Chapter 7
Mac wandered over to check on Maddie, who had her swollen feet up on one of the coolers.
Her obvious fatigue worried him, but then, everything worried him when she was pregnant.
After they’d lost their third child, Connor, in utero, they lived in a perpetual state of dread the entire time she was pregnant.
Whenever he thought about being stranded on a remote island and how she might need something he couldn’t get her, he could feel his blood pressure spike from the anxiety.
He squatted next to her. “How you doing, hon?”
“Just ducky.”
He smiled and brought her hand to his lips. “Can I get you anything?”
“I’m good, but thanks. Laura asked if I’m having triplets.”
“What did you tell her?”
“I deflected, but we’re going to have to share the news before long. I’m getting really big.”
“I’m still in complete denial that there’re two of them in there.”
Maddie’s smile lit up her gorgeous face. “Two girls.”
He put his hands over his ears. “I can’t hear you. Lalalalalalalalala.”
She tugged at his arm to uncover one ear. “We have to tell people.”
“Don’t wanna.”
“Keeping it secret isn’t going to change the story.”
“Can’t hear you.”
“Mac…”
“Maddie…”
“We have to tell our families that we’re having twins.”
“Are you sure we have to tell them?”
“I’m positive.”
“And we have to do this now?”
“Well, everyone is here…”
He whimpered.
She patted his head. “It’s going to be all right.”
“How is it going to be all right? There’re going to be five of them and two of us. They’re going to overthrow the management and take over the house.”
“Mac.”
In her golden-brown eyes, he usually found his center, but lately he’d had trouble finding anything but turbulence no matter where he looked.
“Breathe.”
He took a deep breath.
“Take another.”
Holding her gaze, he continued to breathe until his heart stopped pounding and the roar in his ears lessened somewhat.
But the roar had been there since the doctor in Providence had told them there were two babies in there.
He still couldn’t believe that the baby they hadn’t planned to have was actually two babies.
Five.
Five children.
Breathe.
His parents had done it and survived, and they would, too. At least he hoped so. He could survive anything as long as he had Maddie by his side. “You really want to tell people?”
“I really do. Or everyone is going to think I swallowed an elephant.”
“We can’t have that.”
Her lips curled into the smile she saved just for him. That smile made his world go round. “Let’s get it over with.”
“If you insist.”
“I insist.”
Reluctantly, Mac stood, took another deep breath and then issued a sharp whistle that got everyone’s attention. “So, um, Maddie says I have to tell you guys that she didn’t actually swallow an elephant.”
“Honestly, Mac.” He could hear the amusement in her tone.
“The truth is, she’s having twins. Girls. Two of them.”
Janey was the first to snort with laughter that took everyone else down with her. Such a brat.
“Pay up,” Janey said to Joe.
Joe scowled at Mac. “You cost me fifty bucks.”
“You bet on what we were having?”
Joe used his thumb to point to his wife. “She called it weeks ago, and when I said no way you were capable of keeping a secret like that, she bet me fifty bucks, and here we are.”
Janey smiled smugly and held out her hand to Joe. “I’ll take a fifty-dollar bill, please.”
Mac’s mom, Linda, pushed her way through the family members. “Move it.” The group parted to let her through. She hugged Mac and then bent to hug Maddie, too. “I knew it. I told your father that Maddie is too round to be carrying one baby.”
Mac shook his head in amusement. “We never could keep secrets from Voodoo Mama.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“If the Voodoo fits…”
“Your mother did suggest that twins were possible,” Big Mac said. “I told her she was seeing things that weren’t there.”
Mac looked down at his mom. “You’d think by now he’d know better than to question you.”
“You would think.”
Big Mac extended his hand to his son. “Congratulations, Dad. Well done.”
Mac puffed his chest out. “It was rather exceptionally well done of me.”
“Shut up, Mac.”
Maddie’s comment made everyone laugh.
“Telling him to shut up is like telling the tide not to come in tomorrow,” Joe said.
As the others cracked up, Mac turned to Maddie. “Well, now they’re mocking me. Are you satisfied?”
“My work here is finished.” She rubbed her hands together gleefully.
Mac scowled at her. “It’s a good thing I love you so much.”
Big Mac took his son aside for a private word. “When will you be leaving for the mainland?” Big Mac asked, his expression sober and thoughtful now that the laughter had passed.
“Late August,” Mac said. “We’re not taking any chances.”
“Glad to hear it. We’ve had enough high-drama deliveries on this island to last me a lifetime.”
“You and me both.”
“Heard today that Paul and Hope Martinez are on the mainland,” Big Mac said. “Their baby is due any time now.”
“That’s exciting news.”
“I’m just glad they’ve gone over ahead of the arrival.”
“For sure.”
“I was over at the Wayfarer today, and it looks fantastic. I can’t say enough about how happy I am with the job you guys did there.”
“I’m glad you’re happy with it. I can’t believe we’re done. A few little things here and there, but mostly done.”
“Another job very well done by my son.”
“Thanks, Dad. It was fun to work on something the family did together.”
“What’s next for you?”
“Landed the reno of the Curtis house today.”
“That place gives me the creeps.”
“You and me both, but they want a full reno, so it’ll be a nice job to keep the guys busy for the summer. Although, Finn told me he’s heading home after Shane’s wedding and the Wayfarer opening.”
“Is he? Well, that’s a damned shame. I love having all you kids out here with us.”
“I know you do, but he says it’s time to go home and get a life.”
Big Mac’s brows furrowed. “Did he now? I rather thought that’s what he was doing here.”
“Me, too, but I certainly know how this island can start to feel confining at times. He’s a young guy with his whole life ahead of him. I understand the need to go figure that out. Maybe after he does, he’ll come back.”
“You had to come back to find the answers.”
Mac glanced at Maddie, who was talking to his mom and Janey. “True.”
“Your brothers and cousins, too. Everything you wanted and needed was right here. All you had to do was open your eyes to the possibilities.”
“Maybe you need to tell him that.”
“Maybe I will.”
Finn had never felt more off-balance. His brother’s words ran around in his mind, tormenting him with the possibility that Chloe could be the “one” for him.
What did that even mean? He’d never bought into the belief that there was only one person for everyone, and even after watching Riley find his “one,” he still didn’t believe there was no one else in the entire world his brother could’ve been happy with for a lifetime.
Not to say that Finn wasn’t thrilled for Riley and Nikki, because he was.
He thought they were great together, but that didn’t mean his path had to follow theirs.
Even as he had that thought, he sought out Chloe in the crowd.
As much as he tried to pretend it was no big deal that she was there, he couldn’t control the need to find her, to see her, to talk to her, to be near her.
Giving in to the pull that was bigger than anything had ever been, he moved through the group of family and friends until he stood by her side.
She looked up at him, and the turmoil within seemed to calm somewhat.
How did she do that? How did she wind him up and then calm him without saying a word?
“Are you okay?” she asked, her brows knitting with concern.
“No, I’m not.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Everything is wrong.” And this wasn’t the time or the place to discuss it further, not surrounded by his loving but overly involved family. “Can we leave?”
“You’re not having fun?”
Finn shook his head. He was far too charged up to sit still, let alone endure hours with his family, when all he wanted was to find a way to understand what the hell was happening to him. “I’m going to tell them I’m not feeling well. Go along with me?”
“Sure.”
Finn went to make their excuses to Janey.
She eyed him suspiciously. “You don’t look sick.”
“I’ve been feeling off all day.”
“If you want to be alone with your new lady friend, all you have to do is say so.”
“New lady friend? How old are you?”
“Don’t deny that you’ve been playing eye hockey with her since the minute you got here.”
Finn suppressed a groan. He should’ve known an easy escape would be too much to hope for in this family. “Don’t make a thing of it. It’s not going to happen.”
“Why not?”
“She doesn’t want it, and I’m leaving soon anyway. It’s nothing.” Even as he told himself that, the tingles running up and down his spine made a liar out of him. It was definitely something.
“May I offer an opinion?”
“Can I stop you?” He loved Janey, who was more like a sister to him than a cousin. The two of them had always been close, and despite how it might seem, he valued her opinion.
She grasped his arm. “Listen to me, Finn. I’ve known her since she came to the island and opened the salon.
She’s a really, really great person. If you like her, and I think you do even if you’re trying to deny it to yourself and to me, don’t be a fool.
The good things, the important things, they don’t come along every day, and when they do, you have to at least try, or spend the rest of your life wondering what if. ”
“Is that right?”
She smacked him upside the head, which she had to do on tiptoes because he towered over her.
“I’m serious. I think all the time about what I would’ve missed out on if I hadn’t taken a chance with Joe at the worst possible time for such a chance.
” She had gotten together with Joe the same night she caught her fiancé in bed with another woman.
“I hear you.” He kissed her forehead. “And I appreciate you—always.”
“Call me tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I will. Thanks for having us.”