One Day in Apple Grove (22 page)

Peggy wrapped her arm around Cait and let her head rest against Cait’s. The bond of friendship forged so long ago eased the worst of Cait’s fear. She sighed and confessed, “We want to ask him in such a way that he’ll have to say yes.”

“Hedging your bets,” Peggy said what Cait was thinking.

“Exactly.”

“Peggy, Cait?” Mrs. McCormack called out. “We’re ready to get started.”

Cait sighed. “If you come up with the perfect way to tell your mom, let me know.”

“Same goes.” Peggy paused in the doorway. “Maybe we should have a meeting down at the diner, your dad, my mom—”

“Things’ll be crazy until after Mitch and Honey B.’s vow renewal. How ’bout if we plan to get together then?”

“Good idea.”

Mary Murphy was looking over her shoulder at them when Cait and Peggy walked into the room. “Now then, let’s have everyone give an update, so we know where we stand and what we still need to address. We want Founder’s Day to run as smoothly as ever.”

The ladies took turns catching Cora up while at the same time including her in the plans. Cait could feel the strength of the friendship these women had developed over the years; it filled the room and felt like a hug from her mom.

It was the same as always—well, at least as far back as Cait could recall—Miss Trudi organizing the floral arrangements for the tables and around the gazebo in the town square, the McCormacks and Mrs. Winter handling the food, and finally Mary handling the advertising, decorating, and setup.

“Now,” Miss Trudi said, while Cora and Cait sliced cake and poured coffee, “I want Honey B. and Mitch’s day to go off without a hitch. Agreed?”

Everyone did. “Fine then,” Miss Trudi said. “If someone will take on the duty of organizing clean up from the picnic, then, weather providing, I’ve got my grandnephew, Dan, and his soccer team to lend a hand rearranging all the tables and chairs—those boys will do anything for him.”

“It’s a great idea to have their vow renewal the day after Founder’s Day, don’t you think?”

Everyone started talking at once, caught up in the prospect of two of the town’s favorite people, Honey B. and Mitch, publicly proclaiming their love for one another in front of their friends and neighbors.

Cait was about to speak up when Jack, Doc Gannon, and her father walked into the room. “Did I hear a call go out for manly muscle?” Jack grinned at her.

“You’re such a good man, Jack,” Miss Trudi said with a smile. “Now,” she said, “being that Honey B.’s still not feeling up to snuff, I told her to let me take care of the food and the cake.”

“But I thought—” Peggy began, only to fall silent when Miss Trudi waved her hand in Peggy’s general direction.

“Everyone knows that you and your sister volunteered to bake the cake. Where else would we go for the perfect cake but the McCormack sisters?” Miss Trudi said, while Mrs. McCormack smiled.

“Can you tell us what color it’s going to be?” Joe asked, letting his gaze slide over to where Mary sat with a soft smile on her face.

Peggy laughed. “Not a chance. It’s a surprise.”

“But—” Cait’s dad fell silent when Miss Trudi glared at him. “Joseph, let the girls have their fun.”

Her dad smiled and nodded.

“Do you need us to do anything else that day?” Jack asked.

Her father and Doc Gannon shared a look and Cait suspected the two were up to something that involved Jack. She’d have to pry it out of her dad later.

“I think that’s it for now, dear,” Miss Trudi said.

The men left, and she said, “I spoke with Norma Jenkins today. She said the dress is going to fit Honey B. like a dream.”

The women happily continued chatting about their favorite residents while Cait let her mind drift. Before she realized what had happened, Jack was helping her to her feet and guiding her toward the stairs.

“But what about the meeting?” she said, stifling a yawn.

“You slept through the last bit of it.” He led her up the stairs.

“What time is it?” she asked when he closed his bedroom door.

“Bedtime.” He chuckled, helping her get undressed and stripping out of his clothes, slipping beneath the comforter until he had her in his arms and tucked against his heart.

“Night, Jack.”

“Night, Cait.”

A warm, wet tongue woke her in the middle of the night as Jamie settled himself between them. With a grunt, Jack rolled over and pulled the little dog into his arms. Cait fell back to sleep to the music of Jamie and Jack snoring.

The days before Founder’s Day passed in a blur. Somehow Cait managed to keep up with the repairs that seemed never ending at Mulcahys and a few things Miss Trudi asked her to repair for the upcoming event, but that meant she had less time to spend in her woodshop. It was a small price to pay to help make sure Founder’s Day, and Honey B. and Mitch’s day, went off without a hitch.

June fifteenth was sunny and warm—perfect picnic weather as far as Cait was concerned. She was a little nervous, because although her dad hadn’t said as much, she found out that he and Doc Gannon had been able to get in touch with a few of the marines in Jack’s battalion.

The tables and chairs had been set up the night before, and the ladies of the committee had been setting up since seven o’clock. Cait was used to early hours, but this was more stressful—she wasn’t used to working with someone telling her what to do. Miss Trudi would have made a great drill sergeant.

“Am I the only one hungry?” Cait grumbled.

Peggy laughed. “Didn’t you eat breakfast?”

“Yeah,” Cait said, “but we’ve been working nonstop for the last few hours.”

“Caitlin has always been cranky when she’s hungry,” Mrs. McCormack said, tugging on Cait’s braid as she had so many times in the past, making Cait smile. “Why don’t you two take a break and bring over the box of doughnuts I left on the counter in the back of the diner?”

When they started walking, she added, “Thanks, girls.”

“Girls?” Peggy said when they were out of earshot. “Will she ever think of me as a woman?”

Cait shrugged. “We were complaining and it might have reminded her of when we were younger.”

“Yeah,” Peggy agreed. “Like twenty years ago!”

“Come on,” Cait urged. “We can start setting out the food when we get back.

A half hour later, the tables were decked out in red, white, and blue, and laden with food, some of it prepared by the McCormacks, but the bulk of it donated by the ladies of Apple Grove.

Retying the ribbon holding her braid together, Cait watched as a tall, broad-shouldered, auburn-haired man strode toward her. He smiled and her heart did a little dance.
Would
it
always
be
like
this?

“Sorry I couldn’t get away before now.”

She soaked up the warmth of his embrace and kissed his cheek. “Apple Grove’s doctor is allowed some slack.”

He was playing with a curl by her temple when he said, “You look pretty, Cait.”

“So do you.”

“Guys don’t look pretty,” he told her.

“Yeah, they do,” she argued. “You’ve got that dimple that is just too adorable.”

“Jeez, Cait,” he said. “A guy likes to hear that he’s handsome.”

“Did you know that Meg and her friends used to call you Handsome Jack?”

His cheeks turned beet red as he looked down at his feet.

“Seriously.” She tugged on his arm to get him to look up at her. “Sometimes, I just look at you and can’t believe we’re together. What is the talented, handsome, young Dr. Gannon doing hanging around with the awkward middle Mulcahy sister?”

He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her until she had to lean against him for support. “Does that answer your question?”

“Quit dawdling,” Miss Trudi called out. “We need you over here, Caitlin. We’re about to get started.”

She grinned at Jack, and answered, “Coming.”

***

Jack let her go, awed by the fact that he’d grown to depend on her being a part of his days—and his nights. It shouldn’t have surprised him that he wanted what his parents had. When Joe Mulcahy called his name, he knew he’d even settle for whatever time he and Cait were meant to have together.

“I’d like to thank you all for gathering today to help celebrate the founding of Apple Grove,” Miss Trudi said. “We’re a community that relies on each and every one of our neighbors, family, and friends to keep this town going. In all my years—and they are considerable—I’ve never wanted to live anywhere else.”

When the applause died down, she cleared her throat. “Now, if Joseph Mulcahy and Dr. John Gannon the elder will kindly come up, I’ll turn the microphone over to them.”

Jack looked over at Cait, but she shrugged. She had no idea what was going to happen either. Relief speared through Jack when Cait started making her way back over to where he stood.

Their fathers were smiling as they approached the gazebo, followed by three marines in uniform. Jack recognized them at once. He wanted to turn around and leave, but then he felt Caitlin’s hand on his back.

“Did you know about this?”

“I knew they were hoping to track down one or two of the marines you served with…but not this,” she told him.

He nodded as his father stepped up to the microphone. “As you all know, my son, Jack, is a former navy corpsman.” Doc Gannon paused and nodded to Jack. “He served two tours in Iraq attached to a marine battalion. Some of you may know that he was injured, but he never talks about it.”

“Joe and I would like you to meet three of the marines he served with: Private First Class James Weinstein, Lance Corporal Alec Stark, and Corporal Tom Biederman.”

The crowd around them applauded.

“Corporal Biederman, would you like to say a few words?”

He nodded and walked over to the mic. “Navy Corpsman Jack Gannon saved my life and lives of PFC Weinstein and Lance Cpl. Stark on the same day…but in the seven years he was attached to our battalion, he patched up more marines and kept them going than I can count.”

Cait’s hand squeezed his, and he pulled her against his side, feeding off of her strength, knowing that whatever Corporal Biederman had traveled all the way to Apple Grove to say, Jack would listen to.

“I nearly lost my leg in Iraq and would have lost my life had it not been for Corpsman Gannon’s quick actions and level head applying a tourniquet to keep me from bleeding out.”

Cait’s arms slipped around his waist, anchoring him to the present.

Biederman motioned for Weinstein and Stark to step up to the mic. “He was trying to save the life of Gunnery Sergeant Napolitano when the IED hit.”

Jack listened to the words, but for once wasn’t propelled back into the horror of that day; he’d purged part of the hurt, baring his soul to Cait and his parents. Now with Caitlin standing by his side, leaning into him, he realized they had been right to force his hand. The breeze picked up, blowing through the maple trees, clearing his mind enough to know he’d be thanking his family and the amazing woman at his side later.

Glancing at the crowd gathered, he saw Miss Trudi Philo standing proud and tall in her best khaki jodhpurs and white button-down shirt listening to Biederman speak. Joe Mulcahy stood beside Jack’s dad, shoulders back and chest out—proud former military men.

The McCormack sisters, Honey B. and the sheriff, Meg and Dan Eagan—every last one of them bearing witness to what Jack had held inside of him since that day.

Standing amidst the people he’d known all his life, in the town he’d come back to, with the woman he loved standing proud by his side, he realized that it was past time to face that day. With the help of three marines he’d served with and two meddling men—Cait’s dad, a former coast guard ASTC, Aviation Survival Technician Chief (rescue swimmer), and his own father, a former navy doctor—he accepted his past so that he could claim his future.

The loud applause had him blinking and looking around. All eyes were turned toward him. Cait was trying to hold back her tears as the marines started walking toward him.

“Jack,” Biederman said, clapping a hand to Jack’s sore shoulder. “I’m glad your dad got in touch with me. I’ve always wanted to say thank you but haven’t been back in the States long enough to look you up.”

Weinstein reached for Jack’s free hand to shake it. “I’m not long on words,” the man said, “and thank you doesn’t seem to be enough, when you saved our lives.”

Stark waited his turn to shake Jack’s hand. “We owe you everything.”

***

Cait tried to let go of Jack’s hand so that he could talk to the men who’d come all this way just to say thank you, but he held on and wouldn’t let go.

She pinched Jack in the side and Corporal Biederman laughed. “I think someone’s trying to get your attention, Gannon.”

Cait shook her head. “I’m sorry. I just wanted to give you a chance to talk to Jack alone,” she explained.

“Gannon’s a man of few words.” Biederman grinned. “Unless he has a few whiskeys in him to loosen his tongue.”

Jack was shaking his head when he turned to explain what Biederman meant. “That was during R and R—and only during R and R. Marines, I’d like you to meet Cait Mulcahy.”

“Caitlin?” Miss Trudi called her.

“Oh, sorry, gentlemen,” she said. “It must be time to start slicing up the pie.”

“Lead the way,” Biederman said with a grin.

Dan Eagan was one of the first to come over and congratulate Jack, while PFC Weinstein finagled a third piece of pie out of Cait. Jack was still smiling when Biederman announced that they had a plane to catch.

“Thank you for coming,” he said, knowing the words couldn’t convey even half of what he was feeling at the moment.

“Thanks for saving our lives,” Biederman said.

Jack shook hands and waved as the three left with his father and Joe Mulcahy.

Was
it
really
that
simple?
Jack wondered a few hours later, as he helped rearrange chairs and tables for tomorrow’s vow renewal. Maybe he could start to let go of the guilt over Napolitano’s death and acknowledge that he was an instrument of healing—not the one who decides who survives and who doesn’t.

“I’m proud of you, Jack.” Cait was dragging a garbage bag in each hand.

“Let me take that for you.”

She gave him one and kept the other as they made their way over to the dumpster behind the drugstore.

“I have a confession to make,” Jack said, walking back to the gazebo. “When I recognized those marines, I was ready to walk. I didn’t want to talk about it, especially in front of everyone.”

“I’m glad you stayed,” Cait told him. He pulled her into his arms and gazed into her eyes. “You’re one hell of a woman, Caitlin Mulcahy.”

“Took you long enough to realize that fact, Doc Gannon.”

He let his lips convince her how much he treasured her. When he could finally bring himself to break this kiss, he asked, “Do you have a date for Honey B. and Mitch’s shindig tomorrow?”

Her laughter was music to his ears. “I was hoping that you’d ask me.”

“It’s a date then,” he said, tugging on her hand to get her moving toward his Jeep. “Oh, and Cait?”

“What?”

“Try not to outdo Honey B. Remember it’s her day to shine.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said, smacking him on the arm. “Let’s go. I’m beat.”

“Your wish is my command.”

“Really?” she said as he held the door open for her.

Unable to interpret the look she sent his way, he asked, “What did you have in mind?”

“I’d love a root beer float…but can wait.”

“That’s one thing that I love about you—your mind. I’m never sure what you’ll say next. Keeps me on my toes.”

“Then we’re even because there are times when I can’t figure you out, but chalk it up to what Meg told me is part of the male mystique.”

As they drove back to his house, he slowed down as they approached the McCormacks’ farm. “We have a lot in common, Cait.”

She looked at him and smiled. “The smell of fresh-turned dirt.”

He nodded. “We love animals.”

She laughed. “The rascally the better.”

Driving past the farm, he smiled at the image of McCormacks’ ship’s mast. “God, I love this town…and everyone in it.” He reached for her hand and then turned his palm up so he could feel the calluses that reminded him of who she was and what she did. Lifting her hand to his lips, he kissed her knuckles.

“I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.” There was a short pause and then she said, “It is wonderful to see your parents again. I know you’ll miss them when they leave, but they’ll come back for visits.” She drew in a shaky breath and said, “When Gracie leaves…I don’t know if she’ll come back.”

She leaned her head against his shoulder and he put his arm around her, sliding his hand to her hip. “Grace has strong family ties,” he told her, “but you shouldn’t begrudge her the chance to spread her wings if Apple Grove isn’t what she wants.”

“You’re right,” she agreed. “But that leaves one more hole in my life. There have been so many lately.”

“You can always count on me, Cait.”

She sighed. “I do and I will. Thanks, Jack.”

Pulling into his driveway, he realized that he needed to ask Cait…soon. He didn’t want to wait.