Chapter 50
An interview with Big Mac and Linda…
I love this anniversary celebration and finding out how you two got together. Linda, I have to ask you… His opening salvo was pure insanity. How did you decide to give him a chance?
Linda: Well, he was absolutely gorgeous and on fire with ambition. I’m not sure which of those things was a bigger turn-on.
Mac: It was definitely my sexiness that did it for you.
Linda: (laughing) Well, it didn’t hurt anything. Everyone in my life tried to talk me out of following him to Gansett Island. I’m glad I listened only to my own heart and not to what anyone else was saying.
Mac: I’m glad, too, because it would’ve been no fun around here without you.
Linda: During that celebration and the one we just had for our fiftieth anniversary, I thought a lot about how important it is to follow your own heart, even when the whole world is telling you you’re making a mistake. The biggest mistake I could’ve made was not to take a big leap with you.
Mac: Aw, that’s so sweet, and I feel the same way. Trust me, I know I was like a crazy lunatic that day at Frankie’s party, but I took one look at you and your gorgeous smile and just knew… There she is.
Linda: You had enough faith for both of us.
Your family has grown since we last caught up with you. What’s the grandchild count now?
Linda: Eighteen! Mac and Maddie have six, counting Connor, Grant and Steph have two, Evan and Grace have three, Adam and Abby have five and Joe and Janey have two. Of course, we consider all the other kids to be ours, too. It’s a mob.
It must be something when they’re all together.
Mac: Sure is, but we enjoy every second with them, and we love that they’re all the best of friends with each other, like their parents are.
When we’re away, we can’t wait to get home to see them.
One of the great joys of our life is that all six of our kids and their families are close by and loving life on our island.
We certainly never expected that when they were chomping at the bit to get the hell out of here as soon as they could.
Linda: There’s no place like home.
Mac: Certainly no place like our home. That’s for sure.
Are you guys still working?
Mac: Define “work.” I still show up to the marina every day for the morning meeting, of course, but Mac and Luke are running the show there, and Daisy is the general manager of the hotel.
Our granddaughter, Hailey, is interested in getting into the business after college and works at the hotel in the summer.
Lin checks in from time to time, but we’re sort of hands off these days.
Linda: You were hands-off at the marina from the second Mac came home to take over.
Mac: That’s a bald-faced lie.
(They laugh.)
Linda: Sure, it is. We’ve been blessed to do a lot of traveling with our closest pals, and we’re looking forward to the upcoming safari that Mac and Ned have meticulously planned.
We’re so happy to hear you’re continuing to enjoy good health and plenty of adventure.
Mac: I’m going to be eighty soon, if you can believe that, but I’m still going strong. Especially since I got my new knee. That’s been a game-changer. Wish I’d done it sooner.
You at eighty is like most people at fifty.
Linda: That’s a fact. He’s tireless most of the time, and we’re always up to something. We have a beautiful life, and we’re tremendously thankful for all of it.
Thank you so much for reading Volume 1 of the Gansett Island Compendium!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this trip down memory lane and catching up with all the
characters from the first fourteen books who made Gansett Island so special.
Watch for Volume 2, Books 15-28, coming soon!