Chapter 14 #2
“I know Isaac has his problems, but he wouldn’t sabotage you like that. That’s crazy.”
She held up her hands. “Of course I’m the crazy one.”
“I didn’t say you were crazy—just the idea. Isaac may be a jerk sometimes, but he’s family.”
And there it was again. “Yep. Family.” She stepped away from him. “I gotta go figure out what to do with my life now that my shop has been stolen from me for the second time.” Lily turned again toward the door.
“Lil, stop. You don’t have to go. Stay here. I’ll hire you—I don’t care what my family says. You can run the shop.”
And he could have punched her with less pain to her chest. “What? Are you kidding me?”
“Then marry me. You’d be a Kelley and then?—”
“That’s your solution? To propose? You think that will solve all of our problems?”
Before she could move away, Declan was in front of her again. “It would unite us. Our families wouldn’t have a choice but to accept us then. It just makes sense. And you’re not a mistake. I love you, Lily.”
The words she’d longed to hear from him her whole life. But not like this. “Really? It doesn’t feel like it. It feels like you’re compromising to save face in front of your family. Trying to make everyone happy. Taking the easy way out.”
“That’s not what’s happening here. I’d already intended to tell you I loved you. I was fully ready to support you running the shop, regardless of what it meant for my family—or Grandma.”
She lifted her chin. “First of all, I wasn’t going to kick your grandma out. I fully intended to let her keep the house. Was going to have Cody help me remodel the upstairs into a livable space. It was going to be a surprise.”
His eyes widened.
“Yeah. See, one of us had a plan. Surprise, surprise. But it doesn’t matter now.
Now that your family is deemed the winner—under questionable circumstances, I might add—your answer is to sweep those circumstances under the rug.
I’m sorry, but how can you really think that I’d marry you like this?
” A sob worked its way up Lily’s throat.
“I don’t always want to play second fiddle.
That’s been me my whole life. I’m sick of it.
And I want someone to choose me for once. ”
“Lily, come on…”
“No, Declan. The ironic thing is that I thought you were that someone. That you were a man of integrity, a man I could respect to do the right thing, no matter what. But it turns out the man I fell for was just another fantasy. The real thing was just a disappointment in disguise.” She tipped her nose to him.
“I thought you were more, but turns out that all you are is a Kelley, through and through.” And now tears dripped off her chin. “And Harts do not marry Kelleys.”
Then she pushed out of the door and into the night.
* * *
He may have won the fudge shop for his family, but he’d lost Lily.
For good this time.
And Harts do not marry Kelleys.
Declan winced at the memory of Lily’s words, still banging around in his head. He’d spent the last hour mopping the fudge shop kitchen floor—which was probably pointless, since he’d need to find someone to fix up the pipes and there would only end up being drywall dust and other debris here soon.
Or maybe he didn’t need to do anything at all. He was due back in Chicago. He still had his job. And sure, when things had changed between him and Lily, he’d been planning to give his notice, but that was before she’d ripped his heart open with her accusations.
What I think is, you’re weak. Underneath all that polished exterior is a man who can’t think for himself.
Hello, he could think for himself. He wasn’t weak.
Except, a review of the past few hours—and really, the last few weeks—said differently.
Maybe, if he had stood up to his parents so many years ago…
Well, life would have been different. And maybe he’d needed the past ten years to become the man who returned to Jonathon Island.
To become the man who could stay. And this time with the woman he loved.
Except, maybe she didn’t want him. Not with the baggage of his family.
She actually thought Isaac caused the disaster.
That was a reach—and he might be upset with his parents for ruining Lily’s victory in the first place, but he couldn’t really blame them.
They’d wanted the fudge shop and Grandma’s house secure.
Besides, the pipes were old. It was unfortunate, sure, but Isaac wouldn’t?—
Let me take care of the rest.
Wait. Those had been Isaac’s exact words to him last night when his brother had volunteered to finish up here.
Declan dropped the mop, and it clattered to the floor. What did that mean? Was Lily right? Surely not.
But this time, he wasn’t going to blindly believe. He had to know.
Declan headed out the back alley door and stalked up Jonathon Boulevard. The last of the tourists would have caught the ferry by now, and the night was inky black with a bright canopy of stars and a crescent moon—enough to light his way to his parents’ home.
When he got there, he twisted the handle with so much force he was afraid it’d break off in his hand.
The TV blared from the living room, and Declan walked with purpose through the foyer and kitchen to find Isaac sitting on the couch, a beer bottle in his hand and an old ball game on the screen.
Declan grabbed the remote off the coffee table and hit the Power button, then turned to his brother, whose eyes were slightly red.
“Hey!” his brother protested. “I was watching that.”
“Did you do it?” Declan ground out through clenched teeth.
“Do what?”
“Did you damage that pipe somehow?”
“What are you talking about?” Isaac rubbed his hand across his mouth.
“The pipe at the fudge shop—the one directly over Lily’s fudge. The one that suddenly burst open and destroyed her fudge. Which basically guaranteed I’d win the competition.”
“You said so yourself. The pipes in that building were old. That’s why you had trouble last week.” His brother took a swig, but there was something shifty in his gaze as he looked away from Declan.
A nauseating roll swept through Declan’s gut. He stared at his brother for a moment, tried to collect himself. Still, his words came out tight and his fists balled. “And you took full advantage of that, didn’t you?”
Isaac said nothing.
“I trusted you, man. Let you work beside me.” Declan paced the room. “How could you do this?”
“Do what? Save Grandma’s house? You’re welcome.”
Declan stilled. “You think I wanted this? Do you know what you cost me tonight?”
“Oh, boo-hoo. Poor Declan, oh favored one. Don’t worry. At least you’ll get all the praise for saving the day. Again.”
“What are you talking about? Up until now, I’ve been the family pariah for what happened to Grandpa.”
Isaac’s face tightened. “At least they even thought to ask you to stay with Grandpa. They didn’t trust me to go anywhere near him.”
“You were twelve.”
“And you were only eighteen, but Declan Kelley could do no wrong in Mom and Dad’s eyes.
” Isaac drained the rest of his beer, set the bottle on the side table, stood.
“And then you left, and Mom couldn’t talk about anything but how much she missed you, how much she wished you’d come back.
I saved you. Now you can go back to your fancy job, the conquering hero.
You saved Grandma’s house and the fudge shop. You’re welcome.”
“You cheated so we’d win.”
“And it finally worked,” Isaac mumbled as he headed for the kitchen, stumbling a bit.
“Wait, what’s that mean? You did other stuff to sabotage her?” Then, as if the lightbulbs clicked on, the chain of events of the past weeks clicked into place. “Did you steal Lily’s recipe cards? Her receipts?”
Isaac shrugged. “The Mercer thing was tricky. Not so easy to replace Lily’s fudge with something awful, but she never knew the difference since I knew her stupid ‘secret’ ingredient.” He brushed past him, on the way to the kitchen.
Declan just stood there. Oh, he’d been an idiot. He marched into the kitchen.
Isaac held his hands up. “Back up.”
Nope. Declan grabbed the front of his brother’s shirt and pressed him against the wall. “How dare you.” The words came out thin and narrow.
Isaac tried to pull away. “Let go of me.”
“You’re a punk, you know that?” Fury burned in Declan’s veins. This? This is what pride and hate had driven his family to.
“Why? Because I’m actually willing to do something to save Grandma’s house and our family business?”
“Grandma’s house was already saved!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Lily was going to give it to Grandma if she won. Because she’s mature enough to see past this ridiculous family feud. But you?—”
“Declan!” his mother’s voice.
He glanced at the door as his mom stood in the frame, wearing a stricken expression. His dad walked in, took one look?—
“What’s going on in here?” Dad roared.
“Let go of your brother,” Mom gasped, dropping her purse on the counter.
Declan held tight. “Tell them what you did.”
Isaac shook his head and Declan wanted to wipe the smug look off his face.
“Tell them!”
“Let him go,” Frank’s voice bellowed. He stepped forward and took a grip of Declan’s jacket.
Declan released his brother, holding his hands up.
Isaac stepped away and smoothed out his shirt. “He’s out of control. Completely lost it because of Lily Hart.”
“Is someone going to tell us what’s going on?” Mom asked.
“Isaac caused the water damage at the fudge shop.”
His dad turned on Declan. “What are you talking about? That’s ridiculous—everyone knows that shop’s had plumbing issues. You told us about one just last week.”
“And that gave him the idea to ruin her fudge with a leak. He all but admitted it to me.”
Dad turned to Isaac. “Is Declan right? Did you do it?”
Isaac lifted a shoulder, opened the fridge. “It isn’t a big deal. It’s the Harts.”
Declan turned to his parents. “Is this what you want? Does that make you happy that you’ve fostered so much hate for people you don’t even really know—all because, what? Because Grandpa had a falling out with his best friend? Is that okay with you?”
“It isn’t okay.” Dad lifted the paper. “We’ll deal with this.”
“Deal with it how?” Declan asked. “By ignoring it? Lily should be declared the winner.”
Mom held up her hands. “Hold on. Let’s just think this through. There’s no proof that if the pipe hadn’t broken, Lily would have won.”
“Do you even hear yourself?” Declan pointed to Isaac. “He cheated . Cheated—sabotaged the competition. And the ironic thing was, Lily was going to give Grandma her house, so it’s all for nothing.”
“Well,” his mother said, “that is the right thing to do, of course.”
“And it’s also really generous, Mom. It’s totally within her rights to keep it.”
“Not anymore,” Dad said. “Because the shop belongs to the Kelleys.”
“It shouldn’t, though.”
“Declan, be reasonable.” Mom placed a hand on his shoulder. “This is our family legacy we’re talking about.”
“I thought it was all about Grandma’s house .”
Mom shrugged. “It was. But the legacy, that’s important too. Remember, family comes first.”
“Yeah, that’s what you’ve been saying my whole life.” Huffing, Declan shoved past Dad and pivoted in the doorway. “But I’m starting to wonder if that’s really the motto I want to live by if my family is nothing but a bunch of cheats.”
Because by association, it made him one too. And whatever Lily thought about him, Declan wanted to be more than a Kelley.
Starting right now.
He headed out the door.