Forever Mine: Callaghan Brothers, Book 9 (16 page)

“Miss it, huh?”

“Aye. Retirement isn’t quite what it’s cracked up te be. This place, well, she’s all I know.”

It was the moment Jack had been waiting for. He’d seen the way the older man had been looking around longingly, the way he’d walked around, running his hands over the beams when he didn’t think anyone was looking. Danny Finnegan wanted his Pub back.

“It’s a great place,” Jack said carefully.

“Aye, she is. And she will be good te ye, Jack, if ye are good te her. Don’t make the same mistakes I did.”

“Yeah, about that,” Jack said, his smile slipping a little. This was it. The perfect opportunity to suggest selling the bar back to him. Now that the taxes were paid off, Danny could pay him back with a portion of the profits each week. “Kathleen and I, well, we talked about it. And we wanted to know if you - ”

“Would consider staying on with us,” Kathleen said suddenly from his elbow. Jack stared at her, but she pointedly ignored him. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately. “After all, you know the business better than we do, and everybody knows you, Mr. Finnegan.”

The man’s eyes lit up. “They do, don’t they?”

“Aye.”

Jack continued to gape until Kathleen discreetly stepped on his foot. He closed his mouth. The pressure on his instep ceased.

“What did ye have in mind, lass?”

Jack was wondering the same thing. He had no idea where she was going with this, but he was every bit as curious as the old man to find out.

“Public relations.”

“Public relations,” he murmured.

“Yes. I can handle the books, and Jack can deal with the business stuff and getting the place fixed up, which doesn’t leave a lot of time for PR. That’s where you’d come in. You could set your own hours, come in and spend time with the customers. Tell them the history of the place. Get them talking and feeling comfortable. You have a gift for spinning a yarn, Mr. Finnegan.”

Son of a bitch
, Jack thought. She had the old man eating out of the palm of her hand. He had stars in his eyes, for Christ’s sake.

“Kathleen, love, can I speak with you for a minute?”

She smiled up at him, the picture of wifely innocence, but he saw the glint in her eyes. “Of course. Excuse us, please, Mr. Finnegan. Think about it, okay? You’d really be doing us a huge favor.”

Jack grasped her around the elbow and tugged her into the stairwell, nearly blushing under the knowing stares of the women in the kitchen. Clearly they thought he and Kathleen were sneaking off for an entirely different reason.

The thought
had
crossed his mind. It was impossible to glimpse his new bride smiling and talking with the townsfolk and not want to throw her over his good shoulder and take her upstairs for a bit of loving. But in the interest of public decency, he would rein in his lustier impulses and resist until they managed to shoo everyone out which, at this rate, might be a while.

“What are you doing?” Jack spoke in quiet tones the minute the door closed behind them. “I just had Finnegan ready to buy back the place.”

“I know. That’s why I stopped you.”

“I thought you hated this place.”

“I don’t hate it,” she corrected. “I just didn’t think it was the ideal place to raise a family. What I hated was the fact that you didn’t even consult me first before making such a big decision. A decision that affects both of us, Jack.”

Kathleen’s hand rested upon her belly, and he knew she was thinking of the children they would one day have. One that might be growing inside her even now. The thought made him weak in the knees.

“You’re right. I should have discussed it with you first.” He captured her gaze. “Just like you should have talked to me before offering Danny Finnegan a job. We can’t afford to pay anyone, Kathleen.”

She grinned. “You don’t have to pay him. Just give him free drinks.”

“It would be cheaper to put him on payroll and give him a salary.”

“Good point,” she chuckled. “Best to set a limit.”

Jack looked into her eyes, hardly daring to hope. “Kathleen, does this mean you want to keep the place?”

Kathleen bit her bottom lip and nodded. “Aye, Jack, I do.”

Jack’s heart soared. He would never tire of hearing those words from her lips. And she wanted to keep the Pub. “What changed your mind?”

“You did,” she said, snaking her hands up around his neck. “Watching you today, seeing how you were with all those people who came in to help. For a little while, you looked... happy.”

“
You
make me happy,” he said huskily, brushing his lips over hers. His hand palmed her breast, stroking his thumb over her now-prominent nipple.

“Yes,” she agreed. “But we can’t do that all the time.”

Jack nipped her lip, then licked away the sting. His hand was already working at unfastening her jeans. “We could try. I say it’s worth a shot.”

Kathleen hissed as his hand slipped down into her panties. He couldn’t stop the low groan when he found her wet and ready.

“We’ve got a full house down there,” she protested weakly.

“Who already believe we’re getting it on right now,” he pointed out. Her jeans were shoved down to her knees and he freed himself.

“Well, we wouldn’t want to disappoint them now, would we?”

“Definitely not.”

Ten minutes later, Kathleen emerged from the private stairway, eyes sparkling, face glowing with radiance. Jack followed right behind her, a possessive, smug look for anyone who had the courage to make direct eye contact. Knowing smiles and a few chuckles met his ears. One of the women near the sink picked up a glass and tapped it with a piece of silverware – the traditional wedding cue for newlyweds to kiss. Soon others had picked up the cue, and the kitchen was a cacophony of ringing glass.

Jack pulled Kathleen into a steamy, soul-searing kiss until the clattering faded away. Only then did he release her and smile wickedly at their audience.

“Atta boy, Jack,” laughed Kathleen’s sister Erin. “Show ‘em how it’s done, Katie.”

Kathleen blushed to the roots of her hair. Jack gave her an affectionate pat on the backside and a kiss on the forehead. “You’re sure about this?”

“No,” she admitted. “But it feels right.”

“Aye,” he agreed. “It does. Now grab another tray, woman. We’ve got guests to tend to.”

S
eptember 2015

Pine Ridge

“You’ve got a guest.”

Jack opened his eyes, finding himself once again in his private hospital room. It was getting easier to make the transition from the past to the present. He’d been going back and forth for a couple of days between an alert, wakeful state and floating in a world of what once was. The realism of the dreams was disorienting at first, but he was learning to adjust.

He focused his gaze past the nurse, onto the tall figure in jeans and a black leather jacket. Jack blinked a few times, thinking maybe he was still caught in the past. But no, this had to be real, because if he was reliving a memory, the man’s black hair wouldn’t be sprinkled with gray and he wouldn’t have crow’s feet around those pitch-black eyes.

“I’ll be damned. Jed Baker. What the hell are you doing here?”

Jed grinned down at him. “I came to pay my last respects.”

Jack snorted, then drew a hand to his chest when even that tiny, sudden movement felt painful. “I’m not dead yet.”

“Uh huh, I can see that.”

“Looks like you made the trip for nothing,” he smirked.

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that.” Jed walked farther into the room, looking a lot older than the first time Jack had seen him. He still had that same swagger, that same no-nonsense glint in his dark eyes that Jack had seen forty years ago when Jed Baker and his team pulled his ass out of that hellhole in Vietnam after two years as a POW.

“All these years ya been braggin’ about that Pub of yours, tellin’ me I should come up for a visit,” Jed said, shaking his head. “And when I finally get there, your boy Jake tells me you landed your ass in the hospital.”

“Wasn’t part of the plan, but shite happens.”

“Damn straight it does,” Jed agreed. “Seen a fair amount of it myself.”

Jack nodded. They’d kept in touch over the years. Not often, but enough to know the major events in each other’s lives. Jack knew, for example, that Jed had four sons: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. He also knew that like him, Jed had lost his first wife, Ginny, when his kids were still young.

“How are the boys?”

“Still wild as hell,” Jed chuckled. “But men now, with families of their own, just like yours.”

“Time flies.”

“Hell yeah it does,” Jed agreed.

“Well, don’t just stand there. Pull up a chair and sit a spell.”

Jed cocked a brow. “Sit a spell?”

“Sorry,” Jack said, his eyes glittering with amusement. “My redneck is a little rusty.”

Jed snorted and sat down, stretching out his booted foot. “Better than that bull
shite
you speak out your Irish
arse
.”

Jack laughed, careful not to pull anything. “It’s damn good to see you, Jed.”

“You too, Jack.”

“How long are you in town?”

“Just the day. Claire and I are doing a cross country train trip. Figured we’d do a little sightseeing, take the scenic route to the station in New York City. She talked me into one of those damn honeymoon suites in the Poconos with the hot tub shaped like a champagne glass.” He grunted, clearly not as thrilled with the idea as his wife.

Jack sympathized. He’d never quite understood the allure of that either, but apparently a lot of people did. It was novel, different. He and Kathleen had been to places like that often enough, short romantic getaways without the kids. All those special amenities were nice, but it was the time alone with Kathleen that he’d treasured. They might not have made it up there for their honeymoon as originally planned, but Jack made a point of stealing her away for a long weekend every year. Those couple of days, when it was just the two of them, away from the kids and the pub and the rest of the world, were some of the best days of his life.

If he had only known there would be so few of them... “Treasure every moment, Jed.”

“Don’t I know it.”

They talked for over an hour, catching up on things, bragging about their kids and grandkids. By mutual agreement, they never talked about how they’d first met. Some things didn’t need to be spoken of aloud to be shared.

Jed stood, grasping Jack’s hand in a firm shake. “Remember what we talked about. Soon as you’re up and about, haul your ass down to Lakeside for some Southern hospitality, ya hear?”

“I will,” Jack said, wondering if he’d be able to make good on that.

They said their goodbyes, and Jed took his leave. Exhausted from the visit, Jack closed his eyes. He felt old. Tired. He missed Kathleen. Jed was very fortunate; he’d found that special connection with not one, but two women. Unlike Jed, Jack knew there would never be another for him. Kathleen was, and continued to be, the love of his life. That wasn’t going to change.

The gaping hole left by Kathleen’s untimely death was still there. The edges were a bit smoother than they had been, worn down by the sheer persistence of time, but when she had gone, she had taken that part of his heart with her and held it still.

Jack lifted his hand, placing it over the incision that now ran the length of his chest. The part of his heart that remained wasn’t doing so well anymore, either.

Was his time approaching? Was that why he was dreaming of Kathleen so much? Because he was going to be with her again?

After her death, he hadn’t wanted to go on. He’d had to be strong for the boys then, but no longer. His sons were grown, fine men with families of their own.

What did he need to stick around for? Sure, he loved his grandchildren, but what else? He’d long since retired from actively participating in the missions; the boys handled all that now. And as for the Pub, Jake and Ian had been running that for years. They didn’t need him anymore.

He had done his part. Surely after all this time, he was entitled to a rest, wasn’t he?

“Kathleen,” he whispered into the empty room. “Are you coming?”

––––––––

J
une 1975

Pine Ridge

“Kathleen, are you coming?” Jack called out. He shifted impatiently, waiting for her to finish brushing her teeth and come to bed. She’d been in there a long time.

“Yes.” She shuffled out of the bathroom, yawning. He lifted the covers, so she could slide into bed next to him. She did, smelling of peppermint toothpaste and that lightly-scented face cream she put on every night.

Jack pulled her close and nuzzled her neck. This was his favorite part of the day, the time when they left the rest of the world behind and it was just the two of them. Her warm, fragrant body snuggled up against his. Instantly he began to relax. When Kathleen was in his arms, everything was right with his world.

“You okay?” he asked, pressing his lips to her forehead, as his hands stroked along the curve of her back.

“Yeah,” she breathed. “Just a little tired. Mmmm, that feels good. Don’t stop.”

“You’ve been tired a lot lately.”

“Yeah.”

She
had
been working a lot, spending hours every day trying to straighten out the Pub finances. Danny had made a real mess of things, not only by failing to pay his taxes, but also in keeping shoddy books. It seemed as if every other day, a supplier was showing up at the bar, looking for money Danny owed him.

When she wasn’t doing that, he’d find her scrubbing or painting or patching one thing or another, trying to make the private living space more livable. She spent her evenings with him at the bar, tending for those few hours they were open each night.

He loved her enthusiasm, but the frenetic pace she’d set for herself was beginning to take its toll.

“Tomorrow is supposed to be a gorgeous day,” he said, placing kisses just below her jawline. “Let’s play hooky and go up to the lake.”

“Sounds wonderful,” she sighed. Her fingers tangled in his hair as she lifted her chin to give him better access. “But I can’t.”