Michael's Discovery (17 page)

“Men have a tendency to imagine things and then exaggerate,” she told him.

“I see. Okay, then, let’s get back to the reason I’m here.”

“I figured you wanted me to know you’d gone back to work for the navy,” she said. “Now I know. Did you really think that mattered to me?”

“No, but settling into a career mattered to me,” he said.

“And fishing’s not good enough?”

“No, dammit. Stop twisting everything I say. It wasn’t about money, Kelly. Or about prestige. It was about self-respect. I need to do something that matters.”

A flicker of understanding warmed her eyes, but then that shuttered expression fell back into place. “I’m happy for you, truly I am, but if that’s all you came to tell me, I need to get going.”

She was about to close the door, when Michael jammed his foot in it. “Wait.”

She looked into his eyes.

“I love you,” he said, blurting it out before he messed up again. “
That’s
what I came to tell you. That and to ask you to marry me.” He fumbled in his pocket and drew out a ring, a diamond solitaire that could never in a million years match the sparkle in her eyes when she was happy. “I know I’m the worst sort of fool and I don’t deserve you, but no one will ever love you more or work harder to make you happy.”

Her eyes unexpectedly filled with tears and made his heart wrench.

“Are you sure, Michael?” she asked, her voice
shaky. “Really, really sure? Because this is it. If you take it back this time, I will never forgive you.”

“I won’t take it back,” he promised, hardly daring to believe that he’d finally gotten it right. “I love you and I want to marry you.” He searched her face, looking for a clue about what she was feeling. “If you’ll have me. Will you, Kelly?”

She stepped toward him then and lifted her hand to his cheek. “Oh, Michael,” she whispered, “all you ever had to do was ask.”

“I
still don’t understand why you’re in such a hurry,” Bryan said to Michael as he ran a finger around the collar of his tuxedo. “I know my sister. If she hasn’t changed her mind about you after all these years, she’s not going to. There’s no rush.”

Michael frowned at him. He’d had enough trouble waiting the month Kelly had insisted it would take her to plan the perfect wedding. “I take it you’re in no big hurry to get Moira to the altar.”

Bryan stared at him blankly. “Married? Me and Moira?”

“You haven’t even considered it? I thought you were in love with her.”

“I am, at least I think I am. I’m not even sure I know what love is.”

“And you’re a psychologist,” Michael said, shaking his head. “I pity your clients.”

“Wait a minute, how did we go from discussing this rush into marriage you and Kelly are taking to picking apart my relationship with Moira?”

“Just a diversionary tactic,” Michael admitted cheerfully. “Plus, if you were in love, you’d understand why we don’t want to wait. Too bad, because I really thought you and Moira had something special. Mind if I introduce her to someone at the reception?”

Bryan’s expression turned dark. “Forget about it.”

Michael gave his best man a triumphant look. “
That,
my friend, is love.”

Bryan looked vaguely bemused by his analysis. “Do you suppose that’s why she kept dragging me into all those little churches all over Ireland? Was she trying to tell me something?”

“I’d say that’s a safe bet,” Michael said, regarding him with a pitying look. “Have a couple of glasses of champagne at the reception and ask her.”

“Ask her what?”

“Ask her to marry you, idiot.”

“Oh.” A slow smile spread across Bryan’s face. “Maybe I will at that.”

Kelly stood at the back of the church and studied the man waiting for her in front of the altar, his back ramrod straight, his cane nowhere in sight. He was stunning in his uniform, but he was darned good-looking out of it, too. In fact, she preferred him that way, naked and eager. A blush climbed into her cheeks at the wicked thought. On her wedding day and in church, no less. She was surprised a bolt of lightning didn’t strike her dead on the spot. Then, again, she was about to marry the man. Why do that, if he didn’t get to her?

“You ready, pumpkin?” her father asked.

“Absolutely,” she said without hesitation.

“Have been for a long time, haven’t you? Michael’s always been the one.”

“Always,” she agreed. “This just proves teenage fantasies can come true.”

“Not without a little nudge from your brother,” he reminded her. “You given him the credit he’s due?”

She feigned a frown. “I gave him my best friend and he’s too dense to make the most of it. Do you know Moira came back from Ireland without a ring on her finger?”

“Stop fretting about that,” Moira said when she overheard Kelly’s complaint. “It’s your wedding day. Enjoy it. I know I intend to. I’ve already spotted three gorgeous men who came without dates.”

Kelly grinned. “You go, girl.”

Her father shook his head. “If I’m not mistaken, it’s time for all of us to go. Isn’t that the wedding march starting up now?” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to Kelly’s cheek. “Be happy, pumpkin.”

“I will be,” she said with absolute confidence. She looked at Michael and caught his eye. His gaze was filled with so much love, it made her knees weak.

The Havilceks must have spotted it, too, because Doris Havilcek smiled, tears in her eyes, and even her husband looked as if he might shed a tear or two when Michael took several steady steps to meet her partway down the aisle and take her arm.

Behind them were the Devaneys—Ryan, Maggie and Caitlyn next to Sean, Deanna and Kevin. There was a third dark-haired man there, as well, a man who was unmistakably from the same gene pool. Kelly shot a curious glance toward Michael.

“Patrick?” she mouthed.

Michael nodded. “I didn’t want to say anything, because I wasn’t sure he would come. We went up to Maine and all but dragged him down here. We told him this was a family occasion, and that the Devaneys stick together now.”

“Are you happy he’s here?”

“I’m reserving judgment. Patrick has some issues. I don’t want them affecting the rest of us. And before you ask, I am not getting into that right here when the priest is about to marry us.”

Kelly grinned. “Oh, right. I almost forgot.”

“As if,” he said dryly. “You’ve been planning this day since the day you ignored my temper tantrum and walked into my apartment.”

“Longer, actually,” she confessed unrepentantly. “I love you, Michael Devaney.”

Kelly repeated those words during the ceremony, then added, “And I will make your family mine—the Havilceks, and each and every one of your brothers and their families.” She cast a look toward Patrick, who managed to appear removed from all the others even though only inches separated him on the pew from Ryan. “We’re stronger together than we are apart.”

“Amen,” Michael said softly.

The priest beamed at them. “Then I now pronounce you man and wife. May you live in love all the days of your lives.”

“No question about it,” Michael whispered just before he kissed her until her toes curled.

“No question at all,” Kelly agreed.

There were discoveries to be made and challenges to be met. The future stretched out before them with
all its bumps and twists and turns, but their love would remain constant. She was sure of that. Gazing deep into Michael’s blue eyes, she saw that he finally believed it, too.