A Match Made in Alaska (14 page)

A sharp pain twisted Declan’s insides. “Maybe,” he acknowledged. “But I’ll never forgive myself if I make her think I’m something I’m not. She wants it all. The white picket fence. The adoring husband. Two-point-five kids. The whole nine yards. Face it, Boone. My happily-ever-after died a long time ago.”

Without a word of goodbye, Declan walked off into the Alaskan night with his hands jammed into his pockets, his head bowed to protect himself against the sharp wind that had suddenly kicked up. He heard Boone call after him, but he didn’t bother to turn around. There was nothing his best friend could say to change a single thing.

Without even meaning to, he had reached out for something with Annie that he knew was beyond his grasp. From this point forward, he wasn’t going to make that mistake. Not ever again. It hurt way too much to come crashing down to reality.

Chapter Eleven

“S
o, what’s the verdict?” Cameron stood next to Declan’s table at the Moose Café the morning after the skating party, his arms folded across his chest. His friend’s face was filled with expectation.

“Give me a second. I haven’t even tasted it yet.” Declan bit into the chive, Swiss cheese and ham omelet. He let out a groan. It was out of this world. Cameron had outdone himself with breakfast this morning.

Cameron nodded his head and grinned. “I told you. This is going on the menu, effective immediately.” He slapped Declan on the back. “Thanks for being my tester. You always come through.”

“Anytime,” Declan called out as Cameron walked back toward the kitchen with an extra bit of pep in his step. Declan loved being a tester at the Moose Café. More times than not, he loved the food Cameron dished up. Plus it was all on the house. In Declan’s world, it didn’t get any better than that.

His phone began vibrating in his jacket pocket. He’d placed the phone on Vibrate so he could enjoy his breakfast in peace without interruption. With a sigh of frustration, he reached into his pocket and yanked out the phone, answering in a curt voice.

“O’Rourke here.”

“Declan, it’s Willard. I’ve been calling you all morning. I can’t make the run today.” A loud sneeze rang out. “Liam just diagnosed me with flu.”

Declan’s pulse raced. His palms became sweaty, and he could hear his heart thundering in his ears. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. I have a fever of a hundred and three with vomiting and nausea. I think that rules me out, Declan.”

“Sorry, buddy. Feel better, okay?” Declan said before ending the call. The moment he disconnected, he sat back in his chair and heaved a tremendous sigh. Suddenly he had lost his appetite.

Willard was too sick to fly today. What was Declan going to do now? He shoved a hand through his rumpled head of hair. O’Rourke Charters really needed the income. He couldn’t afford to blow this off. He held his hands out in front of him. Just the thought of flying Ethel was causing them to tremble like crazy.

“Fancy meeting you here.”

Declan jerked his head up at the sweet-sounding voice that had invaded his dreams last night. Annie was standing beside his table, looking gorgeous in a white wool dress and the pair of boots he’d gifted her. She had a long black coat draped over her arm.

“What’s up with your hands?” She jutted her chin at him.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” he said, trying to sound casual.

She tapped her booted foot on the hardwood floor. “Tell that to someone else, O’Rourke. What’s wrong?”

He met her steely gaze. “I’m just a little stressed out at the moment. My employee, Willard, just called me. He’s too sick with flu to fly our client to Homer today, which is a big deal.” He glanced at his watch. “The flight leaves in an hour. Canceling this gig would hurt our bottom line, since this is a regular customer who spends a lot of money on travel.”

“Well then, Declan, you’re just going to have to fly the client yourself,” Annie said in a no-nonsense voice.

He shook his head. “I can’t do it. I’m not ready yet,” he said, his tone clipped.

Annie reached out and began tugging him by the wrist. Yikes. She was way stronger than she looked.

“Hey! What are you doing?” Declan cried out as he resisted her efforts to displace him from his seat. “I’m in the middle of breakfast.”

Annie let go of him. She placed her hands on her hips. Her brown eyes flashed. “I’m getting you mobilized. Step away from the omelet, O’Rourke. You have a client who is paying you good money to fly to Homer in approximately one hour.”

“Me? You think I’m going to fly Ethel? I’m not ready to take this on,” he admitted as a feeling of shame threatened to swallow him whole.

“Willard is sick with the flu, which means it’s all on your shoulders. There’s no one else but you.”

“I’m not sure I can do it, Annie.” What was the point of pretending anymore? It was high time he came clean. He was fairly certain Annie already knew that his fear was preventing him from flying Ethel.

“What aren’t you sure about? Your skill? Your expertise? Your perfect flying record? The fact that you now know that you had nothing to do with the malfunctioning of your plane? It was a random bird strike. Something rare and completely out of your control.”

“So what if it happens again?” he spit out.

She shrugged. “So what if the sky falls? You can drum up hundreds of scenarios to convince yourself not to do something. Don’t give in to the fear. It will consume you if you let it.”

“Live courageously,” Declan said. He’d been hearing Annie say this for weeks now. In this very moment, it resonated with him. That’s how he wanted to live his life. Without fear or reservations. Flying was his world. He could never be whole if he hid in the shadows and stayed grounded.

“Exactly!” Annie said. “You’ve got this!”

“No one handed me O’Rourke Charters,” he said in a raised voice.

“Nope,” Annie said. “You didn’t grow up with a silver spoon in your mouth.”

“I built my company through hard work and grit and determination,” he said.

“Yes, you did!” Annie encouraged him. “And you’re not going to throw it in the toilet simply because you have a few jitters. Declan O’Rourke is not going out like that!”

“No, he’s not,” Hazel chimed in as she appeared at the table with a basket of corn bread in her hands. “If he does, he’ll have me to deal with.”

“You better listen to Hazel.” Annie scrunched up her nose and made a face. “Those are fighting words!”

“Did anyone ever tell you that you’re one beautiful pain in the neck?” Declan asked in a raspy tone as he stood up from his chair.

“Maybe once or twice,” Annie murmured as he dipped his head and kissed her soundly on the lips.

“Enough smooching, you two, ’cause time is a wasting,” Hazel barked. “It waits for no man...or woman. One of these days Jasper will figure that out before the best years of my life have passed me by,” she grumbled.

“He still isn’t ready to put a ring on it?” Declan asked, his eyebrows raised.

“Ha! A ring?” Hazel shouted. “At this point I’d settle for a quickie wedding in Vegas and a piece of tinfoil on my finger.”

Annie made a tutting sound. “Don’t settle for anything, Hazel. You deserve a swoon-worthy proposal and a wedding with all the trimmings. And some bling on your ring finger.”

Hazel reached out and squeezed Annie’s hand. “You’re some kind of special, Annie.” Her voice was choked with emotion. Her eyes radiated warmth.

“Annie’s right, Hazel,” Declan said, reaching across and pressing a kiss on her cheek. “If Jasper can’t see what a gem you are, then he’s a plumb fool.”

“You’re a sweetheart, Declan,” Hazel said with tears in her eyes. “I’m so proud of you. For facing your fears and tackling them head-on. That’s never easy, even for an old bird like me.”

Declan reached out and hugged the woman who was the closest thing to a mother figure he had in his life. She’d always been there for him, firmly rooted in his corner. Just like Boone and his family. “Aw, Hazel. Please don’t cry,” he said, wrapping her up in a tight bear hug. “You’re going to make me cry, too,” he teased.

“Why don’t you finish that omelet before Cameron has a conniption fit,” Hazel said with a laugh. “If it’s okay, I’d like to pray over your food. Why don’t we sit down for a minute.”

They sat down at the table. Hazel reached for their hands, and they made a circle at the table as she prayed over Declan’s meal. “Dear Lord, please bless this food. And please bless and protect Declan as he makes this flight to Homer. May his skill and precision as a pilot shine today brighter than ever. Amen.”

Once breakfast was finished, Annie rode over to the pier with Declan in his truck. Afterward, she would make the short walk from the pier over to the library to open it up and begin her shift.

“You’ve got this!” Annie encouraged him as he walked toward Ethel, followed closely by his clients, a mother-daughter duo who had been sightseeing in Love.

Declan turned around and flashed her a thumbs-up sign. “You know it,” he said. “I’m right where I need to be, thanks to you.”

Once he settled himself into the cockpit, Declan felt a surge of adrenaline pounding through his veins. He fingered the controls and smiled at the excitement rising up within him. It was always like this when he was about to take one of his planes up in the wild blue yonder.

As he soared into the sky, Declan cast his gaze out the window. Usually he focused on what was above and around him. Endless sky. Cotton ball–like fluffy clouds. What lay past the horizon. This time he found himself looking down and searching for a glimpse of Annie. He spotted her, a small speck of red in a sea of white. A feeling of joy fluttered through him. He was soaring. Gliding. And it felt invigorating to be sitting in the cockpit, at the controls, flying his beloved Ethel. None of this would have happened today if it hadn’t been for Annie
. Plucky, adorable Annie.
She had forced him out of his comfort zone this morning, all because she cared about him and O’Rourke Charters. Annie wanted the best for him. And she had just proved to him that she would go the extra mile to make sure that all was right in his world.

As he soared higher and higher up in the sky, past the clouds and the mountains and on toward Homer, he rejoiced in the sensation of being on top of the world. At the same time he suspected he was falling...tumbling...headlong over the edge for Annie.

* * *

Annie looked around her at the library patrons who were browsing the shelves. It made her smile to see people enjoying the library with such enthusiasm. These days it seemed as if she wore a perpetual smile on her face. Ever since Declan had reestablished his flying routine a week ago, things between them had been better than ever. Declan seemed to radiate a confidence that took her breath away. More and more it seemed as if he believed in himself. And she was beginning to believe in them, even though it went against her nature to hope for things that were out of her grasp. The very words she’d tossed at Declan were beginning to resonate deeply within her.

Living your life with one foot in the past isn’t really living at all.

She had been guilty this whole time of the same exact thing. Her past relationship with Todd had jaded her about good-looking men like Declan. Being duped by him had left an emotional scar on her heart. Her desire not to repeat the cycle in her family of unwed mothers had made her overly cautious. It shamed her to realize that she had judged Declan based on his looks and his flirtatious ways.

She had always been a fair-minded person. Had she been just in her view of Declan?

Declan was handsome and charming. That in itself wasn’t a crime. They were simply two of the many reasons she loved him.
Loved him?

Annie stopped in her tracks and placed the books she was holding onto the shelf. Her legs were trembling underneath her.

Love! Did she really love Declan? Yes! She loved him with every fiber of her being. Wholly. Devotedly. Without reservation.

He was coming over tonight for dinner. She was putting her best culinary foot forward and making him Gram’s famous chicken parmesan. And she was going to talk to him about Gram’s journal and her plans to approach Mayor Prescott about his relationship with her grandmother. It was time! The longer she waited, the more explaining she would have to do about why she hadn’t introduced herself as Aurelia Alice Murray’s granddaughter when she’d arrived in Love.

A feeling of excitement thrummed in her veins. Everything was falling perfectly into line. O’Rourke Charters was back on track, and her quest to find her family would soon come to an end. By the time Declan arrived at her cabin, she had put the finishing touches on dinner and set the table to create an intimate, romantic vibe. She bit her lip as she surveyed the vase of flowers and the woodsy scented candles. She didn’t want Declan to think she was trying too hard. A sudden knock on the door made it a moot point. Declan had arrived, bearing a box of pastries from the Moose Café.

“Wow. This place looks terrific. You’ve really transformed it,” Declan said as he looked around. She followed his gaze as he surveyed the cabin. She had put a lot of love and care into creating a chic vibe in the once-drab cabin. New curtains, rugs, throw covers, lamps. The whole nine yards.

“Thanks. Hazel almost didn’t recognize it when she came inside the other day. And Sophie wants me to refurbish her room when I get some spare time,” Annie said with a chuckle.

Declan winked at her. “Sounds like you might have a good side business going there.”

“I have something to tell you,” she said. She could barely contain her excitement. “It’s about Gram’s journal.”

“Oh. Before I forget, I brought it back.” He reached down to the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled it out.

“Thank you,” she said, placing the diary down onto the table. “I’ve decided to approach Jasper about being his granddaughter.”

Declan’s eyes went wide. He frowned at her. “What are you going to say, Annie?”

“That we’re related,” she said with a wide spreading motion of her arms. “The town council has requested my presence at their meeting tomorrow to discuss the literacy program, so I was thinking I might pull him aside afterward and tell him.”

“Annie, I don’t think you should say anything.” Declan’s tone sounded somber.

Perhaps she had misheard him? What was Declan hinting at?

Annie cocked her head to the side. “What? Why, of course I should. That’s been my plan this entire time. Jasper has a right to know who I am and that I might be his granddaughter.”

“I understand why you think this is a good idea, but let me tell you why it’s not.” He inhaled deeply. “If what you’re saying is true, Jasper would have been married to Harmony at the time your mother was conceived. They were married right after high school. The implication would be that he betrayed his wife and his wedding vows.”

Annie bristled. She hadn’t considered that fact, and her mind was now whirling with the implications. Now she had some insight into why Gram might have left Love. Being pregnant by a married man would have rocked the small fishing village.