by Ellen Joy
Elizabeth looked at her sister, grateful for her presence and her help. She hoped their relationship would always be this close. “Thanks for coming over.”
“I want you to look good for McHottie.”
ADAM’S PARENTS TRIED to insist on canceling their plans so they could take Lucy when they heard about his date with Elizabeth, but he couldn’t let them do that. He was sure Lucy would have a fit and he actually wanted Lucy there, as a buffer. He didn’t want to rush anything. He’d let them help when the time was right.
He didn’t tell Lucy about the night. He knew if he had, she’d never stop talking about it, rattling his nerves even more than they already were. Or if, God forbid, Elizabeth canceled, he’d look like a complete fool and she’d be devastated. He was sure Lucy wanted Elizabeth in their lives as much as he did.
That’s why he had to get this thing right.
He called Drew to speak to Natalia, who agreed that a game of Monopoly with dinner, maybe a fire after Lucy went to bed, was a good plan. After he hung up the phone, he saw Lucy standing in the doorway.
“You’re having a date with Dr. Elizabeth tonight?” Lucy’s eyes filled with hope.
“She’s coming to play a game of Monopoly.”
“You should choose another game, like Uno or something.”
“Why?” Adam asked. “I thought you liked Monopoly.”
“Yes, but you always lose at it.”
“That’s because I let you win.”
“Really?” she looked doubtful. “We both know that’s not true.”
His mother wore off on Lucy in the weirdest ways. Like when it came to throwing a party. She took over the evening plans, although he took care of the menu. First, they went to the grocery store and got fresh Atlantic salmon along with asparagus and potatoes. They stopped at the bakery to pick up dessert, and before he could even choose something, Lucy blabbed to Frank about the whole evening. David packed an assortment of pastries. Then wouldn’t take his money.
When they got home, she spent time with the puppies while he cleaned up and prepped the food. Lucy cut bouquets of purple lilacs from the back yard and filled the house with them in the glass vases Mrs. Sanborn left behind. He turned on some music before opening the bottle of wine. Everything looked perfect by the time they were ready.
When she arrived, Adam felt like he had when he took Amy Olsen to prom. His nerves all wrestled up in his stomach, his palms sweaty. Lucy set off to meet her as she stepped out of her car, leaving the kitchen door wide open. He watched from the porch as they embraced, and instead of heading toward the house, Lucy tugged Elizabeth toward the barn. He couldn’t help but not how good she looked in her jeans and shirt. Lucy punctuated her chatter with gestures, like Elizabeth did when she got excited about something. A family quirk he had noticed at the party. He smiled at the thought of Lucy picking up more habits from Elizabeth.
He followed them to the barn, not saying a word, but instead taking his sister’s advice and just tried to be present in the moment. His sister took a hot yoga class, that was her answer to everything.
Elizabeth gave Lucy her full attention, and this time he didn’t worry whether she was here for him or Lucy because he suddenly realized he wanted her here for both of them. He and Lucy were a package deal.
Officially, once Michelle signed those papers.
Lucy picked up the oldest female puppy and handed her to Elizabeth. “I named her Elizabeth. Bessie for short.”
He watched her expression, wondering what her reaction would be.
Tears formed in her eyes, and she laughed. She kissed the puppy, then the top of Lucy’s head. “I love the name Bessie.”
When Lucy told him she wanted to name the firstborn puppy after Elizabeth, he almost made her change her mind. Afraid she might be insulted to have a mutt named after her, or at the nickname Lucy had chosen. He shouldn’t have doubted that Elizabeth would be flattered.
She stood up, holding the puppy, then turned to him. Her eyes like magnets pulling him in deeper the longer he looked.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey.”
Lucy looked back and forth between the two of them. “Hope you like fish.”
“I love fish,” she said.
“I suppose you can’t grow up living on the ocean without loving fish,” he said.
She made a grimace. “There are some.”
The night went along as planned. All the things he feared might go wrong, didn’t. There were no fires in the barbeque, no clumsy handling or badly-cooked food. Conversation carried on naturally, and Lucy behaved perfectly. That he didn’t worry about. He knew Lucy wanted this as much as he did.
“Can we check on Anastasia together?” Lucy asked, finishing up the last of her potatoes.
“Lu, Dr. Elizabeth’s not here to work.” Adam grabbed the plates from the table, giving her the stink eye.
“No, please, I’d love to check on Anastasia,” Elizabeth said as she wiped the corner of her mouth with the linen napkin. “Everything was delicious.”
“Why don’t you two go out while I clean up and get dessert.”
“Great,” Lucy said, jumping up out of her chair and grabbing Elizabeth’s hand. The two headed out to the barn, both in their paddock boots.
He grabbed the rest of the dishes left on the table and dumped them in the sink. Just as he turned the faucet on, his phone rang. He glanced over, predicting that his mother couldn’t wait until tomorrow like he asked her, but saw a new number.
An international number.
Since he no longer worked at the firm, international calls were a thing of the past. The only person who had ever called him personally from an international number was Michelle.
He didn’t move, just let the water run as he stared at the phone, bouncing along the counter as it vibrated. What if Michelle was back for Lucy? He watched as the phone stopped ringing. It felt like forever, waiting to see if a voicemail would pop up.
He turned the water off and turned around, resting his weight against the counter as he looked out at the barn. Of course, it was too good to be true.
He picked up his phone, opened his contacts and dialed the number. She picked up right away. “Mr. Cahill, I was just about to call you.”
“I guess there’s something in the air, because I think Michelle tried contacting me tonight.”
“She may have, because I spoke to her this afternoon. She’s staying at the Ritz Carlton.”
His throat closed up, instantly dry. “Did she respond to my offer?”
“Yes, but I’m afraid her response wasn’t what you were hoping for.”
BESSIE SLEPT IN LUCY’S hands as they checked on Anastasia, who by all measures seemed to be coming along quite well in her pregnancy. The mare had not only gained weight, but her eyes had a spirit in them that only the love of a family could create.
“How has her appetite been?” Elizabeth asked, running her hand down the back of the horse. Anastasia’s stall was right next to Mildred’s.
“She’s been eating a lot of the grain.”
“Good. Make sure there’s plenty of hay for her to eat throughout the day.” Lucy kissed the puppy in her arms, letting Anastasia sniff it. “You’ll want to make sure she gets out to the pasture for exercise, as well.”
“I also keep rubbing her belly.” Lucy demonstrated for effect.
“That’s going to prepare her for the foal to be underneath her, to nurse.” Elizabeth rubbed her own hand along the mare’s full belly, feeling movement under her fingers. “The baby’s moving.”
“I can see it moving!”
“It’s getting tight in there, which means the foal is coming soon.”
Lucy wriggled with excitement.
“A good number of deliveries happen in the really early hours of the morning. The foal may be born before you wake up.”
Lucy shook her head. “I won’t miss it. I’ve been sleeping out here, just in case.”
Elizabeth looked around
the barn for a sleeping area. “Where?”
Lucy pointed to an empty stall. Elizabeth walked over and peeked over the gate. Two air mattresses with sheets and blankets sat inside. They were both sleeping out there. Elizabeth smiled to herself. She’d do the exact same thing.
Her mind wandered from Adam and Lucy to the farm, and her dreams of being part of a family. Not just any family, but this family. Suddenly, everything she ever wanted was right at her fingertips and it frightened her. Her feelings were out of control, and it proved the dream of owning this farm was never about the clinic, but about having a family.
She looked toward the house as Adam came walking into the barn. He held two coffee mugs, his expression serious. She had come to understand his serious demeanor as thoughtfulness and a deep contemplation. When he stepped inside the stall, he passed a coffee to Elizabeth and a mug with whip cream on top to Lucy.
Elizabeth couldn’t fully describe the feeling, but her whole body pulsed with happiness and worry.
“How is everybody?” he asked.
“Mildred and the puppies look great. I’m thinking Anastasia has a month or so.” Elizabeth pointed to the stall. “You sleep out here, too?”
Adam shrugged. “She’s going to no matter what I say.”
Elizabeth laughed. “You should’ve started renovating the barn first.”
“Next, I’m going to start on the porch. Then paint.”
Elizabeth could feel her stomach tighten. That’s where she would’ve started if she had bought the farm herself. “I always thought a soft yellow would look nice.”
He turned and smiled. “I was thinking the exact same thing.”
Elizabeth’s nerves disappeared and like finding the missing note to a strand, the music suddenly became a melody. The three of them fell into a rhythm that felt natural. Dinner was delicious and conversation flowed. They agreed to end the game of Monopoly and declare everyone a winner as Lucy’s eyelids drooped.
“I think it’s time to hit the hay,” Adam said, getting up from the table. “How about you say goodnight to Dr. Elizabeth, and I’ll take you upstairs.”
“What about Anastasia?” Lucy shook her head. “I need to sleep in the barn.”
“I can check on her before I go to bed.”
“But you’ll forget.”
“I’ll make sure he doesn’t,” Elizabeth promised.
“I want Dr. Elizabeth to bring me to bed,” Lucy negotiated.
Elizabeth was flattered, but she wasn’t exactly sure what that entailed. Adam might not want her to bring Lucy to bed, maybe ... she stopped overthinking when Lucy grabbed her hand. She glanced to Adam for confirmation.
“Do you mind?” he asked.
“No, I don’t mind.” In fact, she loved the idea.
Hand in hand, they walked up the stairs and down the narrow hall. Lucy’s room was covered in posters of horses. It wasn’t clean and in tip-top shape like she suspected Adam’s own bedroom was, but the fact that he let Lucy have her room the way she wanted it made her glad. He allowed Lucy to be Lucy.
Lucy grabbed a nightgown from her top drawer of her bureau and said, “I have to brush my teeth.”
“Okay, I’ll wait here.”
As Lucy skipped to the bathroom, Elizabeth walked around, checking out her toys, remembering the horse figures she had played with for hours as a little girl her age. On the bureau were framed pictures. She recognized Adam’s parents in one of them. There were photos of Lucy skiing, one taken at the beach, and another with Adam, on top of a mountain. Then there was a photograph of Lucy, Adam, and a woman who Elizabeth didn’t recognize. Was she Lucy’s mother?
Elizabeth didn’t want to be caught staring at the photograph, but she so badly wanted to pick it up and study it. Questions sprang up in her head, wanting answers, and they insisted the answers were in the photo. It was taken in Boston. She recognized the area from the cobblestone sidewalk and stores in the background. They sat on a bench outside Quincy Market. Lucy held an ice-cream cone and was licking the cone as the picture was taken. She looked no more than four. Adam was taking the photo, probably with his phone, smiling right into the camera with Lucy on his lap. The woman sat beside them. She wore designer sunglasses, and her long brown hair had been styled. Even though she sat next to Lucy, she looked removed from the photo, her smile faded.
Adam had never mentioned Lucy’s mother. Had they been divorced? Was he a widower? With him moving to Maine from the city, sharing custody would be tricky, but doable. Not that it was any of Elizabeth’s business, she supposed, but she did wonder what happened. She thought back to Max, and how she insisted he put the dog down. No wonder he had hated her so much.
Elizabeth looked down at her causal clothes, and comparisons immediately flooded her mind.
From out of nowhere, Lucy walked in the room, surprising Elizabeth and she jumped away from the bureau.
“That’s my mom,” she said heading toward her bed.
“She’s very pretty,” Elizabeth said. “She looks like you.”
Lucy nodded as though she had heard this her whole life. Then she said, “He doesn’t want to tell you.”
Elizabeth throat tightened up. “Tell me what?”
She hesitated, looking at the door before saying, “That he’s not my dad. I mean, he’s my dad, but not my real dad.”
Elizabeth stood there, her mouth gaping open. Adam wasn’t Lucy’s dad?
“He’s afraid to tell you, because he really likes you.”
Elizabeth’s questions had gone into a frenzy inside her head. Adam wasn’t her father?
She thought back to all their conversations, all the small talk. He never mentioned anything that would make her doubt he wasn’t. She wanted so badly for Lucy to tell her more, but she was already resting her head on the pillow with sleepy eyes.
“Promise to keep a secret?” Elizabeth sat next to Lucy on the side of the bed. As shocking as her news had been, none of her feelings changed. “I like your dad, too.”
Lucy smiled and pulled up the covers. “My mom left a long time ago.”
Elizabeth thought of her own family and wondered if an eight-year-old Elizabeth would’ve been able to survive without her mother. At eight, Elizabeth had just welcomed her baby sister, Lauren, and thought her life was over because she had to share her room.
“You must miss her a lot.”
“My mom promised me she’d send me a fairy godmother before she left,” Lucy said. “I think she sent you.”
Elizabeth remembered the first night she met Lucy, coming down the back staircase with her doll in her arms. “I think, Miss Lucy, she sent you to me.”
Lucy squeezed Elizabeth again, then said, “Good night, Dr. Elizabeth.”
Elizabeth didn’t let go at first. She rocked her back and forth like her own mother had when giving a hug. “Good night, sweet Lucy.”
She turned off the bedside light and walked out the door, passing the photograph one last time. The woman didn’t look distant as she did before, instead she looked troubled.
What kind of trouble would make her leave Lucy? As she turned on the stair’s landing, she saw Adam at the bottom, waiting for her.
“I wanted to tell you.”
Elizabeth walked up to him, wrapped her arms around him, breathed in sandalwood and citrus, and kissed him.
Fifteen
Once again Elizabeth caught her mind wandering off, daydreaming of Adam and Lucy. Imagining future moments together like Thanksgiving and Christmas, or just another game night. Her head floated so high in the clouds that even Mr. Palmer’s grumbles about all the new construction seemed pleasant to her.
As she walked to work, she spent extra time looking around her neighborhood, wondering what she would miss if she lived on the farm. Would she keep her house? Rent it out to tourists? Maybe Lauren would rent it. She would be teaching this fall.
Don’t get too far ahead of yourself, she warned herself. Even though the night before had been one of the best night
s, he had been a complete gentleman; she still had to put things in perspective.
The truth was, even though everything seemed perfect, she still didn’t know all there was to know about Adam Cahill. What other things had he not found the time to tell?
But any doubt Elizabeth had about Adam seemed to dissipate when she thought about their kiss. That kiss had passion. More than any other kiss in her life. That, she was sure of.
As she walked to the clinic, she focused on breathing in the brisk morning air. Fog rolled out from the harbor as the sun poked through the clouds. It was her favorite time of year, just before the tourists started moving in for the summer, when the local businesses spruced up the shops, all the gardens came back to life, and the water was a crystal blue off the deserted cream beaches.
The steady hum of diesel engines rumbling in the background made her check Matt’s boat slip. It sat empty. He had probably been fishing since before sunrise. All the Williamses suffered from a strong work ethic, but Elizabeth knew it was a way to avoid the problems with Justine that haunted him. Was Adam haunted as well? Was that why he ran to Camden Cove?
She turned the corner on Main Street. She was only a few blocks away from the clinic when she saw Dan’s truck parked outside the diner. He sat inside looking down, probably on his phone. She almost turned around to avoid any encounter, but he looked up and saw her before she could make a move.
With a deep breath, she walked up to the truck. He didn’t move or look up until she was outside the door. She waved, and he rolled down the window. The brisk day became even cooler when he barely smiled back at her.
“Hey Dan,” she said, bouncing a bit on the balls of her feet. “How are you?”
“Fine.” He tapped the side of the door with his fingers, and she should’ve probably just left things at that, but something propelled her to continue.