all night, and you’re on your feet.”
“Oh, busted by my keeper.”
“He’s right,” Big Mac said. “You need to be taking it easy, not inviting your entire family to sleep at the hotel.”
“I hired some people to help with that,” Laura said with a wink. “Don’t worry.”
“Thanks again for inviting us to stay and for arranging babysitters for the kids and everything else you did to make tonight special for us,” Big Mac said.
“Are you kidding? You and Auntie Linda saved my childhood. There’s nothing Shane and I wouldn’t do for you.” She went up on tiptoes to kiss his cheek and hug him. “Love you.”
“Love you, too, sweetheart.”
Laura let Owen lead her toward a seat next to the final person she needed to see about the key cards, her new cousin Mallory. “Just the woman I was looking for,” Laura said. “Here’s the key to your room for the night.”
“This is so nice of you, Laura. Thank you for including me.”
“Of course I included you. You’re family now.”
“I’m still getting used to having a big family, let alone one as awesome as this one.”
“We are pretty awesome,” Laura said, making Mallory laugh.
“I wish my mom had told me who my father was a long time ago.”
“We do, too, but we’ll make up for lost time now that we have you here with us.”
“My dad is pressuring me to move out here where I belong—and those are his words, in case you wondered.”
“I had no doubt,” Laura said, laughing.
“I keep telling him I have a job and a house and a life in Providence, but he can be rather convincing when he sets his mind to something. And I have to admit, I’m tempted to chuck my life there and go for it.
I spent forty years wondering who my father was, and now that I know him and the rest of you, I want to be here all the time. ”
“I don’t blame you. Maybe you’ll figure out a way to make that happen at some point.”
“That would be nice. I was glad to be able to be here over the summer to help with Lisa Chandler’s hospice care, and my job was very accommodating of the leave of absence.”
“We loved having you here, and I know everyone appreciated what you and Katie and Hope did for Lisa.”
“I was honored to be part of it, and I’m thrilled to see the boys doing so well with Seamus and Carolina.”
“They’ve been so great with the boys, and so has everyone who helped to build the addition to their house.”
“This island is a special place.”
“It really is, and if you should decide to make it your home, we’ll make sure you’re never bored or lonely.”
“You sound like my dad,” Mallory said with a smile. “He says the same thing.”
“We must be related. You’re staying for Christmas, right?”
“Wouldn’t miss my first Christmas with my new family for anything.”
“Good,” Laura said, smiling at her new cousin.
With the evening beginning to wind down, Kevin was eager to take advantage of the key card Laura had given him earlier to take Chelsea upstairs to bed. But he held off out of respect for his brother and sister-in-law, who’d want to spend time with their family after the other guests left.
When they were down to just family, Laura stepped up to the microphone. “Everyone go slip into something more comfortable and meet us in the salon for nightcaps, freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and entertainment from my gorgeous husband, Owen, and my talented cousin Evan.”
“How come he gets to be the talented one?” Owen asked.
“Yeah, and why is he the gorgeous one?” Evan retorted.
Laughing at their good-natured bickering, Kevin looked down at Chelsea, who’d knocked his socks off tonight with the sexy, shimmery silver dress she’d worn to the party with three-inch heels that showed off her incredible legs.
He was completely gone over her and had been for months now, ever since that memorable night in September when she’d blatantly propositioned him.
“Um, Kev?”
“Yeah?”
“What’re you thinking about?”
“Why do you ask?”
She subtly rubbed against his cock, which had hardened at the thought of the first night he spent with her.
“I’m thinking about you, as usual, and that’s what tends to happen when you’re on my mind or in my arms or under me in bed.”
Her soft moan was music to his ears. He loved the way she responded to him.
One glorious night with her had made him realize how utterly lacking the last few years of his marriage had been, and now he was seriously addicted to her.
He’d be the happiest guy on earth, except for one thing—her insistence on keeping their “relationship” to sex only.