by Force, Marie
She knocked on the door to his office, and he called for her to come in.
“Hi there,” she said to her uncle, who was the youngest of Big Mac’s two brothers.
He jumped up from his desk to greet her with a hug and a kiss. “This is a nice surprise.” Ushering her to a seating area that included several easy chairs, he encouraged her to have a seat and then sat across from her.
Mallory was still getting used to the easy affection that her family members doled out, as if they’d known her all her life rather than just a year. “Thanks for squeezing me in.”
“They’re hardly lining up at the door—yet,” he said with a chuckle.
“I’m sure they will be once the word gets out.”
Kevin shrugged. “Either way, it’s fine. I’m happy to be partially retired and working when I feel like it rather than because I have to.”
“That sounds like an ideal existence.”
“It is for me. I get to spend lots of time with Chelsea when she’s not working and can pick and choose my hours here.”
“So you’re here to stay, then?”
“Looks that way. My ex-wife and I are selling our house in Connecticut, and I’m looking to buy something here. My brothers are here, my sons are here, my nieces and nephews are here. Why would I want to be anywhere else?”
“So Riley and Finn are planning to stick around, too?”
“Mac’s construction company is keeping them so busy that they haven’t mentioned going back to Connecticut in a couple of months now. I think the island is starting to feel like home to them.”
“I’m beginning to feel the same way myself.”
“Ohhh, your dad will be so happy to hear that.”
“Don’t tell him quite yet.”
Kevin ran his fingers over his lips. “I would never repeat anything we talk about, Mallory. I hope you know you can trust me with anything that’s on your mind.”
She smiled at him. “So you’ve figured out this isn’t a social call?”
“I had a sneaking suspicion. What can I do for you?”
“Linda actually suggested I talk to you a while ago about some unresolved issues I have with the way my mother handled telling me about my father.”
“She told you in a letter after she died, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Had you asked her about him?”
“Only my entire life. I always wanted to know who he was, but she was evasive and said she’d tell me when the time was right. As I got older and busy with school and work and life, I asked less often, but I still wondered. There was always a huge hole where he should’ve been, you know?”
“I can imagine.”
“She did everything for me. She was the best possible mother I could’ve had, and when I think of her now, I seethe with anger. It’s like the anger is all that’s left of her now that I’ve met my dad and all of you. Now that I know what I missed out on my whole life, I’m so, so angry with her for keeping me from him. And I hate myself for feeling that way toward her.”
“You can’t help the way you feel.”
“I know, but it still makes me feel guilty when she’s not here to defend herself.”
“What do you think she’d say if she was here?”
Mallory thought about that for a moment. “She’d probably apologize.”
“Would that help?”
“Not really. It wouldn’t change anything.”
“Why do you suppose she didn’t tell you?”
“She was afraid I’d choose him over her, and she’d be all alone, or so I assume. Her family rejected her when she got pregnant, so it was really just her and me. I wouldn’t have left her alone. I would’ve wanted both of them in my life.”
“But she couldn’t know that for sure, right? When you were say, ten, she might’ve thought, this would be a good time to introduce Mallory to her father, but what if she decides she’d rather live on Gansett with him and his family than here in Providence with me? Maybe I should wait a little longer…”
“How does a little longer become almost forty years?”
“That I can’t tell you, and neither can she, thus your anger.”
“I keep thinking I should get over it. We all know you can’t change the past, and she did what she did for reasons that were valid to her. I get that. But every time I hear my siblings talk about things that happened years ago, the anger comes surging back to the surface again.”
“Let’s talk about that. You know that you wouldn’t have been with them all the time. Even if your mom had told you about your dad sooner, they’d still have stories and family things that you weren’t part of, right?”
“I suppose so.”
“You would’ve been with your mom most of the time. You would’ve still missed out on much of what went on with your siblings.”
“At least I would’ve known them,” she said, blinking back tears. “I would’ve liked to have known them. And the rest of you, too, especially my dad.”
“I know,” he said gently, “and what I think might be happening is in addition to grieving the loss of your mother, you’re grieving the loss of what you should’ve had with your dad and the rest of your family. Do you think that’s possible?”
“Probably.” She wiped away tears. “I tell myself that what I have now is enough. It’s more than I ever could’ve hoped for when I came looking for my dad.”
“And yet you’re still angry.”
Mallory laughed even as she wiped away new tears. “And yet I’m still angry.”
“You know what might help? If you wrote her a letter and told her everything you’re thinking and feeling about what she did. Maybe if you got it all out there and off your chest, you might be able to get past the anger.”
“That’s an interesting idea.” Especially in light of her habit of writing things down, Mallory thought.
“It might also help you to know that you’re not the only one who has had some anger with how this was handled.”
Surprised to hear that, Mallory said, “Who else?”
“Who was the other person who should’ve been told?”
Mallory stared at him for a long, charged moment. “Dad?”
Kevin nodded. “He would never, ever speak poorly of your mother, not to you or anyone. But I know he’s wrestled with why she didn’t tell him. It’s been hard on him, too.”
“He’s never said that to me.”
“He wouldn’t. He’d never burden you with something you had nothing to do with.”
“He wouldn’t be burdening me.”
“That’s how he would see it. He aches over what he missed with you, Mallory. Please don’t think for one second that he doesn’t. And I’m not speaking out of turn here. He’s spoken to me about this as his brother, not as his doctor, and I’m telling you this as my niece, not my patient.”
“I understand.” She wiped her face with the tissue he handed her. “Is it normal, after something like this happens, to feel disconnected from your life?”
“It’s normal, after losing your mother, finding your father and a family you didn’t know you had and then losing your longtime job—all in one year—to feel extremely disconnected. Nothing about this new life resembles the old life, and it’s only natural that it’ll take some time for the new to seem normal to you.”
“I’ve been offered a job here.”
“On the rescue? I heard. That’s wonderful.”
She shook her head. “That’s a summer job. There’s no budget for the off-season. The job I’ve been offered is director of nursing at the healthcare facility Jared and Lizzie James are opening this fall.”
“That’s amazing! Congratulations.”
“Thank you. It’s nice to feel wanted after the way I was unceremoniously dumped by my former employer.”
“Why do I sense there’s more to this than you’re letting on?”
“Because you’re good at this, and because there is.” Mallory sighed. “The
offer came from the man I’m seeing, Dr. Quinn James, the facility’s medical director.”
“Ahhh, sticky.”
“Right.”
“Would he be your boss?”
“He says no, that we’d be colleagues and could set it up so I’d answer directly to his brother and sister-in-law.”
“That would seem to negate any potential conflict of interest issues.”
“It does.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“The relationship with him is new, and the worry becomes what happens at work if things go south between us. His brother owns the place. He’s not going anywhere.”
“Which is a reasonable concern.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“I can tell there’s more you’d like to say. Speak to me as my uncle and not a therapist.”
“As your uncle, I’d remind you that you’re a highly qualified professional with impeccable credentials who could probably land the job of your choice in any city in this country. If things go south with him personally, and it becomes untenable to work with him professionally, you leave.”
“You say that as if it’s simple.”
“It is. You’re still in that early career mind-set of having to hold on to a job at all costs because you might not be able to find another. We both know the shortage of qualified nurses would make you a hot commodity anywhere you chose to go. So go into the new job with the new man holding your own set of cards. Play them as you see fit.”
“You’re good at this. You might want to consider a career.”
Kevin’s ringing laugh made her smile. “If only I were as good at sorting my own crap as I am with other people’s.”
“Are things okay with Chelsea?”
“Things are great with her, other than everything being on hold until my divorce is final at the end of the summer.”
“What then?”
“We’re waiting to talk about it when I’m free and clear.”
“And that’s driving you nuts.”
“Little bit. She’s the one, you know? Took me more than fifty years to find her, and I worry all the time that I’m going to lose her.”
“I’ve seen you two together. She’s not going anywhere.”
“Still… I’ll be happy when we can make it official in some way or another. Stuff like this, what I have with her… When you live long enough, you know it doesn’t come along every day, which makes it that much more urgent. Does that make sense?”
“It does. I’ve experienced some of that myself in recent weeks.”
“With your doctor friend.”
She nodded.
“So it’s something special with him?”
“Could be. I’m taking baby steps.”
“If I could give you one piece of advice, it would be to grab something that feels special and hold on with everything you’ve got. I spent thirty years in a mediocre relationship that I don’t regret because I got my amazing sons from it and we had a good life. But I can tell you there’s absolutely nothing like the real thing.”
Mallory already knew that to be true and had begun to realize that her feelings for Quinn were similar to what she’d felt for Ryan. He hadn’t been gone so long that she’d forgotten the thrill of being truly in love. “Thank you for your wisdom,” she said as she got up to leave.
He stood to give her a hug. “I’m here for you as a therapist or an uncle or a friend, any time you need any of the above.”
“That means the world to me. You have no idea.”
“We’re all happy to have you as part of our family, Mallory, and I’m a big believer that things happen for a reason. Maybe if you’d known your dad as a child, you wouldn’t be here now, and you wouldn’t have met Quinn. It’s possible this was how it was always meant to be.”
“You’ve given me plenty to think about.”
“Then my work here is finished.”
“I’ll see you at Dan and Kara’s wedding?”
“Yes, you will.” He walked her to the door and opened it for her. “Be kind to yourself, sweetheart. You’ll figure out the path that works for you when the time is right.”
She gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Appreciate it.”
“My pleasure.”
Chapter 25
Mallory went down the stairs and walked slowly through town, taking in the sights and sounds of the bustling ferry landing and enjoying the heat of the warm sunshine on her face. The town was decidedly less busy now that Race Week was over, but islanders expected busy weekends and weeks of madness once school let out.
She crossed the street to a bench that overlooked South Harbor and watched one of the big ferries arrive with a small number of people onboard, but it was full of cars as well as fuel and mail trucks.
From her vantage point looking down at the harbor, she could see that Joe was at the controls of the arriving ferry, and she watched, fascinated, as he turned the huge vessel around in the small harbor and backed it into port.
“Quite somethin’ to watch, t’isn’t it?” Ned Saunders asked as he took a seat next to her on the bench.
“I could never do that.”
“We all have our gifts. That’s one a’ Joe’s.”
“What are his others?”
“Painting.”
“What kind of painting?”
“Landscapes. He’s got a gift fer it.”
“Every time I think I’ve heard it all, there’s something more to learn about my family,” Mallory said with a sigh.
“Yer doing just fine, gal.”
“You really think so?”
“Course I do or I wouldn’ta said so.”
She smiled at his adorable bluster. “I feel like I’m constantly playing catch-up. I don’t get the jokes. It’s like being the new kid in a school full of kids who grew up together.”
“Ya’ll catch up. Gonna take some time, but ya’ll git there.”
“I hope so.”
“Yer daddy is tickled pink that ya’re here for the summer. Got his heart set on keepin’ ya here for longer.”
“Does he?” Mallory asked, amused and pleased to hear that.
“Ya know it. Ya probably got him figured out by now. A big softie, he is.”
She couldn’t think of a better word to describe her father. “For sure.”
“Best guy I ever known. He woulda been there fer ya. Every step a the way. Hope ya know that.”
A sudden lump in her throat made it impossible to do anything more than nod.
“Fer what it’s worth, I hope ya stick around, too.”
“That’s very nice of you to say.”
“Ya can’t be in on the joke if ya ain’t where they are.” Seeing that people were beginning to disembark from the ferry, Ned stood. “Gotta get back ta work.” He gave her shoulder a squeeze. “Have a nice day now.”
“You, too, Ned.”
She watched him walk away, whistling as he went, and thought about what he’d said about how she couldn’t be in on the jokes in her family if she wasn’t with her family. Between what Kevin had said and Ned’s words of wisdom, it was abundantly clear that her move to Gansett Island needed to be longer term than just the summer. Three months wouldn’t be long enough to learn the tiny details she yearned to know about each of her family members.
Mallory wanted to know them the way they knew each other and learn to speak their language. Janey had told her she could rent the house for as long as she wanted and had hinted that she hoped it would be longer than the summer.
She had a home, a job offer, her wonderful family all around her and a guy who wanted her to stay. Mallory laughed out loud at the simplicity of her decision when framed in the proper context. She’d asked for the summer to make up her mind, and here it was, early June, and she already knew what she was going to do.
Rising from the bench, she headed home, eager to tell Quinn the news.
Blaine and Tiffany took the three-o’clock boat off the
island for the meeting with Jim. They’d brought Blaine’s truck and would drive to the state attorney general’s office in Providence, where the meeting would take place. It had taken a couple of weeks to hammer out the conditions for the meeting.
At first, Jim had refused to meet with Tiffany if Blaine was with her. Blaine had been adamant that she not go alone. They’d compromised, agreeing that he would accompany her to the meeting but not be in the room when she spoke to Jim. Blaine had agreed reluctantly, and things had been tense between them ever since.
Tiffany totally understood why he was upset, but all she could think about was trying to put this situation to rest for Ashleigh’s sake. Protecting her daughter was her only goal.
Blaine stood by her side at the rail as the ferry approached the breakwater at Point Judith. “If he touches you in any way, I’ll be through that door so fast, he won’t know what hit him.” Those were the first words he’d spoken since they left the house.
“Okay,” Tiffany said, knowing it was pointless to object. He had to feel like he could protect her, or he wouldn’t be able to handle being relegated to the observation room.
Blaine wrapped his much bigger hand around hers. He didn’t say anything else, but the tight squeeze of his hand said everything for him. When the ferry pulled into port on the mainland, he led her down the stairs and helped her into the truck. After he was settled in the driver’s seat, he reached for her hand again and held it all the way to Providence.
Sam Rhodes met them in the lobby and escorted them upstairs to the room where the meeting would take place. He showed Blaine the door to the observation area where he’d be able to see and hear everything.
“I’ll give you a minute,” Sam said to Tiffany. “When you’re ready, you can join us.”
“Thank you,” Tiffany said.
Sam stepped into the conference room and shut the door.
Tiffany looked up at Blaine, noting the dark circles under his eyes and tension that clung to him. She reached up to caress a pulsing muscle in his cheek. “I love you.”