Gansett Island Boxed Set, Books 10-12

by Marie Force

  “We’re getting married,” Carolina said. “And we’d like the two of you to be our witnesses. If you’re willing, that is.”

  Joe and Janey looked at each other, and for a brief moment, Carolina couldn’t tell what they were thinking. Waiting for them to say something made her feel nervous for the first time that day. Then she felt Seamus’s hand on her back, and the simple gesture calmed and centered her. No matter what, he was right there with her, and they were in this together.

  “Of course we’ll be your witnesses,” Joe said as Janey nodded in agreement.

  “We’d love to.” Janey hugged them both. “Thank you so much for asking us.”

  Seamus shook hands with Joe. “Who else would we ask?”

  “Wow, I can’t believe this,” Joe said. “A surprise wedding. Everyone will be blown away.”

  “We didn’t want the fuss and the gifts and the months of planning,” Seamus said. “We just want to be married.”

  “What about your family?” Janey asked.

  “Shannon will represent them,” Seamus said of his cousin who’d come to Gansett earlier in the summer with Seamus’s mother and then decided to stay for a while. “We talked to my parents in Ireland yesterday, and they’re over the moon. My mum loves Caro and couldn’t be happier for us. And speaking of my family, I could use a week off at the end of the season so I can take my new wife home to meet them.”

  “Done,” Joe said. “I’m jealous. I’d love to go to Ireland someday.”

  “I’d be happy to take you,” Seamus replied. “If we can find someone to cover the ferries for both of us.”

  Joe glanced at P.J. “I’m going to be a little busy for the next few years, but I’ll take you up on that at some point.”

  “Any time.”

  “There’s one other thing,” Seamus said to Joe. “I’ve been trying to convince your mum to sign a piece of paper that Dan Torrington drew up for me.”

  “Seamus,” Carolina said.

  “What kind of paper?” Joe asked.

  “A prenuptial agreement,” Seamus said.

  “Which I told him is completely unnecessary,” Carolina said with a glower for her fiancé. “And it’s borderline insulting that he would think about money at a time like this.”

  “I’m an Irish immigrant who makes a decent living, love, but I don’t have what you have. I want you protected.”

  “Are you planning to leave me and run off with my money?”

  “Of course not, but—”

  “Then why are we ruining this day having a conversation I thought we put to rest weeks ago?”

  “We’re not ruining anything, and you put it to rest. I didn’t.” He turned his attention to Joe. “What do you think?”

  Joe thought about it for a moment. “I think you should sign it, Mom.”

  “Joe!” Janey said.

  Joe held up a hand to stop her protest and his mother’s. “I think you should sign it, but not because I believe you’ll ever need it.”

  “Then why?” Carolina asked.

  “Because it seems important to Seamus.”

  “It is,” Seamus said. “It’s very important to me.”

  He and Carolina engaged in a visual standoff that ended when she blinked. “Fine. If it’s that big of a deal to you, I’ll sign it. But let it be said that I’m doing this for you. Not for me.”

  “So noted, love.” He went to retrieve the form in the other room.

  When he returned, Carolina took it from him, signed it and gave it back to him. “I don’t want to talk about it ever again.”

  As he hugged her, some of the starch seemed to leave her spine. “I can’t imagine there’ll ever come a day when we’ll need to discuss that paper or what it says, but it makes me feel better to know you’re protected.”

  “From you? Now you care about protecting me? Who was protecting me when you were pursuing me like a madman and chasing me around the kitchen table?”

  “Oh my God,” Joe said with a groan as Janey giggled madly. “I so don’t need that visual in my mind.”

  “Not in front of the children, love,” Seamus said with a smile and a kiss.

  She shook her head with amusement and love and dismay.

  “Now I’d like a turn with my grandson,” Seamus said, reaching for P.J.

  While Seamus held the baby, Caro turned to her son, who was only two years younger than the man she was about to marry. “I’m sorry about him. I keep hoping he’s going to learn to behave himself, but I’m beginning to give up on that.”

  Laughing, Joe hugged her. “I’m happy for you, Mom. How could I not be when I see how happy he makes you and how great you guys are together?”

  Carolina closed her eyes against the flood of tears that filled them. It had been just the two of them for a long lonely time after his father died in an accident when Joe was only seven. Now they were both happily in love and had so much to look forward to. “Thank you, Joseph.”

  He kissed her temple. “Do I get to give away the bride, too?”

  “Absolutely.”

  * * *

  By five o’clock, Seamus and Carolina’s yard was full of friends enjoying the chowder and clam cakes Slim had made. Everyone was teasing the dashing pilot about keeping his other talents hidden from them.

  “You should see what else I can do,” he said to laughter.

  Seamus approached Carolina. “Is everyone here?”

  “Except for Mac and Linda. I can’t imagine what’s keeping them.”

  “Did you ask Janey?”

  “I was just about to do that.”

  “I’ll go with you.”

  They found Janey inside the house, nursing P.J. in the living room. “Hey, guys. Is it time?”

  “Not quite yet,” Caro said. “Your parents aren’t here yet.”

  “I wonder what’s keeping them.”

  “Do you mind giving them a call?”

  “Of course not. My phone is in my purse in the kitchen.”

  “I’ll get it.” Seamus was thankful to have something to do with the energy zinging around inside of him. They were so close… So damned close to having what he’d wanted for what felt like forever, even if it was only a couple of years. He could still recall the first time he saw Carolina, shortly after he started working for Joe. She’d come to take her son to lunch and left him completely bowled over.

  Right away he’d realized he faced an uphill battle in winning her heart. First of all, he worked for her son. Second of all, he was only a couple of years older than Joe. The third challenge had turned out to be the most complex, though—convincing her she had a right to be happy and to hell with what anyone else thought of them or the years that separated them. He didn’t care about any of that, and he’d finally gotten her to the point where she didn’t either.

  He found Janey’s phone and brought it to her, waiting alongside Caro while she made the call. His lovely bride had worn a gorgeous yellow dress that showed off her late-summer tan. A week or so ago, she’d had her hair cut and colored, and to look at her, you’d never know she was a day over forty.

  “That’s weird,” Janey said. “Neither of them is answering.”

  “I swear to God,” Caro said, “if I find out they were getting busy when I want to be getting married, they’ll never hear the end of it.”

  “Thank you for that visual,” Janey said. “Brain scrub commencing.” Her phone rang. “It’s my mom.”

  “Thank goodness,” Caro said.

  “Where are you guys?” Janey paused to listen. “Caro is waiting on you to serve dinner. Okay. See you soon.” She ended the call and looked up at them. “They’re ‘running late’ but on the way. She did sound somewhat out of breath.”

  “I knew it!”

  Seamus cracked up laughing. “You’ve no room to talk about spending too much time in bed, love.”

  “I heard that,” Joe said as he joined them. “And I never want to hear it again.”

  “My apologies,” Seamus
said with a grin. “Not in front of the children.”

  “That’s right,” Joe said, “and don’t forget it. Are we doing this or what?”

  “We’re waiting on your in-laws,” Janey said, “who apparently got sidetracked on their way out of the house.”

  “You don’t say,” Joe said with a smile. “The old guy’s still got it, huh?”

  “Eww,” Janey said. “Please make it stop.”

  “And who are you calling old?” Caro asked her son.

  The comical exchange went a long way toward ridding Seamus of the last of the nerves that had plagued him all day. These people would soon be his new family, and he couldn’t wait.

  Frank McCarthy came into the house, looking rested and relaxed after spending much of the summer on Gansett. “What’s the holdup, kids?” the judge asked.

  “Waiting on your brother and his wife to get out of bed and come to our party,” Carolina said.

  Frank’s eyes widened with surprise.

  “I know, Uncle Frank,” Janey said. “It’s extremely gross.”

  Frank laughed at his niece’s distress. “I don’t know if gross is the word I’d use. I was going to go with surprising.”

  “They’re like a couple of teenagers lately,” Caro said.

  “Good for them,” Seamus said. “That’s the way we’re going to be, too, love, so you’d better get ready.”

  “Oh Jesus,” Joe muttered. “I so didn’t need to hear that either.”

  “I’m sorry, honey.” Caro patted Joe’s arm. “I’ve tried to get him under control, but I’m afraid there’s no controlling him.”

  “And she likes me that way, not that she wants you to know it,” Seamus said to Joe’s profound mortification.

  “If you don’t stop talking right now, there isn’t going to be a wedding,” Carolina said.

  Seamus smiled at her. Nothing could get him down on the day he was set to marry the love of his life.

  Twenty minutes later, Mac and Linda McCarthy came rushing into the house, looking red-faced and flustered.

  “So sorry to be late,” Linda said. “We had an appointment that ran late and…”

  “The jig is up, Mom,” Janey said. “We know what you’ve been doing.”

  Big Mac snorted, which earned him an elbow to the midsection from his wife.

  “Let’s get this show on the road now that everyone is here,” Frank said.

  “What show?” Linda asked.

  “Shall I tell them, Mom?” Joe asked.

  “Please do.”

  “The Carolina and Seamus show,” Joe said. “They’re getting married today.”

  Linda let out a piercing shriek. “What?”

  “You heard him,” Caro said, clearly amused by her longtime friend’s reaction to their news.

  “You sneaky devils!” Linda hugged Carolina and then him. “Congratulations! What a fun idea—a surprise wedding.” Linda’s face turned bright red. “Sorry if we held things up.”

  “No problem,” Caro said with a warm smile for the woman who had been family to her since Joe met Linda’s son Mac in kindergarten. “You’re here now, so…” She looked at him. “Shall we do this?”

  “Oh yes, please, love.”

  “Excellent,” Frank said. “You two get ready, and leave the rest to me. Mac, come help me get everyone where they need to be.”

  As he followed his brother to the sliding door that led to the deck and yard, Big Mac stopped to shake hands with Seamus. “You’re marrying one of the finest women I know. Take good care of her.”

  “I will. You have my word on it.”

  Big Mac nodded in approval and continued to the yard.

  Seamus stood with Carolina, Joe, Janey and Linda and listened to the McCarthy brothers corral their friends and family into a group.

  “Folks,” Frank said, “we have a bit of a surprise for you today. Where’s Seamus?”

  “That’d be my cue.” Seamus kissed and hugged Carolina. Whispering in her ear, he said, “You and me forever, love. We got this.”

  She sniffled as she nodded.

  “See you out there. Don’t get lost on the way.”

  “I won’t,” she said with a laugh as she mopped up her tears with tissues that Linda provided.

  Seamus emerged into the yard, where a buzz of curiosity had their guests riveted to what was going on. They’d decided to let their actions speak for them, so he walked over to Frank and shook his hand as everyone watched him with puzzled looks on their faces.

  Janey, carrying P.J., walked with her mother to the front of the group that stood around them.

  “Give it up, Janey,” her brother Mac said. “What’s going on?”

  “Shush,” she said. “You’ll see in a minute.”

  After a long pause that had everyone straining for a better view of the house, Carolina emerged on the arm of her son. She carried a bouquet of daisies that Seamus had picked for her from their garden.

  “Oh my God,” Adam McCarthy said. “They’re getting married!”

  Chapter 6

  Seamus laughed at the startled reactions that followed Adam’s announcement. When Carolina and Joe reached the spot they’d decided on earlier, she turned and hugged her son. After a few whispered words, both were dabbing at their eyes.

  Seamus held out his hand to Caro, who wrapped her fingers around his. He gave her a reassuring squeeze and let out a deep breath he hadn’t even realized he was holding as he waited for disaster to strike. For days after they hatched this plan, he’d expected her to tell him she’d changed her mind. But that hadn’t happened, and now they were exactly where he’d wanted to be for almost as long as he’d known her.

  “Friends, on behalf of Seamus and Carolina, I’m pleased to welcome you to their clambake-slash-wedding,” Frank said to enthusiastic cheers from the gathering. “It’s been an enormous pleasure to spend time with them in the last couple of weeks as they prepared for today. More than anything, they wanted their wedding to be casual and fun, and they wanted to include the people who mean the most to them. Seamus and Carolina have chosen to write their own vows, so I’ll let them take it from here. Seamus?”

  Carolina handed her bouquet to Linda and turned to him.

  Holding both her hands, he looked down at her, hoping he could get through this without making a fool of himself. “From the day I first met my new boss’s mum, I knew I was in for a world of trouble.”

  Carolina and everyone else laughed at his opening line, as he’d hoped they would.

  “You have led me on a merry chase, my love, and there was many a day when I thought we’d never get to this moment. And before I pledge my eternal love and devotion to you, I want to say to your beloved son, Joe, that I thank him for welcoming me into his family and for trusting me with his mother’s heart. I promise I’ll be careful with it. I might be only a couple of years older than you, Joseph, but that doesn’t mean I won’t do my best to be a fine stepfather to you.”

  “Ah jeez,” Joe laughed and muttered as he dealt with a flood of tears he clearly hadn’t been expecting. “Crazy Irishman.”

  Carolina smiled brightly at him, seeming pleased with what he’d said to Joe.

  “My beautiful Carolina, there are no words to adequately tell you what you mean to me, how much I love you or how much I’m looking forward to spending the rest of my life with you. So I’ll simply vow to love, honor and cherish you all the days of my life and thank you for taking this journey with me. There’s no one else I’d rather travel with.”

  Caro had tears on her cheeks by the time he finished, so he leaned in and kissed them away.

  “Not yet,” Frank said, making everyone laugh. “Caro?”

  She took a deep breath and gave Seamus’s hands a squeeze. “You, Seamus O’Grady, have been the source of my greatest vexation as well as my greatest love. You drive me crazy most of the time, which I think is deliberate on your part.”

  Grinning, Seamus shrugged. “You’ll never get me to confess to th
at.”

  “I had no idea how empty and bereft my life really was until you came swooping in and forced me out of my comfort zone in every possible way. You won me over with the force of your belief that we absolutely belong together and nothing, not even a few years between friends, could keep us apart when we were meant to be. It took me a while to come around to your way of thinking, but once I finally gave in to you, I’ve been happier than I ever imagined I could be. So thank you for not giving up when the going got tough. Thank you for making me laugh and for sticking around long enough for me to figure out that since I can’t murder you, I should probably marry you.”

  “Is that the first time the word ‘murder’ has been used in wedding vows?” Seamus asked Frank.

  “Definitely a first for me,” Frank said with obvious amusement.

  “Excellent.” Seamus beamed at his bride, pleased with every word she’d said to him, because he had no doubt whatsoever that she loved him with everything she had to give.

  “I love you,” she said, “and I will honor and cherish you and what we have together for the rest of my life. And when you do finally drive me crazy, I’ll go happily, knowing I was fully and completely loved by the most amazing man.”

  Damn if she didn’t reduce him to tears with her heartfelt words. He leaned his forehead against hers, dying for the moment when Frank would tell him she was his wife and he could kiss her.

  “Rings?” Frank asked.

  Seamus reluctantly released one of Carolina’s hands and withdrew the rings from the pocket of the khaki pants he’d ironed for the occasion. They’d gone to the mainland two weeks ago to buy the matching platinum rings. He held them out in the palm of his hand, and Carolina took his.

  He slid hers onto her finger, and then she returned the favor, the cool metal wrapping around his finger, the awareness of what it represented humbling him like nothing else ever had.

  “By the power vested in me by the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,” Frank said, “I’m pleased to pronounce you husband and wife. Seamus, you may kiss your bride.”

  Seamus wrapped his arms around her and planted a deep wet one on her as their friends and family cheered.