“First of all, Holly, I can guarantee that Cal would never eat at a burger joint. Second of all, he’s eaten here plenty of times, and all he’s ever done is sing your praises. As I recall, he’s even asked for a few of your recipes.”
“I thought he was just being nice.”
“Cal is always nice. However, he’s not that nice. If everything tastes half as good as my nose thinks it’s going to, the only thing that might happen is you may need to call 911.”
“What?” she exclaimed, eyes wide with worry.
“Well, there are bound to be some injuries when I start shoving people out of the buffet line so I can get my food.” As planned, she laughed.
“I do love you, Sam Jensen.”
“You are an incredibly intelligent woman.”
“Sam!” She could only shake her head, grinning at his facetiousness.
“I love you, Holly McGinty.” He leaned near and whispered in her ear, “I am incredibly intelligent, too.”
~~~~~
Danny Baker, food editor as well as reporter for the local newspaper, was front row center, writing furiously in his notebook while Holly and Lyle made their announcement.
“Why did you decide to sell, Holly?” he asked, looking up briefly.
“Because it’s time. There are other important things I’d like to concentrate on now.”
“Will you change anything, Lyle? The name? The menu? Decor?”
“I won’t be changing a thing,” Lyle assured everyone present. “Holly has spent eight years building McGinty’s into a first class restaurant, and I’m not about to mess with perfection. My wife and I will be keeping everything the same, no worries there.”
“And I hope that everyone will give Lyle the same loyalty they’ve shown me. He knows the business inside out, and will do at least as well as I have done. I have every confidence in him.”
“So what will you be doing once you’re no longer a businesswoman?” Danny was asking now. Sam took this as his cue to take over, and he went quickly to her side.
“I’d like to answer that question if I may,” he said, sliding the engagement ring on Holly’s finger, and then kissing the back of her hand. Whispers and gasps sounded throughout the crowd. “Holly will be spending a good deal of time planning our wedding. And now, if you’ll excuse us, my future mother-in-law will be very happy to answer any questions you may have.”
As arranged beforehand, Sam and Holly grabbed the boys, whose mouths were hanging open, and beat a hasty retreat to the office. Theirs were the only questions that mattered now.
“You and my mom are going to get married?” Zack demanded immediately.
“Yes we are,” Sam said, squatting down before him and his brother. “Is that okay with you?”
“I don’t know. What’s going to happen to me and Billy?”
“Well after we’re married, I’d really like to adopt both of you.”
“Adopt us?” Sam’s heart almost broke at the hope in Zack’s eyes. “Like to be our dad?” Sam nodded solemnly, waiting for some sort of reaction. Zack’s chin dropped to his chest as he asked, “Does that mean we’d live with you, too?”
“Of course you’ll live with me, whether you want me to adopt you or not,” Sam assured him, squeezing his shoulder. “There was never any question about that.”
“Then- I guess that would be okay.”
“Thank you, Zack.” He turned to look at Billy, who was standing there looking utterly confused. “Would that be okay with you, too?”
“What’s ‘dopt mean?”
“That means Sam’ll be our dad, dope,” Zack said gruffly.
“Don’t call your brother a dope, Zack,” Sam said gently, then looked at Holly to make sure correcting her son was all right. She nodded, smiling tearfully.
“You’ll be my daddy?” Billy demanded, grabbing Sam’s chin and looking him straight in the eye.
“Yes, I’d like to be.”
”Zack’s daddy, too?”
“Yes. I’d be Zack’s daddy, too.”
“Yippee!” Billy shrieked, loud enough to be heard for blocks. “Can I call you ‘Daddy’ now?” Sam, chin still held firmly in place, darted his eyes toward Holly, who nodded again.
“You sure can, buddy.” Another shout and then Sam was holding both of the boys, their arms around his neck so tight he could hardly breathe.
~~~~~
“Night, Zack,” Sam said softly, bending down to kiss his brow. “I love you.”
“I love you, too…Dad.” It would take a while before the word came as easily to him as it had to his brother, who had called him ‘Daddy’ about ten thousand times on the drive home.
“Do you love me, too, Daddy?” Sam grinned. Now he knew how Dan felt every time Kate said, ‘Da.’ Even if she were merely babbling, calling everyone ‘Da’ at the moment.
“I sure do, Billy. Night.”
“Night, Daddy. I love you, too.”
“We love you boys,” Holly said, then added in a tone that meant business, “But now it’s time to get some sleep. Sweet dreams. See you in the morning.”
“Well, I just think it’s going to take some time,” Eileen sighed, shaking her head, when the adults were back downstairs.
“Time for what?” Sam asked, drawing Holly to his side.
“For those boys to accept you as their new father. I know their lack of enthusiasm might be discouraging right now, but deep down, I know they like you a little.”
“Oh ha-ha, Mom,” Holly said with a laugh.
“I have a feeling that Billy will drive you nuts with the daddy thing in about a day’s time, Sam.”
“Na. I can handle it, Eileen.” Eileen wrapped an arm around his waist and hugged him.
“I think you can, too. Now I’m going to say good night and let you kids have a few minutes to yourselves before you go home, Sam.” She kissed his cheek. “I don’t suppose I could call you ‘Daddy,’ too?”
“I wouldn’t mind at all, Granny,” Sam answered cordially. Eileen laughed, swatting his arm on her way upstairs.
“Night, Sam.”
“Night, Eileen.”
“You could call me ‘Mom,’ you know.”
“I think I can live with that,” he said, nodding thoughtfully. “In fact, I think I like it. Night, Mom.”
“You’re a nut,” Holly sighed, swinging around and wrapping her arms around his waist. “Granny indeed!” Sam chuckled.
“You know what?”
“What?”
“I love this family.”
“That’s good because I can assure you that this family loves you, too.”
“December fifteenth seems like such a long way away right now.”
“Want to fly to Nevada?” Holly teased.
“I thought you’d never ask. Let’s go.” He might have sounded excited at the thought, but he didn’t budge so much as an inch.
“If you know what‘s good for you, you won‘t,” Eileen advised from the top of the stairway. Holly and Sam grinned at each other.
“Just joking, Mother.”
“I thought so. Goodnight, you two.”
~~~~~
“I can’t believe Sam actually worked up the courage to ask her,” Dan said with a chuckle as Jess nestled against his side, her head on his shoulder.
“I’m not surprised at all,” his wife said smugly. “In fact, Darby and I were fairly certain they would be announcing their engagement tonight. The only thing that did surprise us was Holly selling the restaurant.”
“Yeah, right. You women think you know everything,” he said, knowing that they probably did.
“That’s ‘cause we do.”
“Uh-huh. You just admitted you didn’t have a clue about the restaurant, Mrs. Mulholland, so there.”
“I am so happy for them, Dan,” Jess sighed happily. “All of them. Did you see those boys?”
“I did.” And he’d seen Jess, and near
ly every other woman in the place, with tears streaming down their faces. Then, when the new family-to-be had returned to the dining room, their expressions had changed to one of pure joy. “Billy seemed to be the happier of the two, don’t you think?”
“Not really. Zack was just as pleased, he’s just older and not sure how he should be acting. But I know he loves Sam just as much as his baby brother does.”
“It’s still hard to believe,” Dan mussed. “Our ‘baby’ is going to have sons older than our daughter.”
“He hasn’t told Holly, has he?”
“Nope.”
“When do you think he will? Their wedding isn’t all that far off.”
“I don’t think Sam ever intends to tell her. At least not until after they’re married anyway.”
“Dan, you have to talk to him,” Jess sighed. “There’s no way he can get away with that. She’ll find out just as soon as they apply for the license.”
“Maybe not. He has a plan.”
“Oh right. What’s he going to do? Blindfold her? Stuff earplugs in her ears?”
“Actually, I think he’s going to leave his driver’s license at the bank and have to go back later without her.”
“I suppose he’ll pick the license up himself, too?”
“That’s the plan,” Dan admitted reluctantly.
“Well it’s a stupid plan. If he loves her, he shouldn’t be keeping secrets. She‘s going to feel like he lied to her. How could she not?”
“I didn’t say I thought it was a good plan. And before you say anything, I’ve already talked to him. Ed, Jon and Cal have, too. Even Chris gave it a shot. He won’t be talked out of it.”
“Oh boy. I hope he doesn’t live to regret it.”
“You and me both, sweetheart, you and me both.”
CHAPTER 10
“Is my daddy gonna be here soon?” Billy had been asking that same question at regular intervals for most of the afternoon. Holly had tried explaining where the big and little hands on the clock needed to be before Sam would be there to pick them up for the bonfire at his folk’s house. She tried a different tactic this time.
“Do you see this really skinny hand here?” she asked patiently. Billy’s brows scrunched down in concentration.
“How come you call them hands, Mama? It doesn’t got any hands on it.”
“It doesn’t have any hands,” Holly corrected him.
“I know it doesn’t,” he said slowly, looking at her as though she wasn’t terribly bright. Her sigh felt like it started from the tips of her toes.
“Do you see the one and the one and two at the top of the clock?”
“Yes, Mama.”
“That’s called a twelve.”
“But you said it’s one and two.”
“Billy,” she growled, tousling his hair when he grinned. “When the skinny little hand that moves fast gets up to the twelve ten more times, Sam should be here. And don’t tell me you don’t remember how to count to ten either. Now you count while I gather our jackets. Okay?”
“Okay,” he mumbled, watching the clock like a hawk.
“That child could try the patience of a saint,” Holly said under her breath as she opened the closet.
Still, she couldn’t blame him for being excited. She could barely contain hers; even though they’d talked on the phone twice already today, she was impatient for his arrival, too. Almost a week had passed since they’d announced their engagement, and she could hardly wait to tell Sam he was wrong. The weeks until December fifteenth were not going to fly by, as he’d predicted. This week had crawled by at a snail’s pace.
They had gotten a few things accomplished though. From where she stood in her little parlor she could see the ‘For Sale’ sign in the middle of her front yard. It might take a while to sell it, but it was a step in the right direction.
They had also met with Mitch Montague, Darby’s attorney brother-in-law, to get the paperwork for the adoption started. He wouldn’t be able to file them until after the wedding, but the wheels were in motion.
And then there had been the discussion over what she should do with the money from house and the restaurant. He felt she should put it in trust funds for the boys because he was more than able to support them all, and very well at that. When Holly expressed hesitation, explaining that it wouldn’t be fair for her and her sons to take advantage of Sam like that, without contributing financially, he’d taken great pains to reassure her.
He wasn’t marrying her for her money, he was marrying her because he loved her and the boys. He was getting the best end of the deal anyway, since he was getting a whole family and they were just getting him.
“He’s wrong about that, too,” Holly whispered, watching his car round the corner. The McGinty’s were getting the prize – sweet, gentle, considerate man who loved them, all of them, deeply.
“Mama! Sam’s here!” Billy exclaimed loud enough that the neighbors probably knew that he was here. “But the hand only went around not even seven times.”
“I’ll go tell him he can’t come in yet,” Holly teased.
“Mama!” She laughed at his appalled expression as they heard the light rap on the door.
“Go on. Let him in.” He didn’t need to be told twice, thrilled at not only the thought of an evening with Sam, but also his first family bonfire.
“Daddy!” She heard him exclaim, walking to meet them at the kitchen door.
“Hey you,” Sam murmured, drawing her against his side, holding Billy on his hip with his other arm. “I missed you.”
“I missed you, too,” Holly told him, raising her face for a kiss. Sam quickly obliged.
“Can we go now?” Billy demanded.
“Where’s Zack?”
“In his room. He wanted to know if he could talk to you before we leave,” Holly warned him. Sam’s eyebrows rose fractionally.
“Problems?”
“Not really. More like a favor.” He sat Billy on the floor. “He’s a little nervous about it.
“I’ll be right back.”
~~~~~
Sam bounded up the stairs, two at a time, a little curious about what the favor might be. He’d known forever that Zack was a serious little boy. Sure he could have fun with his buddies, but he was still quieter than the other kids, and he knew that whatever he was asked to do, it would be done.
“Hey, Zack. What’s up?”
He was sitting on the edge of is bed, hands clasped between his knees and looking, as Holly had said, about as anxious as he’d ever seen him. Sam walked over and sat down beside him.
“It can’t be that bad, can it?”
“I don’t know,” Zack mumbled. He hadn’t yet looked at Sam.
“Sometimes it’s just best to get it over with. You know, just spit it out.” He watched Zack take a deep breath.
“There’s a father-son lock down at school the Friday before Thanksgiving. It doesn’t have to be a father. It can be like an uncle, or a step-dad, or something. But it’s to raise money for people who won’t have a good Thanksgiving.”
“How do you raise money that way?” Sam asked, more than a little confused.
“We rock in rocking chairs as long as we can, and people make pledges for every hour we do.”
“Oh. That sounds like a lot of fun. Did you sign us up?”
Zack looked up at him quickly, his mouth hanging open in surprise.
“You want to go with me?”
“Why wouldn’t I? It might not be legal yet, but I thought you knew that, as far as I’m concerned, you and your brother are my sons.” Zack turned and threw his arms around his waist.
“I love you, Sam. I mean, Dad. Thank you.”
“I love you too, Zack.” Sam whispered, wrapping his arms around the small shoulders. “And you’re welcome.”
“Daddy, we’re gonna be late,” Billy wailed up the stairs a few minutes later. Zack moved away reluctantly, discreetly w
iping at his eyes, and Sam’s heart constricted. He would be the best father he knew how to be and make up for all the father-son events Zack had missed. Fortunately, Billy hadn’t had the opportunity to find himself the odd ‘man’ out, and now he never would.
“I guess we should get going. I hope you’re ready to have some fun.”
“Uh-huh.” Although he was nonchalant about the bonfire, he couldn’t hide the sparkle in his eyes as he hurried downstairs.
~~~~~
“I don’t know where they get their energy,” Jess said, sounding tired.
“Who?” Darby wanted to know. “The little boys, or the big boys?” All the women, sitting around the huge fire chuckled.
“I didn’t know there was a difference,” Gina Jensen, Sam’s youthful mother sighed, eliciting more laughter.
For the past two hours, all the males, young and old, had played one game after another, three-legged races, bobbing for apples, tag, and now an impromptu game of touch football. They also found time to roast and consume dozens of hot dogs, and enough s’mores and buttermilk donuts to feed a small army.
“Zack and Billy are never going to sleep tonight,” Jenna observed, watching the hyper bunch in the yard.
“Ya think?” Holly asked, smiling as Sam, dressed in jeans and a U of M sweatshirt jogged over. An MSU graduate, he claimed that wearing the rival’s colors qualified as a monster costume.
“I need a drink,” he explained breathlessly, leaning down for his bottle of water, and kissing Holly quickly. He straightened, emptied the bottle in about three swallows, then handed the empty to her and rejoined the game. Holly gazed after him with a smile.
“She looks like a love-struck teenager,” Jenna teased, to no one in particular.
“Well, you’re not much better, drooling over Ed,” Holly shot back, tearing her eyes from her fiancé and grinning at her friend.
“Our guys are just a sexy bunch,” Darby said firmly, to nods of approval around the fire. “Now if we could just hook Jon and Chris up with someone special, the numbers would be even.”
A Hero For Holly Page 14