The Corner of Holly and Ivy--A feel-good Christmas romance

by Debbie Mason

  So far, six of her great-grandsons were on board to keep the estate in the family, along with the loves of their lives. The women were the key. More often than not, it was that way in life. A woman steering her man in the right direction with but a whisper in his ear. Some of them needed a shout—not her great-grandsons, mind. The younger generation was smarter than the last. And at that moment, she’d like to give Daniel more than a shout in his ear; she’d like to give him a kick in the behind.

  The grandson in question pushed back from the table and then went to Maura’s side, holding out the chair for her. “You know, Maura my love, it might be time for you to set my brother free, ask him for a divorce. It’s clear he has no interest in being around you and the boys anymore. When was the last time he visited you here? Better for you to move on, if you ask me.”

  “Did you hear that, Simon? Did you hear what he just said to Maura? Imagine him telling her it was time for her to move on, time for her to ask Sean for a divorce.” Colleen was fit to be tied. Maura wasn’t helping matters with her silence. Colleen didn’t know what was wrong with the lot of them.

  Her daughter-in-law Kitty, Daniel’s mother, should have intervened long before now. Even Jasper, Kitty’s beau and Colleen’s long-time confidante and right-hand man, should have made his thoughts known, especially since they coincided with hers. She understood his reluctance to do so though. He wouldn’t feel it was his place.

  But Kitty was a different story entirely. The only reason Colleen could see for her daughter-in-law to turn a blind eye to the whole affair was Daniel had once been an attentive, loving son, whom they’d rarely seen before he arrived at Greystone this past June. Colleen could count on two hands the number of times he’d been home in the past forty years.

  He was a busy man; she’d grant him that. He’d had his archaeological digs, papers to write, lectures to give, and families to raise. But Colleen didn’t think it was a coincidence that Daniel had left days before Maura and Sean’s wedding all those years before, only to return when it appeared the couple’s marriage was over. If Daniel had his way, it looked like there’d be no chance for the reconciliation Sean and Maura’s sons hoped for. And Colleen could only imagine what Sean’s reaction would be if Maura did indeed ask him for a divorce.

  “Best we batten down the hatches, Simon. I think we’re in for quite the storm.”

  * * *

  It would have been faster for Connor to walk from Arianna’s to Greystone Manor than to accept Mrs. Ranger’s offer of a ride. Except then he wouldn’t have discovered exactly what was going on at the house on the corner of Holly and Ivy.

  After what he’d witnessed this morning, it didn’t surprise him that today was the first time Arianna had set foot outside. It worried him though. The entire situation did. It was why he’d come directly to Greystone Manor to talk to Jenna rather than call an Uber and head to Raw, the Boston restaurant Lyndsey and Tiff had chosen for drinks and dinner, where he had every expectation of finding Brooklyn and his car. And that had been before Mrs. Ranger shared how truly bad things were.

  “Are you sure it’s not just everyday forgetfulness? Helen’s eighty. It not uncommon for someone to be forgetful at her age.” Before she’d died, his great-grandmother Colleen (or GG as they called her) often forgot appointments and people’s names. She also misplaced things and repeated herself. Granted, it hadn’t become noticeable up until a few years before she died.

  In six weeks, it would be the second anniversary of her death. Sometimes it felt like she’d been gone much longer. He missed her a lot. They all did.

  “Trust me, as an eighty-year-old whose been known to mix up her grandchildren and children’s names and frequently repeats herself, I’m well aware what’s normal and what’s not. Helen doesn’t have the garden-variety kind of senior moments, I’m afraid. Why, just the other night, I spied her in her front flower bed, digging up the tulip bulbs she’d planted a week before.”

  Mrs. Ranger gave a sorrowful shake of her head as she drove under the stone arch into Greystone Manor’s parking lot. “I think she mixed up the months. She probably thought it was July and put the bulbs back in their paper bags, tucking them away in the cellar. I hope she doesn’t remember what she’s done. She’d be devastated. She’s a master gardener, you know. She’s the one who organized the Harmony Harbor in Bloom event. If she becomes mayor, she plans to hold an annual garden festival on Mother’s Day weekend. A few years ago, when she had her wits about her, she would have been the best mayor Harmony Harbor could have asked for. Far better than your uncle, if you don’t mind me saying.”

  “Not at all. But why did you have his sign on your lawn?” He wasn’t exactly a fan of his uncle’s plans for the town, but family was family. And Connor’s mother was Daniel’s campaign manager.

  Mrs. Ranger pulled into a parking spot at the side of the sprawling mansion. The local sand-colored granite sparkled in the midday sun.

  Shifting in the driver’s seat, Mrs. Ranger faced him. “I might not be enamored of his plan to revitalize Main Street, but I trust your family to do what’s best for the town. And it’s not like I can vote for Helen knowing what I do. Except after hearing the sorry situation they’re in, I told her I’d not only vote for her, I’d get my bridge club to do the same. I feel sick about it. Sick at the thought of all the ways she might embarrass herself. What if she’s being interviewed and forgets her words? And heaven help you if you try to correct her or point out there’s a problem. She’ll turn on you faster than a pit bull. She always had a temper, but not like this. Look at what she did to your uncle’s sign.”

  He didn’t point out that Arianna had actually done the most damage.

  “She’s frustrated and afraid. That’s why she’s acting out.” Mrs. Ranger sniffed and reached into the pocket of her red plaid jacket, pulling out a tissue.

  Given what he’d witnessed this morning, Helen Fairchild wasn’t the only one who was frustrated and afraid. So was her granddaughter. Connor kept the observation to himself. Sometimes the best way to learn what you needed to know was to sit back and listen. The tactic had served him well in court and in negotiations. Except he wasn’t sure how much more he could learn about Arianna’s current situation without losing it on his brother’s fiancée. He didn’t understand why Jenna hadn’t intervened before now.

  Dabbing at her eyes with the tissue, Mrs. Ranger said, “Heaven help us if Helen wins. She forgets to pay her bills, you know. A few weeks back a man from the power company came around to talk to her, all set to cut her off if Helen didn’t pay up.” She gave her head a sad shake. “I just can’t. I can’t vote for her knowing what I do. For Helen’s sake, as much as the town’s. There has to be another way to help them. You used to date Arianna, didn’t you, dear? Surely you want to help her.”

  “Of course I do. And I will. They can’t continue living like this.”

  “I agree. Arianna is all but skin and bones. I was shocked when I saw her. I shouldn’t have been surprised, I suppose. I ran into Helen at the grocery store a few weeks back. She had next to nothing in her cart. Just a few frozen dinners and two tubs of maple-walnut ice cream. It’s Arianna’s favorite, you know.”

  He did. Back in the day, he’d made it his mission to find out everything about Arianna Bell. It was good to know some things had stayed the same. Other things he wished hadn’t, like Arianna’s mother. “Does Beverly have any idea what’s going on with her daughter and mother?”

  “That girl, honestly. Helen says she’s taken up with her pool boy. I don’t know what a thirty-year-old man sees in a sixty-year-old woman, but who am I to judge? Helen had been visiting Beverly in California when they got the call about Arianna, you know. They caught the first flight home, and then two days later Beverly hightailed it back to her pool boy. If you ask me, she’s not happy her mother chose to remain with Arianna instead of returning to California with her. She’s always been jealous of their relationship. Helen and Arianna have a special bond. It’ll k
ill that child to lose her grandma.”

  The more the older woman talked, the worse it got. He couldn’t think about how Arianna would deal with finding out that while she might not physically be losing her grandmother, she was, for all intents and purposes, losing her. After what Arianna had said earlier, he knew she couldn’t handle another emotional hit. He put his hand on the door, about to get out of the car, but Mrs. Ranger wasn’t finished torturing him.

  “She’s lost so much. It wasn’t right, Serena leaving her like she did. Those two were joined at the hip.”

  He should have ended the conversation five minutes ago. “I’m sure Arianna understood why Serena needed to get out of town. It’s not forever. And she has Jenna.” Mrs. Ranger opened her mouth, and he practically leaped out of the car. “Thanks again for the ride.”

  She leaned across the console. “You should stay in town. Arianna needs a friend close by, and you used to be a good one. Your brother Michael commuted to Boston when he was with the FBI. You could do the same.”

  Only he wouldn’t need to commute to work because he no longer had a job. He’d gambled that his years as the top earner and the best closer at his firm would outweigh the founding partners’ loyalty to the Summers family. He’d been wrong.

  “I’ll think about it,” he said as he reached into the back pocket of his jeans for his wallet. Leaning into the car, he handed Mrs. Ranger his card. “Do me a favor. Keep an eye on Arianna and Helen. Call my cell phone if you’re concerned. Doesn’t matter what time, day or night.”

  “Don’t you worry. I’ll keep an eye on them. I’ll make a casserole when I get home and drop it by for their dinner tonight. I’ll talk to the ladies in my bridge club and the garden club too. We’ll come up with a schedule to cover their meals for the next month at least. I should have done it sooner, but I didn’t want to seem nosy or interfering. Helen can be a little prickly, if you know what I mean.”

  He did. Her granddaughter could be the same. At least before the fire. It used to drive him nuts. Now he’d give anything to see a hint of the hardheaded woman he remembered. “Don’t let her intimidate you.”

  No doubt he’d end up taking his own advice before this was over. As dysfunctional and potentially dangerous as their current situation was, he had a feeling neither Arianna nor Helen would be particularly pleased when he and their neighbors intervened.

  Connor returned Mrs. Ranger’s wave as she pulled away and then headed for the walkway in hopes of finding his family still hanging out on the patio. Sunday brunch had become something of a tradition for them since the weekend back in June when his baby brother had organized an intervention.

  Back then Connor had been as concerned about his mother’s health as his siblings but hadn’t been thrilled at the idea of confronting her. Unless it was in the courtroom or at the negotiating table, he didn’t do conflict well. Maybe because he’d always been on the losing end of every family debate or argument, his opinion never carrying quite the same weight as those of his overachieving brothers—his baby brother, Michael, with the photographic memory and his older brother, Logan, who could do no wrong in their parents’ eyes.

  In the end, despite their mother being upset at the time, things had turned out pretty well. She’d agreed to the consultation he’d set up with a renowned oncologist, learned the ovarian tumor was benign, and had recovered swiftly from her surgery.

  The reason he and his brothers didn’t judge the intervention a complete success was at that moment walking down the manor’s front steps. Caught up in her conversation with his uncle Daniel, Connor’s mother was oblivious to his presence. The pair shared a smile that caused his jaw to clench. Like his brothers, he didn’t understand why his mother was still hanging out in Harmony Harbor instead of back home in Boston with her husband of forty years. Although more and more it was looking like his uncle might be the reason, and not just because of his political campaign.

  For the most part, Connor liked his uncle, whereas Mike could barely stand to be in the same room with the man. He didn’t trust him. Connor had a feeling Mike was right, at least to a point. There was definitely more to their father’s older brother than the happy-go-lucky charmer he allowed the world to see. But Connor found the well-respected archaeologist interesting to talk to and enjoyed hanging out with him. That didn’t mean he wanted him with his mother though.

  Daniel said something to Maura that made her laugh, duck her head, and then tuck her brown hair behind her ear. Connor’s eyes narrowed at the blush pinking her cheeks, and he cleared his throat. He didn’t care that his parents were technically separated or that his father had supposedly stolen his mother away from Daniel decades before. The last thing Connor needed was evidence the two had picked up where they’d left off.

  With a twinkle in his Gallagher-blue eyes and a roguish grin on his ruggedly handsome face, Connor’s uncle looked like he’d just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Connor gave him a look that said to keep his hands out of that particular jar because those cookies were spoken for.

  The older man chuckled as if he’d read Connor’s mind, then said in a thick brogue that guaranteed the ladies of Harmony Harbor would be lining up to give him their vote, “There’s my favorite nephew. Did you find out who’s been defacing my signs, boyo?”

  Today wasn’t the first time a member of his uncle’s fan club had sent up the alarm that a campaign sign had been damaged, although it was the first time Connor had been asked to look into it.

  “No red spray paint involved this time around; just an accident. Arianna Bell was at her neighbor’s place and tripped over the sign.” Then kicked you in the face a couple of times. Connor fought back a smile at the thought. He would have preferred to leave Arianna’s name out of it, but there’d been too many witnesses. Hopefully, like him, they were feeling protective of her and wouldn’t share the real story with half the town.

  “She’s not going to sue, is she?” his mother asked, smoothing back her hair with a subtle glance at Daniel before refocusing on Connor. “Is that why you’re here? I thought you and Brooklyn would be in Boston by now.”

  Okay, so clearly he hadn’t thought this through. “Arianna’s not going to sue, Mom. She, ah, walked into the sign. It didn’t walk into—”

  He was relieved when his uncle interrupted him, because his mother’s eyes had narrowed as though she’d just remembered he’d dated Arianna. And if she discovered Brooklyn had taken off without him, she might figure out the reason he was still in Harmony Harbor and his girlfriend was not had something to do with Arianna.

  “Where did you park, lad?” his uncle asked with a frown, leaning around him to scan the lot.

  Connor stared at his uncle, wondering why he’d even thought to ask. Unless the news had already hit the Harmony Harbor gossip grapevine and people in town weren’t feeling as protective of Arianna as he was. He’d seen signs his uncle was as tapped into the town’s gossip as GG used to be. A scary thought if it was true.

  “Brooklyn headed back to Boston without me,” Connor said, doing his best to avoid his mother’s probing gaze. “I wanted to talk to J—Logan about something and didn’t want Brooklyn to be late for drinks with her friends.”

  “Arianna Bell. Why does that name sound familiar?” his mother asked, tapping a manicured finger against her chin.

  “Maybe because Logan is marrying her sister and she was injured in a fire that destroyed several shops on Main Street, including hers,” Connor said.

  “Don’t be silly. Of course I know who she is. Besides being Jenna’s sister, she’s a well-known and talented wedding dress designer. But that’s not what I was talking about.” She lifted her hands as though she couldn’t believe she’d forgotten. “Now I remember. Either Michael or Logan dated her. Whichever one it was, I seem to remember he was quite taken with her.”

  “Really, Mom? It was me. I was in love with Arianna, not Michael or Logan. Me. We dated for two years.”

  “Little touchy, aren’
t you, boyo? Must have been a first love.” Daniel raised his index finger in a gotcha gesture. “It was, wasn’t it? Oh yes, there it is, written all over your face. Don’t bother denying it. I can commiserate,” he said, putting an arm around Connor’s mother’s shoulders and smiling tenderly down at her. “Your mother was mine, and I never got over her.”

  Connor wanted to yank his mother away from Daniel, which might have been why he said dryly, “I doubt that. You were married three times.”

  “And that says it all, doesn’t it, now? No one measured up to your mother. If I hadn’t called your father to help—”

  “We shouldn’t keep Connor, Daniel,” his mother said, looking uncomfortable. Which Connor was relieved to see. She should bloody well be uncomfortable. “I’m sure he wants to speak to his brother so he can get back to Boston and Brooklyn.” She frowned. “Darling, why didn’t you just call Logan?”

  “He asked me to take care of a legal matter for him, and I forgot to have him sign off on the paperwork.” He lied so smoothly that you’d think he made a habit of it. He didn’t. He was just really good at thinking on his feet.

  His mother and his uncle looked at his empty hands.

  Blowing out an irritated breath, he took his phone from his back pocket and held it up. “It’s all here. I just e-mail the file to his printer. Now, if we’re all good, I’ll go and do that.”

  “You’ll need to replace the sign the Bell girl knocked over before you head back to Boston,” his uncle reminded him.

  Yeah, right. “I’ll do that,” he said, leaning in to kiss his mother’s cheek. He then rounded the pair and continued up the walkway to the front door. Out of the corner of his eye, he spied something hurtling through the sky toward him and turned in time to catch the football.

  “You still got it, bro,” his brother Logan called out. “Come on. We’re having a game of pickup. The summer Gallaghers versus the Harmony Harbor Gallaghers.” His cousins had been born and raised in Harmony Harbor, while Connor and his brothers were born and raised in Boston. Growing up, they’d spent the summers and holidays here. When he was dating Arianna, Connor spent as many weekends as he could in the town by the sea.