“Isn’t that what we just did?”
“You talked. I listened. Now I have a few things I’d like to say. Where are you going to be?”
She regarded him with apparent uneasiness. “At the Victorian.”
He wondered just how uneasy she would be if she realized what he intended to talk about was marriage. He pressed a hard kiss against her lips. “See you soon.”
Her wariness clearly escalated. “Take your time.”
Kevin chuckled at her obvious attempt to put off whatever he had on his mind. “Gracie, you can dish it out, but you sure can’t take it.”
Her chin immediately tilted up a defiant notch. “I certainly can take whatever you intend to dish out, Kevin Patrick Daniels.”
“We’ll see, darlin’. We’ll see.”
Gracie hadn’t even had a full ten seconds to be relieved that things between Delia and Kevin were going
to be smoothed over. Now, with this enigmatic promise of his to have a talk with her, all she could do was worry. She hadn’t liked the gleam in his eyes one little bit. There’d been an awful lot of speculation about marriage going on at the Beachside this morning. She certainly hoped Kevin hadn’t had anything to do with sparking the gossip or that he hadn’t been taking it to heart.
“Well, it’s about time you got here,” Helen announced, pouncing on her the instant Gracie climbed the steps to the Victorian a few minutes later. “We’ve got a lot to do.”
“There’s no need to panic. Ray Mason and his crew are back on the job this morning. I hear them hammering away. We can take a breather.”
“Forget the house,” Helen declared. “We have a wedding to plan.”
Gracie broke out in a cold sweat. “A wedding?” she repeated cautiously. “Whose?”
“Bobby Ray’s and Marianne’s, of course. Whose did you think?” Helen asked, then chuckled. “Were you afraid we were going to do a surprise event for you and Kevin?”
“Of course not,” she said defensively, then hastily improvised. “I was thinking of you and Max.”
That drew a frown. “Oh, when the time comes, if it ever does, I suspect we’ll just elope,” Helen said lightly. “Max probably won’t want to leave the hotel for more than a day or two.”
Something in her tone alerted Gracie that something had happened in Paris that she’d missed. “Trouble brewing?” she asked.
“Between Max and me? Heavens, no,” Helen said, a little too brightly.
She was obviously lying through her teeth.
“Into the kitchen,” Gracie ordered.
Helen actually did as she’d been told, another clue that something was seriously wrong.
“Sit.”
Helen sat.
Gracie poured them both cups of coffee from the pot that Helen had brewed. “Okay, what happened?”
“Nothing, really.” Helen grinned ruefully. “I’m being silly, I’m sure.”
“Helen, just tell me.”
“Okay, okay. It’s just that he seemed so distracted that whole time we were in Paris, like he couldn’t wait to get back to Cannes.”
Gracie chuckled. She couldn’t help it, even though it drew a scowl from Helen. “I’m sorry. It’s just that the trip to Paris was probably the most spontaneous thing Max Devereaux has ever done in his entire life. He had, what, maybe twenty-four hours notice that we were coming?”
“Less than that, actually.”
“Yet he put everything aside and raced to Paris.”
“Well, yes.”
“Helen, Max does not drop things and take a holiday. He plans every little detail. Even when he came here, he spent a whole week working out the logistics, making sure he had staff to cover for him while he was gone. You actually got him to do something totally impetuous.”
“Which he obviously regretted.”
“I don’t think he regretted being with you for a second,” Gracie reassured her. “I do think he worried about all the work he’d left on his desk. Old habits are hard to break. Give it time.”
Helen’s expression brightened. “Do you think so?”
“Yes. I think so. I can’t think of another person on
earth who could have gotten him away from Cannes on a moment’s notice like that. Most women couldn’t even get Max to take an unscheduled coffee break.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
Helen preened. “I guess I’ll just have to practice my technique on him more often.”
“The more often, the better,” Gracie agreed.
“Good,” Helen said, obviously relieved and reenergized. “That’s settled then. Let’s get busy on the wedding. We don’t have much time. Bobby Ray insists he won’t wait a minute longer than Labor Day weekend.”
“That’s the weekend this place is supposed to open,” Gracie protested. “How can I manage both?”
“Think of it this way. You’ll be guaranteed a full house with all the wedding guests coming from out of town.”
“Ah, yes, the silver lining,” Gracie said. “I knew there had to be one.”
“There always is,” Helen agreed.
25
K
evin found Aunt Delia in the garden. Not that she was doing much weeding, though. She was kneeling by the bed of pink-and-purple petunias, her gloved hands idle, her gaze focused on some point in the distance. Her strawberry-blond hair, which still astounded him, was smushed by a wide-brimmed straw hat.
“Aunt Delia?” he said softly.
Her head snapped around. A tentative smile formed. “Kevin? I didn’t hear you come up. I wasn’t even sure you’d come back home from wherever you were.”
“I got back yesterday. Just now, though, you were lost in thought. Everything okay?”
She searched his face. “I’m not sure. Is it?”
He reached down and squeezed her shoulder. “Everything is fine,” he reassured her. “I’m sorry if I’ve worried you. I just needed some time to think. Your news took me completely by surprise. I couldn’t help thinking of how much my mother missed by never knowing the truth, how different things would have been for her if she had. Bottom line, though? I love you. I’m very glad that you’re my grandmother.”
She struggled to her feet then and hugged him, tears
trembling on her lashes. “Oh, you darling boy, I’ve been so worried you’d never forgive me.”
“It was never a matter of forgiveness. I just needed to understand what you did. Gracie helped me put things into perspective,” he admitted.
“She’s very smart, our Gracie is.”
“That she is.”
She eyed him speculatively. “So when are you going to stop wasting time and marry her? I think it’s way past time you two set a date.”
“Aren’t you getting a little ahead of yourself, asking about the date. She hasn’t even said yes yet.”
“Have you asked her?”
“No.”
“Well, why on earth not? You’ve thought about it, haven’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“I’ve been working that out in my mind.”
“Trying to believe she could love you and not be dependent on you,” Aunt Delia guessed.
As always, he was startled by his aunt’s—his
grandmother’s
—insight into his thoughts. “How’d you know?” he asked.
“Because I’m a grandmother and I’m smart and nobody on earth knows you any better than I do,” she said confidently. “Kevin, Gracie may not rely on you for money or career advice or to handle this crisis or that, but she loves you. That’s what really matters and I’d stake my life on that. Besides, there are lots of other ways to need someone.”
“Such as?”
“In Gracie’s case, I think she very much needed you to
show her how to take things one day at a time, to bring some balance into her life. And, more than that, she needed you to give her a home, people to care about. Even a strong person like Gracie could use a little support every now and again, even if she never needs to be rescued.”
He thought about that. Gracie had said much the same thing herself. Maybe he did have things to offer her that didn’t involve money. Maybe he could share the most important things of all with her, his heart and soul.
And maybe she could give him back his faith in human beings again. After all, she’d seen the potential in Helen and Bobby Ray and gotten their lives back on track, when all he’d seen was Bobby Ray’s frustrating inability to handle responsibility and Helen’s spending excesses. Maybe he was more like his father and his uncle Steven than he’d realized. Maybe he’d encouraged them to lean on him to satisfy some need in himself.
“Thanks, Aunt Delia.”
“No thanks necessary,” she assured him. She regarded him wistfully. “But maybe one of these days you’ll get around to calling me Grandmother.”
“Grandmother.” He tried it out and found he liked it. It had never had much meaning to him before, nothing that wasn’t negative anyway. He grinned at her. “You’re amazing, Grandmother.”
“Well, of course I am,” she said briskly. “Now get along with you. I have weeding to do. The gardener never gets it quite right. Besides, Gracie’s waiting. A smart man doesn’t keep a woman like that waiting too long. Somebody else might sneak in and snap her up.”
Kevin decided that the matter of proposing required a bit of planning and ingenuity if he was going to pull it off
successfully. He might have resolved the last of his uncertainties, but he doubted Gracie had. He anticipated a fight.
For all of her talk about finding a home in Seagull Point, he wasn’t sure she genuinely believed herself capable of settling down. Nor was he sure if she saw that owning a small town bed-and-breakfast could compensate for the glamour of running elegant intercontinental hotels. He suspected she still saw this as a project to tide her over a rough patch in her life and viewed him as an intriguing distraction. He would just have to convince her otherwise.
He bought the fanciest bottle of champagne he could find, scrounged up some caviar from Helen’s well-stocked pantry and made a quick trip to the finest jeweler in Richmond. He waited until dusk, when the air was soft and still with only the twinkle of fireflies lighting it. Then he went looking for Gracie in her brand-new third-floor office, where she had taken to ending the day.
She took one look at him with his tuxedo pants and fancy pleated shirt and her mouth dropped open. Instantly, wariness darkened her eyes.
“Going to a party?”
“Bringing one,” he corrected, holding up the tray laden with champagne, glasses, and caviar.
“What’s the occasion?”
“I told you this morning that I wanted to talk to you.”
“It must be something pretty important if you’ve gone to all this trouble to butter me up.”
“Just trying to point out the benefits of having a man around to see to your every whim.”
“And you think my whims include champagne and caviar?”
“Don’t they?”
“Sometimes, I suppose.”
He grinned. “Name another one then. I’m flexible. I can improvise.”
“Kevin, what’s really going on?” she demanded, her expression more guarded than ever.
“I’m trying to set a mood, darlin’.”
“Why?”
“So you’ll hear me out.”
“Kevin, you don’t have to go to all this trouble just to get my attention.”
“Too much?” he inquired. “What put me over the top? The caviar?”
The tight line of her lips eased into a slow curve. “I’d have to say the tuxedo. It made me feel underdressed.”
“That’s why I left off the jacket and the tie.”
“My shorts and T-shirt are no match even for what’s left.” She wiggled her bare toes. “I don’t even have shoes on.”
“I think you’re beautiful just the way you are. And that red polish on your toenails is sexier than shoes.”
“And I think you’re full of it. Would you just get to the point. You’re making me nervous.”
He moved to the window and beckoned to her. “Come over here by me.”
Barefooted and clearly reluctant, she slipped up beside him. He tucked an arm around her waist. “Look out there. What do you see?”
“The river.”
He nodded. “That river will take you anywhere you want to go if you follow it far enough. It’ll carry you into the Chesapeake Bay, into the Atlantic, all the way to Europe.” He gazed down into her eyes. “If you want to go.”
“I’ve told you before, this is where I want to be.”
“Forever?”
She hesitated for the space of a heartbeat, long enough to make his pulse thud dully.
“I think so,” she said eventually.
“Then marry me,” he said. “Commit to me, to staying here. If the lure of the river ever gets to be too much, it’ll always be there, ready to take you wherever you want to go. We can always go together.”
She sighed and turned to rest her head against his chest. He felt the dampness of tears soaking his shirt, touching his skin. A cold, wrenching fear swept through him then. He was going to lose her.
“I can’t,” she said, confirming his fear. “I can’t make that kind of commitment.”
“Tell me five good reasons why we shouldn’t get married,” he demanded, angered not so much by her words—he’d anticipated them—but by the aching emptiness left in their wake. He hadn’t expected to feel so panicked by her refusal.
“I could give you a thousand,” she countered.
“I’ll settle for one.”
“Ambition,” she said readily. “I have it. You don’t.”
Ambition? That was it? It might have amused him if she hadn’t been taking it so seriously. “I thought you’d stopped worrying about climbing the corporate ladder,” he said.
“What made you think a thing like that?”
“Have I missed something? Are you planning on running this little bed-and-breakfast of yours long distance? Maybe from France? Were you planning on having Aunt Delia cooking and straightening up after everybody while you raced back to be at Max’s side?”
“Of course not.” She hesitated. “I guess the truth is, though, I haven’t really thought much beyond getting the doors open the first weekend in September. I just assumed, well, that I’d take things as they come. One day at a time.”
She seemed totally bemused by how little thought she’d given to tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that. Nothing she might have said could have given him more hope. He regarded her with approval. She was coming along very well, after all. He only needed to give her a little more time and she would see how well suited they were. His day-by-day philosophy was taking hold nicely.