by Marie Force
“I know. I will. Soon.” The thought of telling his sons their mother had left him for another man made Kevin feel physically ill.
A gorgeous dark-haired woman approached them, and Frank’s face lit up with a huge smile as he held out a hand to her.
“Lovely ceremony, Your Honor,” she said with a warm smile for Frank.
Kevin watched in stunned amazement as Frank put his arm around the woman and she rested her arm on his shoulder. In all the years since Joann died, he’d never seen Frank with another woman.
“Thank you. Betsy, this is my baby brother, Kevin. Kevin, Betsy Jacobson.”
“Nice to meet you,” Kevin said, raising a brow in his brother’s direction. “Speaking of holding out…”
Frank laughed and looked up at Betsy with unabashed affection. “It’s a fairly recent development.”
“Not so recent,” Mac said with a teasing grin for the happy couple. “It’s been going on for a while now.”
Kevin experienced a pang of envy for the happiness his older brother had found after decades on his own. “You’ve got one of the good ones, Betsy.”
“I know.”
“Kevin just told us he’s going to be sticking around for a while,” Frank told Betsy.
“That’s great,” she said. “I look forward to getting to know you better.”
“Me, too.” Kevin looked forward to that and anything else that kept him away from the nightmare unfolding at home.
Chapter 30
After everyone had eaten the Caribbean-themed dinner that Stephanie’s chef had prepared, Evan moved to the corner of the deck that had been set aside for him, his sound engineer, Josh, and two other musicians Evan had recruited to provide the music for the night’s festivities. He plugged his prized Gibson Les Paul electric guitar into the small amplifier he’d brought from the studio. Behind him, the sun dipped toward the horizon in a blaze of orange and red and gold that would end in a spectacular sunset.
When he was ready, he stepped up to the microphone. “Yo, yo, yo, listen up to the best man.” The spirited group fell silent and gave him their attention. “I go way back with these two. Laura, you and Shane were way more than cousins to us. You were our summer siblings when we were all little kids, and we loved spending that time with you. Owen has been my best friend since high school when we bonded over our love of music. The nights we get to play together are always my favorite. So it was a great honor when my best friend asked me to be his best man when he married my cousin. I’ve known you a long time, O, and I’ve never seen you happier than you’ve been since you and Laura got together. The two of you are great on your own, but you’re spectacular together. I love you both, and I wish you all the best life has to offer. To Owen and Laura!”
As the guests guzzled champagne and toasted the happy couple, Evan played the opening chords of the song Owen had chosen for their first dance. “Laura left one big decision up to her groom, and that was choosing a song for them to dance to tonight. Are you two ready?”
“Here we come!” Laura looked giddy as she led her new husband to the space they’d left for dancing.
“Owen chose ‘All I Want Is You’ by U2 for their first dance.” Evan played the chords and put everything he had into the emotion-driven song to give Owen and Laura an unforgettable moment. But the whole time, he had his eyes on Grace, hoping she knew he was singing for her, too.
“Perfect choice,” Laura said with a happy sigh as she danced with her new husband.
“It says everything I wanted you to know today.”
She looked up at him, loving him more than she ever had.
“What?” he asked, tuned in to her as always.
“Just thinking about how much I love you.”
“I love you that much and more.”
“I love you more.”
He laughed and kissed her, which had their guests laughing and clapping as they clinked silverware against the crystal, looking for more kisses.
“How long do we have to stay?” he asked.
“It’s our party. We can’t just leave.”
“Yes, we can.”
“No, we can’t.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“I’m the husband. What I say goes.”
“And I’m the wife. If you want to get lucky later, watch your mouth, mister.”
“I love when you chastise me.” As he spoke, he pulled her in closer to him. “It makes me hot.”
“Not now, dear. People are looking.”
“Are we really married?”
“We really are.”
“I want out of here. Soon.”
“Another hour. Maybe two.”
“I’m holding you to that, Mrs. Lawry.”
The party was beginning to wind down when Charlie put his arms around Sarah from behind and nuzzled her neck. “Can we go?”
“I can’t leave,” she said as she shivered from the brush of his whiskers against her skin. “What’ll my kids say?”
“They’ll say, ‘Look at our awesome mom going off to spend time with the guy who loves her. How lucky is she?’”
Sarah laughed at his shamelessness.
“I can’t stop thinking about holding you and kissing you and touching you. I want you so badly, I’m on fire for you.”
Sarah trembled from the rush of desire that accompanied his gruffly spoken words. They’d come very close to making love the other night, but she’d held back at the last minute, a decision she regretted almost as soon as she made it. All she’d thought about since then was when they might get another chance.
“Come home with me, Sarah. Please come home with me.”
She took a quick look around the deck. Owen and Laura had walked down to the water to take some photos in the sunset. Holden was with Frank and Betsy. Katie, Julia and Cindy were talking to Riley, Finn and Shane. Jeff and Josh were sitting at a table with their grandparents, and her son John had called to speak to his brother earlier. He’d been heartbroken to miss the wedding and promised to come to the island for a visit soon.
Everyone she loved, present and accounted for. And the man she loved standing behind her, asking her to run away with him.
Sarah covered the hand he’d placed on her stomach and squeezed. “Let’s go.” She stopped only to ask Daisy to make her excuses.
Almost as if he was afraid she might change her mind, Charlie took her hand and led her through the kitchen to the parking lot in back where he’d left his truck. They drove to his house in silence, but the awareness of what they were about to do beat through her like an electric current.
Silently, he reached for her hand and linked their fingers. “I love you, Sarah.”
He didn’t say much, but what he said was always worth hearing. Now was no different. He’d said exactly what she needed to hear.
“I love you, too. I love how patient you’ve been with me, how sweet and how tender. Before you even knew why I needed it, you knew what I needed.”
“You’ve done the same for me, you know. You make me feel hopeful again.”
“That’s a lovely thing to say.”
They arrived at his house, and he released her hand after kissing the back of it. “Wait for me to come around.”
Sarah watched him go around the front of the truck. He looked so handsome in the navy polo shirt and khaki pants he’d worn to the wedding. The door opened, and Charlie leaned across her to release the seat belt. He held out his hands to her and helped her out of the truck.
Inside, he poured her a glass of wine and told her to wait in the kitchen for just a minute.
Wondering what he was up to, she sipped her wine and tried to keep her nerves under control. Though she was several decades and seven children removed from her first time with a man, this felt like the first time all over again because it was her first time with Charlie.
He returned and extended his hand to her.
Sarah put down the wineglass and went to him.
He
led her to his bedroom where he’d lit a dozen candles. “I wish it was the Ritz or something classy for you.”
“I don’t need that.”
“I’d still like to give it to you, and soon enough I’ll be able to.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’m getting a settlement from the state to compensate me for the years I spent in jail.”
“What kind of settlement?”
“A really, really big one,” he said with a smile. “I’ll be able to give you anything you ever wanted. You can have your choice of houses, vacations, things for your kids. Anything you want. Sky’s the limit.”
Sarah stared at him, wondering if she heard him correctly. “I…I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything. You just have to let me spoil you because that’ll make me happy. I want to give you everything you were denied for so many years. I want you to be happy and surrounded by the people you love in a home we pick out together. I want you to marry me and spend the rest of your life with me.” He raised his hands to her face and kissed her softly. “Will you marry me, Sarah?”
“Yes, Charlie. Yes, I’ll marry you.”
“We’ll go to the mainland this week to pick out a ring. Any ring you want.”
“I’m not divorced yet.”
“Who cares? I’m not going anywhere. Are you?”
“Where would I go when you’re here?” Sarah surprised herself nearly as much as she surprised him when she tugged his shirt from his pants and lifted it up and over his head. She flattened her hands on his chest and kissed his neck.
“You looked beautiful today,” he said.
“It’s the dress. Tiffany talked me into it.”
“The dress is gorgeous,” he said as he lifted it up and over her head. “But you were beautiful, glowing with happiness as your son married his Laura. I loved seeing you that way.”
“It was a very special day. I was glad you were there with me.” Standing before him in only the bra and matching panties Tiffany had convinced her she needed, Sarah should’ve felt self-conscious. She wasn’t young anymore and had given birth to seven children. But with Charlie gazing at her with affection and desire in his eyes, she couldn’t be bothered with being self-conscious. He loved her exactly the way she was.
“Make love to me, Charlie.”
He put his arms around her and held her close. “There’s nothing I’d rather do.”
“It’s time to go,” Owen said, his lips pressed against Laura’s ear.
“Right this minute?”
“Right this second.”
“Am I allowed to get my son?”
“Frank, Betsy and Shane are in charge of him for the night. They’re upstairs as we speak, giving him a bath and putting him to bed. Shane is staying in our room with him tonight, and I set him up with a bedtime bottle and one for the middle of the night—just in case. Shane said to tell you not to worry. He’s got this.”
“You thought of everything.”
“I wanted you all to myself tonight.”
“And where are you taking me?”
“Come with me, and I’ll show you.”
“Shouldn’t I at least kiss Holden good night?”
“Only if you want to feel bad if he cries when we leave. He’s perfectly content with Uncle Shane and Grandpa.”
“Don’t we need to say good-bye to our guests?” Most of them were dancing up a storm to the music Evan and his friends had provided all evening.
“No, because we’ll see them all tomorrow at brunch.”
“There’s a brunch?”
“My grandparents are hosting a brunch, and everyone is invited.”
“That’s nice of them.”
He took her hand. “Come with me, my love?”
“Anywhere you wish to go.”
Smiling, he held the door for her so she could go ahead of him into the inn. He took her hand and led her out the front door, down the stairs and across the street to the Beachcomber.
“You’re taking me to the competition?” she asked playfully.
“As much as I wanted to spend tonight at our hotel, we’re overrun with family there. I thought this would be better.” He held the side door to the Beachcomber open for her and guided her up to the second floor, where he used a key card in a door at the end of the long hallway.
“Wait,” he said when she started to go into the room.
He scooped her up and carried her across the threshold into the honeymoon suite, where hurricane lanterns provided soft light and rose petals had been sprinkled on the bed. A bottle of champagne was chilling in an ice bucket next to the bed.
“You planned ahead,” Laura said, thrilled with the room and her new husband.
“Making plans still doesn’t come naturally to me, but I wanted tonight to be special for both of us.”
“This is perfect. Thank you.”
“Now that I have you alone,” he said as he removed the comb from her hair that held her veil in place, “I want a better look at this incredible dress.”
“Let me tell you about this incredible dress and what it looked like before your mother took scissors to it an hour before the wedding.”
“Scissors?”
“Yep.” Laura told him the story of the dress, laughing at his reaction.
“Were you freaking out?”
“Not even kinda. All I cared about today was marrying you. The rest was just details.”
“My mother really cut up your dress and made it fit an hour before the wedding?”
“She really did. Thank goodness she knew what to do.” Laura patted her belly. “These two have blossomed in the last week.”
“Probably because you’re not sick all the time anymore.”
“Probably.”
“Well, I’m glad it worked out, and I never would’ve known the dress had been hacked up and put back together. I thought you looked incredible.” With a wink, he added, “Way better than the first time around.”
Laura laughed at his joke. “I hadn’t planned to wear any kind of veil, but I also hadn’t planned to have my back completely bare. Your mom found the tulle in the attic. She truly saved the day.”
“And she snuck off with Charlie tonight.”
“She did? Really? Who told you?”
“Daisy. Mom didn’t want us to worry, but she also didn’t want to make a big announcement about leaving.”
“Good for them. She’s like a teenager in the throes of first love.”
“In many ways it is her first real love. What she had with my dad could hardly be called love.”
“Well, she has it now, and that’s what counts.”
He nuzzled her neck as he wrapped his arms around her. “No more talk. I’ve been waiting forever to make love to my wife.”
“By all means,” Laura said with a bright smile. “Don’t let me stop you.”
He hooked an arm around her waist and lifted her into a passionate kiss.
She curled her arms around his neck and lost herself in his kiss, thrilled to have forever to spend with him.
Here Comes the Groom
A Gansett Island Short Story
“Tell me again why I gotta wear a tie ta this thing,” Ned Saunders said as he tried to remember how to knot the damned thing. He hadn’t worn one in years. “It’s dinner at Maddie’s house. Why’s it gotta be fancy? I ain’t fancy.”
“Because Maddie said it’s a dress-up dinner party, so we’re getting dressed up. It won’t kill you.”
“Very well might,” he muttered. He’d been in a foul mood for weeks now, and he was well aware that others were beginning to notice. His buddy Big Mac had called him out on it recently, asking him what had crawled up his ass and died. He was smack in the middle of an epidemic of weddings and engagements. Everyone was tying the knot except for him—and he’d waited the longest.
They’d been stymied every time they tried to set a date since Francine’s divorce had been final. He’d
pitched the idea of a surprise wedding to her, and she’d loved it. They’d even set a date for that, only to have Seamus and Carolina beat them to it.
Even Grant and Stephanie were finally getting married in a couple of weeks, and they’d been dragging their feet for a year now!
It wasn’t fair. He’d been waiting more than thirty years to marry his gal. He was almost to the point of whisking her off to Vegas just to get it done. Except… He didn’t want to do it that way. He wanted his people there with him, including her daughters, who’d become his girls since he’d been with their mom. He wanted their grandkids there and all their friends.
Tomorrow he was going to figure this out once and for all. They were going to set a damned date and stick to it. Let anyone try to stop them.
“Ready?” Francine asked.
He glanced at her and did a double take at how beautiful she looked. She’d had her hair done earlier in the day, and every one of her auburn locks was shining and gorgeous.
“What’re you staring at?”
“I’m starin’ at the gal I love. She takes my breath away.”
“You charmer.”
“I ain’t feedin’ ya bull, doll. I look atcha, and I get all tangled up inside.”
Francine smoothed her hands over the lapels of his one good sport coat. “I feel the same way about you and our lovely life together. Every day I’m thankful you gave me another chance.”
“Gave ya another chance,” he said with a laugh. “As if I had a choice. Ya have my heart, doll. Ya always have.”
She kissed him. “Let’s go have dinner with the kids so we can come home and continue this conversation.”
It still astonished him, even after more than a year of living together, that he got to come home with her every night and sleep with her in his arms after dreaming about her for lonely, empty decades.
Since they’d been forced to dress up, he broke out the vintage Cadillac he’d bought from the Chesterfield Estate for the drive to Mac and Maddie’s house. They arrived to a mess of cars in the driveway, leading all the way out to Sweet Meadow Farm Road.