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Nell reached out to Susie to steady herself as she looked into the clear blue eyes of the man she’d once been so certain she was meant to marry.
“Hello, Dillon,” she said softly.
He shook his head. “After all these years I’d have known you anywhere,” he said. “You’re as beautiful as ever with your red hair and those grand eyes.”
She laughed. “And you’re as full of blarney. My hair hasn’t been red in years. I can barely find a few strands amid the gray to remind me of the shade it once was.”
“In my eyes, you’re the lass you were the last time I saw you,” he insisted.
For just an instant, Nell allowed herself to feel like that girl again, young and carefree and wildly in love for the first time in her life. She’d been Nell Flanagan then.
“Come in, Nell,” Dillon pleaded. “Talk to me. Tell me about your life.” He glanced again at Susie. “This has to be your granddaughter.”
“She is. Just one of them. This is Susie O’Brien Franklin.”
Dillon clasped Susie’s hand, though his gaze remained locked on Nell. “And she brought you to Ireland for the holidays? What a lovely thing to do.”
“Actually this is her honeymoon trip,” Nell said wryly. “Can you imagine? She insisted that the whole family accompany her.”
Dillon laughed. “Then she is, indeed, truly a Flanagan with a huge heart. I look forward to getting to know you, Susie.”
“So, you and my grandmother go way back?” Susie asked, her face alight with curiosity. “Way back,” Dillon confirmed.
“Did she always have a wild and reckless streak?” Susie asked.
He laughed. “You have no idea.”
“Stop it, you two,” Nell ordered. “I’ve never been wild or reckless.”
“You went back to America and broke my heart, did you not?” Dillon asked.
Nell frowned at him. “I’m quite sure there were plenty of women around to mend it. Christina Ahearn comes to mind. Didn’t you marry her not long after I’d gone home that last time?”
“Only after I was convinced you were never coming back,” he insisted. “Now, come inside. I’ll brew some tea. I have the Earl Grey you love so much.”
Nell stared at him in amazement. “You remember that?”
He held her gaze. “I remember everything,” he said solemnly.
Susie regarded them hesitantly. “Should I leave you two to catch up?” she asked.
Nell hesitated, torn. She wanted to know everything about Dillon’s life, wanted to fill in all the blanks that her grandparents had been so careful to leave unanswered once she’d gone.
Yet so many years had passed. What was the point at this late date?
Still, when she looked into Dillon’s hopeful eyes, she couldn’t say no. “I’d love tea,” she said at last, then squeezed Susie’s hand. “I’ll be fine here for an hour. Why don’t you come back then?”
“Or I could see that she gets back to her hotel,” Dillon offered.
“I’ll come back,” Susie said, apparently sensing that Nell needed backup. She smiled at them. “Enjoy your visit.”
Dillon escorted Nell inside, waited as she looked around.
“You’ve kept it mostly the same,” Nell commented.
“How could I change a thing, when everywhere I looked I saw you?”
She shook her head. “You shouldn’t say things like that.” “Why not, if they’re true?”
“You’re married to someone else,” she reminded him. “Christina died ten years ago,” he said, then held her gaze. “And your husband?”
“Gone, too,” she said softly.
“Then there’s no reason for us to feel guilty for indulging in a bit of nostalgia, is there?” he suggested. “Come in the back and I’ll make that tea. There’s a lot of ground to cover and you’ve only given us an hour to do it.” He studied her. “Or will you be in Ireland for a while?”
“Two weeks,” she admitted.
His expression brightened. “Then there’s time for a nice, long visit. This will just be the first of many, I hope.” Nell couldn’t argue. She hoped so, too. After all these years, her heart had taken a little leap at the sight of this dear old friend. It was too late to go back in time. She wouldn’t want that, anyway. But to have a few days to recapture those old emotions, to experience just for a moment that surge of optimism that came with spending time with a man who appreciated her, well, she wasn’t going to deny herself that.
Mick frowned as Susie sat in the lounge with him, Megan and Jeff describing the meeting between his mother and Dillon O’Malley.
“You think there’s some kind of history there?” Mick demanded irritably.
“It looked that way to me,” Susie said. “Neither one of them explained anything more than that they’d known each other years ago, but there were definite sparks in the air. Who knew that Gram had a secret past?”
“It’s not something to brag about, if she does,” Mick said testily.
“How do you know a thing like that?” Jeff asked reasonably.
“Has she ever mentioned Dillon O’Malley?” Mick responded, then answered his own question. “No, she hasn’t. And do you know why? Because she’s ashamed of it, I’ll guarantee you that. I need to take care of this.”
“Let it go, Mick,” Megan commanded. “You’re not rushing over there to intrude on their reunion or to rescue your mother.”
“Well, who knows what sort of man this Dillon O’Malley is? For all we know he’s gotten wind of the fact that the O’Briens are well-to-do and he plans to take advantage of Ma.”
His brother frowned at him. “And how would he know a thing like that?” Jeff asked. “Would he have stored away this knowledge just in case the entire family decided to pay a visit to Dublin one day? You’re acting crazy, Mick. Didn’t Susie just say that Ma didn’t even know if he was still running the store our great-grandparents once owned? Obviously they haven’t kept in touch.”
Mick regarded his brother accusingly. “Don’t tell me you don’t worry about Ma.”
“I worry about Ma falling and breaking her hip,” Jeff countered. “I worry about her feeling lonely in that little cottage of hers. I don’t worry about her finding a companion whose company she enjoys.”
“Then you’re naive,” Mick grumbled.
Megan rested a hand on his arm. “Nell is a wise woman, Mick. She’ll see right through anyone trying to take advantage of her.”
“Of course she will,” Susie said adamantly. “I only told you because I thought it was sweet, not so you’d get all worked up. Now I’d better walk back over there to get her. I told her I’d be back in an hour.”
“I’m coming with you,” Mick said, standing.
“No, you’re staying right here with me,” Megan countered. “You are not going over there and embarrassing Nell in front of an old friend.”
“Well, someone who doesn’t have all these stars in their eyes ought to check things out,” he argued. “Susie’s besotted by love these days.”
“I still have my brain, Uncle Mick,” Susie retorted patiently. “If something doesn’t seem right, I’ll handle it. And if you’re really worried, I’ll ask Mack to come with me. He could probably take Dillon O’Malley in a fight, though the man looked pretty fit for his age.”
“Taking Mack along is probably a good idea,” Mick said, looking relieved.
Susie rolled her eyes. “I was joking.”
“Well, I’m not. What if Ma gets some crazy idea about inviting this man to join us tonight? Are you going to put a stop to that? “
“Absolutely not,” Megan said firmly. “And if she does, you’ll welcome him and be on your best behavior.”
Mick shook his head. He should have known he’d get no help from the rest of the family. They all lived in a dream world. It was up to him to keep an eye on things. That was his role in this family, and he took it seriously.
He watched Susie leave, then said casually, “I think I’ll take a walk.”
“No!” Megan and Jeff said in chorus. Defeated, Mick sighed.
Megan patted his hand. “Let’s go up to the room. Maybe I’ll be able to think of some way to distract you.”
Mick regarded her skeptically. “How?”
Jeff clapped his hands over his ears. “Megan, please do not answer that till I’m gone,” he pleaded.
After he’d left, Mick turned to Megan, intrigued despite himself. “You were about to say?”
“I think I’ll let my actions speak for themselves,” she taunted, standing up and beckoning to him. “You interested?”
He grinned at his wife, happy to see the lively spark of passion in her eyes. “You don’t have to ask me twice.”
She laughed. “Good. For a minute there, you had me worried.”
“Ah, Meggie, you never have to worry about a thing like that. You’ll fascinate me till the day I die.”
She linked her arm through his and led the way to the elevator. The promise in her eyes made all his cares fade away. There’d be time enough later to worry about what his mother was getting herself into with this O’Malley fellow. And whatever it was, he’d fix it.
4
Matthew was very glad he’d paid attention to everything he’d been told by his family on prior trips to Ireland. His running commentary as he took Laila on a walking tour of the bustling streets around the hotel seemed to be relaxing her. She didn’t even object when he tucked her arm through his and kept her close by his side. For a couple of days she’d managed to elude him by going shopping with his cousins, but today he’d found her alone and managed to lure her away from the hotel.
“Look at these window boxes,” she exclaimed time and again, pausing to take pictures of the colorful flowers mixed with holiday greenery. “People need to do this in Chesapeake Shores. See how cheerful it makes everything look?”
“Winters are milder here,” Matthew reminded her. “Not by a lot, but enough to make a difference. And I think everyone’s a little obsessed with flowers to counteract the dreary weather. We actually have plenty of sunshine in Chesapeake Shores.”
She looked momentarily deflated, but then her expression brightened. “Do you think you could make window boxes for my apartment?”
“Me?”
“You’re an architect. Design something.”
He chuckled. “Window boxes weren’t exactly part of the curriculum in architecture school.”
“Mick probably never thought he’d be creating a flower shop work space for Bree, but he pulled it off,” she challenged. “The way I hear it, you’re as good an architect as your uncle is.”
He regarded her with amusement. “Is that a challenge?”
She laughed. “Pretty much. Maybe we could even have a design competition, get everybody in town involved. I’ll have to warn Jake and Bree, since it could be big business for his nursery and her flower shop. We could turn Chesapeake Shores into the flower showplace of the Eastern Seaboard.”
“You never think small, do you?”
“No,” she said readily. “How about you?” Her expression turned serious. “Are you happy designing houses like the one you did for Susie and Mack? Or do you want to take on a whole community someday, the way Mick has done?”
He hesitated, unsure what her reaction was likely to be, then admitted, “Actually I’m designing a community in Florida right now.”
She stopped and faced him, her eyes alight. “You are? Why didn’t I know that?”
“It’s not as if we’ve had a lot of conversations recently. A developer contacted Mick a couple of months ago. Mick had me sit in on the meetings, then told me to take charge of the project. He’s overseeing my work, but it will be my vision.”
“Matthew, that’s amazing!” Suddenly the light in her eyes dimmed. “Tell me about it. Are you designing just the houses or everything?”
“Everything, from the single-family homes and town houses to the retail area, from the town green to the pedestrian-only streets, even an elementary school,” he said, unable to contain his pride over the confidence Mick obviously had in him. With that confidence came a huge burden of responsibility. Mick’s reputation would be on the line, along with his own.
“Does that mean you’ll be spending a lot of time in Florida?” Laila asked.
He nodded. “At the time it didn’t seem like much of a drawback, but now I have to wonder….” His voice trailed off. If they were to get back on track, did he dare spend so much time away from home right now?
“You have to do it,” she said staunchly. “Matthew, it’s an incredible opportunity, and Mick is showing a tremendous amount of faith in you. You can’t let him down.”
“But you and I, we’ve barely begun to reconnect.” He searched her face. “Or don’t you see it the same way? Are we starting over or not? “
“I’m not entirely sure what we’re doing,” she responded candidly. “This is a vacation. It’s not a real test of anything. Whatever we do, we have to move forward slowly this time. We rushed into a relationship before we thought it through before. Maybe having you working out of town will be exactly what we need so we don’t get carried away and do something impulsive. The distance might give us the perspective we need to decide whether we really do belong together.”
He couldn’t help smiling. “I thought you liked the impulsive streak I bring out in you. At least that’s what you’ve always said.”
“True,” she admitted. “But it’s not really me.”
“Which was exactly the point, I thought. You said you liked stretching your boundaries.”
“Maybe I stretched them a little too far. I was way beyond my comfort zone when we were together. Accountants and bankers, we don’t take a lot of risks. We’re known for our caution and sensible decisions.”
“I don’t think you went too far,” he said solemnly, looking into her eyes, then brushing a curl from her cheek. “Maybe you were out of your comfort zone, but I love the impulsive, unpredictable you.”
“But not the staid, ordinary me?” she asked, sounding resigned. “See what I mean? We’re too different, Matthew.”
“Hey, there is nothing staid or ordinary about you,” he protested. “Not even on your worst day. You can be thoroughly responsible when it comes to work and still have a wild side, Laila. You’re a complicated, complex woman. Don’t put yourself into some tiny niche and be afraid to expand your horizons. Then your father wins.”
“I don’t know,” she said, though she looked hopeful.
