Chapter 7
On the hotel’s third floor, Laura rocked her baby daughter, Jo, to sleep, hoping the poor little thing could get some relief from the relentless flu that had made her, her brothers—and their parents—miserable for days now.
Laura remembered the time she and her brother, Shane, had gotten the chicken pox at the same time after their mother had died.
She didn’t know how her dad had handled that on his own.
As always, Laura gave thanks to her husband, Owen, who was her greatest source of daily support, but especially when the shit hit the fan like it had lately.
First, Holden had come down with the flu, then Jon and now Jo.
Owen and Laura were holding their collective breath, hoping they didn’t get it, too.
“Is she asleep?” Owen whispered when he ducked his head inside the room Jo shared with her twin, Jon.
They’d been talking again about finally looking for a bigger home, but they couldn’t seem to bring themselves to make the move away from the hotel they ran together.
They loved living above the store, as Owen said.
Laura shifted, trying to see Jo’s cute little face. “I think so.”
“Want me to take her?”
“Sure.” Laura’s arms had pins and needles from holding her daughter for so long.
Like the expert he was, Owen lifted Jo off Laura’s lap and laid her in the crib. They tiptoed out of the room, hoping for the best as Laura shook her arms to get the blood flowing again.
“Are all three of them asleep at the same time, or am I dreaming?” Owen asked as he kneaded the tension from Laura’s shoulders.
She turned to face him. “Don’t jinx us.”
His grin was one of her favorite things in life, especially when he directed it at her. “Whatever shall we do with this unexpected break?”
“I need sleep, and I need it now.” She hadn’t gotten more than two or three hours at a time over the last few days.
“Whatever my queen requires is what she gets.”
Owen took her hand and led her into their room. He turned down the bed and waited for her to get in before pulling the covers up and kissing her cheek.
“Come nap with me.”
“I still have some storm prep to do.” He kissed her again. “You get some rest. I’ll be back in a bit. Text me if anyone wakes up.”
“Set me an alarm for an hour, will you? I need to start dinner.”
“I’ll take care of dinner. What were you planning to make?”
“Pasta to use up the sauce Stephanie made, meatballs, salad, garlic bread.”
“I got it. You sleep.”
Laura crooked her finger to bring him in for a better kiss. “Thank you for all you do. You’re the best.”
“No, you are,” he said, kissing her again.
“Sometimes, especially during weeks like this one, I wonder if you don’t regret not taking that last boat off the island way back when.”
“I have never once, not for a single second, regretted that decision.”
“Even when kids are puking and pooping on you?”
“Even then. I love every second of our life together, and you know that.”
“I’m the luckiest girl ever.”
“I’m the luckiest.”
She shook her head.
He kissed her forehead and then her lips one more time. “Rest while you can, love. I’ll be back soon.”
“I’ll be here.”
“Call if all hell breaks loose again.”
“You’ll be the first to know.”
Laura woke much later to darkness and the low hum of voices in the next room.
It was almost eight o’clock, and she’d been asleep for three hours.
What the hell? She dragged herself out of bed and emerged from the bedroom to find all three kids sitting at the table eating spaghetti as if they hadn’t been as sick as dogs as recently as the day before. “What goes on out here?”
“We hungry, Mommy.” Holden spoke for his siblings, as usual. They joked that Jon and Jo would never get around to talking because Holden did it for them.
“This is a wonderful development,” Laura said, kissing the tops of three little heads before going to hug Owen. “Does this mean we’ve turned the corner?”
“Let’s hope so, or we’re gonna have some colorful vomit later.”
“Ew.”
Chuckling, he said, “Are you hungry?”
“I could eat something.”
“Have a seat.”
“Some kind of service in this restaurant,” she said to the kids, who giggled at the face she made.
“It’s nawt a restront, Mommy,” Holden said.
“I think it is, because we have a very handsome waiter serving us.”
“That’s Daddy!” he said with the belly laugh she loved so much.
Laura acted surprised to realize Owen was their waiter. “So it is.”
That sparked more laughter from all three of them. If Holden laughed, the other two did, too. They copied everything he did, which he loved. Most of the time, anyway. Every so often, he got annoyed by them, but he was a good sport for the most part. It was hard to believe he’d soon be three.
Which reminded her that she needed to plan his party once they got past the hurricane. One thing at a time.
“What’s the latest on the storm?” Laura asked Owen when he brought his plate to the table and sat next to her.
“No change. But the good news is the ocean side of the hotel is boarded up, along with the first floor on the street side, and everything is either tied down or brought in. We’re ready for whatever Ethel has in store for us.”
“I hope she takes a hard turn away from us.”
“Me, too, but that’s not looking likely.”
Laura ate the spaghetti, meatballs, bread and salad Owen had made. “This is good. Thanks for cooking.” She gasped. “What about the guests?”
“Made the same for them, and they’re enjoying it downstairs.”
“I don’t deserve you,” she said with a sigh.
“Quit that nonsense.”
“I won’t quit it. While I slept for three hours, you cooked for a dozen people and took care of three little kids.”
“They helped me, didn’t you, guys?”
Holden nodded. “We helped.”
Laura gave Owen a skeptical look. “I’m sure they were a big help.”
“We was, Mommy. I carried the bread. Jon took the salad, and Jo took… What did she take, Daddy?”
“Dessert,” Owen said.
All three kids perked up at the mention of one of their favorite things.
“And what’s for dessert?” Laura asked.
“Brownies.”
“Daddy made them!”
“Daddy is Superman.”
That led Holden to jump up and “fly” around the room like Superman.
Jo and Jon got up to chase after him, and just that quickly, mayhem ensued.
“Glad to see them feeling better,” Laura said as she sipped from a glass of red wine Owen had poured for them.
“Me, too. I hate when they’re sick, even if I love all the sleeping.”
“Right?” she asked with a laugh. “I fear they’re so well rested that they’re going to be up all night.”
“I hope not. The storm will scare them.”
“Hell, it scares me. Did you talk to your mom earlier?”
“I did. She’s upset. With all of us here except for Josh, she’s hardly enjoying the trip with worrying about us. I tried to reassure her, but you can imagine how that went.”
“I feel for her. I wouldn’t want to be so far away when everyone I loved was staring down a monster storm.”
“Me either.”
Sarah felt frantic as she watched the weather forecast that was in Italian but showed the huge storm barreling toward tiny Gansett Island.
That image required no translation. How was she supposed to think of anything else when six of her seven children, their partners, her three grandchildren and Charlie’s pregnant daughter and her husband were on that island, not to mention countless friends?
She took a deep breath and released it, the apprehension reminding her of the horrible years she’d spent in a bad marriage. Now that she was happily remarried to Charlie, she tried never to think of those awful years, but the anxiety currently gripping her was eerily reminiscent.
They were in a gorgeous suite in a sumptuous hotel in Rome, with her parents in an adjoining suite. This was a trip she’d dreamed about for most of her life, and she couldn’t enjoy it while her loved ones were in peril.
She startled when Charlie’s hands landed on her shoulders. She’d thought he was asleep, like she should’ve been. As if that was going to happen.
“Easy, love. It’s just me.”
“Sorry. I’m so on edge, I feel like I might break.”
“I won’t let that happen.” He continued to knead the tension from her muscles, but even he couldn’t make her relax, and that was saying something. He had a magic touch where she was concerned. “Do you want to go home?”
“We couldn’t get there at this point.”
“We could get much closer.”
“You went to so much trouble—and expense—to plan this beautiful trip. I’m so sorry I’m such a wreck.”
“Don’t be sorry. I’m nervous, too. Steph is pregnant. All I can think about is what I’d do if anything ever happened to her or the baby or any of your kids. It’s tough to be so far away when they’re going through this.”
“What’ll we do if we don’t hear from them after?”
“It’s apt to be a day or two if the cell towers are affected.”
“I can’t deal with this. I just cannot.”
“Call Owen and talk to him. He always makes you feel better.”
“He’s probably busy getting ready.”
Charlie checked his watch. “By now, he’s probably done.”
Thankfully, he was good at calculating the time zones, because she stank at it. “I’ll try him.”
Her eldest answered on the second ring. “Were your ears ringing? We were just talking about you.”
“What about me?”
“That we feel bad that you’re worrying about us and this storm while you’re supposed to be enjoying Italy.”
“I’m a wreck!”
“That’s what we figured, but we’re all fine, Mom. We’ve done what we can, and now we’re waiting to see what happens.”
“That’s the part I’m afraid of.”
“We’ll be okay. I know there’s no point in telling you not to worry, but we’ll get through it. It’s going to take more than a storm to defeat this place.”
“Owen,” she said on a sob.
“I know, Mom.”
“We might come home.”
“Don’t do that. There’s nothing you can do here. You couldn’t even get here. The last boat arrived earlier, and by all accounts, it was a hellish ride. Seamus and Joe are taking the two biggest boats out to sea to ride out the storm. Planes have been grounded.”