Marking Time

by Marie Force

Declan and his girlfriend, Jessica, arrived a short time later. Once she’d been introduced to the clan and had a drink forced on her, Colleen called the family to dinner.

  Extra chairs had been jammed in to make room for everyone around the dining room table. Erin sat next to Aidan. Her youngest child was in a high chair on the other side of her.

  Dennis presided at the head of the table. “Let’s say the blessing so Mum can serve.”

  The family joined hands and bowed their heads. Aidan went through the motions to please his parents.

  “Dear Lord, bless this family gathered here before you,” Dennis prayed. “Keep them safe and in your care in the year to come, and bring them right back here again next Christmas. We say a special prayer today for the family members who’ve gone on before us, especially for our beloved Sarah and baby Colin. In your name we pray. Amen.”

  “Amen,” the others echoed.

  Erin gave Aidan’s hand a squeeze before she released it.

  After everyone had left, Aidan helped his mother with the last of the cleanup. He returned one of the extra chairs they’d used at dinner back to his father’s study and was drawn to the shelves behind the desk. Each of the five O’Malley children had a shelf in the study dedicated to their childhood achievements.

  Aidan reached for the leather-bound book with the gilded gold pages that sat next to his football trophies. He took it over to the sofa where the light was better. The album cover was embossed in gold letters that read, “Aidan and Sarah,” along with their September wedding date. He looked through the photos from the happiest day of his life and smiled at the picture of him standing with Sarah in front of the white Rolls Royce Dennis had surprised them with. On the next page, the four O’Malley brothers were dashing in their gray tuxedos. They wore the cocky grins of men too young to believe anything bad could ever touch them.

  And Sarah. She was so breathtaking, with her mane of thick dark hair and hazel eyes. Aidan’s gaze lingered on the photo of her in her wedding gown, with the sun setting over the water behind her. He was stunned when his eyes filled with tears, and he closed the photo album abruptly.

  He’d lied to Clare when he told her he’d never been married. The lie had been told so often in the last ten years, he almost believed it himself. He found it easier to lie than to talk about it. Only when he was here at home did he ever hear her name or that of their son who would now be ten years old.

  After attending an early mass, Clare kept herself busy on Christmas Day preparing for the girls’ visit. She made lasagna, cooked a turkey, and baked several batches of their favorite cookies. The phone rang all day. When the girls called a second time, Clare got to say hello to Frannie and Jamie. When Jack came on the line to say Merry Christmas, Clare wanted to cheer when she felt no physical reaction to the sound of his voice, but she realized she missed him. It was an odd mixture of relief and sadness.

  She also spoke to her mother, her sister Sue, and brother Tony, as well as her nieces and nephews. The nonstop calls gave Clare little time to be lonely, and by nightfall she was proud of herself for getting through Christmas alone for the first time in her life.

  At nine, she curled up on the sofa with Christmas Vacation, which made her laugh like she’d never seen it before. The phone ringing again at ten surprised her. Who was left?

  “Hello?”

  “Hey,” Aidan said. “How’re you doing?”

  Delighted to hear from him, Clare smiled. “I’m fine. How are you? How was the O’Malley Christmas?”

  “To quote my brother Colin, it was a freaking madhouse. I just took a second dose of Advil.”

  Clare laughed. “Sounds like fun.”

  “Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to see them all, but I live alone. It’s always a shock to my system to come home. How was your day?”

  “The phone rang off the hook, but in between the calls, I cooked, cleaned, made beds, and wrapped a few last-minute presents.”

  “You sound good.”

  “I feel good.”

  “Well, I just wanted to check on you.”

  “I’m glad you did. Now don’t let this go to your fat head, O’Malley, but I miss you. It’s awfully quiet around here without you banging and crashing about.”

  “Lordy, Ms. Scarlet,” he said in a dramatic Southern drawl. “You sure know how to make a guy feel special.”

  She laughed. “Thanks for calling.”

  “I miss you, too. I’ll see you soon.”

  Clare clicked off the phone and held it against her chest for several long minutes. She’d meant it when she said she missed him, and suddenly she couldn’t wait for him to get back.

  In Rhode Island, Kate was counting the minutes until she could return to Nashville. She’d spoken to Reid twice during the day, but it was no substitute for being with him. It was nice to see her family, but in six short weeks, Rhode Island no longer felt like home. Two nights away from him felt like an eternity. She couldn’t believe how quickly he’d become as essential to her as air and music.

  Kate was lying on her bed at her dad’s house talking to Jill late on Christmas night when someone knocked on the door. “Come in.”

  “I just wanted to say good night,” Andi said. “Do you guys need anything?”

  “We’re fine,” Kate said. “Thanks. You must be beat.”

  “I am. I’m going to bed now. Is everything all right, Kate? You’ve been so quiet since you got home.”

  “I’m zonked from working nonstop the last couple of weeks. We had Christmas parties almost every night.”

  “What’ve you got there?” Andi asked with a nod at the locket.

  Kate hadn’t realized she’d been playing with it. Unable to bring herself to take it off, she had kept it hidden under her clothes during her trip home. “Oh, just something the band gave me to thank me for the hard work over the last month.” She was startled by how easily the lie rolled off her tongue.

  “It’s lovely. Well, I’ll see you in the morning.” Andi turned back when she reached the door. “You know you can talk to me if you need to, right?”

  Kate nodded. “Thanks, but I’m fine. Really.”

  “Good night, then.”

  “Merry Christmas,” Kate said.

  “You, too, sweetie. Night, Jill.”

  “Night,” Jill said. When the door closed, Jill looked at her sister. “Dad will kill you if he ever finds out about this, Kate.”

  “He won’t.” Kate rolled onto her side and clutched a pillow. It was a lousy substitute for what she really wanted.

  Reid spent a quiet day with Ashton. They exchanged gifts and enjoyed an early dinner Martha had prepared for them before she left to spend the day with her own family. Later that evening, after Ashton had gone into the city to visit some high school friends who were home for the holiday, Reid poured himself a brandy and sat listening to Mozart on the stereo. The fire cast an amber glow on the ten-foot Christmas tree.

  He missed Kate with an intensity that almost frightened him. After Cindy died and a respectable amount of time had passed, the women in his social circle got busy trying to find him a new wife. He’d sat through countless dinner parties and blind dates with a progression of “perfectly suited” women who wanted nothing more than to take care of him and his precious little boy. Well, a few of them were probably more interested in his money, but he didn’t keep any of them around long enough to find out. Not one of them had stirred in him what Kate did.

  After a while his friends mercifully gave up on him. Reid buried himself in his work and taking care of his son, and the invitations stopped coming as one by one his friends quit calling. He hadn’t even realized how isolated he’d become until Kate stormed into his life and made him see what he’d been missing all these years.

  Reid heard Martha come in through the kitchen door. She had finally begun to slow down over the last year, and he worried about her driving at night. But whenever he broached the subject, she would give him the withering look that had worked on h
im since he was a child, and he would drop it.

  “Hi,” she said. “Did Ashton leave?” She tended to drop the formality she used around guests when they were alone.

  “He was here all day, but he wanted to see his friends. How was your day?”

  She sat down across from him. Every snow-white hair on her head was perfectly in place—as always—but he could see weariness in her soft brown eyes. “Tiring. The whole crowd was at Buddy’s,” she said, referring to her son.

  “Can I get you a drink?”

  “Heavens, no. That’d be the living end of me. Thank you, though.” She studied him intently.

  He raised an eyebrow. “Something on your mind, Martha?”

  “As a matter of fact, there is. You know I care for you like my own, and I know my place in this house, but I can’t stand by and say nothing when I see what you’re doing.”

  “What am I doing?” he asked casually, but his heart began to beat faster.

  Her eyes narrowed with anger. “Reid Matthews, you know exactly what I’m talking about. I may be old, but I wasn’t born yesterday. I don’t know what you think you’re doing with that girl.”

  He kept his gaze steady and even. “I love that girl.”

  “You can’t be serious!” She shook her head with disbelief. “Your parents and your dear wife must be rolling in their graves, bless their souls.”

  Unable to stay seated, he surged to his feet. “Damn it, Martha! Look at how I’m spending Christmas—by myself. My son has a life of his own now, so where does that leave me? I’ll tell you where—alone—like I was all the time until that girl came into my life. I’ve been alone for more than twenty years. Surely you can’t sit there and say I don’t deserve some happiness.”

  “Not like this,” Martha whispered. “Her father is your friend. He trusted you to take care of her.”

  “Do you know what that girl, who’s wise beyond her years, once told me? ‘Reid,’ she said, ‘people love who they love. It’s not always a choice.’”

  “When you’re more than twice her age, it is a choice. You’re damned right it’s a choice.”

  “I’m sorry you don’t approve.”

  “Does your son approve?”

  Reid looked away from her.

  “You know this is wrong, or you would’ve told him.” She shrugged and stood up. “I can’t tell you how to run your life. I can only tell you how disappointed I am. I’ll pack my things in the morning.”

  He closed the distance between them and rested a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t do this, Martha. I don’t want you to leave. You’ve been a part of my family for more than forty years.”

  With tears in her eyes, she turned to him. “You’re not the man I helped to raise. That man is honorable and decent. I don’t recognize you anymore. I’ll be gone in the morning.”

  After she left the room, he poured himself a stronger drink. Maybe if he got good and stinking drunk, he could stop the roaring in his ears.

  Jack drove Kate to the airport the morning after Christmas. “I wish you could’ve stayed longer,” he said.

  “I know, but the band is playing tomorrow night. I was so lucky they hired me.”

  “They’re the lucky ones.”

  “You have to say that,” she said with a smile. “I can’t get over how big the babies got in just six weeks.”

  “They’re growing like weeds. At least they’re sleeping through the night once in a while now. It’s always a surprise to us when they do. We wake up and fly out of bed to check on them.”

  Kate chuckled. “Better you than me.”

  “I’m glad everything’s going so well for you in Nashville. I’ve got to admit, when I was there I kind of wondered if you had a thing for Ashton.”

  “What?” she said, stunned. “We’re just friends.”

  “Yeah, well, he’s kind of old for you anyway,” Jack said, taking the airport exit.

  Kate’s stomach clenched as she looked out the passenger window. “Yeah. I guess.”

  “You seemed distracted while you were home. Andi said the same thing. You’re sure everything’s okay? There’s nothing you couldn’t tell me, you know.” He pulled up to the curb outside the departures door.

  Yes, Daddy, there are things I can’t tell you. Her eyes burned with tears.

  “What? What is it?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing. I just hate saying good-bye to you again.”

  He took her in his arms. “I miss you. Come home again soon when you can stay longer.”

  “I will.”

  “You’re sure you don’t want me to walk you in?”

  “I’m sure. I’m going right to security anyway.” She had left her guitar at Reid’s and just had a carry-on bag with her.

  Jack retrieved her bag from the trunk and then reached out to hug her.

  Kate buried her face in the warm comfort of his familiar scent.

  “Love you, honey.”

  She kissed his cheek. “Love you, too.” She watched him get back in his car and waved until the silver BMW was out of sight. Then she went inside, anxious to get home to Reid. Today was his birthday, and he was waiting for her.

  Part III: Column

  Two or more people standing behind one another.

  Chapter 21

  Jill and Maggie arrived in Stowe late in the afternoon the day after Christmas. Within minutes they filled the quiet house with bags, presents, chatter, and chaos. Clare couldn’t have been more delighted.

  After they exchanged Christmas gifts and Maggie opened her birthday presents, Clare made them some hot chocolate. “So how was Kate?” she asked.

  “She wasn’t home very long,” Maggie complained, poking at a puff of whipped cream. “She got there on Christmas Eve, and she went back this morning.”

  “She’s working tomorrow night,” Jill added.

  “How does she seem? I haven’t talked to her as much as usual the last couple of weeks.”

  “She was on the phone a lot,” Maggie said with disapproval.

  “Do you think she has a boyfriend in Nashville?” Clare asked. “She hasn’t mentioned anything to me.”

  “No,” Jill said. “So when can we ski?”

  “Tomorrow if you want.” Clare wondered why Jill had changed the subject so abruptly. “We’re supposed to get a big snowstorm in the next day or two. We’ll see what the weather does.”

  “Cool,” Maggie said.

  “Let’s go for a walk in town. I want to introduce you to my new friends.”

  They bundled up and headed into town where Clare showed them off at McHugh’s and the Book Nook. Diana and Bea were delighted to finally meet Clare’s daughters. The girls dragged Clare into all the stores in town, even a few she hadn’t been to yet. By the time they walked home, it had begun to snow lightly.

  “Who is that?” Maggie pointed to the house.

  Clare smiled at the sight of Aidan bent over the table saw on the front porch. She felt her face go hot when she remembered kissing him on Christmas Eve. “That is Aidan O’Malley. He’s doing the work on the house.”

  Jill grinned. “Can’t wait to see if the front of him lives up to the back.”

  “Oh, trust me,” Clare said with a smirk. “It does.”

  Jill’s eyes widened. “Really, Mother. Do tell!”

  Clare shrugged. “Nothing to tell. We’re friends. You guys will like him.” When they got to the house, Clare waited for him to shut off the saw. “Hey, you’re back.”

  He looked up and smiled. “I wanted to beat the snow. Got some new friends, Clare?”

  Maggie giggled. “We’re her daughters!”

  “Daughters?” Aidan asked with mock horror. “You have daughters?”

  “Very funny. Jill and Maggie, this is Aidan O’Malley. He’s a carpenter with a screw loose.”

  “I’m offended,” Aidan said.

  “You’ll get over it. Come on, girls. Let’s get dinner started. We’re having lasagna if you want to stay, O’Malley.”<
br />
  “I’d love to.”

  They left him working on the porch and went inside.

  “What was that all about?” Jill asked.

  “What?” Clare asked.

  “You were flirting with him,” Maggie said as if she were an authority on the subject.

  “I was not!”

  “He’s dreamy,” Maggie said with a sigh.

  Clare couldn’t deny it. “Isn’t he?”

  Jill’s eyes went wide again. “Do you like him, Mom?”

  “We’re friends. Don’t make a big deal out of it.”

  “Hmm.” Jill took a bite of a carrot Clare got out for salad. She leaned against the bare wall in the kitchen and eyed her mother with interest.

  “Hmm, nothing,” Clare said, but she was rattled that the girls had zeroed in on her growing friendship with Aidan so quickly.

  By the time they’d had dinner and launched into a competitive game of Monopoly, the girls and Aidan were fast friends.

  “That’ll be four hundred bucks,” Maggie told him when he landed on Boardwalk.

  He groaned. “I’m busted. You girls have driven me straight into the poor house.”

  “I can definitely relate,” Clare said dryly.

  He got up to look out the window to check the snow. “I’d better go, but I’ll be over in the morning to dig you out.”

  “We can do it,” Clare said.

  “I don’t mind. The skiing will be great tomorrow.”

  “Do you want to come with us?” Jill asked. They had grilled him about the best runs on the mountain.

  “I really should get some work done.”

  “Go ahead,” Clare said. “This place isn’t going anywhere.”

  “I’d love to,” Aidan admitted. “I haven’t been yet this year.”

  “Good,” Maggie said as she finished putting the game away. “I’m going to bed. See you tomorrow, Aidan.”

  “I’m going up, too,” Jill said with a big yawn.

  “I’ll be up in a minute,” Clare called after them.