The Wreck (27 page)

Carly’s regulars were delighted about her
engagement but sorry to hear she was leaving the shop. She would miss seeing
them and would miss the women she worked with, too. Miss Molly’s had given her
more than just a job for all the years when she’d had nothing else.

The people there—both her coworkers and
the customers—had been like a second family to her. That one of them might be
the man terrorizing the town was a thought she wouldn’t allow in today, not on a
day that signaled the end of one phase of her life and the start of a new,
exciting phase with Brian.

He stood and dropped a twenty on the
table. With a cute nod of his head, he called her over to him.
Will my heart
still skip a crazy beat when he does that five years from now? Definitely
.

“Can I get you anything else, sir?” She
reached up to caress his cheek, which was still bruised. The swelling around
his eye had gone down, and the cut had scabbed over. They hoped it would heal
in time for the wedding.

He hooked an arm around her waist, pulled
her to him, and surprised her with a passionate kiss.

Miss Molly’s patrons hooted and hollered.

Carly’s face burned with embarrassment.
“Stop,” she whispered.

“I will, but I don’t want to.” He kissed her
again, a light touch of his lips that was somehow more than the first one,
which had said, “I want you.” This one said, “I love you.”

“What’re you doing today?” she asked,
flustered by him. She was still getting used to the feelings he had resurrected
in her, feelings she had never expected to experience again.

“I’m going over to bother my mother for a
while, and I need to check in with my office to make sure they’re not hosing up
my cases. I’ll be back by two.” He took a measuring look around at the people
sitting in booths and at stools at the counter. “Don’t talk to strangers. Don’t
talk to anyone, for that matter, and don’t step foot outside that door until I
get back. You hear me?”

“Yes, dear.”

He smiled at her easy obedience. “We’re
still on for your niece’s game, right?”

Carly nodded, her stomach fluttering with
nerves.

“Good. She’s the only new member of the
Holbrook family I haven’t met yet. Looking forward to it.” He kissed her one
last time. “I love you.”

“Love you, too. Have fun with your mom,
and be careful.”

“I will.”

Carly watched him go out the front door,
hating the trip of fear that came with letting him out of her sight. Only the
knowledge that the police were keeping a close eye on both of them made it
possible for her to start bussing the table he had vacated.

“It does my heart good to see that some
things never change,” Molly said.

Carly turned to her.

Molly shook her head and smiled. “You and
that Westbury boy, just as cute as you were when you were kids.”

The description of Brian as “that
Westbury boy” amused Carly. “You’ll come to the wedding, won’t you, Molly?”

Resting her hand on Carly’s shoulder,
Molly said, “You bet your life I will. I’ll miss you like crazy around here. We
all will, but I’m so delighted for you, Carly. So very, very delighted.”

Carly’s eyes burned with tears as she
hugged Molly. “Thank you so much for everything, for giving me a place in the
world when I had nowhere else to be.”

“There’ll always be a place for you
here.”

As the coffee shop bustled around them,
Carly held the older woman for a long moment. When they finally released each
other, both brushed tears from their cheeks. With a sheepish smile for her
friend, Carly went back to work.

A
police officer trailed behind them at a
respectful distance as Carly and Brian walked hand-in-hand through town on
their way to Columbia Park to watch Zoë’s game.

“You’re sure you don’t mind if I have all
the kids in the wedding?” Carly asked him.

“Whatever you want, hon. I told you
that.”

“Julia’s only two. She’s apt to freeze
up.”

“She’s so cute.” Brian chuckled. “She’ll
be fine.”

“Lilly’s over the moon about going dress
shopping this weekend. Craig’s boys, on the other hand, begged me to leave them
out of the whole thing. Mark actually called my mother and said, ‘Please ask
Auntie Carly if I can just come and watch.’”

Brian laughed. “How old is he?”

“Almost fifteen. Allison was expecting
him that last summer, remember?”

“Yeah.” He brought her hand to his lips.
“That seems like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it?”

“That’s because it was. Anyway, his
brother Peter, who’s thirteen, apparently feels the same way. So that leaves me
with Zoë, Lilly, Julia, Justin, and Steve. You’re sure about this?”

“Absolutely. So then Zoë would be your
maid of honor?”

“I think that would be better than trying
to choose between my sisters or having them both. I don’t want the wedding
party to outnumber the guests.”

“True,” he said, amused by her
excitement. “Speaking of guests, I was wondering…”

“About?”

“What would you think of inviting the
Garretts, Randalls, Townsends, and the other parents? I was thinking they might
like to see us get married, after everything.”

“That’s a wonderful idea, Bri.”

“Would you mind terribly if I also
invited Beth and her husband?”

“She’s your friend. You should invite
her.”

“Wow. You didn’t even have to think about
that.”

Carly shrugged. “She’s no threat to me.”

He dropped her hand and slung an arm
around her shoulders to pull her close to him. “I adore you, Carly Holbrook.”

“Which is why I couldn’t care less if
your ex-wife comes to our wedding.”

“She’s getting along in her pregnancy, so
she may not be able to fly by then.”

“Invite her anyway.”

“I will. Thanks for understanding.”

“You know what I’ve got to get busy
practicing?”

“What’s that?”

“Saying Carly Westbury loves Brian
Westbury. It doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as smoothly.”

He laughed. “As long as it rolls off
regularly, I don’t care if it’s smooth or not. Carly Westbury,” he said.
“That’s got quite a ring to it.”

“Sure does. I used to write it all over
the inside covers of my notebooks in high school. I never imagined it would
take this long for it to happen.”

“We couldn’t have imagined a lot of
things.”

“Even Hollywood couldn’t have come up
with our story,” she said with a smile.

“No kidding.”

They arrived at the field as the two
teams were warming up. None of Carly’s family was there yet, so she lingered
with Brian at the chain-link fence that lined the field.

“There she is.” Carly pointed to the tall
girl standing in the infield.

“The ponytail was kind of a giveaway,”
Brian said.

“Cate keeps hoping she’ll outgrow her
baseball phase, but so far there’s no sign of it.”

“I can’t see her face with the hat on.”

“She’ll come over to say hello before
they start.”

Zoë was engaged in a series of stretches
and didn’t notice them watching her. She swung her arms around in windmill
style and then walked onto the mound to throw to her catcher.

“Damn,” Brian muttered when Zoë unleashed
a fastball that snapped into the catcher’s mitt. “That’s outrageous.” He looked
down to find Carly watching him anxiously. “What?”

“Nothing.” She turned back to Zoë, who
had an equally impressive curve ball and sinker.

“She’s really good.”

“I know. At her last game, she slammed
into the other team’s second baseman and knocked the wind out of him. I thought
Cate was going to expire on the spot.”

He laughed. “That’s awesome. I love it.”

“Hey, guys.”

They turned to find that Matt Collins had
replaced the other officer.

“Hi, Matt.” Brian extended his hand.
“What’re you doing here?”

Matt shook Brian’s hand. “Shift change.
We’re shorthanded with everyone working overtime, so it’s all hands on deck.
How’re the wedding plans coming?”

“Getting there,” Carly said.

“That’s your niece, right?” Matt said,
referring to Zoë.

Carly nodded. “Oh, here come Tom and the
kids.”

“I’ll let you visit with your family,”
Matt said. “I’ll be right over there if you need me.”

“Thanks,” Brian said.

Carly’s niece Lilly ran the short
distance from the parking lot. “Auntie Carly, Auntie Carly, check out my new
shoes!”

Carly reached down to scoop up the girl.
“Oh, they’re so pretty.”

“They’re jellies,” Lilly said solemnly.

“I see that. Do you remember my friend
Brian, who you met at Grammy’s the other night?”

“Uh huh. You’re going to marry my Auntie
Carly, aren’t you?”

“Would that be okay with you?” Brian
asked, his face set into a serious expression that tugged at Carly’s heart.

“My mommy says you’re a nice guy, so I
guess it’s all right. But you aren’t going to take her back to New York with
you, are you?”

“Nope.” He played with a lock of Lilly’s
hair. “I got a job today with the Rhode Island attorney general, so we’ll be
staying right here, or at least somewhere nearby.”

Carly almost dropped Lilly as she stared
at Brian. “Really?”

He nodded.

Before she had a chance to absorb the
news or jump all over him for keeping secrets, her brother-in-law Tom strolled
up to them with Steve in tow.

“How’s it going?” he asked Carly.

She kissed his cheek and mussed Steve’s
hair. “Pretty good. You remember Brian, right?” They had met briefly the other
night at her mother’s house.

“Sure.” Tom extended his hand to Brian as
he sought out Zoë on the field.

Brian shook his hand. “Good to see you
again.”

“You, too. We’re going to grab some
seats.” Tom nodded toward the bleachers. “Are you coming?”

“In a minute,” Carly said.

The moment Tom had walked away with the
kids, she pounced. “When were you going to tell me?”

Brian flashed a big satisfied smile. “I
was getting around to it.”

“Oh, I should be so mad at you.” She
punched his shoulder playfully. “But I really just want to kiss you right now.”

“Please feel free.”

“Later,” she said with a meaningful look
that made his blood boil. “Tell me everything. How did it happen?”

“I called the attorney general and told
him I was looking to relocate to Rhode Island. He said he’d followed the
Gooding trial and asked if I’d be interested in heading up the criminal
division. The whole thing took, I think, four minutes.”

“Are you sure, Bri? You love your job in
New York.”

“You’d hate it there, hon. Your family is
here, and I’d like to be closer to my parents, too. This is where we belong.”

Carly hurled herself into his arms and
kissed him. “Thank you, thank you,
thank you
.” She sank into the kiss,
oblivious to where they were or who was watching.

“Gross.”

Carly tore her lips free of Brian’s and
laughed at the look of total disgust on her niece’s face. “Um, Brian, this is
Zoë.”

He turned, and his heart stopped. She was
the very image of Carly, right down to the auburn curls, and the light dusting
of freckles across the bridge of her nose. Only her hazel eyes were different.

“Nice to meet you,” she said.

He released Carly to reach over the fence
for Zoë’s hand. “You, too. I’m sorry to stare, but you look so much like Carly.
It’s crazy.”

Zoë wrinkled up her nose at her aunt.
“How many times have we heard
that
?”

“A few,” Carly said with a small smile.
“Have a good game, honey. I’ve told Brian what a great pitcher you are, so
strike out the side for me, okay?”

“You got it.” She put her hat back on and
trotted over to the dugout to join her teammates.

“She’s lovely,” he said in a hushed tone,
his eyes glued to Zoë across the field.

“Yes.”

It seemed too impossible to fathom, too
outrageous to believe, but suddenly he had to know. His heart in his throat, he
looked down at Carly. “Is she ours?”

She looked up at him with tears in her
eyes. “Yes.”

The roar in his ears all but deafened him
as he stood perfectly still and tried to contain the urge to scream, to run, to
strike out at someone. At her. At Carly.

“Bri—”

“Don’t say a word,” he managed to say.
“Just don’t say a word.” Carly’s shattered expression failed to move him. He
couldn’t think of anything but the girl on the field, the girl with his windup,
his fastball, his hazel eyes. His daughter. A sudden overwhelming urge to be
sick had him turning away from the fence.