Chapter 2 #2
“Charlie is awesome. You’ll love him.”
“That’s what everyone says. Plus, I’m excited to spend time with Gram and Gramps.”
“We’re so glad that they’ve moved back to the island.
They said they want to be with their great-grandchildren, and we’re all for that.
” Their grandparents, Russ and Adele, had turned over ownership of the hotel they’d owned for more than fifty years to Owen and Laura as a wedding gift.
“Did you hear that Cindy is thinking about sticking around, too?”
“What? No, she hasn't told me.” Julia hadn’t had five minutes alone with her younger sister since they arrived on the island for the wedding festivities.
“I guess it all came about last night when she met Chloe Dennis, who owns the Curl Up and Dye salon. The woman who usually helps Chloe at the salon in the summer is pregnant and not coming this year. Cindy jumped at the chance to spend the summer on Gansett. And with Finn McCarthy moving in with Chloe, Cindy snapped up the place where Finn had been living. I think it’s got two bedrooms. You should check it out if you’re going to stick around. ”
“I will. Sounds like Cindy has it all figured out.” Julia was glad someone did.
“She’s excited to spend the summer.”
“None of us has forgotten our Gansett summers with Gram and Gramps,” Julia said wistfully, longing for those simpler summer days even if she wouldn’t go back to that time in her life for anything.
“Best days of our lives.”
“The only peace we ever got.”
“Don’t forget Gram is hosting a brunch at the hotel for Katie and Shane tomorrow.”
“I haven’t forgotten.”
Owen nudged Julia. “You ought to ask your friend Deacon to come. He’s been watching you the whole time we’ve been over here talking.”
“What? He has not.”
“Yes, he has. If he’s anything like his brother, he’s good people.”
In the past, she would’ve liked hearing that he’d been looking at her while she talked to her brother.
Not anymore. In a moment of recent self-awareness, she’d come to the conclusion that she’d put far too much value on the attention of men.
Now? He could be the best guy in the world, and Julia wouldn’t care. She’d lost faith in all men.
Deacon was fine to hang out with, to have some fun with. Beyond that? No, thanks.
Kevin McCarthy was counting the hours until his nephew’s wedding was done so he could get Chelsea to the mainland to deliver their baby.
Her due date was still two weeks off, but he wasn’t leaving anything to chance.
Tomorrow, they were moving to his brother Frank’s house in Providence, which was right near Women & Infants Hospital.
Chelsea wasn’t old by any stretch of the imagination, especially in comparison to him.
He was actually old. But her pregnancy counted as high risk because she was nearly thirty-seven.
The phrase high risk was enough to send his blood pressure into the danger zone every time he heard it applied to Chelsea’s pregnancy.
After what’d happened when his nephew Mac’s wife delivered their daughter during a tropical storm on the island and his niece Janey had nearly died having her son, Kevin was leaving nothing to chance.
They were getting the hell out of there. In fact, they’d be long gone by now if it hadn’t been for Shane’s wedding. Neither of them had wanted to miss that.
Kevin’s medical school training was a long time ago, and his rotation in labor and delivery had taught him that anything could happen. The only thing that was going to happen to Chelsea was the delivery of the beautiful baby she longed for.
Sitting at a table with his son Riley, Riley’s fiancée, Nikki, and Kevin’s younger son, Finn, and his girlfriend, Chloe, Kevin had to marvel at the notion of starting over as a father twenty-seven years after Finn was born.
A couple of years ago, he would’ve scoffed if someone had told him he’d be expecting his third child in his fifties.
But that would’ve been before his wife left him, forcing him to find a new life—and a new love, who hadn’t yet had the chance to be a mother.
He’d been shocked when Chelsea told him she wanted a child.
For a few days, he’d pondered the very real possibility of ending his relationship with her.
But his brothers and sons had helped him see that a baby would be someone new to love, and he would be a great dad in his fifties.
Besides, he’d gotten to the point where living without Chelsea had become unimaginable.
She nudged his hand with hers. “What’s up over there?”
“Huh?”
“You’re a million miles away.”
Chelsea had her feet up on a chair that Nikki, general manager of the Wayfarer, had gotten for her to take the pressure off her swollen ankles. Her belly seemed to get larger by the day, and the baby was active almost all the time.
“Just thinking about the plans for tomorrow. It’s going to be an early morning with the car on the eight o’clock boat.”
Chelsea groaned. She still suffered from queasiness in the mornings.
“Sorry, hon. I tried to get a later time, but they were sold out.”
“Isn’t your nephew-in-law the owner of the ferry company?”
Kevin flashed a grin at her. “Yes, but he can’t bump other people who actually pay him.”
Her sour look told him what she thought of that.
“Who’s gonna take care of us while you’re on the mainland?” Riley asked.
The others laughed.
“They do require significant adult supervision,” Nikki said.
“From my experience,” Chelsea said, “all McCarthy men require significant supervision.”
Kevin scoffed at that. “On behalf of my sons, brothers and nephews, I’m offended.”
“It’s kinda true, Dad,” Finn said, smiling. “We’re a handful.”
Chloe leaned into him. “Yes, you are.”
“Ew.” Riley made a disgusted face at her. “You’d better not be talking about his package.”
Finn puffed his chest out. “You know she is, bro.”
Chloe elbowed him, causing Finn to choke out the extra air in his lungs. “Don’t be disgusting.”
“There’s nothing disgusting about it. Last night, you said—”
Her hand covered his mouth just in time to thankfully stop whatever outrageous thing his son had planned to say.
Chelsea laughed helplessly until an odd look came over her face as she clutched her belly and looked down at the floor.
“What?” The word came out of Kevin in a frantic shout that put his sons and the girls on full alert.
Chelsea looked over at him, her eyes big with shock. “I think my water just broke.”
“No, it didn’t.” Kevin wasn’t having it. Their baby was not being born on this goddamned island. That wasn’t happening. Uh-uh, no way. Joe would get them on the boat tonight, and they’d drive to Providence, where they’d have the baby at the top neonatal hospital in the area, and that would be that.
“Dad.”
Kevin looked up at Riley, who stood with his brother on either side of Chelsea.
“Chelsea needs you.”
Riley’s words permeated the panic and denial.
“Call for the rescue.”
“I don’t need the rescue, Kev.” Chelsea reached for him. “I just need you.”
“I’m here.” She didn’t need to know that he was panicking on the inside. She’d never know that. “Let’s get you to the clinic. Finn, can you please let Victoria know that we’re going to need her and David?”
“I’ll get them there.”
David and Victoria worked with Katie and had been partying all day.
Had they been drinking? Would they be able to help Chelsea?
What if they couldn’t? For a brief, paralyzing moment, he feared he might pass out, until Riley grasped his arm, gave him a little shake and a look that had him getting his shit together.
Kevin bent to lift Chelsea out of her chair. “Hold on to me. Everything will be okay.”
“I’m scared, Kev.”
“We’ve got this.” He was an MD, for Christ’s sake. If it came to it, he could deliver the baby himself. As he carried her from the wedding reception, past the curious gazes of the happy couple and their guests, Kevin could only hope it wouldn’t come to that.