“You haven’t? But I thought you really liked him.”
“I more than really like him, sweetie. I love William. But I also love you. That’s why I explained to him that he would have to propose to you, too.” She gave her daughter a lopsided grin. “We come as a package, Sarah. If you were two years old, then I would make the decision myself, doing what I thought was best for both of us. But you’re almost ten, and you deserve some say.”
“Daddy didn’t ask me if it was okay for him to marry Sissy.”
“The circumstances are different. Your dad has another child on the way, so he’s doing what he feels is best for everyone. And you aren’t living with him all the time, whereas you would be living with William. That’s why I’m asking you to think about how you’d feel if we got married.”
Sarah’s big brown eyes turned worried again. “But how can I know what I’d feel until it actually happens?” she whispered. “I really like Mr. Killkenny, but what if he’s only being nice to me because he likes you?”
“Do you trust me, Sarah?”
“Of course I do. You’re my mom!”
“Okay, then, let’s make a pact: we won’t marry William until you are absolutely certain it’s the right thing for both of us. And if it takes you two weeks, two months, or two years to get used to the idea of having another man in your life, then that’s simply how long it takes. No pressure.” She laughed. “Although I imagine you might get a few bribes from William.” She gave her daughter a stern look. “But I think you’re old enough and wise enough to take them in the spirit they’re given—as long as you don’t take advantage of the poor sap. Sometimes William gets carried away with his gifts.”
That got a smile from Sarah. “You mean like motorcycle rides and a puppy and maybe even a horse of my own?”
Maddy gestured for her to slide down so she could tuck her in. “If I catch you even sitting on that motorcycle I will cut your hair myself, and we both know how lovely you’ll look then.”
Sarah shuddered. “I still have nightmares from when you cut it two days before my seventh birthday party. I thought Elvira was going to take the clippers to you right after she got done fixing it.”
Maddy stood up and turned off the bedside lamp.
“Mom? Is Mr. Killkenny really going to ask me if he can marry you?”
“Yes, he is. But you don’t have to give him an answer right away, just like I didn’t give him one tonight. You only have to promise that you’ll think about it.”
“If you do marry him, will he want me to call him Dad?”
“No, sweetie. I think one father is enough for any girl. But you could ask him if it’s okay to start calling him William.”
“Is he really building a castle?”
“Not a castle like you’re picturing. He’s building what’s called a keep, which is more like a large house with lots of stone and maybe even a small tower.”
“It sounds big enough for Gram to come live with us.”
“You can’t put conditions on your saying yes to William, Sarah. Besides, did it ever occur to you that maybe Gram might like to have her house all to herself again? Living alone isn’t a punishment, sweetie; sometimes it’s a blessing to have your own space and then have everyone come visit. Gram has slowly been building a new life for herself since Grampy died and has even gone on a few dates. Maybe our leaving will open up room in her life for someone new.”
Sarah’s eyes widened. “I hadn’t thought about that.” She grinned. “Imagine Gram with a boyfriend.”
Maddy walked to the door and shut off the overhead light, then looked back. “Your little extended family is growing in leaps and bounds, isn’t it, baby? But let’s keep William’s marriage proposal just between you, me, Gram, and Rick, okay? Nobody needs to know about it until we decide if there even will be a wedding.”
“Does Mr. . . . does William love you, Mama?”
“Yes, he does. And I believe he loves you, too. But he has a hard time saying what he feels, so that’s why it’s so important that you listen with your heart. People’s actions speak louder than their words. You pay attention not only to how William treats you but to how he treats everyone else, okay? And Sarah?”
“Yeah?”
“You have to consider your father’s feelings, too. Don’t make him feel as if he has to compete with William for your affection. There’s enough room in your heart for both men, and it’s going to fall on your shoulders to reassure them of that.”
“How do I do that?”
“By just being yourself.” She grinned. “And using a bit of misdirection when you have to. When you’re with your dad, don’t talk about William all the time, and when you’re with William, don’t talk constantly about your dad. Just be with them. I promise, if you take this one day at a time, everything will work out for the best, so try not to stay awake half the night thinking too hard, okay?”
Sarah settled down into her pillow with a sigh. “I won’t. Maybe I’ll dream about living in a castle with my new puppy and pony. ’Night, Mom.”
“Good night, baby,” Maddy said softly, closing the bedroom door all but a crack.
She walked to her bedroom, sat down on the bed, and let out a deep sigh, still smiling. Poor William. He didn’t have a clue what he was in for. Sarah Jane was going to give his big, sappy heart a real workout in the coming weeks, because that little girl was definitely her mother’s daughter.
Maddy pulled the small wooden box he’d given her from under her pillow and lifted out the dragon claw to study it.
And then she suddenly smiled again.
She went to her vanity and sat down, picked up her emery board, and carefully slid it across the claw’s razor-sharp point. When it didn’t even leave a mark in the amazingly hard keratin, she turned the board over to the grittier side and tried again. But when that didn’t do much of anything, either, she picked up her metal fingernail file and tried that.
“Okay, I guess you really were a badass dragon,” she muttered when the metal file did little more than scratch it. “Let’s try the nail clippers.”
But Maddy sighed in defeat ten minutes later, setting the claw down beside the broken clippers and the file she had snapped in half, and sucked on her bleeding thumb. Tomorrow on her lunch break she’d have to go to the hardware store and get something a little more lethal.
She put on her pajamas, shut off the overhead light, and walked over to the window. Lifting the shade, Maddy peered up at the knoll and then gave a small wave. “Good night, Mr. Bogeyman,” she whispered.
She climbed into bed with a smile and dreamed of being curled up in William’s arms, the strong, steady beat of his magnificent dragon heart lulling her to sleep.
Chapter Twenty-seven
Wearing her mother’s beautiful wedding gown and surrounded by everyone she loved, Maddy stood beside William in the center of River Run’s large gazebo, the two of them facing Father Daar. Sarah stood next to her, looking like a miniature bride herself in a re-creation of her grandmother’s gown, sporting a spray of flowers in her hair, cut almost identically to Maddy’s. Eve stood beside Sarah, her blossoming belly lost in the gathered waist of her muted rose dress.
Kenzie stood beside William, and Trace beside him. Rick had joined his mother after giving her away, and the fifty or so chairs surrounding the gazebo were filled with everyone dear to Maddy’s heart. Even the weather was cooperating; the mid-October sun all but setting the trees on fire with color, the warm air being stirred by a gentle breeze wafting up the river from the bay.
Her sweet, darling daughter hadn’t held out even two minutes against William, much less two days or two weeks or two years—thank God. When William had walked into the Lane kitchen and gotten down on one knee to ask Sarah for her mother’s hand in marriage, Maddy had discovered she was worth exactly one dog and a white four-poster bed. As soon as he had finished his awkward though heartfelt speech, Sarah had squealed in delight, thrown her arms around William and kissed him right
on his cheek. She had then grabbed the leash attached to the puppy he had deviously brought as a bribe and run outside with her new very best friend.
William, still on one knee, had then held out his ring to Maddy once again. Only this time instead of reciting what she’d written in her diary all those years ago, the romantic sap had simply asked if she would please be his; until the end of time.
Immensely glad that Mac had been bartering with William for her instead of with Sarah, Maddy had let him slip the ring on her trembling finger, then thrown her arms around him and kissed him quite passionately.
And despite knowing better than to give them free rein, she had nonetheless relinquished control of the wedding reception to the residents, and for the last five weeks her herd of turtles had been keeping secrets to themselves, and the sitting room off limits to her. And although she hadn’t been allowed to peek for the last two days, Maddy suspected the River Run cafeteria had been transformed into the main hall of an Irish keep; complete with wildflowers, wooden bowls, metal tankards, and honest to God live doves. She also suspected that there was a warhorse hidden somewhere, waiting for Prince Charming to carry her off into the sunset after the reception.
She was so excited she couldn’t stop trembling, and so damn happy she couldn’t stop smiling to finally be pledging her troth to the man of her childhood dreams.
Or at least, that’s what she hoped she was doing. Father Daar was speaking Gaelic, and as near as she could tell, only Kenzie and William knew what he was saying. The old priest suddenly stopped in what seemed like mid-sentence and pointedly glared at everyone sitting around the gazebo. Maddy assumed this was the part where he was checking to see if anyone objected to their getting married, and she was suddenly glad she hadn’t invited Mac.
“I object,” someone said from somewhere behind her.
Maddy turned with a gasp—though it was lost in the collective gasp of the audience. Only instead of also turning to look, William just closed his eyes on a groan.
“Who said that?” Father Daar demanded.
A man in his mid-thirties, with shoulder-length blond hair, ruggedly handsome features, and piercing green eyes walked up to the gazebo and stopped at the bottom step. “I did.”
“And just who would you be?” Daar asked.
The man gave a slight bow. “Maximilian Oceanus.”
“Nay!” the old priest cried, taking a step back. “Ye’re not!”
“I’m afraid he is, Father,” William said quietly.
Maddy blinked at the man—who didn’t at all look like the Mac she remembered—and then she blinked at William. “Did you invite him?” she whispered.
William arched a brow. “You mean you didn’t?”
“I guess my invitation got lost in the mail,” Mac drawled, walking up the steps. He stopped and looked down at Sarah, and extended his hand to her with a warm smile. “Sarah, isn’t it? I’m Mac, a good friend of William and your mother.”
After an uncertain glance at Maddy, Sarah transferred her bouquet of white roses to her left hand and took his even as she eyed him suspiciously. “If you’re their friend, then how come you object to them getting married?” she asked bluntly.
It appeared that Father Daar had finally regained his wits. “Yes, Oceanus, on what grounds are you objecting?” he echoed.
Mac turned his attention to Daar. “On the grounds that Ms. Kimble is marrying Mr. Killkenny because she believes he loves her, when I happen to know that is impossible.”
Maddy barely refrained from snorting, but her sweet little daughter was nowhere near as circumspect and snorted quite loudly. “Of course he loves her,” the girl said, drawing Mac’s attention again. She thrust her chin out defiantly. “And he loves me, too.”
Mac arched an inquiring brow. “Are you sure about that, little one? Because it’s been my experience that a person needs a heart in order to love, and William Killkenny doesn’t have one.”
“He does, too!” Sarah all but shouted, her face turning red with anger.
“Sarah,” Maddy whispered, reaching for her.
“No, let her speak,” Mac said. He folded his arms over his chest and smiled down at the girl. “She seems so confident, I find myself curious as to why. So, young Miss Kimble, what makes you so sure William Killkenny has a heart?”
“I know he has one because I heard it pounding so hard I thought it was going to burst out of his chest. And then I felt it thumping against my ear when he was hugging me so tight I couldn’t breathe.” She lifted her chin higher. “And he kept saying over and over that he’d die before he’d ever let anything bad happen to me. So he does have a heart, and he does love Mama and me.”
“What are you talking about, Sarah?” Maddy asked, turning her daughter to face her. “When did William say that to you?”
But Sarah looked past her at William, her eyes suddenly uncertain.
Maddy also looked at William, only to find him standing stone-still, his deep blue eyes guardedly haunted.
“It was my fault!” Sarah cried, pulling Maddy around to face her. “He told me not to go that far out on the point, but I went anyway. And then a big wave suddenly came and knocked me over and sucked me into the water.”
“Into the ocean?” Maddy gasped, dropping her bouquet to grab Sarah’s shoulders. “When I left you with William yesterday while I went into Ellsworth, you fell in the ocean? And you didn’t tell me? Sarah!” she cried, twisting to glare up at William.
“I promised William I’d tell you,” Sarah said. “Only I had to beg him to let me wait until after the wedding.”
“But why?”
The girl dropped her gaze, her lower lip quivering. “Because I was afraid you would think he was irresponsible,” she whispered, “and then you wouldn’t marry him.” She looked up, her big brown eyes welling with tears. “But you just gotta marry him, Mom. You’ll break his heart if you don’t.”
“Sarah,” William said on a strangled whisper, dropping to his knees.
“You do too have a heart!” the girl cried, throwing herself at him. She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her ear to his chest. “I can hear it, and it’s beating just as hard as it was yesterday.” She lifted her head and clasped his face between her small hands, looking him directly in the eyes. “You don’t listen to that man, William. He isn’t your friend, or he’d know you have a heart and that you gave it to Mom and me.”
Sarah turned fierce brown eyes up to Maddy and then looked back at William. “You remember what you told me yesterday when I didn’t want Mom to know I fell in the ocean? You said I never, ever have to be afraid of telling the truth. And you don’t have to be afraid, either. It’s okay for you to tell Mom and me you love us,” she whispered, her tiny little nose only inches from his. “But if you can’t say it out loud, then that’s okay, too, because we already know you do. Everyone might think I’m just a kid, but I’m old enough to know love when I feel it.” She dropped her hands, but her eyes continued boring into his, her voice rising with the power of her conviction. “Mom told me that a person’s actions speak louder than his words, and you practically shout you love us a hundred times a day in a hundred different ways.”
Maddy could see that William was visibly shaking now, and for the first time since she’d met him, the pleading eyes he lifted to hers were filled with uncertainty.
“He’s been shouting his love to me, too,” Lois suddenly said, standing up.
“And me,” Charlotte said, vaulting out of her wheelchair. “Every day, in a hundred different ways.”
Samuel also stood up. “Even I can hear him, even without my hearing aids. Hell, they can probably hear him all the way to Oak Harbor.”
“Any fool can see the man’s got a heart as big as the ocean,” Janice said, clutching the back of Mem’s wheelchair.
“Because it takes a huge heart to love the bunch of us,” Mem added, her frail chin lifting defiantly as she glared at Mac.
“It’s more likely you’re the one
lacking a heart,” Elvira growled at Mac.
“What we’re saying, Mr. Oceanus,” Elbridge said, walking to the bottom step of the gazebo, “is that everyone here, from nine to ninety years old, objects to your objection that these two big-hearted, loving people should get married. Now, can you find your own way out, or do you need me to show you to the door?”
Utterly confounded as he faced the residents, Mac suddenly gave them a bow. “Forgive me, please,” he said softly. “It seems I’ve made an egregious error.” He turned and held out his hand. “I’m sorry, William, for mistaking you for someone I knew . . . a very long, long time ago.”
It took him a moment, but William finally shook Mac’s hand.
“And Madeline,” Mac said, turning to her, “I wouldn’t have returned you within a week, because I would have stopped time itself in order to keep you.” His eyes crinkled in amusement. “I believe you’ll be needing a godfather in . . . oh, seven and a half months, so just tuck my invitation into a bottle and toss it in the sea, and I promise to be here for the baptism.”
Maddy gasped, grabbing William for support. “I am not pregnant,” she hissed.
Mac glanced briefly at her belly before lifting laughing eyes back to hers. “Really, Madeline, you think some flimsy scrap of plastic is going to stop a soul that’s wanting to be born?” He chuckled softly. “He’ll be quite an interesting young man, I’m guessing, considering his parentage.”
Since all Maddy could do was gape at him, Mac turned his attention to Sarah. “And you, young Miss Kimble—thank you for pointing out how a person might recognize love, for I confess it’s always been a mystery to me.” He touched one of her soft curls. “You are a very wise young lady, and although she’s a few years older than you, I believe you’ll be a great help to your new aunt in the coming months.”
Maddy felt William stiffen on a sharp breath. “What have ye done, Oceanus?”
Mac turned to him. “She’s my wedding present to you, William.” He shrugged. “I’d planned to bring her with me today, but the little magpie told me to tell you she’d get here just as soon as she finds her basket of ribbons.” He sighed. “What is it with little sisters, Killkenny? Do they think it’s their duty to drive their big brothers insane?”
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