“Um . . . ” Dean looked slightly sheepish.
“I think someone saw something outside and got the wrong idea!” Daniel stated, amused.
Mack put her arm around his waist. “Dean, I’d like you to meet my sister, Melinda, and her husband, Daniel.”
Dean leaned in to shake their hands. “I think I did get the wrong idea.”
“Thought so.”
“Guys, this is Dean,” she looked at her sister, “he’s the guy I’m in love with.”
Well, that was probably the first time Melinda had been left speechless.
Dean noticed Daniel looking oddly at him. “Is anything wrong?”
Daniel sat down beside his wife. “What are your intentions toward Mack?”
Melinda looked toward her husband in surprise. “Daniel, you’re not her father.” Melinda swatted him on the shoulder.
“Her father isn’t here right now so, as her brother, I think I should act in his place.”
Mack tried not to laugh at the look on Daniel’s face. Dean put a hand on her arm. “I’m in love with Mack, and my intentions are no one’s business but ours, but I’ll tell you that I don’t plan on letting her go.”
“Okay, now that’s settled, let’s have coffee and cake and wait for Thomas and Lucas to appear,” Mack said, relieved. Least said, soonest mended, she thought to herself.
Thomas entered the kitchen first with a bunch of carnations in his hand for Mack. “To the lady of my heart,” he said with a wink.
“Mommy!” Lucas shouted as he walked in behind Thomas. “I didn’t know you were coming. Where’s Daddy? I need to tell him that I went and played poker in the Irish Pub in town.” He launched himself into his mother’s arms for a big hug and kiss.
“Daddy is out with Dean, but he’ll be back soon.” She put him down and Lucas ran into the living room, shouting for his mother to join him. “Calm down, Lucas. I’ll be there shortly.”
Melinda walked over to Mack, laughing. “Wow, it seems like you have been busy, Mackenzie Louise Harper. Just how many more guys are going to be coming knocking on the door to proclaim their love for you?”
She nudged her sister with her hip. “That would be telling!” Mack teased.
Mack walked over to Thomas and took the flowers from him, giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Thomas blushed.
She suddenly remembered it was the first time Thomas and Melinda had met. “Thomas, this is my sister, Melinda.”
“I gathered that, Mack.” Then he moved over toward Melinda and held his hand out to her. “Nice to meet you. You have a good boy there. I’m going to miss him.” Thomas turned away and walked into the living room to join Lucas on the Wii, wiping his eyes secretly as he went.
Mack followed Thomas with her eyes and turned to her sister. “I think they’ll both really miss each other, Melinda.”
“Perhaps he could come and visit us in Boston. It isn’t too far away,” Melinda suggested.
“I’ve thought about that, and was wondering if, perhaps, I could have Lucas every, maybe, third weekend, and bring him up here? I think they would both love that. Plus, it will give you and Daniel some free time.”
“Mack, that would be great. But what about Dean?”
“I love him, Mel, and he says he loves me and I believe him. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but we both live in Boston, and I believe we’ll be together so we can bring him up here, together.”
“Just be careful, Mack, you haven’t known him for long, and I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“Says she who met, fell in love, and married Daniel all within ten days. Without telling anyone until the deed was done, I might add.”
“Okay, okay, not the best person to give advice, but . . . that was seven years ago, and I still love him, Mack.” Melinda took hold of Mack’s hand.
“I know, Mel, thank you. Let Thomas take Lucas fishing this afternoon before he leaves, if he’ll go that is. Now that you guys are here, he may not want to. We can hang out at the beach with the guys. Besides, I want to tell you a love story.”
“Oh, this sounds . . . interesting.”
Mack was walking hand in hand with Dean to the beach behind her sister and brother-in-law, and it filled Mack with so much love that she stopped walking and looked into Dean’s eyes. “Kiss me, Dean.”
“Anytime, babe.” Then his lips came down on hers with a possessiveness she’d only ever experienced with him. It wasn’t a scary possessiveness; it was exhilarating.
She moved in close, plunged her hands into his hair, and massaged his scalp as the kiss deepened. Dean growled and grabbed hold of Mack’s hips, pulling her in close enough to feel what she did to him.
Melinda and Daniel turned around. “Get a room!” Melinda shouted.
Out of the blue, Melinda suddenly turned and engaged her husband in a very hot lip lock.
Mack and Dean pulled apart, laughing, and when they saw Melinda and Daniel, Dean let out a wolf whistle. Dean took hold of Mack’s hand as he pulled her forward. “Come on, let’s go down to the beach and make out.”
“Oh my God, please tell me you aren’t going to be . . . well, you know—” Melinda trailed off, waving her arms around.
Dean replied, laughing, “We just might!”
As they walked to the beach, they were still holding hands. Mack was excited being here with Dean, along with her sister and Daniel. She certainly couldn’t wait to see how Dean reacted once she removed her shorts and top.
She watched her sister and husband as they stopped a bit in front of them. They seemed to be having a ‘discussion,’ but about what, Mack couldn’t make out, as they were whispering.
Sometimes she found it hard to believe Melinda and Daniel were a couple. Her sister was the flighty one, and Daniel, the straitlaced doctor.
Once, when both Mack and Melinda were having a night on the town, they’d gotten rather drunk and Mack had asked her sister what Daniel was like in the sack. Instead of censoring her reply, she had given Mack more details than she actually needed or wanted. Luckily, her sister hadn’t remembered, but unfortunately, Mack had.
Dean let go of Mack’s hand, having arrived at the beach. He started to strip; first, his T-shirt came off, showing his tight abs, then his jeans, to reveal a pair of swimming shorts, which rode low on his hips. Both Mack and Melinda stood frozen to the spot.
Mack came back to her senses, licked her lips, and then nudged her sister. “Hey, he’s mine. Eyes off, Mel.” Just as she spoke, Daniel also started to strip. “Wow, Daniel, when did you get that body . . . and a tattoo? You do realize that I won’t be able to look at you as a conservative doctor anymore,” she teased. Mack knew her brother-in-law had a trim figure, but she had no idea he had a tattoo.
Dean laughed and walked over to put his arm around Mack’s neck. “Stop ogling your brother-in-law.”
“Jealous?”
He gave Mack a hard kiss. “Yes!”
“Then I don’t suppose you want to know that I was ogling you first while you stripped.”
“I can carry on if you like?” Dean teased.
“Don’t you dare. Later, in private, I’ll take you up on the offer.”
“You want to go for a swim?”
“Maybe later. I’ve told Melinda I want to tell her a love story so I’m going to tell her about Rose and Jacob.”
“Okay. I spoke to my grandfather before I came back to the cottage this morning, and he’ll make sure they’re both home tomorrow morning. He said that they can’t wait to meet the woman who has finally captured my heart.”
She reached up and kissed him briefly on the lips. “That is so sweet.”
As she finished talking, she unbuttoned her shorts, slid them down her legs, and kicked them to one side. Seeing the look on Dean’s face, she slowly continued to take her T-shirt off and tossed it over to him. He was standing in front of her, looking at her from the tips of her toes to the top of her head, then he met her eyes.
“You like?
” Mack asked with a saucy grin and hands on her hips.
He groaned. “You little minx. I’m going for a swim to cool off.” Then he ran to the ocean with Daniel following since Melinda had obviously given her husband a show.
Mack laid down next to her sister while Melinda watched the retreating backs of both guys. “He is one hot guy, Mack. God, when he took his shirt off, I nearly fainted.”
“Melinda!”
“What!”
“You’re drooling over my guy. Stop it. Anyway, what about Doctor Daniel? You’ve been hiding the real guy from me.”
Melinda changed the subject. “Tell me this love story? I’m intrigued.”
“Hmm, I know what you’re doing and I’ll let you off the hook for now.” She took a deep breath. “It all started when I found a diary written in 1947 by Rose, Thomas’s sister. It’s her love for a man named Jacob Evans, who just happens to be Dean’s grandfather.”
Mack then spent over an hour telling her sister all about Rose and Jacob, and that she’d hopefully be able to rest once Jacob knew the whole story, even though it was heartbreaking.
Chapter 36
Mack was all worked up while she waited for Thomas and Lucas to appear. She was really worried about Thomas. She knew he would be upset with Lucas leaving after dinner with his parents.
Just as she decided to keep busy and clean the kitchen, Dean walked in wearing a pair of well-worn jeans and pale blue shirt. What a distraction.
He noticed Mack looking upset and walked around the table to take her face in his hands. “You want to get naked?” He kissed her.
“What is it with you two? Two seconds later and you would have had her on the table,” Melinda interrupted, walking into the kitchen.
She winked at Dean. “No, we already did that,” Mack told her sister, laughing.
“Oh my God, did I need to know that?”
“Need to know what?” Daniel came up to his wife. He slid his arms around her as he pressed his lips to the back of her neck.
“Nothing. Let’s set the table, the food will be here soon, hopefully at the same time as Thomas and Lucas.”
Mack whispered. “You look hot. I’m going to show you later just how hot!” Mack walked past Dean and rubbed against the straining erection he was trying his best to hide.
He shuddered. All he wanted to do was grab hold of her and go someplace quiet. She drove him crazy with her sassy mouth and sexy body.
Not long after, both Thomas and Lucas arrived, and shortly afterwards, the food finally arrived as well.
Dinner was eaten with everyone slightly squashed together. The table was really made for four people but had six seated around. It was cozy.
“Lucas, did you catch anything this afternoon?” Daniel asked his son.
Lucas had a mouth full of food and grinned. “We caught three more yellow perch. Thomas is going to clean them, and freeze them so I can eat them when I come to visit.”
Everyone went quiet. “That’s great, Lucas, and I hope I get to eat some with you when I bring you to visit.” Mack wanted to reassure Thomas that Lucas would be back.
“Of course you can. Will you make a cake for us? Thomas said it would be the blind something when I asked him to bake you a cake.”
Thomas laughed. “I said it would be a bit like the blind leading the blind if Lucas and I baked a cake.”
“Oh, Lucas, leave the cake baking to Auntie Mack, okay?”
“Okay, Mommy.” Then he grinned. “Granny said—” before he could finish Mack shoved the ice cream in front of him and his mother shoved a piece of chocolate into his mouth. Mack glanced at Dean, his face alight with mirth with his effort not to laugh aloud.
Lucas, not wanting to be outdone, swallowed the chocolate, grinned at Thomas, then said, “Mommy, all Granny said, was that she gets some herbs from the Jamaicans at the market, and puts them in her cakes. Mrs. Green was there one day and she said they were the best cakes this side of Boston, but grandma never lets me eat them. I don’t know why, but she said I’m not old enough to take an affro…dizzy…ache, no, that’s not right. It sounded something like that, though,” he finished with a puzzled expression.
“Aphrodisiac,” Daniel supplied, which broke the silence that had followed Lucas’s little speech.
Once all the dishes were clean, Melinda, Daniel, and Lucas were ready to leave. Mack walked over to stand beside Thomas and leaned in close to him. “You’ll see him again real soon, Thomas. That I can promise you.”
He took hold of Mack’s hand. “Thank you. You’re a kind young woman, and if you were my daughter, I would be proud of how you turned out.”
Mack had watery eyes. “Thomas, that is so sweet. Thank you. You’ve brought tears to my eyes, again.” She tried to wipe them away before anyone else noticed.
“Auntie Mack.” Lucas threw himself into her open arms.
“Bye, Lucas. I’ll see you soon, okay? Will you say hello to Mickey Mouse for me?” Mack didn’t want to let him go.
“Will do,” he replied, and moved onto Thomas. Lucas wrapped his little arms around his waist as Thomas bent to hold him. He kissed him on the head. “I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you too, kid,” Thomas replied in a rough voice.
Dean walked over to Mack and wrapped her up tight in his embrace. “You okay?”
Mack just nodded her head. She moved out of Dean’s embrace but still felt him close, as she hugged her sister and brother-in-law. Then she watched them leave with Lucas.
Chapter 37
Mack and Dean called to check on Thomas first thing the following morning before heading out to Boston. Thomas hadn’t showed up for breakfast, but they discovered he was well, although a bit down, with Lucas having departed for Florida the night before.
Once again, Mack was left in her own thoughts, wondering how Jacob would react to what she had to say. It had been a long time since his love affair with Rose, but Mack would bet anything that he remembered Rose as though it was yesterday. You don’t forget a love like they obviously had, especially with it ending like it did, and no matter what Jacob believed, it was still tragic.
With everything going on, she’d forgotten to get another copy of the photograph of Rose and Jacob, which was unbelievable, considering how obsessed she was with them.
Mack was praying she didn’t meet Dean’s mother again. God, what a shark!
Dean brought the car to a stop in front of his family’s home and turned to look at Mack. “Are you ready to do this? I have to admit, I’m nervous.”
“I’m really nervous, and excited, to be finally meeting him. Not just because of Rose, but because he’s your grandfather.”
Dean climbed out of the car and walked around to help Mack out. He placed a kiss to her lips before he captured her hand and pulled her toward the house. “Thanks, come on.”
They entered the house and were met by Martha, his grandparents’ housekeeper, who looked down at their joined hands and back up at their faces. “Mr. Dean, I didn’t know you were home.”
“I’m not, Martha. This is Mack, and we’re here to visit my grandparents. Where are they?”
“Your grandfather is in the study, and your grandmother just went to the . . . powder room.”
“Okay, thanks.” He turned to Mack and pulled her toward his grandfather’s study. “I’ll go in with you and introduce you, and then I’ll go and distract my grandmother.”
“Okay.”
“It’ll be all right.” Dean gave her a quick kiss.
He knocked on the study door, and then walked in, dragging a partly-reluctant Mack behind him.
“Dean, my boy, where have you been?” his grandfather asked while he hugged Dean with obvious affection.
Mack got a better look at him. He was a distinguished older man with grey hair and, despite his age, was still well built with a very slight paunch. He looked like he was sixty, not ninety.
“Grandfather, I want you to meet my girlfriend, Mackenzie Harper, otherwi
se known as Mack.”
His grandfather moved slowly forward to meet Mack. “Well now, you are mighty pretty,” he said, taking Mack’s hand.
She had to swallow the lump in her throat to try and not burst into tears, Mack felt Dean’s hand on her back as she looked at his grandfather. “Thank you. Flattery will get you everywhere!”
“Oh, I like you. Can we keep her?”
“I’m working on that, grandfather.”
Jacob sat down and pulled Mack down beside him. “So, tell me . . . what brought tears to your eyes when you saw me?”
Mack looked at Dean, wondering where to begin. “I’m going to find Grandmother while you two chat.” Dean quickly kissed Mack on the forehead as he left the room.
“Now I’m more curious than before.” Jacob gave her a quizzical look.
“May I call you, Jacob?”
He smiled and patted her hand. “Seeing as you’re practically family, that would be fine. Although, I hope you will call me grandfather, eventually.”
“I just might.” Mack took a deep breath and started her story, “If I told you that Dean and I met in Cape Elizabeth at ‘Degan House,’ what would that mean to you?” She watched him carefully and saw the color drain from his face slightly as his hands began to tremble. “Jacob, I found a diary dated 1947, written by a Rose Degan. She was in love with you, wasn’t she?”
Jacob nodded. “Yes,” he whispered. He looked away from Mack and appeared to be lost in his own thoughts.
“She never married Richard,” Mack announced.
He turned back toward Mack, his eyes filled with some unknown emotion. “Pardon?”
“This isn’t easy, Jacob, but Rose was running away to be with you, when she—” Mack took a deep breath, “—she lost her footing and fell over the cliffs. Jacob, she did love you so very much, she didn’t leave you for Richard like her father told you. She just didn’t get the chance to leave with you.”
Jacob looked toward the windows and the garden beyond before he looked back at her. He was clearly agitated and it broke her heart that she was the cause of it. “I don’t know what to say.”
Rose and Jacob Page 21