by Marie Force
Inside, he poured her a glass of wine and told her to wait in the kitchen for just a minute.
Wondering what he was up to, she sipped her wine and tried to keep her nerves under control. Though she was several decades and seven children removed from her first time with a man, this felt like the first time all over again because it was her first time with Charlie.
He returned and extended his hand to her.
Sarah put down the wineglass and went to him.
He led her to his bedroom where he’d lit a dozen candles. “I wish it was the Ritz or something classy for you.”
“I don’t need that.”
“I’d still like to give it to you, and soon enough I’ll be able to.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’m getting a settlement from the state to compensate me for the years I spent in jail.”
“What kind of settlement?”
“A really, really big one,” he said with a smile. “I’ll be able to give you anything you ever wanted. You can have your choice of houses, vacations, things for your kids. Anything you want. Sky’s the limit.”
Sarah stared at him, wondering if she heard him correctly. “I…I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything. You just have to let me spoil you because that’ll make me happy. I want to give you everything you were denied for so many years. I want you to be happy and surrounded by the people you love in a home we pick out together. I want you to marry me and spend the rest of your life with me.” He raised his hands to her face and kissed her softly. “Will you marry me, Sarah?”
“Yes, Charlie. Yes, I’ll marry you.”
“We’ll go to the mainland this week to pick out a ring. Any ring you want.”
“I’m not divorced yet.”
“Who cares? I’m not going anywhere. Are you?”
“Where would I go when you’re here?” Sarah surprised herself nearly as much as she surprised him when she tugged his shirt from his pants and lifted it up and over his head. She flattened her hands on his chest and kissed his neck.
“You looked beautiful today,” he said.
“It’s the dress. Tiffany talked me into it.”
“The dress is gorgeous,” he said as he lifted it up and over her head. “But you were beautiful, glowing with happiness as your son married his Laura. I loved seeing you that way.”
“It was a very special day. I was glad you were there with me.” Standing before him in only the bra and matching panties Tiffany had convinced her she needed, Sarah should’ve felt self-conscious. She wasn’t young anymore and had given birth to seven children. But with Charlie gazing at her with affection and desire in his eyes, she couldn’t be bothered with being self-conscious. He loved her exactly the way she was.
“Make love to me, Charlie.”
He put his arms around her and held her close. “There’s nothing I’d rather do.”
“It’s time to go,” Owen said, his lips pressed against Laura’s ear.
“Right this minute?”
“Right this second.”
“Am I allowed to get my son?”
“Frank, Betsy and Shane are in charge of him for the night. They’re upstairs as we speak, giving him a bath and putting him to bed. Shane is staying in our room with him tonight, and I set him up with a bedtime bottle and one for the middle of the night—just in case. Shane said to tell you not to worry. He’s got this.”
“You thought of everything.”
“I wanted you all to myself tonight.”
“And where are you taking me?”
“Come with me, and I’ll show you.”
“Shouldn’t I at least kiss Holden good night?”
“Only if you want to feel bad if he cries when we leave. He’s perfectly content with Uncle Shane and Grandpa.”
“Don’t we need to say good-bye to our guests?” Most of them were dancing up a storm to the music Evan and his friends had provided all evening.
“No, because we’ll see them all tomorrow at brunch.”
“There’s a brunch?”
“My grandparents are hosting a brunch, and everyone is invited.”
“That’s nice of them.”
He took her hand. “Come with me, my love?”
“Anywhere you wish to go.”
Smiling, he held the door for her so she could go ahead of him into the inn. He took her hand and led her out the front door, down the stairs and across the street to the Beachcomber.
“You’re taking me to the competition?” she asked playfully.
“As much as I wanted to spend tonight at our hotel, we’re overrun with family there. I thought this would be better.” He held the side door to the Beachcomber open for her and guided her up to the second floor, where he used a key card in a door at the end of the long hallway.
“Wait,” he said when she started to go into the room.
He scooped her up and carried her across the threshold into the honeymoon suite, where hurricane lanterns provided soft light and rose petals had been sprinkled on the bed. A bottle of champagne was chilling in an ice bucket next to the bed.
“You planned ahead,” Laura said, thrilled with the room and her new husband.
“Making plans still doesn’t come naturally to me, but I wanted tonight to be special for both of us.”
“This is perfect. Thank you.”
“Now that I have you alone,” he said as he removed the comb from her hair that held her veil in place, “I want a better look at this incredible dress.”
“Let me tell you about this incredible dress and what it looked like before your mother took scissors to it an hour before the wedding.”
“Scissors?”
“Yep.” Laura told him the story of the dress, laughing at his reaction.
“Were you freaking out?”
“Not even kinda. All I cared about today was marrying you. The rest was just details.”
“My mother really cut up your dress and made it fit an hour before the wedding?”
“She really did. Thank goodness she knew what to do.” Laura patted her belly. “These two have blossomed in the last week.”
“Probably because you’re not sick all the time anymore.”
“Probably.”
“Well, I’m glad it worked out, and I never would’ve known the dress had been hacked up and put back together. I thought you looked incredible.” With a wink, he added, “Way better than the first time around.”
Laura laughed at his joke. “I hadn’t planned to wear any kind of veil, but I also hadn’t planned to have my back completely bare. Your mom found the tulle in the attic. She truly saved the day.”
“And she snuck off with Charlie tonight.”
“She did? Really? Who told you?”
“Daisy. Mom didn’t want us to worry, but she also didn’t want to make a big announcement about leaving.”
“Good for them. She’s like a teenager in the throes of first love.”
“In many ways it is her first real love. What she had with my dad could hardly be called love.”
“Well, she has it now, and that’s what counts.”
He nuzzled her neck as he wrapped his arms around her. “No more talk. I’ve been waiting forever to make love to my wife.”
“By all means,” Laura said with a bright smile. “Don’t let me stop you.”
He hooked an arm around her waist and lifted her into a passionate kiss.
She curled her arms around his neck and lost herself in his kiss, thrilled to have forever to spend with him.
Here Comes the Groom
A Gansett Island Short Story
“Tell me again why I gotta wear a tie ta this thing,” Ned Saunders said as he tried to remember how to knot the damned thing. He hadn’t worn one in years. “It’s dinner at Maddie’s house. Why’s it gotta be fancy? I ain’t fancy.”
“Because Maddie said it’s a dress-up dinner party, so we’re getting dressed up. It wo
n’t kill you.”
“Very well might,” he muttered. He’d been in a foul mood for weeks now, and he was well aware that others were beginning to notice. His buddy Big Mac had called him out on it recently, asking him what had crawled up his ass and died. He was smack in the middle of an epidemic of weddings and engagements. Everyone was tying the knot except for him—and he’d waited the longest.
They’d been stymied every time they tried to set a date since Francine’s divorce had been final. He’d pitched the idea of a surprise wedding to her, and she’d loved it. They’d even set a date for that, only to have Seamus and Carolina beat them to it.
Even Grant and Stephanie were finally getting married in a couple of weeks, and they’d been dragging their feet for a year now!
It wasn’t fair. He’d been waiting more than thirty years to marry his gal. He was almost to the point of whisking her off to Vegas just to get it done. Except… He didn’t want to do it that way. He wanted his people there with him, including her daughters, who’d become his girls since he’d been with their mom. He wanted their grandkids there and all their friends.
Tomorrow he was going to figure this out once and for all. They were going to set a damned date and stick to it. Let anyone try to stop them.
“Ready?” Francine asked.
He glanced at her and did a double take at how beautiful she looked. She’d had her hair done earlier in the day, and every one of her auburn locks was shining and gorgeous.
“What’re you staring at?”
“I’m starin’ at the gal I love. She takes my breath away.”
“You charmer.”
“I ain’t feedin’ ya bull, doll. I look atcha, and I get all tangled up inside.”
Francine smoothed her hands over the lapels of his one good sport coat. “I feel the same way about you and our lovely life together. Every day I’m thankful you gave me another chance.”
“Gave ya another chance,” he said with a laugh. “As if I had a choice. Ya have my heart, doll. Ya always have.”
She kissed him. “Let’s go have dinner with the kids so we can come home and continue this conversation.”
It still astonished him, even after more than a year of living together, that he got to come home with her every night and sleep with her in his arms after dreaming about her for lonely, empty decades.
Since they’d been forced to dress up, he broke out the vintage Cadillac he’d bought from the Chesterfield Estate for the drive to Mac and Maddie’s house. They arrived to a mess of cars in the driveway, leading all the way out to Sweet Meadow Farm Road.
“I thought it was just us and the kids,” Ned said glumly. He was hardly in the mood for another festive party with all the happily married couples in their lives.
“That’s what I thought, too. They must’ve invited the whole gang.”
“Great.”
Ned held her elbow as they went up the stairs to the deck, where the gathered group tossed something at them and yelled, “Surprise.” He held up his arm to protect his face from whatever was flying at him. Rose petals rained down upon them.
“Surprise?” Francine said. She turned to him. “It’s not your birthday or mine.”
Mac and Maddie approached them, holding glasses of champagne and wearing broad smiles. “It’s not your birthday,” Maddie said, kissing them both. “Welcome to your wedding.”
Ned figured he’d heard her wrong until things began to happen all around him.
Frank McCarthy stepped forward with a marriage license for him and Francine to sign. Maddie and Tiffany signed as their witnesses.
Next came flowers for both of them, as well as Maddie and Mac and Tiffany and Blaine. Ashleigh, Thomas and Hailey finished out the wedding party he would’ve chosen for himself.
“I don’t understand,” Ned finally said when he could get a word in edgewise.
“You wanted to get married and couldn’t find a date,” Big Mac said, “so Mac and Maddie found one for you.” Big Mac put his tree-trunk arm around Ned. “All you gotta do, old pal, is stand there and get married.”
He was going to cry, goddamn it. Right in front of everyone. He was going to actually cry. Here, standing before him, ready to stand up with him and Francine, was the family he’d always wanted but never had. He spared a glance for Francine and discovered she was already crying.
To hell with it, he decided as he stopped trying to fight his way through the emotional wallop. “’Tis a heck of a thing ya’ve done here,” he said to Mac and Maddie. “Thank you.”
“So you’re happy about it?” Maddie said. “I told Mac if you were mad, it was all his idea.”
“It was all my idea.”
Maddie patted his face indulgently. “Yes, dear.”
“Well, it was.”
“I’m very happy bout it,” Ned said gruffly as he sniffed. “Never been happier bout anything.”
“I knew you would be,” Mac said with a big smirk for his wife.
Frank rubbed his hands together. “What do you say, Ned? Francine? Shall we do this? It’s been a full week since I married Laura and Owen. I’m starting to get twitchy for another wedding.”
“I ain’t got a ring fer her,” Ned said, feeling suddenly panicked. They were really going to do this. “I need a ring. She deserves a ring.”
“Gotcha covered.” Mac produced rings from his pocket. “We took the liberty of choosing these for you, but the store said you can return them if there’s something you’d rather have.”
“I don’t know what ta say. Ya thought of everything. Ya even found a way ta get a tie on me.”
“That was the hardest part,” Maddie said, patting her new stepfather’s chest.
Tiffany and Blaine hugged and kissed Ned and Francine.
“This is so exciting!” Tiffany said to her mother. “I almost told you about it five times this week!”
“I kept the secret,” Ashleigh said to her grandmother.
“Yes, you did, sweetheart. I had no idea!”
“Places, everyone.” Maddie clapped her hands. To Ned, she said, “You stay here with Mac and Blaine.”
Ned let her position him where she wanted him. His heart was beating so fast he worried he might pass out or something equally embarrassing. But this was the moment he’d waited so long for, and nothing was going to ruin it for him or Francine. So he took a series of deep breaths, hoping to calm his racing heart.
He gestured to Big Mac. “Come ere.”
Big Mac walked over to him. “I’m here.”
“Stay. Need ya right here with me.”
His best friend hugged him. “You got it, buddy.”
Big Mac shook hands with Mac and Blaine as he joined them.
Looking around at all the faces gathered before him, Ned saw everyone he loved in this world. The five McCarthy kids, who’d grown up with him as their beloved adopted uncle, his buddies from the morning meetings at the marina and the friends like Luke Harris, who’d become family to him over the years. He wiped his eyes and tried to keep his emotions under control even as he realized he was fighting a losing battle.
Evan and Owen played gentle guitar music as Ashleigh and Thomas came outside, holding hands.
Ned loved those kids so damned much. He couldn’t wait to watch them grow up and to spoil them the way any good grandfather would.
Next came Tiffany, looking gorgeous and elated as she preceded her equally beautiful sister Maddie through the door. Maddie carried Hailey in her arms, and the baby blew kisses that made his heart melt. Ned held his breath, waiting for Francine to appear, and when she did, she carried a bouquet of white flowers and wore a smile that stretched across her pretty face.
The sight of that face and that smile settled and calmed him. In a few minutes, she would be his wife, and they’d get the rest of their lives together. Nothing had ever made him happier than that did.
The rest of it was a blur. Vows were spoken, rings were exchanged, and Frank pronounced them husband and wife. Ned h
ugged her and kissed her—probably longer and deeper than was technically appropriate, but who the hell cared? Francine, his Francine, was finally his wife, and it was all because their kids had loved them enough to do this for them.
Standing hand in hand with his new wife, surrounded by the family he’d always wanted, Ned Saunders considered himself the luckiest man on earth.
Turn the page to read Kisses After Dark, Shane and Katie’s story!
Chapter 1
His first thought at the start of every day was always the same.
He’s home in the cozy apartment he shared with his wife. It’s winter, and they’re snuggled under the down comforter they’d gotten as a wedding gift from his sister. His wife is warm and naked, her body soft as she sleeps in his arms. The scent of her shampoo, the expensive stuff he bought for her at the salon she loves, surrounds him. He would recognize that scent anywhere, the scent of his woman.
His body responds predictably to her nearness. Any time he’s awake and naked with her, he’s hard and ready to claim her. He moves his hand from her flat belly, up to cup a full breast, toying with the nipple that awakens instantly to his touch.
Wanting to see her and watch her reactions, he opens his eyes and is punched in the face by reality.
Every damned morning.
He’s not in bed with his wife. He’s alone in the room he calls home now at the Sand & Surf Hotel on Gansett Island. The wife he’d loved beyond reason, to the point of blindness to the faults that ended them, is long gone. She divorced him after ruining him in just about every way a man can be ruined, leaving behind memories that torture him.
Shane McCarthy stared up at the ceiling he’d painted white the winter before when the Surf had undergone extensive renovations overseen by his sister, Laura, and her now-husband, Owen Lawry. The call from Laura, pleading with him to come help them get the hotel ready for the summer season, had finally drawn him out of the dark hole he’d been in for nearly two years, mourning the loss of his marriage—and a big chunk of his sanity.