Oberon Boxed Set (Books 1-3) Welcome to Oberon

by P. G. Forte

  “Oh, God.” Scout couldn’t help laughing. “Anything but that!”

  “Yeah, you just think about it,” he teased. “Whose bad side would you rather be on, huh? Lucy’s or her brother’s?”

  “Okay, but... what about your mother, then?” she asked, stubbornly. She wasn’t sure why she was pushing him like this. But she just couldn’t help herself.

  “Also not a problem. My mom is fine with this now. Trust me. We had a nice little talk last night and we worked out an arrangement. I get to marry you, and she gets to be happy for us.

  “Huh. That sounds a little too easy.”

  “Not really,” he answered as his hands caressed her back. “She loves me. I love you. Where’s the problem? Just marry me, Scout. Please. Before I get too old to – what’s the matter?” he asked as he felt her jump.

  “Nick,” she gasped, “The baby. I think... I think I just felt it. I think it kicked.”

  He smiled at her. “See there? You can’t ask for a better sign than that. Even our kid wants us to get on with it.”

  “Yeah? How do you know it wasn’t a protest?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. The kid’s a Greco, isn’t he? Not really so hard to figure out what we’re thinking, once you get the hang of it.”

  “Is that so?” Scout returned his smile then, and felt her heart swell with love for him. “Well, then maybe I should wait until I have the hang of it before I marry you?”

  “Nah.” Nick shook his head. “Marry me now. That way you can take the whole rest of your life to figure it out.”

  * * *

  “You did what?” Joey’s father frowned furiously at him.

  “Oh, Joey.” His mother shook her head. “What were you thinking?”

  “I was thinking that it’s about time someone tried to get her to do the right thing by Nick.” Joey folded his arms across his chest and glared at his family.

  “And this is your idea of the right thing?” his father scoffed. “For the best man to talk the bride into calling off her wedding at the very last minute? You don’t care that you’d be embarrassing your cousin?”

  “No. Why? You said yourself, he didn’t seem happy about getting married again. I did him a favor.”

  “Why don’t you understand this? It doesn’t matter what you or I think,” his father told him. “This is between the two of them. If this is what they want, then—”

  “Actually, I think it’s more like the three of them.” Janice smiled knowingly. “Turns out she’s expecting.”

  “What?” All three Grecos turned to face her.

  Janice shrugged. “According to Lucy. And she would know, right?”

  Joe Greco scowled at his son. “Well, isn’t this a nice mess. Now look what you’ve done!”

  “What I’ve done?” Joey scowled right back. “What... that’s my fault too, now? I don’t care. I still say he’s better off without her.”

  “Well, sweetie, right now you might want to think about saying it someplace else,” Janice said, cringing just a little. “Because here comes your cousin. And if you think he didn’t seem happy before—”

  “Joey, it’s time that you and I had a little talk,” Nick growled as he approached the table.

  Joey heard his mother clear her throat. “Nick, dear, is everything all right with you and Scout?”

  “Yes, Aunt Rose,” Nick answered leveling a grim smile at his family. “It is now.”

  * * *

  “Marsha, what is this I’ve just heard about you?” Siobhan demanded as she grabbed her arm.

  Marsha turned to look at her sister in surprise. “I don’t know. What did you hear?”

  “You almost got yourself killed? Again?”

  Marsha heard a low laugh behind her.

  “Again?” Ryan Henderson, bandaged and ensconced in a wheelchair, glanced back and forth between the two of them. “What does she mean again? This something you make a regular habit of?”

  “She does, actually. Yes.” Siobhan looked at him uncertainly for a moment, then turned back to her sister. “This is what, Marsha? The fourth time, now?”

  “Yeah. About that,” Marsha admitted, squirming a little. It was only the third…so far. But time was a tricky thing. “But really, this time was totally different, Vonne. I didn’t even get hurt.”

  “No, you left that to me,” Ryan put in.

  Siobhan rounded on him quickly. “You? What happened to you?”

  “That’s how Ryan got shot,” Marsha told her. “He was one of the cops who tried to rescue me.”

  “Tried?” He looked at her, affronted. “Well, there’s gratitude for you. I notice you’re still here?”

  Marsha opened her mouth to reply, then shut it again with a snap, as she recognized the unfamiliar sound of her sister’s laughter. A sound that was abruptly cut off again, when another voice spoke up from behind her.

  “Hello, Siobhan,” Bob said. “How are you?”

  “Busy,” Siobhan snapped, glaring at him angrily. “What are you doing here?”

  The tension between them made her head ache. Marsha felt Ryan shift restlessly in his chair. “Did you get everything squared away with Lucy, Bob?” Marsha asked, hoping to deflect some of the tension. “Because if you’re looking for her, I think she’s over by the buffet.”

  “I saw her,” Bob replied curtly, his eyes still on Siobhan, “Didn’t Marsha tell you, Vonne? She came to see me the other day and—”

  “No, she didn’t,” Siobhan interrupted. “But how silly of me to forget. I don’t care why you’re here. Now, if you’ll all excuse me?”

  Marsha watched as both men turned to watch her sister leave. A dark foreboding further clouded her mood, and for a moment she was tempted to say something. But she quickly thought better of it. There was no way she was going to try and fix this one. They’d all just have to figure things out on their own. She was through interfering in other people’s business. This time, she’d learned her lesson, for sure.

  * * *

  Lucy felt the hard, rubbery smoothness of the olive on her tongue as it slipped between her lips. She bit into it and shuddered at the explosion of brine in her mouth.

  “Mmm,” she murmured, frowning just a little as she swallowed the last of it. “You’re right.” She opened her eyes at last and gazed up at Dan thoughtfully. “Definitely. A little too much vinegar, and not nearly enough garlic.”

  “And here you thought I was just being greedy,” Dan chided as he helped himself to another olive from the dish. “I told you. I’m just trying to be helpful, babe.”

  She smiled, as she grabbed his hand and brought it to her mouth. “Oh, I don’t care what spin you want to put on it, Cavanaugh. I warned you what would happen if I—” She broke off when she realized she’d lost his attention, and turned to see Nick coming toward them, frowning slightly.

  “Hey, Nick.” Dan sounded a little nervous, Lucy thought, as he pulled his hand a little too hastily out of hers. She was surprised to see that Nick, too, seemed ill at ease. He couldn’t possibly have failed to convince Scout, could he?

  “What’s wrong?” she demanded, “Where’s Scout?”

  “Getting dressed,” Nick answered shortly, fidgeting with something in his pocket.

  “Oh. So then, is everything okay now?” she persisted.

  Nick arched one eyebrow at her. “Of course. I told you I’d take care of it, didn’t I?”

  “Well then, wh—”

  “Lucy, calm down. Relax. Everything’s fine. She’ll be down in a couple of minutes. Now, do you mind? I need to talk to Dan about something.”

  “Babe, why don’t you go see if everyone else is ready to start,” Dan urged quietly. A little too quietly, Lucy thought, and maybe a little too urgently, as well. “I’ll be along in a moment.”

  She looked from one to the other of the men, and snorted impatiently. “I don’t think so.” She folded her arms and glared at them stubbornly. “What’s going on here, guys?”

  Nick smiled at
her, chuckling a little to himself, then turned to Dan. “No one ever could put anything past this one, you know,” he remarked with maybe a hint of a warning in his voice. “Not for long, anyway.”

  “I know it,” Dan said mildly. “That’s why I wouldn’t ever try.”

  Nick nodded. “Right. So, anyway, I had a little problem with Joey, and—”

  “What kind of problem?” Lucy asked suspiciously.

  “Well, it seems he had a little talk with Scout this morning,” Nick told her. “Tried to convince her to back out on the wedding.”

  “Joey did that?” Lucy groaned. “Oh, shit. So? What’d you do with his corpse?”

  Nick grimaced. “Luce, you think that we could maybe have a moratorium on corpse jokes for the time being? Anyway, I didn’t touch him. Scout insisted he only had my best interests at heart, so—”

  Dan laughed. “God, Janice is gonna love that.”

  Nick flashed him a brief smile. “Yeah. She really did. But it seems I’m still gonna need a best man. So, how about it, Dan? Think you can help me out?”

  “Me?” Dan started in surprise. “Sure thing, Nick. I’d be honored.”

  Nick nodded. “Okay, good. Thanks. I’ve got the rings right here, and—”

  “Daddy! Daddy!” Kate came running up to them, with Mandy only a few steps behind. “Aunt Rose said to find you and tell you that—” She paused for breath.

  “Mom!” Mandy, eyes wide, took up the tale. “You’ll never guess!”

  “Cousin Angela’s here!” Kate finished in a rush.

  “What?” All three adults stared at the girls.

  “Oh, Lord,” Lucy moaned as she collapsed against Dan’s chest, not certain whether she wanted to laugh or cry. “I give up. I can’t take any more.”

  “Just hang in there a little longer, babe,” Dan said, holding her close and patting her reassuringly on the back. “It’ll be okay. But Nick, if you’re ever gonna do this, I suggest you do it quick. Before anything else has a chance to go wrong.”

  * * *

  Scout was halfway down the stairs when she saw Nick’s mother standing in the foyer, studying the sculpture she had made. The older woman turned toward her, an intense, thoughtful expression on her face. Scout steeled herself for yet another confrontation.

  “You made this?” Lillian asked, nodding at the sculpture.

  “Yes,” Scout answered, a little nervously as she came down the stairs to stand beside her.

  “It’s very good.” Lillian looked around at the pictures hanging on the walls. “And Nick said that your father painted all these pictures?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s you, isn’t it?” She gestured toward one of the portraits.

  “Me and my stepsister,” Scout explained. “And that one over there is my stepmother.”

  “Hmph. Very nice,” the older woman said. “So you have your whole family here, then?”

  Scout looked around again, surprised. “I never thought about it that way, but yes, I guess I do.”

  Lillian looked back at the bronze again. “And now you’ve made Nick part of your family, too. That’s good.”

  “I guess. I never thought about that, either,” Scout admitted. “I’ve been without a family for so long, it just always seemed like it was the other way around. That Nick was making me part of his family.”

  “Well, that too, of course.” Lillian smiled as she patted her on the arm. “It works both ways, you know.” She peered at her more closely. “You look very nice today. Nick helped you pick out that dress?”

  Scout looked down at the butter-cream colored watered silk of her dress and smiled. “Yes. He has pretty good instincts when it comes to clothes, I think.”

  “My son has good instincts about a lot of things. And I think he loves you very much.”

  “I know,” Scout answered shyly. “I love him, too.”

  “Good.” Lillian surprised Scout with a quick hug. “I’m glad to know that. Now, maybe one of these days, you can get him to teach you to cook, huh?”

  “There you are,” Nick exclaimed, coming toward them down the hallway. “Finally! I thought I was gonna have to call out a search team for you.”

  “Well, I don’t know why you’d think that was necessary.” Scout answered, making a face. “The house isn’t that big.”

  Nick grimaced. “At the moment, it’s feeling a little too small, if you ask me. But never mind that. Can we please get this show on the road already? I’m not getting any younger, you know.”

  His mother scowled at him. “Nicky! That is no way to talk to your bride on her wedding day!”

  Nick stared at her in surprise. “What’s wrong with it? I said please, didn’t I? And just whose side are you on now, anyway?”

  Lillian slipped her arm through Scout’s. “Hers, I think.”

  “Is that right?” Nick raised his eyebrows, then slowly smiled. “Yeah, well... me, too.”

  Scout hurriedly blinked back the tears that were threatening to ruin her mascara.

  “So, Ma, why don’t you go out and say hello to your niece,” Nick suggested gently. “Scout and I’ll be out in a minute.”

  “My niece?” Lillian frowned. “Why would I need to say hello to Lucy all of a sudden?”

  “Not Lucy. Angela’s here.”

  “Oh, good God. That one.” Lillian rolled her eyes heavenward as she disengaged her arm from Scout’s. “Don’t take too long,” she admonished her son, giving his arm a little pat before she headed down the hallway. “You know your cousin. You don’t want to give her time to start something.”

  Nick smiled at Scout as he took her in his arms. “Are you ready for this?” he asked tenderly.

  “Mmm-hmm.” She smiled back up at him as she struggled for a way to put her feelings into words. “Thank you,” she murmured at last.

  “For what?” He looked at her curiously, his brown eyes gleaming with love.

  Scout shrugged. “Oh, just... for everything.” She gazed up at him, too overcome with emotion to say more. She felt his sudden intake of breath, felt his arms tighten around her.

  “Oh, no.” His voice was low and husky as his lips brushed against hers. “Oh, honey, you’ve got that backwards. Thank you.”

  Back to Top

  * * * *

  Chapter Thirty Four

  * * * *

  Get with the program. Marsha thought about Frank’s advice as she stood alone in the garden. Boy, was that ever easier said than done. It was a day devoted to love, happiness and romance – things she couldn’t even bear to think about right now. Things she couldn’t escape from, either. Not with the gentle, plaintive strains of music wafting through the air from the trio of musicians Lucy had hired. A flute, a violin, and a harp. Marsha doubted whether it was even possible to conceive of a more perfectly romantic combination of instruments.

  Even the weather had conspired, despite Lucy’s fears, to create the ideal setting. The sky was blue and perfectly cloudless. Butterflies danced about on the breeze. And even though she knew that there was no significance to their presence here – they were merely heading toward the groves where they hibernated for the winter - she couldn’t help but remember that they were widely regarded as symbols of joy and new life and conjugal bliss. Everywhere she looked, it seemed, there were signs and omens. Blue skies and butterflies. Happy couples. Smiling faces. Yuck.

  It wasn’t that she wasn’t happy for Scout – of course she was. And she knew her friend deserved every bit of the happiness she was finally getting. But it was just so hard to think of anyone – or anything else – with this vast emptiness howling inside her. It was like a huge black hole that had already swallowed her heart. And it was taking every bit of energy she could find just to keep the rest of her from disappearing into it as well. It would be so easy to do that. To give up and let herself fall. The only thing stopping her was the uneasy suspicion that she’d never find a way to climb back out again.

  “C’mon, they’re finally ready.
Let’s do this.” Lucy’s voice startled Marsha out of her reverie. For a moment she could only stare blankly at her friend. Lucy’s forehead crinkled suddenly in concern; she touched her lightly on the arm. “Marsh... are you okay?”

  Marsha sighed. “No, Lucy. Not really.”

  “Shit. That guy is slime for doing this to you!” Lucy stamped her foot in frustration. “We should hex him or something. I swear, if I ever see him again, I’ll—”

  “Lucy, stop.” Marsha cut her friend off in mid-rant. “It’s okay. Thanks for the offer, but you don’t have to do anything about it. Really. We don’t either of us need the karma, you know.”

  “But—”

  “I’ll be okay. Eventually.” I hope.

  Lucy blew out a deep breath and frowned uncertainly. “I guess. If you say so. But it’s not right, you know. I don’t like it.”

  “I know.” Marsha felt the corner of her mouth kick up in a weak grin. Lucy never did like anything. “But – come on, this is Scout’s day, remember? Let’s not ruin it for her.”

  “All right, fine,” Lucy said, grabbing her arm and pulling her toward the house. “But only because I’ve already put a lot of work into pulling this thing off. As soon as it’s over, though? Girl, I’ve got a king-sized tiramisu and a bottle of Kahlua with our names on it.

  Marsha managed a small smile. “Good. That’ll fix anything.”

  * * *

  “Jeez. You two think you could lay off kissing long enough to tie the knot? We’re a little off schedule here, you know,” Lucy said.

  Nick broke away from Scout reluctantly and turned to face his cousin. “We’re off schedule, Lucy?” he demanded teasingly. “Just who is it that’s getting married here today anyway?”

  “Good question,” Lucy snapped back. “At the moment, it doesn’t look like anybody is. Which is exactly my point, Nick.” She grinned suddenly. “Now, why don’t you get your handsome butt out there so we can get started?”

  “All right, all right, quit pushing.” He leaned in for one last kiss. “Hurry!” he said, smiling as he gave Scout’s hand a final squeeze and headed toward the door. “Happy now?” he couldn’t resist asking Lucy as he went past her.