Chapter 9 #2
Mac and Maddie arrived home from the day’s festivities to find a party going on at their house.
Daisy and David, who’d been babysitting for them while they attended what they thought would be a clambake, were entertaining Jenny Wilks and her fiancé, Alex Martinez, as well as Jared James and his new wife, Lizzie.
With them was another woman Maddie didn’t know.
“Hey,” Daisy said when they came in through the sliding door. “Mom and Dad are home, and we’re in so much trouble for having a party.”
“Oh stop it,” Maddie said to her friend. “As long as no one was drinking, there’s no trouble.” The kitchen table was littered with beer bottles, wineglasses and snacks.
“Um, well,” Alex said, trying to hide his beer bottle.
Mac laughed at his lame effort. “Are there more of those somewhere?”
“In the fridge,” David said. “Help yourself.”
“Don’t mind if I do,” Mac said.
“It is your house after all,” David replied.
“Do you want us to go?” Daisy asked Maddie when she pulled up a chair to the table.
“No need to break up the party,” Maddie said, even though she was beyond exhausted. Since discovering her third child was on the way, exhaustion had been her closest friend. She’d never been this tired with Thomas or Hailey. “How were they?”
“Thomas didn’t want to go to bed, as usual, but he’s out cold now.”
“He didn’t give you a hard time, did he?”
“Nothing like that. He and Uncle David were having fun with the trucks, and he didn’t want to stop playing.”
“I can picture that. We have the same issue with Daddy most nights. How was Hailey?”
“An angel, as always.”
“That’s good to hear. She is a nice, easy baby.” Maddie rested her hand on her belly, which was just starting to expand. “I hope this one is, too.”
“Maddie and Mac,” Jenny said, “this is my friend Erin Barton. She’s interviewing with the town council Monday to take my place at the lighthouse.”
Erin had long, light brown hair that she wore in a ponytail that made her look younger than her age, which Maddie estimated to be in her mid-thirties. “So nice to meet you, Erin,” Maddie said.
“My dad is on the council,” Mac said. “I’ll tell him to be nice to you.”
“He’s nice to everyone,” Jenny said.
“That he is,” Mac said with a smile for Erin. “I’m sure if Jenny is recommending you, you’re a shoo-in.”
“I’m still not a hundred percent sold on this change Jenny insists I need,” Erin said, “but she can be hard to resist when she gets something in her head.”
“Don’t I know it,” Alex said drolly, winking at his fiancée.
“You love when I get something in my head,” Jenny said with a meaningful smile that made everyone laugh.
“TMI,” Erin said, covering her ears.
“I’m sorry,” Jenny said with a somberness that took Maddie by surprise. Jenny had obviously been joking around. Why would she feel the need to apologize to her friend?
Sensing Maddie’s confusion, Erin said, “I’m Toby’s twin sister. The original fiancé.”
“Oh,” Maddie said as the import settled in on her. Toby had been killed on 9/11. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”
“That’s very kind of you. It was a long time ago, and no one is more thrilled for Jenny than I am. Truly.”
Jenny gave her friend a one-armed hug. “Thanks.”
“I might be happier for Jenny than you are,” Alex said, which had them all laughing again.
“I like him,” Erin said.
“So do I,” Jenny replied. “And the best part? He has a brother who’s almost as handsome as he is.”
“He is nowhere near as handsome as I am,” Alex said. To Erin, he added, “I’d hate to see you get your hopes up only to have them dashed.”
“Oh my God,” Jenny said. “You’re insufferable. Paul is every bit as gorgeous as you are, isn’t he, ladies?”
“Absolutely,” Lizzie said.
Her new husband glared at her playfully.
“What? He is. Just because I’m married now doesn’t mean I’m suddenly blind.”
Maddie giggled behind her hand.
“What’s so funny over there, Mrs. McCarthy?” her husband asked.
“That you all think we get hysterical blindness or something once you put a ring on our fingers. My eyes still work just fine, and Paul Martinez is hot.”
Alex cringed as Mac glowered.
“You’ll pay for that later,” Mac said.
“I’m not afraid of you. I have things that you want.”
“Damn straight you do.”
“And that,” Jared said, “is our cue to move along, people.”
They got up and gathered the empty bottles and glasses.
“Was it something I said?” Mac asked.
“You know it was.” Maddie rolled her eyes at her husband, who was never shy about his desire to spend time alone with her. She loved that about him, not that she’d ever tell him that.
They said good night and thank you to Daisy and David for babysitting and saw them out the door.
Mac locked up and turned off the outside lights once they were safely in their cars.
“You didn’t have to run them off,” Maddie said as they went upstairs together.
“I can tell you’re about to fall over, but you’d never say so.”
“Don’t act like you know me so well.”
“I know you better than anyone, and I also know this pregnancy is kicking your ass big-time.”
“Yes,” she said with a sigh, “it is. I’ve never been so tired in my entire life. I can’t figure out why this time is so different than the last two times.”
“Um, maybe the fact that you have two other kids to contend with while you’re pregnant might have something to do with it?”
“Could be.”
“I need to be doing a better job of helping you out around here.”
“This is your busy season at the marina. You’re doing what you can.”
“I could spend more time at home. We’re not that busy, and I have partners who can help me so I can help you.”
“You don’t have to do that, Mac. So I’m a little tired. I’ll get through it. Taking care of the kids and the house is my job.”
He came to her and put his hands on her shoulders. “It’s our job, and I don’t mind taking on more around here while you’re busy growing Malcolm the third in there.”
She raised a brow. “Malcolm the third? First of all, how do you know it’s a boy, and second of all, Malcolm? Really?”
“Is this your way of saying you don’t like my name?”
“I like Mac a lot better than Malcolm.”
“So do I. So we’ll call him Mac.”
“There’re already too many Macs in this family, and Janey still wants to name a kid McCarthy and call him Mac. That’ll be mayhem.”
“Then we’ll call him M.J.”
“Along with P.J?” she asked, reminding him of his new nephew.
“We have to come up with something. I grew up hating my name, but now that I’m older, I love that I was named after my dad. I love being the oldest son and the one who got to carry on the tradition. I want the same for this guy, even if he’s not my oldest son.”
“You have no idea what it does to me when you talk about Thomas that way.”
“How else would I talk about him? He is my son. He’s been my son since the day I met the two of you.”
She bit her lip and shook her head.
“What?”
“I should be used to it by now.”
His brows knitted with confusion. “Used to what?”
“You and the amazing way you love us. Almost two years married, and you’re still taking my breath away.”
He put his arms around her. “You do the same to me. Every damned day.”
She slipped her arms around his waist and held on tight to him.
“Let’s get you in bed.”
Determined to fight through the powerful exhaustion so she could spend some more time with her husband, Maddie changed into one of the silky nightgowns he loved, brushed her hair and teeth and got into bed with him.
“Come here,” he said, reaching for her.
She curled up to him and relaxed into his embrace. “I can’t remember what it was like to sleep alone.”
“Neither can I, but I suspect it was kind of boring and lonely.”
“Compared to this, anything else would be.”
“Mmm, so true.” He rubbed her back in small circles. “Go to sleep, honey.”
“You don’t want to…”
“Not tonight. You need the sleep more than you need me.”
“That is never true.”
“Shh. Go to sleep. We’ve got millions of nights when we can do all sorts of naughty things.”
“Like what? Tell me about them.”
“Well, first…”
Maddie fell asleep to the familiar, comforting sound of his voice.