The Chesapeake Bride

by Mariah Stewart

  “Sure.”

  It was a perfect fall day, crystal-blue skies and deep blue water. They sat on the deck outside the restaurant and ate french fries and spicy crabs with their bare hands and watched other customers drive up on their boats to tie off on the dock.

  “That’s just the way I see the dock on the island being used,” Cass told Owen, “only not this large. Just enough for a half dozen boats.”

  “Tell your dad to get his engineer out there to take care of business.”

  “I did. I think he said she’ll be out this week.”

  “It shouldn’t take long for the dock to be built. The construction should be in full swing before too much longer.”

  “That would be great.” She toyed with a crab claw. “I can’t wait to get started on my house.”

  “Did you decide on a lot yet?”

  “I did. I want the lot that’s sort of between the river and the bay. The one with the dune behind it.” Her eyes lit up at the thought. “I’m enjoying my stay at the inn, but I’d rather be in a house.”

  “Really?” He munched a fry. “Alec’s looking for a tenant for his house over on Lincoln Road since he and Lis have already moved their things into the cottage. Maybe you could rent it until your place is ready.”

  “Show me on the way home?”

  “Sure. He left me the key, so we can go inside and you can take a look around.”

  They polished off a dozen jumbo crabs, and finally Cass begged off. She ordered coffee and drank it while she watched the swans across the inlet and Owen finished the last crab.

  “This was fun. Of course, the tips of my fingers will forever smell like the seasoning they used, but it’s a small price to pay for such deliciousness.”

  They stopped in the respective restrooms to wash off. When Cass came back out, Owen was standing at the end of the dock looking out at the bay. She came up behind him and her arms encircled his waist.

  “Penny for them.” She leaned into his back.

  “I was just thinking about how, when I was a kid, I thought the bay was bigger than the ocean. Growing up practically on the beach the way we did, I couldn’t imagine any body of water ever being bigger than the Chesapeake.” His hands held on to hers. “I still feel that way sometimes.”

  “What? After diving all over the world, in just about every ocean?”

  Owen nodded. “The Chesapeake still rules.”

  He drove leisurely on the way back to St. Dennis, taking side roads rather than the highway, pointing out small towns and historic markers, stopping a few times at Cass’s urging so she could take a picture or two.

  “I want to keep this day,” she told him after getting back into the car, having photographed the marker for one of the houses on the Underground Railroad. “The whole weekend has been . . .” She searched for the right word.

  “Life changing.” He filled in the blank for her. “Best weekend ever.”

  She nodded. “Best weekend ever.”

  Thirty minutes later, Owen pulled into the driveway of a small white Victorian house with decorative trim on the porch and a tall black planter overflowing with vines and a few purple petunias that had somehow managed to hold on through September.

  “This is it.” Owen turned off the car. “Want to check out the inside?”

  “Absolutely. It’s so pretty. It looks like a wedding cake.” She got out of the car and didn’t bother to wait for him before she climbed the steps and peered through the glass window that comprised the top half of the door.

  He came up behind her, key in hand, and unlocked the door.

  “I can’t wait to see— Oh, that fireplace.” Cass stepped into the foyer, where a corner fireplace stood on one side of the small room and a desk on the other.

  “There’s another one in here.” Owen went through an arched doorway into a sitting room that all but overflowed with furniture.

  Cass followed, her eyes darting from one side of the room to the other, surveying the sofas and table and chairs that were crammed in. “Does Alec collect antiques?”

  “He inherited some of the stuff when his uncle left him the house. Some of the other things belonged to his parents. He and Lis want to use some pieces in the cottage, and they’ll leave some here for the tenant, but I think they’ll still have too much.”

  “Maybe he’ll decide to sell some things.” Cass eyed a pair of Victorian side chairs. “I’d be interested in seeing what, once he decides.”

  “Let him know, and he’ll probably bring you in before he calls one of the dealers in town. I know Nita, in the antiques shop two doors down from Bling, has been after him to let her come through the place.”

  Cass wandered into the dining room, which was also filled to capacity. The kitchen, on the other hand, was sparsely furnished, with just a table and two chairs.

  “There were never more than two people living here at one time,” Owen told her. “Alec’s uncle lived here alone. Then he and Alec. Then Alec was by himself until he and Lis got together. Want to see the upstairs?”

  Cass nodded, and they went up to the second floor, which had three bedrooms and one bath with an old-fashioned claw-foot tub.

  “How sweet is that tub. I can just imagine taking a bubble bath in there.” Cass smiled at the thought.

  “How small is more like it. And for the record, no self-respecting guy takes a bubble bath in a girlie tub like that.”

  “It sounds like someone’s masculinity is threatened,” she teased.

  “As if,” he snorted, and led her into the next room. “I think this room was Lis and Alec’s, and the one across the hall was his uncle’s. Which means this room”—Owen turned her around to look into the room next door—“is ghost-free. Want to test my masculinity?”

  “Ew. Don’t you think it would be totally creepy to be in someone’s house when they don’t know you’re there and have sex in one of their beds?”

  “No.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Most guys don’t think any place is too creepy to have sex.”

  Cass rolled her eyes. “I really like the house. When Alec and Lis get back from their trip through New England, I’ll ask him if he’s serious about renting.”

  “Yeah, and I’ll bet you won’t think it’s too creepy then.”

  “Well, no. Not if I’m living here.”

  “I don’t see the difference, but okay.” He stood at the top of the steps. “Seen enough?”

  Cass nodded and started downstairs. “Enough to know I’d like to make this my interim home while I’m waiting for my own house to be built.”

  “That means you’re staying.”

  “Yes. I’m staying.” She paused on her way down the steps. “You?”

  “I’m seriously considering it.”

  FOR THE FIRST time in a long time, Owen was in fact considering staying on the island. When he’d made the decision to return, he’d thought it would be for a few months while he worked with Jared. He’d told himself that would give him time to spend with Ruby, and time enough to figure out what had been whispering in his ear, insisting it was time to go home. Now he was starting to believe that whatever in the universe decided such things had been pulling him back to Cass. Even though they’d never met, even though he never believed in fate, somehow he knew that he was meant to be here, meant to meet her, to be with her. Meant to fall in love with her.

  It hadn’t taken much, and it hadn’t taken long.

  They began spending their nights in her room at the inn, and their days on or near the island—Owen diving with Jared, Cass working with the crews. Before the end of the week following Lis’s wedding, Lee Stafford, Deiter’s engineer, had the area for the new dock surveyed and had requested that a permit be rushed through, citing hardship and Deiter’s willingness to suspend work on the river side of the island. Deiter’s lawyers spelled out to the lawyers for the state that the construction company could have sued for access to the island via the dock, since the permits had been approved a
nd not officially revoked. In consideration of Deiter’s understanding of the state’s situation, the state should offer the same courtesy to Deiter Construction. In the end, the new permits were issued, and it had cost less than three weeks’ delay.

  For Owen, life was as good as it could possibly be. He had work that he loved during the day, and the woman he’d fallen in love with at night. While he’d never thought he’d settle down for real, he found himself thinking about it at odd times.

  He maintained his previous routine of cooking dinner at the store for Ruby, with Cass joining them most nights. When Lis and Alec returned from their honeymoon trip through the New England states, they popped in several times every week. Life began to take on a different look and feel, one Owen found suited him more than his wandering ever had. It was difficult for him to admit, even to himself, but he was pretty sure his adventuring days were behind him.

  “I’m ready for an adventure of a different kind,” he told Cass one night after they’d finished dinner and they sat together in a rocking chair on the back porch at Ruby’s and watched the stars come out.

  “Where do you think you’ll go?” He caught the hesitation in her voice and realized she thought he’d be leaving.

  “I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying here. Here, or wherever you are.”

  “I probably won’t be swimming with sharks in the Indian Ocean.” Her fingers wound around the dark curls that fell slightly forward onto his forehead. “Or flying small planes across the Gobi Desert. Or searching for yeti in the Himalayas.”

  “Been there, done all that.” He pretended to yawn. “Ho hum. Like I said, an adventure of a different kind.”

  Later that night, when Cass lay spent and sleepy in his arms in her room at the inn, he lay awake thinking about the choices he was making.

  “You’ll miss the challenges.”

  “I thought you were asleep.”

  “You’re thinking so loudly, it’s keeping me awake.” She turned in his arms and looked up at him. “You’re thinking about that job Jared told you about. The one off the coast of Louisiana.”

  “I thought about it, yes. Jared’s so hot to trot to get there. He’s like a kid, you know? He has this job here, but suddenly something else looks newer, shinier. Sexier. So he can’t wait to get to it.”

  “So what’s he going to do?”

  “He’s going to go, and I’m going to stay and finish up what we started here. It’s going to take a while to get everything sorted out. We’re still bringing up artifacts from the merchant ship, but we have to be careful not to disturb the remnants of what could be an early settlement that lies beneath it. It’s painstaking work, but it’s interesting. To me, anyway. To Jared, not so much. I think he has serious commitment issues.”

  “Pot, meet kettle.”

  “What’s that supposed to me?”

  “What do you think it means?”

  He knew exactly what she meant. He hated to put words to it, but she had asked and he should answer. “I admit that for the past few years I have done some moving around. I’m starting to feel like maybe that’s overrated.”

  “So you’re taking over Jared’s job here, but after you’ve done all you can do here, then what?”

  “I’ve been mulling that over. I can hire myself out as a consultant. I’m a good diver and I’ve had years of experience salvaging sensitive wrecks. That could take me away for a few days, maybe a week here and there, but I’d be back on the island. I can make my home here.”

  “That’s a big change for you, Owen. You sure you’re ready for it?”

  “I never thought I would be, but yeah, I am. I just want to be wherever you are.” He sat up and leaned against the headboard. Cass leaned against him. “Ruby always says you have to know where you belong. She always said I belonged on the island. I never thought I did until now.” His fingers trailed gently on Cass’s arm. “You know, there’s a line between want and need. When we first got together, I wanted you. I was dizzy wanting you. Somehow over the past three weeks, I crossed that line. Wants turned into need. I need to be with you more than I want anything else.” He rested his chin on the top of her head. “What about you?”

  “You know I’m staying, I’m building a house.”

  “That’s not what I’m asking you.”

  For a long moment, Owen thought she wasn’t going to respond, and his heart dropped. He’d never put himself out there like this, and he was starting to remember why. He began to feel like the guy who saw the train coming but was too afraid to jump out of the way.

  “What do you want, Cassie? What do you need?”

  “I married someone who thought he could stay in one place, but when push came to shove, he couldn’t do it. It hurt a great deal to face the fact that I wasn’t enough for him.”

  “I’m not your ex-husband.”

  “True, but . . .” She went silent for a moment. “Did you ever ask yourself why you stayed away for long periods at a time, when you so obviously love this island and your family so much?”

  “I’ve wondered about it.”

  “Ever do more than wonder?”

  “Maybe.”

  “One might think you were running from something.”

  “Maybe.”

  “Want to talk about it?”

  “I’m still thinking that through. Can we get back to that?”

  “Sure.” She sighed, and Owen heard resignation and maybe disappointment. If he was ever going to face himself, it should be now, while it mattered to her. It was time to put up or shut up.

  He took a deep breath. “I think I was afraid that I’d turn into my father,” Owen said softly.

  “What?” She sat up so she could look him in the eye. “You’re nothing like your father.” He opened his mouth to say something, and she cut him off. “By your own admission, your father was a bitter man who drank rather than face his own shortcomings. He relied on his son to take care of his daughter because he couldn’t be bothered. He hurt you and he hurt Lis and he probably hurt your mother most of all. Owen, you don’t have a mean bone in your body. You’ll never be like him.”

  Her unexpected defense of him caught him off guard and embarrassed him, and he tried to make light of it. “Wow. I sound like quite a guy.”

  “You are quite a guy. You’re my guy. You’d never turn your back on anyone you love, certainly not your wife or your kids. You’re not a bitter person, and you don’t drink yourself into a pity party.” She paused as if watching her words sink in. “You’re nothing like your father.”

  He pulled her to him so that she was resting against his chest. “So I’m your guy, eh?”

  Cass smiled and raised up to kiss him. “Yes. You’re my guy.”

  It wasn’t quite everything he’d wanted to hear. It wasn’t I need you or I love you. Or even I want you. But for now, he’d take it.

  “I HOPE YOU’LL still make it back for afternoon tea, Cass.” Grace had walked Cass and Owen from the bottom of the lobby steps to the double doors.

  “Of course.” Cass shifted the garment bag holding her clothes from one hand to the other. “You know how I love spending that hour every day with you and whoever else shows up.”

  “See you, Gracie. Cass, I’ll meet you at the house,” Owen said as he passed by, carrying her laptop and a briefcase full of files. He loaded everything into the backseat of his Jeep.

  When Cass was ready to move from the inn to the house on Lincoln Road, she realized her sports car could carry only her clothes and personal items. There wasn’t room for anything she’d used to set up a temporary office in her suite at the inn, and rather than her making a second trip, Owen had offered to move those items for her.

  Alec had been delighted when Owen mentioned that Cass was interested in renting the house. Aside from the rent—which Cass discovered was so much less each month than the suite at the inn—he was happy to have someone living in the house where he’d been taken in and raised after his parents died. He was especially
pleased it was Cass, who had clearly become close to Lis’s brother. Even though Alec’d been hoping for a long-term lease agreement, he was okay with Cass’s having a month-to-month arrangement until her house was ready to move into. And who knew how long that might be? The construction hadn’t even begun and probably wouldn’t for a while.

  Owen didn’t care which house she was sleeping in, as long as he was sleeping there with her. He’d been reluctant to leave Ruby alone, though she’d reminded him that she’d been alone in the store for years.

  “Don’t recall anyone being excited over the fact I be alone back then,” Ruby told him. “You go on and take care of your own business. I be fine.”

  Not until his cousin Chrissie mentioned that she’d decided to remain on the island for a while and that Ruby had offered her Lis’s old room could Owen sleep in St. Dennis with a clear conscience.

  “Not that Chrissie’d be any great help in a crisis,” he’d complained to Cass. “She always was flighty and a little silly. She’ll probably drive Gigi insane after about three days. I don’t know anyone who could take more than that when it comes to Chrissie.”

  “She seemed perfectly normal at the wedding,” Cass reminded him.

  “She was on her best behavior.”

  “Well, it’s nice that she’s getting to have some time with Ruby. Did she say how long she’s staying?”

  “She said she wasn’t sure. It’s like good news, bad news. The good news is that someone’s staying with Ruby so she won’t be alone in the store at night. The bad news is that the someone is Chrissie.”

  “I’m sure she’ll be fine, and if she gets to be too much of a pain, Ruby won’t have a problem telling her to leave.”

  “You’re right about that. I did say something to Ruby the other day, and she said something like ‘The girl needs to be here. Go mind your own.’ Which is pretty funny when you think about it because of all the great-grandkids, Lis and I always thought Gigi liked Chrissie the least.”

  “Maybe we should ask her if she’d like to go to the fall festival with us today.”

  “If she’s anything like the old Chrissie, she’ll talk us both to death. Let’s leave well enough alone, okay?”