by JoAnn Ross
“I can’t deny you didn’t have a strong point before you got to the close. I also can’t think of anyone who’d be a better mom. Despite your attempt to walk that tightrope, it’s obvious that the kids have bonded with you. You’ve even managed to put cracks in Hannah’s protective shell.”
“So have you.”
“Even if that’s true, it’s a moot point. Because I’m not going to be here to deal with future problems. Not that you asked for my advice, but I say go for it.”
“Thank you.” She blew out a breath, surprising him with her obvious relief. “I had serious doubts I’d ever have kids,” she admitted. She shook her head. “I don’t know why I keep telling you these things I never tell anyone else.”
“Maybe because I’m a safe sounding board because I’m not sticking around that long and I sure as hell don’t have any reason to tell anyone.”
“I will admit that from what I’ve seen from friends, raising children isn’t easy. And it’s serious. The past days have proven that it’s going to be tricky balancing work and life as a single mom. But my hours are more flexible than most, and as you said, I have a strong support system, like your mom who thought of the day camp and welcomed Hailey into her home, your dad who pulled the strings to get them in the camp, and Brianna, who gave you all those recipes so you can make the kids a special breakfast.”
“That’s the easy part. I told you my mom taught us all to cook.”
“You also opened up your house, and not just as some sort of temporary hostel. By teaching Hannah chess and sitting through Hailey’s seemingly never-ending fashion show, you made it feel like a home to them. That’s made a big difference.”
Since he had no answer, other than point out, yet again, that his part in the girls’ care would last only a few more weeks, Gabe didn’t say anything at all.
* * *
AFTER THE MEETING with the girls, Mrs. Douglas left to pick up another child she’d just received notification about.
It had gone through Gabe’s mind as they’d waited for the social worker to come back downstairs that the girls’ presence hadn’t affected his work. While he’d set himself a tight deadline, he couldn’t work on the faering 24/7. He could continue to help out with the girls. Like taking them to the park. Or crabbing off the pier, like his dad and grandfather had done with him. Hailey had enjoyed her time at the farm, and he’d bet Hannah would too, although she might not readily admit it.
The idea was sounding better and better, until he remembered what Chelsea’s friend had told her about being careful about bonding. What if they started thinking of him as a potential father? Chelsea might be in for the long-term, but he was leaving before the swallows and Canada geese.
He’d have to try to keep his distance.
“Good luck with that,” he muttered.
* * *
THE NEXT WEEKS WERE, hands down, the happiest of Chelsea’s life. She’d always known that having her family disintegrate like a sandcastle at high tide had left a hole inside her that she’d never expected to ever fully fill. Unlike her mother, who’d simply faded away until she’d finally died, Chelsea had, as she’d told Gabriel, chosen to be happy. She’d learned to fill her time with friends, civic activities, and ambitious projects like the reading adventurers to always keep active, never giving those cold dark shadows a chance to catch up with her.
She’d found once she handed Farrah more responsibility, the librarian was proving to be exactly what the town, the library and Chelsea needed. Farrah’s first idea was to set up little free libraries around the county, where people could “take a book, leave a book.” Not only had she gotten the entire community involved in the idea, to build enthusiasm she’d devised a competition with various categories of designs. The most popular design was, unsurprisingly, Victorian buildings. But there were also whimsical ones, like the bright red Snoopy doghouse outside Cameron Montgomery’s veterinarian office, the Cat in the Hat’s tall red-and-white-striped hat and, almost earning its own category, the large fish-shaped box Bert had set out at his café.
It did not escape Chelsea’s attention that Bert had sought Lillian Henderson’s advice on his project, which had apparently required many meetings. Including one where they’d supposedly been discussing which books to stock the wooden fish with over lunch at the Lake Quinault Lodge. Some enterprising Honeymoon Harborite had taken a photo of them together and not only sent it to the Facebook page, but also to the Honeymoon Harbor Herald, where it had ended up on the “Around the Town” page. Which had her thinking back on Bert’s mention of having stood Lillian up for the winter dance, before she’d met the man who’d become her husband. Seth’s parents, along with Gloria Wells and Michael Mannion, had already demonstrated that romance wasn’t just for the young. Why shouldn’t Bert and Lillian—him in his early seventies, her in her late sixties—have a second chance at love?
It hadn’t originally been easy giving up control, but while picking up Hailey at the Christmas tree farm, when she’d asked Sarah for advice on how to juggle both family and work, the most important thing Gabriel’s mother had told her was learning to prioritize and delegate. “No one expects you to be Wonder Woman, dear,” she’d advised.
Chelsea thought about that all the way home, as Hailey chattered on and on about the two Australian shepherd mixes Mulder and Scully, and how she’d loved to have a dog of her own “more than anything!” The next day Chelsea had told Farrah, the assistants and volunteers that she’d be taking some time off this summer for personal reasons, but would certainly be taking part in the adventurers’ program.
“Why can’t I come to Mr. Mannion’s brewery?” Hannah had complained. The more comfortable she’d become, the more she’d started challenging authority. Which either meant that she was beginning to feel more comfortable now that the girls had been told Chelsea was on the list to begin her foster parent classes in September. Or, perhaps, she was pushing to see if Chelsea’s love had limits. If she’d someday decide that kids were too much trouble and send them away. Which wasn’t going to happen, but Chelsea had, nevertheless, made a series of appointments for all three of them, each by themselves, then in joint sessions, with a counselor in Sequim to help ease the transition.
“Because you have to be fourteen years old. Which you’re not.”
“Gabriel is Quinn’s brother. That should count for something,” she complained, looking directly at him.
“Sorry, kiddo,” Gabriel said. “Quinn’s always been a stickler for rules. And you wouldn’t want Aiden to have to arrest his own big brother for breaking liquor laws.”
“No. But it’s still not fair,” she huffed.
“We can take Gabriel’s shiny new motorhome down to Oregon and tour Tillamook,” Chelsea suggested. He had, indeed, decided that there was no point in having a list if you didn’t work through all the items, and although she found the motorhome to be an extravagant waste of money, they’d taken it to various places along the rugged Washington Coast, and once to Long Beach for the SandSations sandcastle competition where, after some practice here at the cove with the proper tools, they’d taken second place in the amateur category. “That’s supposed to be fun.”
“It’s a cheese factory.”
“You like cheese.”
“Yeah. Some cheese. But I don’t need to see it being made.”
As she’d hoped, Gabriel’s Viking boat proved to be the most popular with the adventurers. She’d already had them read selected stories about the Vikings, and, by the time the boat shop came up on the itinerary, Gabriel had just finished the red canvas sail. While it wasn’t yet ready to go in the water, he did invite all the adventurers to watch its maiden voyage at the Labor Day wooden boat festival.
“It’s not really going to be her maiden voyage, is it?” Chelsea asked the night after that adventure.
“That’s always been the plan,” he reminded her. “But if
you want, we can take it out here on the lake before the festival.”
“The girls would love it,” she said.
“I’ve been thinking the same thing. Hannah, especially, after all the time she’s spent at the shop.”
“She’s sincerely interested in the faering. But I suspect she’s also got a bit of a crush on the boat builder.”
“Does she? Is there anything I should do?”
“Just keep doing what you’re doing. I looked it up and it’s a normal part of adolescence. The more she gets to know you, the sooner it’ll wear off.”
“Familiarity breeds contempt?”
“Not contempt. But she’s got you on a pedestal, and eventually, it’s going to crumble.”
“Well, hell, that makes me feel a lot better.”
She laughed and patted his cheek. “Meet me in the motorhome at midnight, and I’ll make you feel a whole lot better.”
“You’re on. That’s turning out to be my best investment ever.”
He wasn’t going to get any argument from her on that count. Chelsea thought of the foster mom who could nearly climax merely by walking on the beach, and hoped she wouldn’t get to the point where she’d have an orgasm every time she followed a motorhome, which, since that happened to be every day in summer, would be exhausting.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHELSEA COULD FEEL fall coming. It didn’t arrive in a dazzling blaze of autumn color but with cooler nights, and each day the sky grew darker just a few minutes earlier. While people in other parts of the country might not notice such small incremental daily changes, here in the Pacific Northwest, where summers were short, and never got too hot, residents wanted to hang on to them as long as possible.
“Are you getting nervous?” Chelsea asked Brianna as she, Jolene and Lily had lunch at Leaf.
“Only because I want to get it over with,” Brianna said, picking at her salad. “No, rewind. I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just that I fell in love with Seth when he shared his Ding Dong with me in the first grade, and I finally want to be married.”
“Me, too,” Jolene said. “Though I didn’t fall for Aiden until high school. Then we spent all those years apart, so we were very different people than we are now. I was also wary of commitment, but your brother’s a hard man to resist,” she told Brianna.
“I’m probably biased. Okay, I am. But all my brothers are special in their own individual ways.”
“Seth is no slouch,” Lily said.
“He’s the closest thing any woman could ever find to perfection for me,” Brianna agreed. “And maybe it’s a hormonal thing caused by so much sex, but I am so ready to start our family.”
“When you do, I’ll give you my list,” Chelsea volunteered.
Jolene, who’d been watching the ferry coming in to dock, turned her full attention to Chelsea. “What kind of list?”
“A sex list.”
“You have a sex list?” Brianna, usually the model of public propriety, asked loudly enough to have people at nearby tables turning to look at them.
“I was going to type it up and save it for your baby shower gift, but now that you’ve seen fit to broadcast it, yes, I do have a list I got from women at my foster mom group on ways to have sex with kids in the house.”
“I’d never thought of that problem. But I guess it’s a thing.”
“Believe me, it’s a thing,” Chelsea said. “If you’re not careful, you’re going to find yourself in sexual droughtland.”
“Well, that saves me from asking whether or not you and my brother are having sex,” Brianna said. “I suspected it, but except for that dinner at Sensation Cajun, I haven’t seen any suggestion that you two were getting it on out at the lake house.”
“Thanks to the list, the sex has been sensational. Some of it’s a bit unconventional, but it’s surprisingly hot.”
“I so want to wash my brain out with Clorox at the thought of my brother getting naked and having unconventional sex—”
“You don’t always have to get naked,” Chelsea said with a Cheshire cat smile.
“No!” Brianna covered her ears and shut her eyes. “Now I’m never going to be able to unsee that and it’s all your fault.”
“You did bring up sex,” Lily reminded her.
“I did not. I brought up having a baby.”
“Which involves sex. Unless you’ve had a visit from an angel bringing you tidings of great joy recently,” Chelsea said. “So as not to upset your apparently delicate sensibilities any further, I’ll just put this out there and let you decide if you want to explore it. Did you ever make a blanket fort when you were a kid?”
“Of course. It’s a long winter and there are a lot of days when we kids couldn’t go outside, so...oh!” She covered her mouth.
“Let’s just say your brother is very, very skilled at capturing the fort. And planting his flag.”
“I am never going to be able to look at him again without picturing that.”
“Picture Seth instead and I’ll bet it won’t bother you so much. In fact, why don’t you try it out on your honeymoon. Wargame it, so to speak.”
“I still can’t believe they gave you a list.”
“I only wrote down what they were saying. It wasn’t a list list until then. You’d be surprised at the ways and places you’ll be able to ensure your first baby won’t be your last.”
“OMG. That’s why Gabriel bought that fancy new motorhome. None of us could figure it out since he’s going back to Manhattan, where he definitely couldn’t drive it around the city.”
“I can neither confirm nor deny.”
“You don’t have to. It’s written all over your face.” Brianna stabbed a fresh strawberry with her fork, which stopped halfway to her mouth. “Wait a minute. Does this mean he’s not going back to New York?”
“Oh, he’s going, right after Labor Day. Just as he said.”
Brianna sobered. “I’m so sorry.”
“Me, too,” Jolene said.
“Me, three,” Lily chimed in.
“You were the one who suggested a summer fling,” Chelsea reminded Lily.
“Exactly. A fling. As in a short, intense version of friends with benefits. You’re not supposed to fall in love with a fling.”
“I did,” Jolene volunteered.
“With a guy who wasn’t going anywhere. In a town where you can’t go out for milk and eggs without running into a dozen people you know. You don’t have a fling with a man you’re still going to see every day when it’s over. Flings are for long weekends at a winter ski lodge. Or a Caribbean cruise. Two ships passing in the night. Or, in the case of a small-town girl and a guy who’s got a short shelf life, before he goes back to the city.”
“It’s just sex,” Chelsea insisted, ignoring Lily’s knowing look. “Summer fling sex.”
If she could only make herself believe that, everything would be hunky-dory.
“Okay,” Brianna said. She glanced down at her watch. “Let’s table this discussion because Chelsea, Jolene and I have ten minutes to get over to The Dancing Deer and try on our dresses.”
“And I have to get back to work on the new semester press release and invitations for the scholarship reception,” Lily said.
“But,” Brianna said to Chelsea as they left Leaf after paying the bill, “we all still want that list.”
* * *
AS IF WANTING to give her own wedding gift to the brides, Mother Nature had turned benevolent, bringing back a perfect day of late-summer blue skies and clear air that allowed the mountains to glisten for as far as the eye could see.
Brianna, who’d once planned a formal wedding for a pair of dogs with a six-figure price tag, had decided she wanted a casual ceremony and reception at the Mannion Christmas tree farm to celebrate her marriage. Since she was marrying a Mannion brother,
Jolene had readily agreed on the venue.
It was a family affair, with Caroline Harper, Seth’s mother, who’d become an ordained minister last year, performing the ceremony. Chelsea was attendant to both brides while Quinn was groomsman to his younger brother and the man his sister had loved since childhood.
Bastien and Desiree provided the music, as they had last summer for Kylee and Mai’s garden wedding. It was that wedding which had brought the two former lovers back together.
Brianna had chosen an understated ivory slip dress, a single pearl on a platinum chain and white ballet flats that wouldn’t sink into the turf of the back lawn as she welcomed guests in the reception line. Jolene, wearing her favored ’50s vintage style, had gone with a knee-length backless dress with a full skirt that swayed like a bell when she walked. Around her neck she wore a simple heart made from a piece of aqua sea glass found on the peninsula on a white gold chain. Aiden had given it to her one summer night, back when they’d still been in high school, before he’d gone off to Marine boot camp.
Despite the casual atmosphere, the grooms waiting at the head of the white satin runner were handsome in black tie.
Life had taken both couples down separate paths for many years until they’d ended up back here in Honeymoon Harbor. In this place, on this day. Unlike the last wedding they’d all attended, when Kylee and Mai had written their own vows, today’s words were simple, complex and timeless.
To love. Honor. Cherish. For better or worse. Richer or poorer. Forsaking all others. Until death we do us part.