Gansett After Dark (21 page)

“I’m sorry you’re feeling so poorly.”

“I keep waiting for Owen to say enough already with the hot mess he’s shackled himself to.”

“That’s not going to happen, and you know it. He’s crazy about you.”

“I’m still trying to figure out why when all he’s seen me do is breed and puke since we’ve been together.”

Sarah’s silent laughter brought tears to the older woman’s eyes. “I’d venture to say he’s probably seen a few other things in you besides those two endearing qualities.”

“You are far too kind,” Laura said with a smile for the woman who would be her mother-in-law before too much longer. “Enough about me. How was your night with Charlie?”

Sarah’s cheeks flamed with color.

“That good, huh?”

“I had no idea,” she said softly. “All this time… I didn’t know.”

“I’m so happy for you, Sarah, and for Charlie, too,” Laura said. “You so deserve this amazing second chance.”

“When I think about how I could’ve lived my whole life without knowing
that
was possible…”

“So you…” Laura rolled her hand, hoping Sarah would dish the details.

“Not everything, but what we did was incredible. And,” Sarah said, lowering her voice to a whisper, “he said he loves me.”

“Why are you even here this morning? You should be with him!”
 

“Because I knew you’d need me, and being here for you is also important to me.”

“Sarah! For crying out loud, go back to him.”

Sarah laughed at Laura’s outrage. “It’s fine, honey. I’ll see him again later.”

Laura’s eyes filled with tears, and before she knew it, they were sliding down her cheeks.

“What’s wrong?” Sarah asked, alarmed by Laura’s sudden breakdown.

“Nothing.” Laura swiped at the stupid tears that were almost as annoying as the nausea. Both were a byproduct of pregnancy that she would rather live without. “I’m so happy for you. I can’t even begin to tell you… Having you here with us, helping me through this first year with Holden and taking care of all of us and teaching me so much about the hotel… It means the world to me. I feel like I have a mother again for the first time since I was nine.”

“Oh, Laura…” Sarah brushed at her own tears as she took the mug of tea from Laura so she could hug her. “That’s about the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me. It’s such an honor to know you think of me that way. Thank you, honey.” She drew back so she could see Laura’s face. “Being here with you and Owen and Holden truly saved my life, and I’ve loved every minute I’ve gotten to spend with you.”
 

She tucked a strand of Laura’s hair behind her ear. “For the longest time, I worried that Owen would never take a chance on love or have a family of his own. He’d given up so much of his childhood to help raise his siblings and seemed content with his footloose existence. But the minute I saw him with you, I knew. I just knew you were the one for him, and I was so very thankful that he’d found you.”
 

“I’m thankful, too. When I think about the condition I was in when we first met… And the beautiful friendship I found with him before anything else ever happened between us. He’s an amazing man, Sarah.”

“I know he is, and I couldn’t be prouder of him.”

“I’m worried about what the trial and the worries about seeing his father are doing to him, though.” She eyed the guitar that sat in a stand on the other side of the room. “I haven’t heard him play or sing in days. Evan told me yesterday that Owen turned down a couple of gigs this week, which isn’t like him. He loves having the chance to play with Evan, which doesn’t happen as often these days because Ev is so busy with the studio.”

“That is worrisome,” Sarah said. “I think we just need to have faith that once the trial is over, the Owen we know and love will be back with us.”

“I hope you’re right,” Laura said. “More tea, please.”

Smiling, Sarah handed her the mug.

“Now let’s talk about this amazing night you had with Charlie.”

Once again, Sarah blushed furiously. “Girls my age don’t share the dirty details.”

“So the details are dirty?” Laura asked with a coy grin.
 

“I don’t kiss and tell,” Sarah said primly.

“Oh come on! You know you want to.”

Sarah laughed and the sound filled Laura’s heart to overflowing with love for the woman who’d come to mean so much to her. “I really do want to.”

“Spill it, sister.”

Returning to the hotel after his visit with Evan, Owen carried the sleeping Holden and followed the sound of laughter into the sitting room to find his mother and Laura gabbing on the sofa. He immediately noticed Laura’s pallor and the cup of tea she held in her hand. She’d been sick again.

“What’s going on around here?” Owen asked them. Was it his imagination or did his mother look mortified to see him standing there?

“You didn’t hear any of that, did you?” she asked.

“Any of what?”

The question set off another wave of laughter between the two women, giving him a warm feeling of homecoming that had been so rare in his life before the last year. While this hotel had been the only true home he’d ever had during a childhood marked by frequent moves and the strife of his violent family life, it was even more so now that he and Laura were living here together. Having his mother with them only made it that much better.
 

“Why do I feel like I’m missing the punch line to a joke—or maybe I am the joke?”

His question set them off again. Seeing them both laughing so hard was good for what ailed him, and he couldn’t help but smile at their glee.

“Trust me when I tell you,” Laura said, wiping tears from her eyes, “you do not want to know what we were talking about.”

Eyeing them with trepidation, Owen said, “I take it you had a good night with Charlie, Mom?”

Sarah gasped and looked to Laura for help. “Make him stop. I’m not talking about that with him.”

“I don’t want any details, and I mean that with every fiber of my being. I was simply asking if you had a nice time.”

“Um, yes,” Sarah said. “Yes, I did.”

Her demure reply made Laura snort inelegantly.

Sarah slipped a hand over Laura’s mouth. “Stop it. This instant.”

“Can’t,” Laura said feebly.

“I’m going back to work,” Sarah said. “Try to behave yourself.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“See you two later.” Sarah scurried out of the room, and Owen moved to take her place next to Laura on the sofa.

“What was that all about?”

“You’ll never get it out of me. Girl talk.”

“She’s okay, though? You’d tell me if she wasn’t, right?”

Laura took his hand and leaned in to press a kiss to the chubby cheek of her sleeping son. “Owen, honey, she is far more than okay. She is
divine
.”

“Eww. Gross.”

“Not gross at all. Very,
very
lovely. She’s extremely happy this morning.”

“Although I’ll beg of you not to share
any
details, I’m glad to hear that.”

Laura dissolved into giggles that made him smile at her delight despite the dark mood he’d been in for days now.

“Has it been a rough morning around here?”

“Rougher than usual.”

“I shouldn’t have left.”

“I was fine, and you can’t be with me all the time.”

“I’d like to be.”

“I know. Did you have any luck talking Evan out of coming with us?”

Stunned by the question, he stared at her. “How’d you know that was where I was going?”

She rolled her eyes. “I’ve got you figured out, Lawry.”

“You’re kind of scaring me right now.”

“So, what did he say?”

“He’s almost as bullheaded as you are,” Owen said with a sigh.

“Sucks having all these people around who love you, doesn’t it?”

He reached for her hand and linked their fingers. “It doesn’t suck nearly as bad as being all alone did. That was worse.”

Laura rested her head on his shoulder. “So Evan is coming with us?”

“Yeah, he’s coming.”

“Good.”

“Are we going to Dan and Kara’s engagement party later? The party is at two. Appetizers and drinks.”

“I suppose we can go for a little while if you want to.”

“You sure you feel up to it?”

“Anything is better than trying to find a way to think about something else.”

She turned toward him, putting an arm around him and Holden. “I can’t wait for this to be over,” she said.

“I can’t either.”

For the first time in longer than she could remember, Stephanie woke up feeling unburdened. She’d spent years frantically trying to free Charlie from prison, and then after that had finally happened, she’d trapped herself in a cage of her own making.

It had been foolish, she now knew, to worry that Grant wouldn’t understand her fears or want to help her manage them the way he had for as long as she’d known him. Even after all this time with him, she’d still been waiting for the bottom to fall out the way it had so many times before. After last night, though, she’d finally begun to believe it wasn’t going to happen this time.
 

Grant wasn’t going anywhere. He’d convinced her of that as he once again showed her how very much he truly loved her. With the memories of their incredible night together fresh in her mind, she was eager to share their good news with the person she loved second best.
 

Despite her assurances, she could tell that Grant was still concerned about her.
 
She’d insisted he go share their news with his father, even though he’d offered to stay home with her. She was determined to move forward with their plans and try to enjoy her life in a way she’d never been able to before. After a shower, she got dressed in a tank and shorts and headed out.
 

The bright sunny day that greeted her made her grateful to live in such a beautiful place. After she decided to stay permanently on Gansett, she’d worried about being bored. However, she’d been anything but bored. With Grant’s big family nearby and their wide circle of friends, there was always something going on, even in the winter when the tourists had gone home.
 

She’d loved her first full winter on the island, during which she’d kept the restaurant open only on the weekends and had spent the rest of the time hunkered down with Grant while he worked on the screenplay about her efforts to get Charlie freed from jail. For months, she’d cautiously avoided his frequent attempts to pin her down on a wedding date by changing the subject or evading the questions. He’d never pushed her, but she could tell that her refusal to discuss it had hurt him on more than one occasion.

It was such a relief to know she no longer had to dodge the issue. They’d talked through all of her fears and set a date. She was going to marry Grant in a few short weeks. The thought set off a wave of giddy laughter as she pulled into her stepfather’s driveway, where he was cutting the grass. As he was wearing only a pair of shorts, his impressive physique was on full display. He had muscles on top of muscles, which came from the time he’d spent in prison with nothing to do but work out for several hours a day.