Abby tensed and raised her fist.
“I hope you’re not going to throw something. Especially not another punch.” He rubbed his cheek. “I think you may have loosened one of my teeth the other day.”
“What else don’t I know about you?” Abby demanded, squaring her shoulders and rounding on him.
“Abby, there’s something I have to tell you. That I should have told you when we first met.”
Abby threw her hands up. More secrets. “What now?”
“It’s a good thing you’re already sitting down.”
Abby and Tack both looked out at the ocean, reluctant to face each other.
“When I ran into you outside of Mariner’s Fish Fry, it wasn’t the first time I’d seen you.”
Abby tilted her head in a question. “I don’t understand.”
“I mean, yes, it was the first time I’d spoken to you, but I’ve seen you before, at Louis’s funeral and one other time.”
“You were at Louis’s funeral?”
“Of course, but I was just one of a big crowd of people you weren’t really seeing that day, you were so distraught. I wanted to go to you, to comfort you, but I hardly knew you, and it wasn’t the time or the place.”
“Go to me? What do you mean?”
“From the moment Louis showed me your picture, I knew you were the one, and even before then.”
Abby turned to face Tack. “Louis showed you my picture. What picture was that?”
“Oh, it was taken when you two first met in Florence, Italy. Louis and I were always competing—in school for grades, for women, in business, for everything. I wanted what he had. When he got back from Europe, he showed me your picture, the one he took of you at the Uffizi Gallery. With your big brown eyes, your long, flowing strawberry-blonde hair down to your waist, and your sensual features and perfect figure, right in front of the painting The Birth of Venus.”
Tack hesitated and then continued with the rest of it. “I was there.”
“You were one of Louis’s Harvard friends?”
“Yes. He couldn’t ditch us fast enough. It’s no wonder you didn’t remember me. When I first saw you, for a moment I couldn’t speak. You were the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. To me, you were the incarnation of a goddess. You looked just like Venus in the picture.”
“That’s what Louis always used to say. He surmised I might have been related to the artist’s model. Anything’s possible. I certainly feel a personal connection to that painting.”
“Except the model in the painting was nude. You have no idea how many wet dreams I had about you. I’d never been so jealous of Louis in my life, that he got to touch you, to hold you, to taste you, to love you, that you loved him back. You have no idea how many restless nights I spent pining over you, a woman I didn’t even know.”
Abby blushed.
“I wondered what would have happened if I had seen you first. A few days later, he thought he had lost that picture, and he asked me if I’d seen it. I lied and said I hadn’t. But I took the picture out of his wallet. I still have it.”
Tack opened his wallet and presented the picture. “A day hasn’t gone by that I haven’t looked at that picture, at you, and wished you were mine. I’ve been in love with you—or the idea of you—all this time. And when I heard Louis had died, after my marriage had fallen apart, I was glad I had moved from Boston to Lobster Cove, so I could be near you. A half-baked idea, I know. But love makes you do crazy things. Naturally, when we ran into each other, and you were in my arms, real and alive, I was convinced it was fate. That we were meant to meet. That we were meant to be together. That maybe, somehow, Louis had engineered it—you know, from beyond.”
Abby turned over the picture and read Louis’s inscription with a catch in her voice. “To my love, my Venus. What would Louis say about this, I wonder, about us being here together?”
“I know exactly what he’d say,” Tack stated. “What you also don’t know is that Louis called me right after he was diagnosed. He knew he was failing, and asked me to take over managing his assets, and he asked me—”
Abby looked into Tack’s eyes. “What did he ask you?”
“He asked me to take care of you when he was gone.”
Abby felt faint. Tack had delivered his knockout punch. Was this even possible? “Oh, Tack. Did he really?”
“Yes. It didn’t seem fair, and I felt, still feel, so guilty. Louis had everything—great wealth, happiness —and he had you. You were his greatest happiness. He had come to grips with his mortality, but it devastated him to know he was leaving you alone. He paid me the highest compliment. He said he knew he could trust me with you. And only me. He knew how miserable I was, raising Isabella alone. He also knew I was ready to move on, because Renata hadn’t been much of a wife to me or a mother to Isabella. But I don’t regret marrying her, because she gave me my beautiful daughter. Louis also knew how lonely you’d be. And he thought…that we could make each other happy.”
Abby ran her hand through her hair. That was so like Louis, trying to arrange everyone else’s happiness, thinking of others before himself. He must have been in such pain, such turmoil, and yet he had thought of this, thought of her welfare.
“So when you pulled away from me that night in the car, well, I thought I was losing you forever, and I couldn’t let you go,” Tack continued. “Not just for myself, but for Louis. I had already begun to think of you as mine. I’m ashamed of the way I acted. I lost control, because I wanted you so badly. You had just met me, but I’ve been waiting for you all this time. Waiting for you to love me. I know that’s no excuse.”
“Were you at our wedding?” Abby asked in a daze. “There were so many people.”
“I couldn’t bear to see him marry you. Silly, I know. But I made my excuses.” Tack picked up Abby’s hand and rubbed the fleshy inside of her palm with his thumb in a circular motion. Abby’s insides melted.
He reached over and placed a soft kiss on Abby’s lips, then her nose, then her forehead. “This, now, this, is how I imagined it would be between us. Calm and serene. Gentle and slow.” He pulled her close, kissed her again, and she dropped her head on his shoulder as they looked out at the ocean.
“I wouldn’t blame you for being mad.”
“I’m not.”
The minutes passed in silence. She supposed they were both thinking of Louis and how he had brought them together. It was her turn to speak.
“Tack, I haven’t been completely honest with you, either,” Abby began, tightening her grip on Tack’s hand for moral support.
“Tell me, sweetheart.”
Tack sounded so understanding. Did she have the courage to be honest with him? She had the means to leave Lobster Cove, to have the baby and live somewhere else. Tack never needed to know about the baby. But she didn’t want to live anywhere else or with anyone else. Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead. What did she have to lose?
“I’m pregnant,” Abby began, looking directly at Tack to gauge his reaction.
Tack rocketed out of his seat. “Pregnant? I thought you said you and Louis couldn’t—”
“Apparently Louis and I couldn’t, but I must still be fertile, because, well, we’re going to have a baby.”
“Louis was so sorry he couldn’t give you the one thing you wanted. He felt like he had failed you.”
“He was the only thing I wanted,” Abby said wistfully.
“Is it possible you could want me?” Tack got down on his knees and hugged Abigail. “We’re going to have a baby!”
“Unexpected, I know.”
“It’s out of the blue.”
“Well, not exactly. We did have sex—unprotected sex. Once, but apparently once is enough.” Abby looked out at the ocean as if a solution would suddenly materialize out of the breeze and blow into her mind. “I don’t want you to think this means you have to, I mean that we have to. I’m keeping this baby. That’s all I ever wanted. But just because we had sex, you’re under
no obligation to—”
“Obligation? I don’t look at it as an obligation. Abigail! My beautiful Abigail…” Tack took Abby into his arms and breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m in love with you, Abigail Adams Longley. And I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you. From the moment I saw you on the pier, I wanted to be with you, every day, every minute, every second. I couldn’t bear it when we were apart.”
“Tack.” Abby could hardly breathe. She could actually feel her heart kicking out of her chest, lining up at the starting gate, ready to run a marathon. She clung to him. The waterworks were back, and she couldn’t stop them.
Tack pulled away. “You’re crying.” Tack wiped away her tears.
“I’m happy, Tack. I’ve wanted a baby for a long time. I wanted a baby with Louis, but Louis is gone. I can do this on my own.”
“I don’t have any doubt about that. But I want to be there for you, for our baby. I want you in my life more than anything in the world. Now that I’m down on bended knee, I may as well do this right,” Tack said, clasping Abigail’s hands. “Abigail Adams Longley, will you marry me?”
Abby leaned her head onto Tack’s forehead. Suddenly, the solution was simple. She didn’t have to think twice. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
Abigail was still wearing the engagement ring Louis had given her. Tack rubbed his finger over it. “I can afford a ring, you know, which will mean you’ll have to take this one off.”
Abby fingered Louis’s ring. She’d never wanted to part with it. But she’d made a commitment to Tack, and it was time to let go of the past. Abby removed Louis’s ring and put it in her pocket.
“I wish I had come prepared, but I thought there was a chance you might throw me out on my ass,” Tack admitted.
Abby laughed. “That was a distinct possibility.”
“I come from a long line of whaling captains, although there was one black sheep in the family, a pirate. And this pirate salvaged a Spanish galleon in the Adriatic and recovered a large emerald—the Garrity emerald. It’s priceless. And, some say, cursed. But since I met you, my luck has changed. And there is no one I know more worthy to wear it.”
“I’d be honored,” Abby said.
“I’m going to go right to the bank for it and take it to Jewels of the Sea to have it cleaned and sized.”
“And you no doubt own Jewels of the Sea.”
“I’m an investor.”
“Then I think we should go to your house and tell Isabella together.”
“She is going to go mad with joy,” Tack said. “She loves you, you know, almost as much as I do.”
“And I love her.”
“And what about me? How do you feel about me?”
“Tack, I’ll be honest with you. I wasn’t looking for love. I never thought I would find it again, but I fell in love with you. I fought it. I felt guilty for being this happy, because of Louis. But Louis wanted this for us. He arranged it. I think that’s a sign. So the answer is yes, I love you, Tack.”
“Abigail, I will devote the rest of my life to making you happy. I promise you that.”
“Where will we live?”
“I’ll build you a new house. A house of our own, just for our family. I have just the spot in mind. We’ll go up there today and take a look at it, see if it meets your approval. Then we’ll have Aidan draw up some plans. Would you like that?”
“Tack, it sounds wonderful.”
“I want to get married as soon as possible. We can have the wedding here at the gallery, just outside in the garden. It will be a beautiful backdrop.”
“That’s a fantastic idea. Tack, I hope I can make you happy.”
“How can you doubt that? Now let’s go tell Isabella.”
“And I’ve got to tell my friends. They won’t be surprised. I think they knew I was in love with you, before I knew myself.”
“So did my mother. And there’s another Garrity I want you to meet. My pop. I told him I was going to marry you.”
“The bride is always the last to know.”
Epilogue
His bride was a vision, in a Monique Lhuillier blush georgette, strapless, sweetheart lace gown with white silk embroidered tulle overlap and Watteau train. Her three bridesmaids—Natalie, Victoria, and Jane—wore blush shirred chiffon gowns with lace yokes. Isabella, her maid of honor, wore a blush floor-length dress with an outer layer of organza added to a classic satin base, a fitted, sleeveless bodice, and a slightly higher-than-natural waist. And no tutu! Abigail and Isabella—his Venus and their princess—wore matching Longley heirloom diamond tiaras. And, of course, Abigail wore the priceless Garrity emerald that sparkled in the afternoon sunlight but didn’t come close to outshining Abigail.
And the best thing was that Abby had ordered all the gowns from Wedded Bliss, which he also owned an interest in. He’d loaned proprietor Kelly Andrews the money to start her business. Now it was a one-stop shop to buy anything wedding-related. Abigail had also hired Kelly to be her wedding planner. She was making an effort to reach out and make friends in the community. Lobster Cove was becoming her real home.
What did he remember about that day? The weather cooperated. It was a garden wedding at Longley House, overlooking the ocean and the lighthouse, followed by an elegant reception at the Venus Gallery, catered by the Crow’s Nest, of course. The orchestra was warming up inside, the tables and chairs were set up, the bar stocked and staffed. The flowers from the Longley garden were arranged to complement the décor. The good Longley china service was taken out of storage. There were some Garrity touches, as well, such as his mother’s white Celtic Irish linen damask tablecloth and silver service.
Over the next few months, there were to be three more weddings. His and Abigail’s was followed by Aidan and Natalie’s, then Jane and Ethan’s, and they were all going to sail over on a transatlantic cruise to celebrate the wedding of Victoria and Joshua. After a month apart from Victoria, Joshua had realized he couldn’t live without her, and he flew back to Lobster Cove to propose. Following the wedding in London, the couples, who had postponed their honeymoons to launch the gallery, were free to honeymoon anywhere they chose in Europe. He and his bride had chosen the romantic venue of Lake Como, Italy. Jane and Ethan were going on a painting holiday in Paris. Aidan and Natalie had decided to take a river cruise along the Seine.
Ethan and Jane would live at Longley House. Joshua and Victoria would make their home in London, but Vickie had decided she could handle the marketing and Web business from there, with frequent trips to Lobster Cove, and she’d be free to go on buying trips for the gallery or join Abby when she traveled overseas to shop for the gallery. She felt more comfortable about her decision because Val McKinley, the woman who had saved the little boy from being run over by a moving trolley, had reapplied and was hired to manage the gallery two days a week. She was extremely efficient, and her presence had given Vickie a lot more flexibility. In fact, she was having quite an influence on Abby. His bride preferred European art, while Val opened up new doors by convincing her to include in the gallery a wider variety of modern artists from both the Western Hemisphere and Asia.
He had never seen Isabella happier. She finally had the mother she deserved. And she was looking forward to meeting her new little sister or brother. He and Abigail had decided to get married quickly, not just because of the baby—Abby’s baby bump was hardly showing—but because he couldn’t live without her for one more minute. He hoped they would be blessed with a houseful of children.
They would live at Longley House until their dream home was built. Aidan had already drawn up the plans.
But what he remembered most about his wedding day was that moment when Abigail walked down the aisle toward him. He had to catch his breath because she was heart-stoppingly beautiful. More beautiful than Venus. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen or ever would see. The photographer could not possibly capture her elusive smile or the look of joy on her face as she placed her delicate hand in his—and her
trust in him. “Finally” was what he was thinking. Finally, she was his. At last, they would be together. After all the heartbreak and tragedy, their destinies would be intertwined. He didn’t know what he’d done to deserve her, but he was going to spend the rest of his life making her happy she had chosen him.
But what he was looking forward to most was loving Abigail, finally being able to show her how much she meant to him, what a gift she was, how grateful he was that she had come into his and Isabella’s lives.
When they danced their first dance together, he’d held her in his arms and never wanted to let her go.
“I can’t wait until we’re alone. I want to show you how much I love you, how much I treasure you.”
Abby blushed. Of course they had been alone together before the wedding. They couldn’t stay away from each other. When they came together alone at night, it was like an explosion of thunder and lightning in the night sky, and afterwards like a blanket of gentle rain. He wanted to show her his tender side. She was everything to him. His Abigail. His Venus.
A word about the author...
Marilyn Baron is a corporate public relations consultant in Atlanta, a PRO member of Romance Writers of America and Georgia Romance Writers (GRW), winner of the GRW 2009 Chapter Service Award, and a member of the Roswell (GA) Reads Steering Committee. She’s won writing awards in single title, suspense, paranormal/fantasy, and novel with strong romantic elements. She writes humorous women’s fiction (Significant Others, Stones); historical romantic thrillers (Under the Moon Gate and its prequel Destiny: A Bermuda Love Story); and paranormal romantic suspense (Sixth Sense, Homecoming Homicides, and Killer Cruise [soon to be released]). She graduated from the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism (Public Relations sequence) and a minor in Creative Writing. Born in Miami, Florida, Marilyn lives in Roswell, Georgia, with her husband, and they have two daughters.
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