Redemption Bay (Haven Point Book 2) (Contemporary Romance) (25 page)

“And if, for example, I wanted to tell you that you’ve captured me completely, that I am a different man than I was two weeks ago—a better man—because of you, you’ll have to listen to that, too.”

She swallowed hard as joy and disbelief warred within her. Suddenly, she didn’t want to be anywhere but right here, being softly and quietly seduced by words and by the blazing expression in his eyes that promised so much more than she had ever dared hope.

“Oh, and one more thing,” he murmured. “If I wanted to tell you I’m so deeply in love with you I know I’ll never be able to climb back out, I would insist you listen to that, too.”

The joy took over, bursting through her like the sunlight and wildflowers and summertime on the lake, all the things she loved. She still had a hard time believing it, but how could she fight against the truth in his expression?

“Okay,” she said meekly.

He looked down at her with that half smile she loved so much. “That’s it? You’re not going to argue with me?”

“What would be the point? That would just be stupid and would only waste time, when we could be kissing.”

“Excellent point, Mayor Shaw. I like the way you think.”

He took the final step forward and the tenderness in his gaze stole her breath, her reason, the very last of her defenses. When he kissed her, all the pain of the morning seemed to skim away, spiraling up into the vivid blue sky.

She wrapped her arms around him, never wanting to let go, desperately grateful for this miracle she had been given.

They kissed for a long time and when he finally eased back, both of them were breathing hard. “Have you spoken with Aidan this morning?” he asked.

It seemed a very odd question, given the magic and wonder of the moment. She shook her head, nonplussed. “No. Why would I have spoken with Aidan?”

He smiled and pressed his forehead to hers. “I thought as much. You
are
amazing. It’s no wonder I’m crazy in love with you.”

The words still didn’t seem real but she was going to grab hold of them with both hands and never give them back.

“Why are you bringing Aidan into this?”

“Because I
have
spoken with him this morning.”

“You said so. He was going to take Hondo for you.”

He glanced down at the dog and she knew even before he lifted his gaze that everything had changed. He wasn’t getting rid of the dog. Just as he had made room in his heart for her, he would find a place for Hondo, too.

“That’s not going to happen, is it?” he said with a resigned sigh.

She smiled against his mouth. “You’ll figure out how to make it work. You’re very good at that.”

“I suppose. I did talk to Aidan about Hondo but also about something else.”

“Oh?”

How was she supposed to concentrate on anything but how wonderful she felt here in his arms, how the world seemed such a bright and lovely place, with sailboats gleaming in the sunlight and the Redemptions rising up from the blue, blue water?

“I told him I finally have a recommendation for the new Caine Tech facility.”

McKenzie instinctively tensed, then pushed it away. No. She wouldn’t let that come between them. Not now. Whatever happened, Haven Point would survive and thrive. The flood threat the day before and the overwhelming response to it had proven that unequivocally.

“I know. Portland. It’s okay, Ben. I completely understand. You said it yourself. Sometimes leaders have to make the tough decisions simply because they’re right.”

“In this case, the logical decision is
not
the right one. I told Aidan we should build the new facility here. I suggested using the boatworks property, which he thought an excellent idea. We’re going to fast-track it with the board and should be able to break ground before the snow flies.”

She stared at him, this man she loved with all her heart. She wouldn’t have believed she could be any happier than her state a few moments earlier but now the joy and shock was so huge, she started to laugh and cry at the same time.

“Seriously? You’re not just saying that?”

He shook his head. “I realized last night while we were driving around looking for Rika that Caine Tech needs Haven Point, maybe even more than the town needs us. It’s a good fit, Kenz.”

“The perfect fit. You’ll see. Oh, Ben. I can’t wait to tell everyone!”

“We’re still a long way from any official announcement,” he warned. “It’s going to take time and paperwork and red tape. You know how these things go.”

“Yes. But you have one big advantage.”

“What’s that?”

“You’ve got the mayor in your back pocket.” She smiled at him with all the love she had been storing up since she was a girl.

“I don’t need her in my back pocket,” he murmured. “Just as long as she’s in my arms.”

He leaned down and kissed her again while the lake gleamed in the sunlight and two dogs wrestled on the grass and the mountains watched over it all.

EPILOGUE

“B
EN
! H
EY
, B
EN
!
Can Bob and me play with your dog?”

Ben, his arms full, looked down at Maddie Hayward. She was perched on a padded wrought-iron love seat on the terrace of Snow Angel Cove, watching crowds of people bustling around the immaculate grounds.

Her dark hair was in twisty rollers for the upcoming nuptials of her mother and Aidan Caine in a few hours and she had a doll on her lap whose hair was
also
in curlers.

Ben decided he could use a breather himself. He set the box down on the table next to her and took a seat beside her on the love seat. “Hondo’s not here, honey. He’s over at McKenzie’s house, hanging out with her dog for the day.”

“Rika’s not here, either?” she asked, disappointment clear in her big eyes.

“With the big party in a few hours, things are bound to get a little crazy over here,” he explained. “Hondo and Rika probably will have more fun hanging out at home, where it’s a little quieter, don’t you think?”

“I guess.”

She sagged into the chair and flopped her doll on her lap a few times in a listless sort of way.

He didn’t consider himself the most observant sort of guy when it came to females in general, particularly females of the under-three-foot-tall variety, but even
he
could see something was wrong.

“You don’t look very happy right now, kiddo. This is supposed to be a great day. What’s up?”

“Nobody can play with me. Sue and Jim are too busy, my mom’s getting her hair done and my new cousins Carter and Faith aren’t here yet. I am
sooo
bored.”

He glanced across the grounds at all the preparations underway for the wedding—between the caterers, decorators, florists and lowly assistants like himself, the place was hopping. “That’s tough, kiddo. Everybody’s trying to make this a great day for your mom and Aidan. Maybe you can help.”

She looked up. “Nobody wants my help. I told Jim I could help him feed Cinnamon and the other horses and he said I might get my hair messed up. I don’t care about my stupid hair.”

He had to smile. Give her a few years and she would probably be singing a different tune.

He glanced at the tray filled with flowers he was supposed to be delivering. “You can help me. I’m McKenzie’s assistant today and I believe this assistant needs an assistant.”

“Why?”

“Those are a lot of flowers for one person to carry,” he lied. “I definitely need a helper. You can carry these hydrangeas. Just be careful. They’re very fragile.”

He held out a small bundle of flowers to her and Maddie immediately set her doll down on the love seat beside her and hopped to the ground with an expression of eager delight.

“I won’t even drop them or crush them, I promise!”

“Great. I trust you.”

“Where are we going?”

He pointed down the sloping lawn toward the lake. “See McKenzie over there by the arbor?”

“What’s an arbor?”

“That arch thingy. That’s where your mom and Aidan will stand when they get married. That’s where the flowers need to go.”

“Got it.” With a determined look on her face, she marched down the sweeping green lawn toward the flower-bedecked trellis, holding the bouquet as if it were a newborn puppy.

He followed the little girl, heady with the scent of flowers and fresh-cut grass and the pines and spruce that grew in abundance around the grounds of Snow Angel Cove.

It felt strange for him to be here at his childhood home again, but not unpleasant. Memories crowded him. A few were ugly but he pushed them away, focusing instead on the good. Playing football with friends on the lawn, diving off the long dock into icy cold water, helping his mother cut flowers from the gardens to set around the house.

Lydia was there now, actually, part of the decorating crew that consisted of Aidan’s sister-in-law, Genevieve—most definitely in charge—Aidan’s sister, Charlotte, and a few other women he didn’t know. He had been a little surprised to see his mother there that morning, but he knew she and McKenzie had met several times over the past month for lunch and shopping and had become quite close. Apparently he wasn’t the only one whose help McKenzie had enlisted.

A month ago, it might have bothered him that Lydia and McKenzie hit it off so well, given his own tangled relationship with his mother. Now it only seemed
right
, somehow, that the woman he loved and his mother could be friends. McKenzie had been starved for maternal-type affection after her own mother died, growing up with her father and a polite but distant stepmother, while Lydia had so much love to give and only him to shower it upon.

His own relationship with his mother seemed to have undergone a fundamental shift in the past month as well, more easy and relaxed all the way around. McKenzie’s influence helped, he knew. She was so warm and happy, it was difficult for any tension to linger around her.

He couldn’t say he was completely comfortable around Doc Warrick yet, but they were both working on it.

“I’m being careful,” Maddie assured him as they neared the arbor.

“You’re doing great,” he assured her.

“Hi, Kenz,” she called out. “I’m helping you and Ben.”

McKenzie glanced down from her perch on a stepladder, where she was attaching a lush, colorful flower garland to the arbor that perfectly framed the lake and the mountains.

She smiled at the little girl. “Thank you, my dear. I need all the helpers I can find today.”

Her smiling gaze met Ben’s and his heart seemed to thump in his chest. All the vibrant flowers seemed brighter, suddenly, the lake a more breathtaking blue, the snowcapped Redemption Mountain Range in the background more raw and overwhelming.

It didn’t matter that he’d been standing beside her ten minutes earlier, that she had spent the night in his arms, that they had seen each other every weekend of the past month.

His world just seemed
better
because of her.

“Oh, I was looking for those very flowers. Thank you both.”

“You’re welcome,” Maddie said. “I was super careful.”

“Wow. How did you know that’s important with flowers?”

“Ben told me.”

McKenzie smiled again as she climbed down from the stepladder. “He’s pretty smart, isn’t he?”

“I guess.” Maddie looked over the arbor. “That looks pretty.”

“Thanks! Do you want to help put it together?”

She frowned a little. “Do I have to go up on the ladder?”

“Nope. You can help me with the flowers that need to be down low.”

She grabbed the hydrangeas and knelt down, then patiently showed Maddie how to attach them to the arbor. After the girl did two or three bundles, McKenzie sat back on her heels and hugged the girl.

“Now you can tell your mom and Aidan you decorated for their wedding.”

“Mom!” Maddie suddenly exclaimed. “Mom, look! I’m helping!”

Ben glanced up and found Eliza walking toward them. While her hair was intricately fixed, she still wore jeans and a casual shirt with flip-flops, pink toenail polish peeking out.

She was glowing, though, eyes bright and happy. Ben was suddenly fiercely happy for Aidan, that he had found someone who fit him so perfectly.

“I can see that. Oh, Kenz. Everything looks exquisite.”

“Especially the bride, I must say.” McKenzie grinned and hugged the other woman, taking care not to mess up the elegant hairstyle. “You aren’t supposed to be here yet, though. Aren’t you supposed to be sitting with your feet up, reading a magazine or having your nails done or something?”

“I feel like I’ve been doing that for the last twenty-four hours. I’m not at all comfortable with all this primping and pampering. I feel like I need to be doing something.”

Charlotte and Genevieve joined them, both looking militant. The women in Aidan’s family were a formidable force to be reckoned with.

“Not this time,” Genevieve insisted. “You aren’t supposed to do a thing. That’s the whole point of being a bride—not having to do everything, for once.”

Charlotte snorted. “Right. Like you sat around during
your
wedding prep last summer.”

“That was different,” Genevieve answered pertly. “I’m a decorator and organizer by nature.”

“You have all done so much. It truly looks stunning. It’s like a fairy tale.” Eliza looked as if she were about to cry. Ben didn’t know much about women’s makeup but he didn’t think she would appreciate having to redo it.

“You need to get out of here,” he said, hoping to head off the waterworks. “You don’t want Aidan seeing you down here, do you?”

“No. You’re right. Thank you all. Just...thank you.” She hugged all of them—including Ben—then grabbed her daughter’s hand. “Let’s go see if those curlers are ready to come out.”

“Okay. I need to grab my doll. Maybe
her
curlers are ready, too.”

With a last brilliant smile at them all, Eliza and her daughter walked hand in hand into Snow Angel Cove, the house she had effectively transformed into a warm and welcoming home.

Genevieve and Charlotte followed behind, making noises about trying to find a few missing tablecloths, leaving him alone with McKenzie.

“Eliza’s right. Everything looks beautiful.”

“We’re almost there. Whew. I’ve got one more load of flowers in the van. Can I borrow your muscles for a minute?”

“You know they’re yours.”

Her eyes softened and she gave him that secret smile that made him want to wrap his arms around her, right there in front of the whole decorating crew.

Knowing how busy and stressed she was, he shoved down the impulse and followed her back up the lawn to the driveway and the van with her store’s logo on the side.

In the back were several trays containing vases overflowing with blooms—white roses, blue hydrangeas, yellow daisies and others he didn’t recognize.

“Where are we taking them?”

“They’re for the tables set up on the terrace, where the dinner and dancing will be.”

“Nice.”

She worried her bottom lip. “Are you sure they look okay? I’ve never done flowers for a gazillionaire’s wedding before.”

He didn’t know anything about flowers, but he knew the arrangements were charming, elegantly simple.

“Everything is lovely, Kenz. You’re helping to give Aidan and Eliza an unforgettable day.”

“I hope so.”

She looked so adorably uncertain that he decided to indulge himself, only for a moment. He wrapped his arms around her. “Relax. You heard Eliza. She’s blissfully happy with everything and Aidan won’t care. He only wants her and Maddie.”

He could absolutely relate to that. Though he and McKenzie hadn’t started talking about the future yet, Ben knew what he wanted. Her, in his life, forever.

He had already talked to Carole about purchasing the Sloane property he had rented next door to McKenzie’s. Eventually, he could see combining the two lake properties into one huge, rambling, wonderful house filled with dogs and children and love.

He kissed her now, amazed all over again at the warmth and tenderness in his heart. She gave a happy little sigh that never failed to humble him and wrapped her arms around him.

“You’re right,” she finally said after a long moment. “I’m being silly. I know this is some of my best work. I just wish the orchids were a little more fresh. I’m so frustrated at that stupid supplier, after he promised me and everything.”

“They look perfect to me.”

“One more day and they would have been all wilty.”

“One more day won’t matter,” he pointed out. “The wedding will be over. The flowers can turn brown, for all anyone will care.”

She made a face but kissed him again, smelling of flowers and sunshine and McKenzie. “Why do you always have to be so darn logical?”

“It’s a curse,” he said, kissing the top of her head.

He had news for her, news he had been saving for later in the evening after the ceremony when she wasn’t so frantic, maybe while they were dancing under the stars. He decided he couldn’t wait, that now would be the perfect time.

“I know you’re busy but I’ve got something to tell you that I think will distract you a little from the crazy.”

“You’re enough of a distraction,” she muttered, though he caught her dimple flash before she tried to look stern again. He loved seeing her here, in this serene setting, with the lake and the mountains in the background. This was where their paths had crossed so many years ago. Maybe even then, they were planting the seeds of the love that seemed to grow stronger each day.

It seemed strange, but every moment with her here seemed to replace a few of the bad memories with lightness and joy.

“You’re going to want to hear this.”

“This better be good. I’ve got to finish the arbor and then decorate twenty tables.”

“I’ll hurry and then I’ll help you finish up so you’ll still have time to get ready for the big event.” He paused, for dramatic effect, then smiled. “We received the final assessment from the utility providers today. I had a memo earlier today from my assistant.”

That definitely caught her attention. “And?”

He grinned. “And they signed off on the design. Everything is a go. We can go ahead with plans to start work on the new Caine Tech facility in Haven Point next month.”

She gave a sound halfway between a gasp and a squeak. “Are you serious?”

“I’m the serious, logical one, remember? I wouldn’t joke about this.”

She hugged him hard, excitement rippling off her. “Ben! Oh! That’s fantastic news! I thought we wouldn’t be able to start until next summer.”

“Everything has gone smoothly so far. We were able to cut through all the red tape much more easily than anyone expected.”

“This is absolutely the best day
ever
.”

Until their own wedding day, sometime in the not-so-distant future, he thought, but didn’t want to say. Not yet. Instead, he kissed her, his heart overflowing with love for her and all the many gifts she had given him.

She had helped him become part of a community, to begin looking for the good in people instead of holding so much of himself distant, to become excited again about his work. She had helped him find peace with his mother and their past and to begin nurturing a new relationship with Russ Warrick.