Beach Wedding (Eversea Book Three) (The Butler Cove Series 5)

by Natasha Boyd

  I nodded. “I go to a small practice in Butler Cove, but Jack felt, we felt,” I corrected, glancing at Jack, “that we may need a more removed and discreet option given the situation.”

  “Any family illnesses I need to know about?” She listed off a string of conditions to which I, thankfully, was able to give a negative response.

  Dr. Berry nodded. “Ok, I’ll write a prescription for prenatal vitamins, but I have some sample packs here to get you started. Given the information you’ve provided I’d say you are very early along. I could do an internal ultrasound now, but depending whether the heart has started beating it may be too soon. It could be disappointing.”

  “But are we sure she’s pregnant?” asked Jack, suddenly sitting forward looking concerned. “Don’t you, like, have a test or something?”

  “You took a drugstore test, correct?” Dr. Berry asked.

  Jack nodded. “Well, yes, but those aren’t totally reliable, are they?”

  “They can be unreliably negative, but they are almost one hundred percent reliably positive. It’s the same technology, if you will, that we use in our offices.” She looked at us both with a smile. “If you peed on a stick and it showed up positive, you are very definitely pregnant.”

  I swallowed at hearing it confirmed so emphatically.

  Jack sat back and sighed with what seemed to be relief and reached for my hand.

  I looked over to find him grinning.

  “However, I need to tell you the following because it’s my duty, and it’s not to worry you unnecessarily,” Dr. Berry said gently, and I saw Jack’s smile slip a fraction. “The first three months, especially of a first pregnancy are, I’m sorry to say, more prone to spontaneously ... not take.”

  “Oh my God,” said Jack.

  My stomach dropped.

  “But before you panic and wrap Keri Ann in cotton balls,” she eyed Jack, who seemed the outwardly more perturbed out of the two of us, “there is really nothing to be done about it. It won’t be from anything you eat or strenuous exercise or anything like that. Pregnancies are more resilient than one thinks. But often times, the body does you a favor, taking care of a potential medical problem before something goes seriously wrong. If this happens you need to look at it as God’s, or nature’s, way of deciding now is not the right time.”

  Jack looked utterly panicked. I thought of Jazz and her first pregnancy and felt ill and cold. I wrapped my free hand around my chest, hugging myself. Jack had been so excited. It would be terrible if something went wrong. Utterly awful.

  “So I’d hold off on announcing the news until you reach at least the three month mark. I’d also like you to come back in a week or two and let’s get a good ultrasound, listen to the heart beat, and measure the baby. At this stage they pretty much all develop at the same rate so we’ll be able to tell you a due date and probably a conception date, give or take a day.”

  “Wow,” Jack reacted, a breathy laugh coming out.

  It seemed we were both relieved we’d moved on from the doom scenario.

  “I hoped we could tell the conception date, but I wasn’t sure. That’s so awesome ...” Jack trailed off as he realized what he was implying.

  I rolled my eyes with a smile and caught Dr. Berry’s look. “He really wants to know which time he ... you know ...”

  Dr. Berry flushed, then sputtered out a laugh. “Men. My husband was exactly the same way.”

  We exchanged a look and I decided Dr. Berry was pretty awesome. I trusted her. I hoped Jack felt the same way.

  “Hey.” Jack chuckled. “It’ll be something to be proud of. I mean I don’t get to grow it, at least I can know what exactly we were doing when Bean was created.” He winked.

  “Jack!” I shook my head, laughing, my cheeks burning with heat.

  We wrapped up the consultation, and I knew Jack felt infinitely better knowing we had a professional involved. I did too and was grateful he’d jumped on the referral Joey had provided.

  As we left the medical building, heading out to the empty parking lot, Jack put his hat back on and took my hand. “So do we tell my parents now or wait for three months?”

  “Well, Jazz and Joey know, so it feels weird your parents don’t, or even Devon and Monica for that matter.” I squeezed Jack’s hand. “And if something does go wrong, it’ll be nice to have their support.”

  Jack pulled me to a stop at the passenger side of the Jeep and tilted my face up to his. “Nothing will go wrong. And maybe more people loving and waiting for this baby as soon as possible will keep him or her safe.” He pressed his lips to mine. “Let’s wait to tell my parents until we’re out on Daufuskie, though. They’ll be thrilled.”

  Twenty

  I blew on the top of my hot cocoa Jack’s mother had made when we’d come in from our blisteringly cold morning walk on the beach on Daufuskie.

  “We have to make a public statement about our engagement,” Jack said as the rest of us settled into our living room. He stacked some logs into our fireplace and lit them.

  “What’s there to say?” asked Charlotte.

  Charlotte and I had a few more pieces of a five-hundred-piece puzzle we’d been working on that was set up on the game table in the corner. It was nice to be back on the island, and Jack’s parents were very easy houseguests.

  “I guess they want a date or something.” I searched for an elusive puzzle piece I was sure had a blue edge. “And Jack’s publicist said she’s been inundated with offers for exclusive engagement photo magazine spreads.”

  “The studio is excited because it’ll give me more visibility before they break the story about The Missing Earl being about me. They’re asking to piggy back the news.” Jack gritted his teeth as he spoke. “At the very least I’ll give her the go ahead to confirm the engagement, so it’s not a rumor.”

  “Well, what will the wedding date be?” asked Charlotte, thankfully not noticing Jack’s tension. She snapped the piece I’d been hunting for into the puzzle with ease. “Have you guys even talked about a season for the wedding? I mean you’ve been together long enough. There’s not that much point in waiting.”

  I made a small sound.

  Jack and I exchanged a look as he got to his feet, the fire dancing merrily behind him.

  I narrowed my eyes in warning, and he winked mischievously.

  “Obviously, I don’t want to wait,” he said.

  “You’d need time to plan though,” said Charlotte. “Planning a wedding, even if it’s small takes some time.”

  “My thoughts exactly.” I smiled serenely at Jack.

  He wrinkled his nose at me and headed for the couch. I found two more pieces and slotted them in. The puzzle was going faster now.

  “But tell me more about the studio leaking your true identity,” Charlotte continued. “Have they given you a plan for that yet?”

  We all knew it would affect Charlotte and Jeff too. Up until now, they’d lived a pretty anonymous life. Only a handful of their friends in England even knew Jack Eversea was Charlotte’s son.

  “Just that they’re going to “leak” the news about who I am after a series of press releases about the movie being based on a true story. I think Hello! magazine is doing a spread on the original old mystery of the missing earl with some of the last archived photos of me when I was six.”

  “But they won’t know the six-year-old is you, surely?” Charlotte asked.

  “Exactly. And there’s no clear picture of you either, Mum. So I think we can control how it comes out.”

  “I took all our wedding photos when I left him,” Jack’s mom added. “All of them I could find anyway.”

  Jeff got up from where he sat reading a newspaper and set his hand on Charlotte’s shoulder. He gave it a squeeze. She looked up at him with a wan smile. Jeff had been part of the legal team that had worked to help Charlotte and her young son flee the country. He’d been with her during her darkest moments. That they’d fallen in love and found such happiness after a turbulent
beginning was truly heartwarming.

  “We’ll be fine,” Jeff assured Charlotte.

  They looked at each other a long moment. Then Charlotte nodded as if they’d had a silent conversation.

  “We should probably tell you this, Jack.” Jeff cleared his throat. “We decided not to for many reasons. Back then it didn’t seem relevant.”

  Across the room, Jack went still.

  Glancing between Jeff and Charlotte, I could sense their tension.

  I got up and sat next to Jack, grabbing his hand.

  “Go on,” Jack said quietly.

  “Before we continue,” Charlotte said gently. “Just know you are my real son.”

  “You’re freaking me out,” warned Jack. “Will you get to the point?”

  “We had adoption papers drawn up when you were a boy,” said Charlotte, and Jack’s body gave a small lurch.

  “Your mother,” Jeff took over, his eyes darting to Charlotte and back to Jack, “under her new alias, adopted a little boy, an orphan, and named him Jack.”

  I drew in a sharp breath. “I don’t understand. Why?”

  “Well, as part of burying the trail,” Jeff went on. “We wanted to make sure anyone who might find Charlotte and her son and suspect their identity, would be stymied when they came across filed adoption papers. It was just another way to try and hide the true mother and son. If people thought her son was adopted then there was no way Jack could be the missing earl.”

  “But I’m not adopted ... right?”

  “No. Oh, sweetheart.” Charlotte came and sat on the other side of Jack. “You are very much my son. It sounds convoluted and ridiculous now,” she said. “But at the time ...”

  Jeff cleared his throat. “Trust me when I say we wanted to do everything possible to give you both a clean break from your father and the anonymity you needed to stay hidden from him and from the damned British press. For all intents and purposes you and Charlotte went into the equivalent of witness protection.”

  Jack was still unmoving, and I gently began to run my thumb across his hand I was holding.

  Charlotte gazed at him, her expression apologetic. “So all this to tell you, that even though it may ‘leak’ that you are the ‘Missing Earl,’ people might have to take your word for it. Because someone may find those adoption papers and question the validity of your claim. We just thought you should know so you aren’t blind-sided if it happens. It’s been a tough decision for you to come forward, it would be awful if people didn’t believe you.”

  Jack sat forward with his elbows on his knees. His dark t-shirt stretched over his muscled shoulders. After several more minutes of silence, he scrubbed a hand down his face and let out a long exhale. “Well, this is an interesting turn of events.”

  Charlotte laid a hand on his back. “I’m sorry, Jack. I, we, just didn’t think we’d ever have to tell you. You are my son. We were just being extra cautious.”

  “Until I went and wrote a movie about it.” He stood then leaned down and pressed a light kiss to his mother’s forehead. “I guess I need to tell Devon. With any luck I won’t have to reveal I’m him after all. I’ve been dreading ‘coming out’ so to speak. I hate the idea of people thinking I could be like him. Not revealing it’s about me will be one less thing to have anxiety about.”

  We all watched as Jack left the living area and took the stairs two at a time to his office. I swallowed and pursed my lips, not sure how Jack was truly feeling. He seemed all right. I wanted to go with him and check, but it sounded like maybe talking to Devon was the right thing for Jack to do so they could figure everything out.

  I turned to Charlotte, tucking one of my feet up underneath me. “You know, he’s struggled recently with how much of his father he might have in him.” I wet my lips, my mouth suddenly dry with nerves. “He admits that he got in deep with the movie. But I see he has a lot of good traits from you, not his father. I definitely tried to convince him of that.”

  Charlotte huffed. “They are like chalk and cheese. He doesn’t have even a smidge of his father’s temperament, thank goodness. Honestly, my ex-husband had the most horrible family from what I learned, so I think in this case it was truly a case of nurture and not nature. Jack is pure daylight compared to that man.”

  “Well.” Jeff puffed out his chest. “I like to think Jack has a bit of me in him if nurture plays such a big role. I mean, now we know why he’s so charismatic, don’t we? Hey, hey?” He strode back and forth theatrically in front of the couch.

  “Oh, you lout.” Charlotte laughed.

  “Knock it off, you two,” Jack said, striding down the stairs. He was smiling too, and inside I relaxed knowing Devon must have been okay with Jack not revealing himself. He held my phone up that I’d left in our room to charge. “Keri Ann, looks like Jazz has been calling you.”

  “I’ll call her back in a bit.”

  “She’s called nine times. I think you better call her back.”

  “Oh, shoot.” I leapt up, my mind immediately going to Joey.

  “And I don’t think it’s to do with Joey. He just left me a voicemail while I was on the phone with Devon. I’ll listen to it now.”

  I exhaled loudly and excused myself to go and call Jazz.

  “Jazz?” I asked when she answered my call. “It’s me. Everything okay.”

  She let out a long breath. “Thank God you called. I don’t know what to do.”

  “What about?” I made my way into the kitchen and sat down in the breakfast area that had windows out to a small herb garden I’d planted.

  “Her ... her check was canceled.” Jazz breathed heavily in and out like she was trying to calm herself down and then the tell-tale squeak of her starting to cry broke through. Jazz was not a crier.

  “Jazz. Slow down. Whose check? It’s going to be okay.”

  “Nicole’s mom ...” she sniffed, her voice wobbling. “She wrote a single check to cover all the deposits. And now the wedding is off, she canceled the check with her bank!”

  “Oh my God,” I said and closed my eyes. After all the work Jazz had put in convincing the vendors to work in such a tight time frame. And now to have them stiffed for money. “So can the vendors take it up with her? I mean I know you’re the planner, but it’s not your fault. They can sue her, can’t they? To try and at least get their deposits she owes them?”

  Jazz let out a muffled moan. “That’s just it. I went ahead and paid the vendors from our operating account knowing this check was coming in. Otherwise we were going to lose the caterer and the florist. I ended up paying everybody, just to stay organized in our compressed timeline.”

  “Oh, shit.”

  “Yes, oh shit. And I’ve already tried to call each vendor to explain. But the florist has ordered wholesale flowers, the caterer has ordered food ahead of time and contracted extra staff. This is just ...”

  “A nightmare,” I finished for her. My heart ached for my friend. “I guess that’s why Joey’s calling Jack—to tell him what happened to the operating account?”

  “Yes,” Jazz whispered. “I’m so, so sorry. I can’t believe how epically I fucked up.”

  “Oh, Jazz,” I soothed. “First of all, don’t apologize to me, and yes, it’s a fuck up. But it’s not like you knew. You didn’t do this on purpose.”

  “But it’s Jack’s money. And I should have never paid without already having the money. In fact, Nicole’s mother should have paid them directly. I’m such a rookie,” Jazz wailed.

  I sighed. “Probably. But this is an honest mistake, Jazz.”

  Jazz hiccupped a massive, heaving sob. I’d never heard her lose it like this. I wished we were together so I could hold her, or at least just be there while she got it together.

  “I’m so sorry, Jazz.”

  She cried as I held the phone tightly in my grip.

  “I’ll come back over there tomorrow and I’ll help you,” I said. “We’ll try to recoup what we can. Okay? Maybe they’ll let you have credit for stuff the
y haven’t ordered. And maybe Nicole can convince her mother to do the right thing.”

  Jazz cried quietly as I talked. My own eyes stung and filled with tears in response.

  “Is ... is Jack going to kill me?” she whispered haltingly after a few more minutes. “God, how will he want to stay in business with me after this?”

  I looked up just as Jack and his parents came in. Jack headed right for me, joining me at the table and taking my hand. His expression told me he’d spoken to Joey.

  “Shhh,” I soothed into the phone when Jazz couldn’t stop crying. “We’ll figure it out. Somehow. Okay? Get Joey to pour you a drink. You have no guests right now apart from Cooper, so stick the proverbial sign in the window and take a much needed night off. Then tomorrow we’ll figure out what to do. Okay?”

  She exhaled loudly down the phone, her breath catching along the way. “Okay.”

  “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  I ended the call just as Jeff set a glass of red wine in front of me. “Looks like you could use this,” he said gruffly.

  I glanced at Jack, then up at Jeff. “Thank you,” I said. He nodded and stepped away. We really needed to tell them about the pregnancy soon.

  Charlotte was busying herself filling a large pot with water. “I thought I’d make some spaghetti, and we can sit and talk about when you two might want to have the ceremony. Some carbs and red wine sound just about right for a winter’s day and important decision making, don’t you think?”

  “Sounds great, Mum,” Jack said absently, his eyes fixed on me.

  “Are you okay?” I asked him. Jack was still holding my free hand. I didn’t know how he’d feel about the massive loss of capital that probably couldn’t be recouped. I set my phone down and grabbed hold of our joined hands. “She’s devastated. I’m going to go over there tomorrow and see what I can do to help.” I squeezed our clasped hands tighter. “I’m so sorry. She’s so sorry. Jazz feels terrible about what happened.”

  “I don’t.” Jack shrugged.

  “You don’t?” I frowned.