Harbor Lights (23 page)

Abby sat up a bit straighter at that. “Really?” She turned to Kevin. “I thought everything was okay on that front. Didn’t you listen to a word I said?”

“What did you tell him?” Bree asked.

Kevin scowled fiercely at his big sister, all but daring her to open her mouth about their conversation. Abby grinned, but she did stay silent.

Kevin looked around the table at all three of his sisters and realized with a sinking sensation that this little scheme of his had backfired. He should have spoken to them individually, tailored the conversation to what they knew and what they didn’t know. Instead, he’d created a matchmaking force.

He stood up. “I’m going to bed. Do whatever you want about Thomas. I just thought you’d want to help.”

Though he made it out of the room without any of them trying to drag him back, the buzz of conversation that followed in his wake was troubling. He was going to have to stay on his toes, or Thomas wouldn’t be the one whose love life they’d be trying to fix.

Shanna missed Kevin’s afternoon visits. Even more, she missed having him bring Davy by the store. She hadn’t realized until now just how much she’d been using Davy as a substitute for Henry in her life. Not that one little boy could ever replace another, but the sensations stirred by being around a bright, inquisitive child were the same.

Greta’s calls, frustratingly, had decreased in frequency. The few she made were always brief and unsatisfying. Shanna didn’t speak to Henry at all. More and more she was torn about jumping into her car and driving to Pennsylvania to check on him in person. Only the knowledge that the likely scene between her and Mrs. Hamilton could make it worse for him kept her from doing it.

Filled with troubling thoughts, she was sitting at the counter late on Friday when the bell over the door rang. She looked up to see Davy racing toward her. At the sight of him, her heart lodged in her throat and she looked beyond him, expecting to see Kevin on his heels. Instead, it was Mick O’Brien.

“You hoping for someone else?” he asked, his expression sympathetic.

“How could I be when you two are just what I needed this afternoon?”

“Story?” Davy pleaded, tugging on her hand.

Mick chuckled, clearly amused by his grandson’s eagerness. “You mind if I take a quick run over to the Town Hall, while Davy’s here with you?” he asked. “I just need to drop off some papers. It shouldn’t take me more than a few minutes.”

“It’s fine,” she told him, delighted to have some time alone with Davy. “No rush. It’ll be quiet for another hour
or so till people start dropping in on their way into town for the weekend.”

Left alone with Davy, she helped him select several picture books, then settled in a chair with him in her lap. Having his warm, sturdy little body cuddled next to hers eased the ache in her heart.

They’d read two books when the front door opened and Bree strolled in. “Now there’s a lovely picture,” she said at once, then glanced around. “Where’s Kevin?”

Shanna shrugged. “No idea. Mick brought Davy by for a visit.”

“For a visit or for some free babysitting?”

“If a babysitter was all he was looking for, you’re practically next door,” Shanna reminded her. “I think he knew Davy and I were starting to miss each other.”

Bree sat down in a chair opposite her. “Why is that?”

“If you’re trying to get me to talk about what’s going on between Kevin and me, it won’t work. I have nothing to say. Talk to your brother.”

“I tried,” Bree admitted. “We all did.”

Shanna stared at her with dismay. “You ganged up on him?”

“I wouldn’t put it like that. In fact, he was the one who more or less called a family meeting.”

“About me?”

“No, about Thomas, or so he said. The conversation sort of got sidetracked.”

“He must have loved that,” Shanna said.

Bree’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “He walked out, as a matter of fact, which means I’m left with bugging you, if I expect to find out anything.”

Shanna shrugged. “Sorry. Not talking,” she repeated even more firmly.

Bree regarded her with dismay. “Then it’s true, the two of you have broken up?”

“Not talking,” Shanna said.

“Does this have something to do with the conversation you and I had about your stepson? Did you tell Kevin about him? Did he react badly? I’ll talk to him, make him understand.”

Shanna gave her an impatient look. “Still not discussing this with you. It’s inappropriate, especially with Davy right here…”

“Oh, he doesn’t have a clue what we’re talking about,” Bree said, then tickled him. “Do you, baby boy?”

Davy giggled and scrambled out of Shanna’s arms to reach for his aunt. Shanna felt the ache of his absence almost instantly.

“You’re really getting attached to him, aren’t you?” Bree said, nodding toward Davy, who’d climbed into her lap.

“He’s a great kid,” Shanna said.

“He’s not your stepson, though, what was his name? Henry?”

Shanna sighed. “No, he’s not.”

Bree gave her a long, considering look. “Okay, I’m going to ask you something and I hope you won’t get offended by it, but is your attraction to my brother because of Davy, because you were missing your stepson?”

Shanna had no idea how to answer that. The truth was pretty complicated. “Maybe at first,” she admitted eventually.

Bree regarded her with a worried frown. “But not now?”

Shanna sighed. “Not now. I was starting to fall for Kevin.”

“Was?”
Bree said, seizing on the word. “Then something did happen. What? Come on, Shanna. I can’t help if I don’t know what’s going on.”

“I don’t think you can help,” Shanna told her. “This was my decision. It’s for the best.”

Bree’s eyes widened. “You broke up with him? Wow! I didn’t see that coming. If you were falling for him, why would you do that?”

“Do you recall me saying I wasn’t going to have this conversation with you?” Shanna asked with exasperation.

Bree grinned. “My persistence usually pays off. Be glad I’m not Abby or Jess. You wouldn’t stand a chance. They’d have had you blabbing away ten minutes ago.”

“Doubtful,” Shanna said.

“I could call them. Let them give it a try,” Bree suggested cheerfully.

“Please don’t.”

Mick returned just then, took in the scene, gave his daughter a kiss, then pulled up a chair. “What are we talking about?”

“Why Shanna broke up with Kevin,” Bree said at once. “She refuses to explain.”

Mick sat back, his expression stunned. “I thought Kevin was the one acting like a fool.”

“Me, too,” Bree said.

Mick looked at his daughter. “She hasn’t said why?”

“Not so far,” Bree told him.

“I’m still in the room,” Shanna said irritably.

“But still not talking, am I right?” Bree said.

Shanna nodded.

“Then for the moment, Dad and I will try to make some sense of this on our own,” Bree replied.

As she listened to their speculation grow increasingly
outrageous, Shanna knew exactly what they were doing. They wanted to rile her so badly she’d blurt out the truth. She wasn’t going to fall for that.

“It’s because we’re Irish,” Mick said. “She’s probably got a bias against that.”

Bree shook her head. “There are too many of us, that’s it. We intimidate her.” She sighed dramatically. “The meddling got to be too much for her.”

“Well, if she’s not able to handle a little well-meant interference, maybe it’s for the best,” Mick said.

“Except Kevin’s crazy about her,” Bree said.

“Davy, too,” Mick said sorrowfully, his gaze on his grandson.

“Oh, would you two give it a rest?” Shanna pleaded. “Let Kevin and me work things out on our own.”

Mick gave her a hard look. “Are you trying to work things out? Doesn’t seem that way to me, since he’s been hiding out up in Annapolis till all hours of the night.”

“Maybe he’s met someone new,” Bree suggested, then chuckled at Shanna’s dismayed reaction, which she hadn’t been quick enough to hide. “Okay, I’m sorry. That was mean. I just wanted to get an honest reaction out of you, and I succeeded. You’re still in love with Kevin, no matter what you say.”

“I never actually said I wasn’t. You drew that conclusion all by yourself. And I am really uncomfortable having this entire discussion with his father and his sister. Go home and have it with him. Don’t put me on the spot. I may have been the one to call it quits, but he gave me the reason to do it.”

Mick leaned forward, his eyes glittering. “Now we’re getting somewhere. What did he do?”

“Ask him,” she repeated for what seemed like the umpteenth time.

Mick sighed heavily and stood. “I don’t think we’re going to find out anything more here today, Bree.”

Bree didn’t even try to hide her disappointment. “I suppose not.”

“Let me pay you for Davy’s book,” Mick said, heading for the cash register.

Wanting them out of the store, Shanna shook her head. “It’s a gift.”

“I think she’s in a hurry for us to leave,” Bree said.

Mick actually gave her a commiserating look. “Can’t really say I blame her. You do know we’re only trying to help, don’t you?”

“I know,” Shanna murmured.

But as long as Kevin was determined to keep her at arm’s length, there was nothing anyone could do to help.

K
evin knew he couldn’t get away with hiding out in Annapolis on the weekends. His family was already starting to ask way too many questions about his late nights at work during the week. Trace, regarding him with sympathy, managed to silence Abby, but there was no one around to keep Bree or Jess from pestering him. Even Gram and Mick had offered their share of opinions about his long absences. It was tedious, but not unexpected.

This morning, as soon as Davy was awake and dressed and everyone else had left for church, Kevin took his son and headed for the marina to check out the modifications being made to his boat. At least that was the excuse he used. Sitting on the deck, even if they didn’t leave the harbor, would be more restful than being at home for Sunday dinner under everyone’s watchful eyes.

He’d been careful to leave a note for Gram so she’d know he and Davy wouldn’t be back for the midday meal, but also made it deliberately vague so it wouldn’t give anyone a clue about where they’d gone. He was anticipating a nice, peaceful afternoon with his son.

At least until he looked up and saw Bree headed his way, grim determination written all over her face. He
sighed and wondered if he could jump overboard with Davy and swim far, far away before she got here.

“How’d you find me?” he asked as she stepped lightly off the dock and landed on the boat’s deck.

“Bwee!” Davy said excitedly, lifting his arms.

“You’re not that complicated,” she said as she scooped up his son. “You weren’t on the beach or the town pier and your car was parked in the marina lot. I’d advise you never to try for a life of crime. You’re way too predictable.”

“I’ll have to remember to leave the car somewhere else to throw you off in the future,” he said sourly. “Or maybe I’ll just walk everywhere I go.”

“That suggests you’re actively trying to avoid those of us who know you best,” she said.

“Gee, you think?” He eyed her curiously. “Did Gram send you?”

“Nope.”

“Dad?”

“I came all on my own,” she told him. “I’m worried about you.”

“No need. As you can see, I’m perfectly fine.”

“Really? Instead of being with your family for Sunday dinner, you’re down here hiding out at Harbor Lights. And don’t even try to tell me you’re working on the boat, because I caught you red-handed doing absolutely nothing.”

“Not true,” he claimed. “Davy and I are having an adventure, right, kiddo?”

“Uh-huh,” Davy confirmed. “Catch fish.”

“Really?” Bree said with blatant skepticism. “There’s not a fishing pole in sight.”

“We’re working up to it,” Kevin told her. “Right now we’re just relaxing, lulling the fish into a false sense of complacency.”

Bree merely rolled her eyes, then settled into the chair next to his and propped her bare feet on a railing. “This is fairly peaceful,” she admitted after a time.

“It was,” he said pointedly.

“You mean before I got here.”

He grinned.

“Okay, tell me what I want to know and I’ll go away.”

“Which is?”

“Why you and Shanna broke up.”

“Who says we did?”

“She admitted that much. She even said it was her idea, but that you were somehow behind the decision. And before you get all worked up about her discussing your private business, I want you to know I practically had to use torture to get that much out of her.”

He chuckled. “I can imagine. She’s a fairly private person and you don’t give up easily.”

“Dad helped.”

Kevin groaned. “She must have loved that.”

“She held up okay. It made me like her even more.” She studied him. “So, is it really over?”

“I hope not,” he admitted.

“What happened?”

Kevin considered evading the question, but it was pointless. Bree would pester him the way she’d pestered Shanna. Why not give in gracefully? Besides, he could use another perspective.

“I got this crazy idea we ought to slow things down,” he said. He shrugged at her incredulous look. “Hey, it made sense at the time.”

“And now that you’ve had time to think about it?”

“I can almost see why she interpreted that to mean I was rejecting her.”

Bree groaned. “Please tell me you did not come up with this brilliant plan right after you slept with her.”

“It wasn’t
right
after,” he said defensively. “It was a few days later.”

“Which is so much better,” she said with unmistakable disgust. She poked him in the arm. “What is wrong with you?”

“I’m a little rusty at all this. Besides, dating’s changed since the last time I did it,” he claimed.

“Really? I never noticed any revised edition of the rule book. Does Shanna carry it at her store? I’m sure she’d be more than happy to sell you a copy at this point.”

He frowned at her sarcasm. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been in mourning. My wife died.”

Bree sat up straighter and looked him in the eye. “At the risk of sounding callous and disrespectful, baloney! You are not in mourning. If anything, you’re guilt-ridden because you’re
not
mourning Georgia the way you think you should, or the way her parents think you should.”

Kevin blinked at the certainty in her voice. “She was my wife,” he protested. “And Davy’s mother.”

“Do you think I don’t know that? And I’m certainly not saying that her death wasn’t an awful tragedy,” she said. “I also know what it did to you when she made the decision to go back overseas. You sucked it up, but you were devastated by her decision to leave you and Davy.”

“She was doing her duty, like thousands of other dedicated soldiers,” he said stoically, as he had at least a hundred times before.

“That’s how she saw it,” Bree agreed. “And a lot of people would agree and admire her for it. But your situation is different. In your case, it reminded you of Mom abandoning all of us. Don’t even try to deny it.”

“Okay, say I agree that there’s some truth in what you say, it doesn’t change the fact that she’s dead.”

“No, sadly, it doesn’t,” she said with more sympathy.

“I should have stopped her from going back.”

“Oh please, you can’t seriously believe that anything you could have said would have worked. Georgia was determined. She believed in what she was doing with her whole heart.”

“I could have done something,” he insisted. “If I had, she’d still be alive.”

Bree regarded him worriedly. “You can’t go through life thinking like that. You’ll make yourself nuts. She’s gone. That’s a fact. But you’re not dead, Kevin. You’re alive, and you’ve fallen in love with a wonderful woman who’s ready to explore a relationship with you. Don’t you see how huge that is? Don’t throw it away by pretending that the past was some idyllic situation. Loving Shanna doesn’t negate your relationship with Georgia. It just means that your heart is telling you you’re ready to move on.”

“How can I, when I know what it will do to Georgia’s parents, her mother especially?”

“You can’t live your life for the Davises. The best thing you can do for them is to make sure Davy’s happy and healthy. And the best you can do for their grandson is to honor his mother’s memory, make sure they stay a part of his life, and give him a happy, normal home.”

“Surrounded by the likes of you?” he joked, to lighten the moment.

She tickled Davy. “Hey, I’m the best aunt in the whole wide world, right, Davy?”

“Best,” he confirmed, nodding emphatically.

“There, I told you so,” she said, standing and then handing Davy back to him. “Come home and have dinner with us.”

He shook his head. “Not today. Maybe next week. I still have thinking to do.”

“Well, don’t think so hard that your head explodes,” she teased.

“I’ll try not to.”

Bree gave him a kiss, then peppered Davy’s face with butterfly kisses before leaping back onto the dock. “Love you two.”

“We love you, too,” Kevin acknowledged. “Even if you are a pest.”

“But I’m a smart pest,” she retorted.

He watched her go, then thought about what she’d said. Cutting Shanna out of his life out of guilt really was absurd. If things between them were so intense, wasn’t that precisely the reason to embrace the relationship, not use it as an excuse to back off?

He wondered if it was too late to tell Shanna he’d been an idiot. Then, again, didn’t most women live for just such an admission? He’d probably make her day.

It was nearly ten days before Kevin worked up the courage to drop by the bookstore. He had no idea what sort of reception to expect. He just knew that the separation wasn’t working for him. He’d also had plenty of time on the drives to and from Annapolis to think about Bree’s assessment of the situation with Shanna, to say nothing of her opinions when it came to his relationship with Georgia.

It was certainly true that his feelings for Shanna had grown deeper bit by bit. Especially after the misery of this separation, he didn’t want to go through another day without spending time with her. She was a real flesh-and-blood woman, not like the idealized image he’d been clinging to of Georgia.

Bree had all but dared him to take a hard look at his marriage. She’d forced him to see what had been there all along. Caught up in the intensity of a war, he and Georgia had rushed into getting married because of pure lust and a frantic need for connection to another person. Maybe with enough time, they could have really gotten to know each other on another level, but that hadn’t happened. Turning their marriage into some romantic fairy tale was revising history.

Not that Georgia hadn’t been a good person and a beautiful woman. She had been. But when she’d gone back to Iraq, leaving him behind with Davy, he’d called it dedication to duty for the benefit of anyone who’d questioned the decision, but to himself he’d acknowledged that she was addicted to the adrenaline rush. She loved being a soldier, and the more challenging the situation, the happier she was. Sooner or later, they would have had to face the truth—that they wanted a different future. She might have tried, but she never would have fully embraced the kind of quiet life he wanted for himself and his family.

In fact, he’d found exactly that kind of life right here in Chesapeake Shores. He enjoyed the slow-paced lifestyle and his new work with his uncle. And his sisters might pester him outrageously, but he loved them to pieces. He adored Gram. Even his encounters with Mick, and especially with Megan, were taking on a new tenor. It was a great environment in which to raise his son.

And then there was Shanna. She was steady as a rock, as enamored of Chesapeake Shores as he was. She doted on Davy. And she got to him with those big eyes, that ready smile and a touch that made his blood go from simmer to boil in a heartbeat. He could see himself with her. It was time he admitted all of that to her.

That evening he appeared at the shop, deliberately choosing to arrive as she was closing up so they were unlikely to be interrupted.

“Let’s have dinner,” he suggested without preamble.

“Excuse me?” She didn’t seem impressed by the last-minute invitation.

“Come on,” he coaxed. “We can take a drive, find someplace romantic on the water.”

There was a flicker of alarm in her eyes, but something more, too. A longing, if he wasn’t mistaken.

“What’s changed?” she asked, her hesitation plain.

“I’ll explain over dinner. If I try to do it here and now, we’ll be here till breakfast.”

She studied him for a full minute, then nodded. “Okay, sure,” she said. “Is there something in particular on your mind?”

He nodded. “You. Pretty much all the time.”

There was a flicker of hope in her eyes. “I see.”

He was tempted to just explain there and then, lay his cards on the table and beg for forgiveness. But before he could, the door to the shop opened and an unfamiliar woman walked in. There was a boy, maybe six or seven, clinging to her hand. He saw recognition flash in Shanna’s eyes, even as all the color drained out of her face.

“Hello, Shanna,” the older woman said stiffly.

The little boy looked up at her, his expression guarded. She dropped to her knees a few feet in front of him. “Hi, Henry,” she whispered, her voice shaky, tears on her cheeks. Then she opened her arms and, after what seemed an endless hesitation, he ran to her.

“Mommy,” he cried, his arms tight around her neck.

Kevin stared at them, shock spreading through him. She had a child? One she’d never so much as mentioned?
One she’d obviously left in someone else’s care? Memories of his own mother walking away from her family spilled through him. The ache he’d felt each time she’d flitted into their lives for one of her visits, then left again. And then there was Georgia, who’d chosen her country over her child, an admirable decision perhaps, but one with tragic consequences. Was he doomed to being surrounded by women whose priorities were all screwed up, at least by his standards?

In an instant, everything he knew—or thought he knew—about Shanna was turned upside down. Without a word, he walked out of the bookstore and left her to her reunion, cursing himself yet again for being a damn fool.