The Christmas Bouquet (13 page)

Noah shook his head.

“Big mistake,” Connor told him. “She wanted to buy the house herself, so she was furious that I’d stolen her dream house out from under her. It took a very long time for her to believe Driftwood Cottage was hers with no strings attached. Thank goodness she finally accepted that my motives were pure—at least mostly pure—and married me despite my boneheaded mishandling of the situation.”

“So, what am I supposed to do now?” Noah asked. “My medical practice is here. I’m living upstairs. Should I ditch it and start over?”

“That would be a crying shame,” Connor said. “You couldn’t find a better place than this. It’s one of Dad’s original houses in the town.”

“Well, what, then?” Noah asked in frustration.

“In our family we’re big fans of groveling,” Connor said, looking entirely too happy about the prospect of watching Noah do just that. “The men have had to do it a lot. It comes with the territory. We’re stubborn and impulsive and we spend a lot of time trying to make up for our mistakes.”

Noah laughed, despite the sour mood he’d been in ever since returning from his latest visit to Cait.

“You’re laughing, but I’m serious,” Connor said. “The big romantic gesture is another favorite. Figure out what Caitlyn wants more than anything else in the world, then prove you understand by getting it for her.”

Noah absorbed Connor’s advice and realized he’d just been given the best clue he was ever likely to get. From here on out, he was pretty sure he knew exactly what to do to ensure the future he wanted, one that would make both of them happy. What he couldn’t figure out was why it had taken him so long to see it, when the clues had been there all along.

* * *

When Caitlyn hadn’t heard from Noah in days and he continued to ignore her messages, she swallowed her pride and went in search of Jill Marshall for a heart-to-heart talk. She needed an outsider’s objective perspective. She sighed. No, what she really needed was advice from the one person on staff who Noah had always considered to be a friend.

“Do you have time for coffee?” she asked Jill.

The nurse regarded her with surprise. “Something the matter? Is Noah okay?”

It was telling that Jill immediately assumed that she was only talking to her because there was a problem with Noah.

“He’s fine. At least, I guess he is. I think I upset him the last time he was here, and now he’s not speaking to me.”

Jill regarded her with immediate sympathy. “Give me five minutes to finish up this chart and I’ll meet you in the cafeteria,” she said, then added, “I take my coffee with cream and a lot of sugar.”

“Thank you,” Caitlyn said. “I’ll have it ready.”

She found a table with some privacy. Though there were always people around, most of those nearby were patient family members, rather than hospital staff.

When Jill finally joined her, she sat down with a sigh. “Boy, is it good to be off my feet for a few minutes.” She studied Caitlyn with concern. “You must feel that way, too. You’re not pushing yourself too hard, are you?”

“I’m fine,” Caitlyn assured her.

“How much longer before the baby’s due?”

“Sometime between Christmas and New Year’s,” Caitlyn replied. “I can’t wait.”

“Is that because you’re eager for the baby or because you’re tired of being pregnant?” Jill asked.

“A little of both,” Caitlyn told her.

“Well, I know Noah’s on top of the world. He can’t wait for the baby to get here,” Jill said.

Caitlyn thought she heard a chiding note in the woman’s voice, but she let it pass. She’d probably deserved it.

“Look, I know how you feel about Noah and how close he is to you,” she began.

“Out of all the medical students, interns and residents who’ve come through here over the years, he’s one of the best,” Jill confirmed. “They all have a place in my heart, but Noah’s something special.”

“I agree,” Caitlyn said softly, unable to stop her eyes from filling with tears. “And I am so afraid I’m going to blow things with him. He’s tried so hard to be patient, but I know he’s tired of waiting for me to come to a decision.”

“Then why haven’t you made one?” Jill asked bluntly. “If you don’t mind my saying so, he doesn’t deserve to be jerked around the way you’ve been doing.”

Oddly, Caitlyn found the direct talk reassuring. She needed to speak to someone who wouldn’t pull punches. Better yet, she needed that from someone who wasn’t an O’Brien.

“I know that,” she told Jill. “I just don’t want to make a huge mistake. On my sane days, I know I should have figured this out months ago. I love Noah with all my heart.”

Jill looked dismayed. “Then why would you believe that marrying him would be a mistake? Half the women on staff would be smart enough to jump at the chance.” She leveled a look into Caitlyn’s eyes. “I’ve told him that, too, but he wants you. That makes you incredibly lucky in my book.”

“Mine, too.”

“Then say yes,” Jill said as if it were a simple decision.

“What if I get it wrong? I could wind up breaking his heart.”

“He seems willing to take that chance,” Jill reminded her. “He believes in the two of you. A word of caution, though,” she added. “Even a man as patient as Noah won’t remain in limbo forever. And there will always be women around who’ll be eager to jump in and console him, even in a town as small as Chesapeake Shores.”

Caitlyn frowned at that. “Have you heard something?” she asked, even though she doubted any rumors floating around in Chesapeake Shores would have reached Baltimore.

“Of course not,” Jill said with a touch of exasperation. “He’s in love with you. I’m just warning you that could change. Don’t drag your heels forever, Caitlyn. You wanted my advice and that’s it.” She stood up. “I need to get back on the floor. You coming?”

“I’ll be there in a couple of minutes,” Caitlyn told her. She needed to think about what the older woman had said. It was one thing to feel pressured from all sides by her own family, but Jill was unmistakably on Noah’s side. She, better than anyone else, probably knew the limits of his patience, and she’d left Caitlyn with the distinct impression that she might be testing them.

* * *

Exhausted by the end of a very long day at the hospital and fretting over what might be going on with Noah, Caitlyn fell into bed that night expecting to sleep soundly. Instead, her thoughts were whirling in a hundred different directions. She was almost grateful when her phone rang, even though it was nearly midnight. She yawned as she answered.

“You can’t possibly be asleep already,” Carrie said. “I called the hospital first and they said you’d just left for home a half hour ago.”

“After twenty-four hours on call,” Caitlyn told her. “What’s up? And please make it quick, because I can’t promise not to fall asleep on you.”

“I thought I’d fill you in on what’s going on down here,” Carrie said. “Mom, Noah and I went furniture shopping today.”

Caitlyn felt a quick stirring of jealousy. It was particularly unreasonable given the fact that she’d told him she had no interest in going with him.

“Really? For Noah’s house?” she asked, careful to keep her tone neutral.

“Of course. He told us you weren’t interested in helping.” Carrie, who rarely shut up, suddenly fell silent. “Was he right about that, Caitlyn?” she asked as if she couldn’t quite believe it.

“I did tell him he should get whatever he wanted,” she admitted.

“And he took that to mean it would be okay, because you have no intention of ever living in that house,” Carrie concluded. “No wonder he kept telling me to choose whatever we thought worked as if he couldn’t care less about what went into the house.” She sighed heavily. “Sweet heaven, Caitlyn, for a smart woman, you don’t have a grain of sense.”

Caitlyn winced at the condemnation she heard in her sister’s voice. “I didn’t mean it that way.”

“Then what’s your interpretation, because I don’t know how he could have taken it another way.”

Caitlyn struggled to come up with an explanation that made any sense at all. “I was only saying that I was too busy to come to Chesapeake Shores right now and look at furniture.”

“Not much better,” Carrie said. “Caitlyn, this is your life and I’m certainly in no position to tell you how you should be living it, but Noah’s an incredible man. People in Chesapeake Shores—and I don’t mean just family—have fallen in love with him. Pretty soon you’re going to come off looking like the bad guy. Believe me, it’s tough for any O’Brien to lose favor like that, but you just might do it.”

“I’m not worried about what people there think of me,” she claimed, though it did hurt just a little to imagine being viewed as the one in the wrong, while Noah came off as the local hero. “I can’t let that influence me.”

“Then you need to explain what will influence you,” Carrie said. “It’s certainly not Noah or your family.”

“I’m trying to do the right thing here,” Caitlyn insisted. “For Noah, the baby and me.”

“Want to know what I see?” Carrie asked. “I think you keep telling yourself that you’re considering all three of you, because you know that’s what you should be doing. The way it looks to me, though, your needs are the only ones that actually count with you right now. I almost feel sorry for Noah.”

Caitlyn thought she heard something a little too protective in her sister’s voice. Noah was exactly the sort of man Carrie had always wanted. She could almost see the two of them together, and when she did, it made her blood run cold.

“Stay away from Noah,” she ordered fiercely.

“What?” Carrie said, sounding shocked.

“You know exactly what I mean, Carrie. He’s not available. You don’t want to be in the middle here.”

“And you think that’s what I was suggesting, that I’m right here to pick up the pieces when you break his heart?” Carrie asked, her voice filled with indignation or maybe genuine hurt that Caitlyn would think her capable of trying to steal Noah.

“Weren’t you?”

“Boy, you really are messed up if you think I would ever hurt you like that,” her sister said heatedly. “I think I’d better hang up before I say something I’ll regret. I hope you’re already regretting what you said to me.”

The call disconnected before Caitlyn could muster a single word of apology. She knew she owed her sister that. She’d known it the instant the hateful words left her mouth. But with Jill’s earlier warning echoing in her head, she’d leaped to a dark and unwarranted conclusion.

If she kept on doing that, she
would
lose Noah. And she’d lose all respect for herself in the process. It was probably past time to head to Chesapeake Shores and make her peace with everybody. Especially with Noah, she thought, before it was too late.

13

M
ick had heard enough of Carrie’s side of the conversation with her sister to know that it had gone exactly as he’d hoped.

When Carrie turned to him with a dark scowl, he wasn’t a bit surprised. Sometimes, though, sacrifices had to be made for a greater good.

“I hope you’re satisfied,” his granddaughter grumbled. “My sister hates me. She thinks I’m after her man, which is absurd. I would never do that to her. Never!”

She gave Mick a defiant look as if daring him to contradict her or to suggest that she ought to make a few moves toward Noah to up the ante in this game. Even Mick, for all his certainty that they were on to something, wouldn’t be quite that foolish. He was hoping to stir the pot, not open a permanent rift.

Carrie was just getting warmed up apparently because both hands went on her hips in a pose he recognized all too well.

“And, just so we’re clear, I doubt Noah would ever look at another woman, at least not without Caitlyn cutting him loose once and for all,” she said. “You should know that about him, which makes this whole scheme of yours crazy. Caitlyn should know that, too.”

“Your sister’s not thinking all that clearly these days,” Mick responded. “It’s up to us to give her a little shove and get this situation handled. That baby of hers needs its daddy.”

Carrie sighed. “So you’ve mentioned about a thousand times. And I know you’re right. Besides that, Caitlyn needs Noah way more than she realizes. Otherwise, I would never have let you talk me into making that call and implying that I’m interested in Noah. What if she never speaks to me again? I could hardly blame her when I’m the one who actually hinted that I wanted to steal Noah away from her.”

Mick waved off the possibility. “You’re twins. You’ve always squabbled. You get over it.”

Carrie regarded him with exasperation. “It’s one thing to squabble over who has the bigger room or who gets the bigger piece of cake at our birthday party. It’s quite another to start fighting over the same man, especially when one of us isn’t even interested. You do realize this could blow up in both our faces. If Noah ever figures out what we’ve been up to, he won’t be too pleased, either. And forget Mom’s reaction. She’ll never speak to either one of us again. She hates playing games.”

His granddaughter buried her face in her hands. “Why did I let you talk me into this?” she mumbled. “I should call Caitlyn back right this second and tell her everything. She’ll believe me if I tell her you were behind that call. She knows the lengths you’ll go to in order to get your way.”

Mick refused to let himself feel even a moment of regret for making Carrie so miserable. Extraordinary circumstances required extraordinary measures. “Stop your fussing. There’s no reason your mother or Noah will get wind of this,” Mick said calmly. It’s the one thing he was certain of. “I’m not talking. I don’t need your grandmother or Ma on my case, either. And your lips are sealed, correct?”

“Locked tight,” she confirmed, though she sounded a little less convincing than he might have liked. She could prove to be the weak link in this plot, after all.

Still, he nodded happily. “Then we’ll just sit back and wait to see how long it takes your sister to come roaring down here to claim what’s hers.”

“If you don’t mind my saying so, Grandpa Mick, I think you just might have gone too far this time,” Carrie said direly. “Worse, you’ve got me out there at the tip of that rotten limb with you.”

Mick laughed. “Oh, who are you trying to kid? You enjoyed every second of wiggling that knife around in your sister’s back. You’ve got my genetic code when it comes to adventure and meddling and pushing the boundaries.”

Carrie sighed heavily, but there was the faint hint of a smile tugging at her lips. Mick waited her out.

“Oh, okay,” she finally admitted. “It was kind of fun trying to pull that off. Caitlyn’s being too stubborn for her own good. She needs to get with the program before Noah loses patience.” She leveled a look into Mick’s eyes. “I’ll tell you one thing, though. None of this would have been necessary if Jenny had just tossed her bridal bouquet in my direction.”

Mick couldn’t say what he really wanted to in response to her lament, that not catching that bouquet had been the best thing that could have happened to her. Unlike Caitlyn, Carrie needed to figure out her own value before she got attached to the first man to come along. The very last thing he wanted for her was to see her spending her life in the shadow of some man.

That trip to Africa they’d taken together had been an eye-opener for her. She’d realized there was a whole big world outside of her comfort zone and that she had what it took to make a real difference in it. He figured there were a few more lessons in store before she lived up to her full potential the way her sister had.

* * *

Noah always kept his cell phone off during office hours, though most days he found time to check it once or twice for messages. Today he hadn’t even had a chance to do that. Thankfully, calls from patients came to the front desk and were handled by his receptionist or nurse unless there was an urgent need to interrupt him. Personal calls could wait.

When his last patient had left for the day, he pulled his phone out of his pocket, turned it on and found several messages from Cait. One would have been a surprise. The six he found came as a shock.

Heart pounding with fear and without listening to a single message, he hit speed dial for her number. She answered on the first ring, which only kicked his anxiety level up another notch.

“What’s wrong?” he asked at once, panic threading through his voice. “Is it the baby? Are you cramping? Bleeding? You haven’t gone into labor already, have you? It’s too soon.”

“It’s none of those things,” she responded. “The baby and I are fine. Why would you think otherwise?”

“Six messages, Cait. You haven’t called for days and now, all of a sudden, I get six messages. What did you imagine I’d think?”

“I thought you’d listen to the actual messages, not jump to conclusions,” she told him, her tone wry. “Obviously you didn’t do that. I’m really sorry if I worried you.”

Noah felt his heart rate finally slow to something close to normal. “There’s no crisis?”

“No crisis,” she confirmed.

“Then what is going on?”

She was silent for what seemed like an eternity.

“Cait? For you to call that many times, there had to be something on your mind.”

“I spoke to Carrie earlier,” she revealed slowly.

Noah didn’t get the significance. “Okay,” he responded, then waited.

“She said you, she and Mom had gone furniture shopping.”

He couldn’t imagine why that was a news bulletin. She’d pushed him to do exactly that. “We went to a few stores,” he confirmed.

“Did you find anything?”

“We picked out a new sofa and a matching chair,” he replied, still bewildered by her odd reaction to the shopping expedition.

“Good,” she said, though without much enthusiasm. “That old sofa was a nightmare.”

“It was,” he agreed. “Cait, does it bother you that I went shopping with your mom and Carrie? You did say you weren’t interested in going with me.”

“That was before,” she began, then cut herself off. “Never mind.”

“Before what?”

“Before I realized that my sister finds you attractive,” she blurted.

Noah held the phone away from his ear and stared at it, not quite believing what he was hearing. “Carrie? Are you kidding me?”

“She told me so herself,” Cait insisted. “And it would make sense that you could fall for her. After all, we are identical twins, and she’s not all fat and swollen and cranky these days.”

Noah closed his eyes and counted to ten. Otherwise, he was likely to burst out laughing. “Sweetheart, I am not interested in your sister. She might look like you, but the resemblance ends there. Not to mention the fact that you are carrying my child, which ties you and me together in a way that will last forever. That bond means something to me.”

“I’m sure Carrie would be happy to give you a child,” she said. “She’s always wanted a husband and family. You’d be a perfect match.”

Noah wasn’t sure how much longer he could control his desire to laugh. He’d finally realized that Cait, who under normal circumstances was the most rational, stable woman he’d ever met, was actually pea-green with jealousy. The jealousy might be misdirected and ridiculous, but it was the most promising conversation they’d had in ages. He was tempted to run with it, but he knew that no good came from fanning jealousy, no matter how flattering it might be on the surface.

“I love you, Cait,” he said solemnly. “Nothing’s changed for me. It’s not going to, either.”

“But one of these days you’re bound to lose patience with my indecision,” she said. “I can’t blame you, either. It’s taking me an absurdly long time to sort through what’s going on and get to a solution that makes sense for all of us. It took you about a nanosecond to get there.”

“Because, as you once pointed out, this baby fit very neatly into
my
dream,” he reminded her. “And
you
are the heart and soul of my future.”

“Noah, sometimes you say the sweetest things.” She sighed. “I think that’s what scares me so much. You keep telling me I’m the center of your world and I believe you mean that. Shouldn’t I be able to say the same thing about you?”

Noah could actually understand the depth of her struggle. “Here’s how I see it,” he told her. “I always knew that I wanted three things: a medical practice in a small town where I could be a real part of a community, a woman I loved with all my heart, and children. With you, our baby and Chesapeake Shores, I’m getting all of that, and more.”

“More?”

“The whole O’Brien support system and the promise of huge holiday gatherings,” he told her. “Even the meddling is a blessing because it shows just how much your family cares. I wish you could see it through my eyes and appreciate it even half as much as I do.”

“Me, too,” she admitted.

“Hear me out,” he told her. “You take all of that part for granted. You’ve been surrounded by it your whole life. Your priority for the future has always been based on your enormous, generous heart. You found a mission you believed in and you’ve spent the past few years totally focused on making it happen. Marriage and a family weren’t on your radar the way they were on mine. It’s little wonder that our relationship caught you by surprise.”

“It was a shock, all right.”

He smiled at the dismay he heard in her voice. Cait obviously wasn’t a big fan of surprises, not when she had her life all mapped out. He’d been a big one, but the baby had been monumental.

“You need time to adjust your thinking,” he said. “Believe me, I get that. If I didn’t believe you’d make that adjustment eventually, I’d have pushed for some sort of custody arrangement and let you go long before now. I’m patient, but I’m not a masochist.”

“You could be a saint,” she told him. “There are rumors in my family to that effect.”

Noah laughed. “Not with these thoughts I have running through my head about you. Believe me, there’s nothing remotely saintly about those.”

Cait laughed at last. “Are you absolutely sure those images aren’t of Carrie?”

“Very sure. You’re the one with the ripe-melon belly and the glow.”

“There you go talking about that glow again,” she said with mock exasperation.

“I like knowing that maybe I’m a little bit responsible for it,” he said.

“Well, you’re definitely responsible for the belly.”

“I love you,” he said again. He hesitated for a minute, then decided maybe it was finally time to reveal something he’d been keeping to himself, something that might help to convince her just how serious he was about the choice he’d made to move to Chesapeake Shores. Maybe it would convince her of the true depths of his feelings.

“You’ve gone awfully quiet,” Cait said, interrupting his thoughts.

“Do you remember me talking about Dennis Logan?”

“Your mentor in med school? Sure. Have you heard from him?”

“I had a call from him a few months back, around the same time you found out you were pregnant.”

“Oh?”

“He’d had an inquiry from a town in West Virginia that was in desperate need of a physician. He thought the job might appeal to me. He said it was exactly the sort of situation I’d always talked about.”

“Oh, Noah,” she protested, sounding dismayed. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because I knew it would freak you out to think that I was giving up my so-called dream job.”

“But that’s exactly what you did apparently. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t you dare be sorry,” he said fiercely. “I’m telling you now because I want you to understand that dreams, even the very best and most noble ones, can evolve and turn into something that’s much better. That’s how I feel about being here in Chesapeake Shores and having you and our baby in my life. It’s the best trade-off ever. I think if you open your heart just a little bit, you might be able to look at the future the same way. There’s a way for you to have everything you ever wanted, Cait. The only real sacrifice might be that it won’t be on your timetable. Will you think about that?”

Silence greeted the question. “Cait?”

“I’ll think about it,” she said. “I promise.”

“That’s all I’m asking. Now, go get something to eat. I suspect letting your imagination run wild and all of this overthinking has left you starving.”

“Not me, but the baby is a little hungry,” she said. “He or she seems to be craving a pepperoni pizza.”

Noah winced. “At this hour? How about some roasted veggies instead of the pepperoni?” he coaxed. “Though even with that, there’s a good chance you’ll never get to sleep.”

“Sleep is highly overrated,” she claimed. “That’s the first thing they taught us in medical school.”

“I doubt they were talking about interns who are nearly eight months pregnant,” Noah said.

“I know you have very impressive medical credentials,” Cait replied, “but your kid is demanding pepperoni pizza. Love you.”

“Good night, sweetheart.”

He clicked off his phone, smiling as he did so. As crazy as the entire conversation had been, he was actually starting to see the finish line ahead and was pretty sure they’d be crossing it together.