by Marie Force
“He’s been through an awful lot,” Tess said.
“We all have,” Bernie said, shaking her head. “If I live forever, I’ll never forget that phone call. But I know that as bad as it was, it could’ve been worse. So much worse.”
Tess reached out and clasped her hand.
“Oh,” Bernie said, rallying. “Here’s my husband. Dan, honey, come meet Georgie and Tess.”
Georgie had to suppress a gasp as she saw what Nathan would look like at sixty. Dan’s hair was silver and tight with curls like his youngest son’s, and his bright blue eyes were the same ones all his boys had inherited. But his resemblance to Nathan, in particular, was startling.
“Georgie’s here with Nathan,” Bernie told him, “and Tess came with Bennett.”
“Nice to meet you both,” Dan said as he shook their hands. “But surely pretty girls like you can do better than those two scalawags.”
“Who’re you calling a scalawag, old man?” Nathan asked as he wrestled his father into a headlock.
When Ian and Hugh jumped into the fray, Bernie deftly steered Georgie and Tess to safety while Ben egged on his brothers from the sidelines.
“Too much testosterone when they’re all together,” Bernie said, rolling her eyes.
“What’s the secret to growing them so handsome?” Tess asked.
“I have no idea,” Bernie said, her pride in her sons obvious as she watched the scrum on the lawn. “Quite a sight, aren’t they?”
“Indeed,” Tess agreed with a smile. “Especially right now.”
Georgie and Bernie laughed with her.
Nathan’s white shirt was stained with green by the time he resurfaced from the bottom of the pile, red-faced and sweating.
“Nathan!” Tess cried. “Your arm!”
“It’s fine.” He waved it around his head. “See? Good as new.”
“You still need to baby it, or you’ll tear your stitches,” Tess reminded him.
“She’s a nurse,” Ben told his mother. “In the ER.”
“This family could certainly use a nurse,” Bernie said.
“Mom!” Ben cried. “Stop!”
“I’m only saying.”
“Mother.”
Bernie made a face at him. “Don’t mother me.”
Georgie wondered if Tess was dying of embarrassment, but she seemed to be lapping it up like a hungry cat that had just found a bowl of milk.
Nathan surprised Georgie when he slipped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek.
As she looked up at him with a forced smile, her stomach ached with nerves and anxiety and sadness. The sadness resurfaced so suddenly she had no time to prepare herself to absorb the blow. “Excuse me,” she said softly.
Chapter 21
Nathan watched Georgie walk away, her hands jammed into her pockets, her shoulders hunched. He turned to Tess. “What was that all about?”
“I’m not sure, but I noticed that she started cleaning out her mother’s stuff earlier. She’s probably having a rough day.”
Nathan swore under his breath.
“How long ago did she lose her mother?” Bernie asked.
“A couple of weeks ago,” Tess said. “She was diagnosed with late-stage breast cancer three months ago.”
“Oh my,” Bernie said.
Nathan started to go after Georgie, but his mother stopped him.
“Let me.”
“Mom . . .”
“The child needs some mothering, Nathan, and if there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s that.”
“She’s not in a good place right now—”
“Of course she isn’t. Her mother just died. Let me talk to her. I promise to take extra special care of her.”
Ben put his arm around Nathan’s shoulders and nudged him toward the bar. “Let’s get a beer, bro. Mom’s on it.”
Tess looped her arm through Nathan’s and helped Ben lead him away.
Nathan looked back over his shoulder and made eye contact with his mother.
She sent him a warm smile and a nod of encouragement.
He allowed Ben to force a beer on him, but the only place he wanted to be was with Georgie. For now, though, he would trust his mother to give her what she needed. Maybe she would do a better job than he seemed to be doing. In the meantime, he would take advantage of the opportunity to pump Kevin for some of those romance ideas he needed. He had a bad feeling he was running out of time.
Georgie sat on the front stairs to watch a group of kids play kickball in the street and was struck by a memory of the kids she had grown up with. They had terrorized Dean Avenue and the nearby streets from sunup to sundown all summer long. Most of the parents had retired and moved south. She wondered where the kids had ended up.
Twelve years had wrought so many changes that Newport had long ago stopped feeling like home to her. Except for an occasional weekend visit with her mother, she hadn’t spent any serious time here in years—long enough to forget things like playing in the street without a care in the world.
Bernie held out a Diet Coke to Georgie. “Mind if I join you?”
She accepted the drink and scooted over to make room on the step for the older woman. “I’m sorry to run out like that.”
“Do you think you’re the first woman to run for her life from the Caldwell boys?”
Georgie smiled. “You have a lovely family. You’re very lucky.”
“And I know it. Took hard work, a lot of sweat, tons of worry, and a bit of heartache, but we survived—just barely. In fact, I haven’t told Dan yet, but we’re moving home to be with them in the next year or so. We’ve been gone long enough to prove they can stand on their own twelve feet without us.”
“I can’t imagine having six boys.”
“I never did, either. I pictured myself with girls.”
“That didn’t work out.”
“Nope, but I wouldn’t trade my boys for anything. I’ve learned that life has a mind of its own, and we’re just along for the ride.”
“That’s certainly how my life has seemed lately.”
“I was sorry to hear about your mother.”
“Thank you,” Georgie said softly.
Bernie slipped an arm around her.
“You remind me of her,” Georgie said.
“Do I?”
“She had a way of sorting through the BS and telling it like it is.”
“I think I would’ve liked her.”
“You might’ve known her. Nancy Quinn? She ran the senior center.”
“Oh!” Bernie said, stricken. “I knew her well! My father-in-law was a regular at the center for years.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“I used to drive him there and always enjoyed chatting with your mom. I hadn’t heard she passed away. I’m so very sorry, honey.”
“Thank you. I’ve been working at the center until they can find someone to take her place.”
“That’s very good of you.”
“The place means too much to too many people—it meant too much to my mother—to let it be closed down. I never expected it to take them this long to find someone, though. I need to get back to my real life.”
“Which is where?”
“Atlanta.”
“Ah, I see.”
“And now you’re wondering how badly I’m going to crush your son when I leave.”
“Crossed my mind. Since he can’t seem to take his eyes off you, I’d say it’ll be fairly ugly.”
With a moan, Georgie dropped her head into her hand.
“I made Dan wait two years for me,” Bernie said with a chuckle.
Georgie looked over at her. “And he did?”
“Sure he did. He was warm for my form.”
Georgie laughed.
“He was my college roommate’s very sexy older brother. I was desperately in love with him from the first instant I ever laid eyes on him the summer between my freshman and sophomore years.”
“Did he know?”
“No! Forty-five years later, he still doesn’t know about most of the tricks I played on him. Sometimes men need to be led to what’s best for them.”
“That’s very sneaky,” Georgie said with admiration.
Bernie shrugged. “Does he appear to be suffering?”
“Not one bit.”
“I’ll tell you what, though, he suffered when I told him I planned to spend two years living and working on a commune in Utah. In fact, he was so furious he said it was over between us if I went.”
“So what did you do?”
“The only thing I could do—I went. Took him a couple of months to figure out he couldn’t live without me.” She leaned in closer to Georgie. “I’ll deny it to my dying day, but he had me sweating by then. I didn’t expect it to take him so long to realize his life was worthless without me.”
“He came to Utah?” Georgie asked, hanging on Bernie’s every word.
She nodded. “He said he loved me and would wait for the rest of his life if that’s how long it took for me to come to my senses. I liked that last part. Come to my senses! He was the one with the problem, not me. By then he’d made me mad enough that I informed him I planned to honor my two-year commitment to the commune, and if he was still around when I was done, then we’d see what happened.”
“That’s what Nathan said we’d do—see what happens.”
“Might not be a bad idea. Worked out pretty well for me. Dan was exactly where I expected him to be when I ‘came to my senses,’ and we’ve been together ever since. He loved me. He waited. Not that complicated when it comes right down to it.”
“Nathan doesn’t love me. He likes me. A lot.”
“Has he told you about Ellen?”
Georgie nodded.
“For so long, I wondered if he would ever get over what happened to her.” Bernie glanced at Georgie. “I’ve never again seen that particular light in his eyes. Until today.”
Georgie took a sudden interest in her feet.
“He’s not going to let you go, Georgie. You may leave, but that doesn’t mean he’ll let go.”
“What if I want him to?”
“Do you?”
“I’ve known him a week. How do I know what I want him to do?”
“I took one look at Dan Caldwell and saw my destiny. Don’t tell me it can’t happen. It happened to me. The road to happily ever after was bumpy and full of potholes, but I never had any doubt I was on the right road.”
“I can’t even locate the on ramp, let alone the road.”
Bernie laughed. “What are you most afraid of?”
“At this moment? That my indecision will hurt Nathan.”
“If I were being smug, I’d say that proves you care about him.”
“Of course I do. How could I not? He’s so . . . He’s special.”
“Always has been,” Bernie mused. “He was the baby of the family, but rather than being useless and spoiled the way some babies can be, he was the practical one. The only one with a scrap of common sense when they were younger.”
“According to him, nothing’s changed on that front.”
Bernie rolled her eyes. “He would say that.”
“I’m attracted to him, maybe even wildly attracted—not that his mother needs to hear that.”
“His mother is thrilled to know that. Don’t worry.”
“I don’t want to hurt him, but I also don’t want to feel pressured.”
“You aren’t responsible for his happiness, honey. Do what you need to do, and if it’s meant to be, then it’ll be.”
“It can’t be that simple.”
“Why not?”
“I’m going back to Atlanta. Next week probably.”
“I was in Utah and Dan was here. Utah’s a lot farther than Georgia. And there’re all sorts of ways to keep it going these days that we would’ve loved to have back then. I talk to my grandchildren on the computer every week.”
Georgie leaned into Bernie’s one-armed hug. “It’s nice to know you’d come with the package.”
Bernie laughed. “It wouldn’t break my heart to have you around, either. Now, tell me, what do we think of this Tess who has my Bennett’s tongue hanging out of his mouth?”
“She’s as lovely as she looks.”
“No baggage?”
Georgie hesitated. “Some.”
“I guess that’s to be expected. What about Cat?”
“She’s been a good friend to me.”
“That’s something.”
“Motherhood never really ends, does it?”
“Not for me it won’t.”
“Thank you,” Georgie said, clutching the other woman’s hand.
“Thank you—for putting that light back in my Nathan’s eyes. It’s been a long time coming.”
Ian gripped his guitar and strummed the opening bars to “Saved by a Woman,” a song he had spent the morning messing around with.
The Caldwell family gathered around the stone fireplace in the backyard Ian shared with Kevin’s family. Rosie cuddled into her grandmother’s lap; Bernie’s hand was curled around her husband’s. Georgie reclined against Nate’s chest, and Tess snuggled with Ben on a double lounge chair. Kevin and Linda sat on another lounge, while Luke—perpetually single and happy that way—tended to the fire. Hugh and Dani had taken Sarah home to bed.
As he sang about the trouble and worry that came with loving a woman, Ian’s fingers flew over the neck of the guitar. He liked this song by Ray LaMontagne, he decided, as he played it for an audience for the first time. He’d have to work it into his set.
Venturing a glance at the others, he noticed Georgie smiling up at Nate. Ben’s lips were fused to Tess’s, a sight that filled Ian with an unfamiliar sense of longing. While he was relieved to see Ben happy for a change, Ian wished the woman who had taken up residence in his mind had come today.
Since his parents were visiting and would be happy to stay with Rosie, he could go see Cat at the club later. He wondered what she had been up to all day. Would she share that with him or was sharing outside the bounds of their agreement? Had she thought about him the way he had thought of her? Had she relived every detail, over and over again, like he had?
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Georgie hook her arm around Nate’s neck to bring him down for a kiss. It was a simple thing, really, watching his brother kiss a woman he was clearly crazy about, but it only served to bring home to Ian what was lacking in his own life.
For the first time in years, he was tired of being alone. He wanted someone who would think nothing of kissing him in front of his family. He wanted someone who wanted him—and his daughter. Was that too much to ask? But the woman he wanted, the one he craved more of, wasn’t interested in him or his little girl. She had made that perfectly clear.
Rosie’s laughter echoed through the yard.
Ian’s eyes were riveted to her, the firelight burnishing her golden curls. She was everything to him. He had sacrificed everything for her and would do it again in a heartbeat. It mattered to him that he be a man she could be proud of and look up to, which was why he had been plagued all day by doubts about the deal he’d made with Cat.
As his brothers settled into relationships with women who had the potential to change their lives for the better, he was headed for trouble. He knew it and hated it but was just as certain he would go to her the first chance he got.
Chapter 22
Tess and Ben didn’t leave Kevin’s house until almost eleven because she insisted on helping Linda clean up. Ben liked how Tess put others first. The kindness that radiated from her touched everyone around her and had been the first of many things that attracted him to her. Hell, he liked just about everything he knew about her, which wasn’t much, he had realized as they sat by the fire.
“Are you tired?” she asked.
He noticed she had adjusted her pace to his, as if walking this slow was natural to her. “Not particularly. You?”
“Not rea
lly.”
“Do you have to work tomorrow?”
“Not until three. I traded shifts with someone who needed tomorrow night off.”
Ben was already sad to realize he wouldn’t see her tomorrow night. A sure-to-be endless day had just gotten longer. “Can we go somewhere? To talk?”
“Where do you want to go?”
“How about the beach?”
“I have a blanket in my car.”
“Perfect. Let’s go to King Park.”
“Where?”
“I’ll show you.”
When they were in the car, he directed her. “So you’re not from here? Newport?”
She shook her head. “I’ve lived with Georgie for the last few months, but I moved to Rhode Island almost a year ago.”
“From where?” When she didn’t answer right away, he glanced over to find her jaw set with tension. “Is that a trick question?”
“No,” she said softly.
“You don’t want to tell me?”
“It’s not that.”
Ben let it rest until they had pulled into the angled parking spaces at King Park, which overlooked NewportHarbor.
Tess retrieved the blanket from the trunk of the car.
He appreciated her patience as he hobbled across the lawn, through the playground to the beach. God! How he missed being able to get around effortlessly—something he, like most people, had taken for granted until it was gone.
Tess spread the blanket on the beach and took his cane for him.
As if she knew he wouldn’t want her to witness his struggle as he lowered himself to the blanket, she looked out at the boats at anchor.
“We might need a crane to get me out of here,” he said when he had landed.
“I can get you up.” She blushed when she realized what she had said.
Finding her adorable, Ben laughed. “Please, feel free.”
She shot him a withering look. “You know what I meant.”
“I know what I heard.” He reached for her hand and laced his fingers through hers. “Are you going to tell me why you don’t want me to know anything about you?”