Had To Be You (34 page)

Rory nodded, but a strange scratchy ache tickled at her throat, and she felt a slight tightening of her chest. The reception was over, the room was cleared and she was left feeling rather empty, though she had no good reason why. She was a little too old to be missing her mommy.

He, on other hand, was practically bouncing from the rafters in all his excitement. Her mother and Bill would be traveling up to Maine to take a cruise over to Nova Scotia as their honeymoon trip, gone for only a handful of days. After much debate, discussion and finagling, Rory had finally convinced her mother to agree to let her stay at the O’Sheas’ rather than calling in her Aunt Dot. She was relieved; Matt was elated.

They stepped outside and he quickly shed his suit jacket to drape it around her bare shoulders. It was borrowed from his older brother Danny, but just about fit him. Crossing the empty parking lot, they headed towards home as the sun set on the harbor. Rory was glad she’d decided to wear ballet flats with her dress.

“I think my mom is making meatballs tonight,” he said, undoing his tie.

Rory gave him a slight side-eye on her laugh. “You cannot still be hungry!” She supposed she couldn’t fault him entirely, though. With a houseful of growing boys, Mrs. O’Shea was cooking all day. Her smile of amusement drew back slightly. “Are you sure she’s okay with this?”

“You keep asking me that!” It was his turn to laugh. “It’s fine. My mom is happy to have you there—it was practically her idea. Ever since my sister left for college, she’s been way outnumbered. She even asked me if you might want to take a ride to that outlet place with her one day this week to go shopping. See? It’s all good.”

Rory only nodded her head.

“And Kevin is all set to make the switch after my parents retire for the evening, so he’ll take Maura’s bed and you can head right down the hall to my room.”

“That is so not happening.”

He laughed off her look, and took her hand in his to give a gentle squeeze.

They walked through the center of downtown, all the little shops and galleries drawing in their last breath of summer tourists. Shorter lines at the local seafood restaurants were as much an indicator of the end of the season as the shorter days.

“You know, today was great and all,” he said with a thoughtful pause. “But when I get married? I’m doing it on the beach. I’m not dealing with all that nonsense about caterers and cakes, stuffy ceremony and seating charts. Maybe even elope, and do it down in the Bahamas somewhere. No, Jamaica. No, wait—Australia!”

“Keep going. Maybe if you get as far as Antarctica, you’ll actually find someone who would marry you back.”

He tossed her a small smirk.

Rory laughed, but her amusement slowly faded as she caught a glimpse of her reflection in a storefront window. Her loose bun was unraveling, the fresh flowers were wilting in her hair.

“Do you think my mom looked happy today?” she asked, suddenly more serious.

Matt furrowed his brow uncertainly. “Well, yeah—didn’t you?”

“I guess,” she said. “It’s just that when she and Bill first started, it was only dinner dates once a week. Remember, that went on for like a year? I never even saw them kiss—not that I’m complaining. Then, suddenly, they’re getting married. I hope it’s not for the wrong reasons. And I mean that for both of them.”

“Like in what way?”

The corners of her mouth dipped down into a thoughtful frown. Bill couldn’t be more different than her father, in just about every way possible. He was comfortably old, while her dad remained on a relentless quest for his fountain of youth; he was a tad overweight and rumpled, yet her dad was fit and trim; and he was quietly thoughtful, where her dad was loudly opinionated. Her father was handsome, with a vain streak. Bill was plain, with a touch of sweet self-deprecation.

Rory had grown more than fond of him, and didn’t think he deserved to be a consolation prize. The idea that her mother could possibly be resigning herself to less of a life, just because she’d been hurt by someone she once loved, was downright depressing.

“I hope it’s not something she settled for. Like she gave up, and is choosing security and comfort over all the other stuff just because she got burned by my dad.”

Matt listened with a thoughtful frown.

“Because if you’re going to get married,” she continued, “it should be for absolutely no other reason than you want to be with that person more than anything else in your life, for the rest of your life. Otherwise, what’s the point?”

“There is absolutely no other point,” he agreed.

“Once again, I guess I just don’t get it.” Rory didn’t really want to admit there was something else troubling her, this sneaking concern that maybe choosing love just comes down to losing it. She, like her mother, had once been completely trusting, vulnerable and open in the love she had for her dad. In the end, all it did was open them up for even more pain.

Matt glanced at her. “She did look happy, Rory. And maybe what she took from everything with your dad is that it doesn’t have to be that way.”

“What do you mean?”

“That it doesn’t mean she can’t ever trust anyone again. Some guys are worth trusting, you know.”

“What makes you such an expert?” she said with a slow, skeptical smile.

He dropped his head with a small grin. “Maybe I just like the chance to prove you wrong. It doesn’t come around that often.”

“And that’s what you think you’re going to do, huh?”

“Ask me again when we’re in bed tonight.”

“That will be a little difficult, what with me all the way down the other end of the hall.”

“See, what I meant is when you were right next to me—in my bed, in my room.”

“Again, the fact I won’t be in your bed? Like at all? Might make that a bit of a problem.”

“I’m always up for a challenge.”

“There is no challenge here.”

Smiling again, he slung an arm around to pull her close.

“Oh, you have no idea.”

TWENTY-SIX

Rory smiled softly as she watched Jill cradling the tiny bundle in her arms. Her face seemed lit from within, beaming down at the infant with a sense of adoration and astonishment.

“She’s perfect.”

“Yeah, she is,” Kevin agreed softly from where he was standing next to her bed, leaning down to get a peek at the tiny sleeping face.

“An angel!” Mrs. Feeney dabbed at a tear from the other side of the bed.

“Oh, don’t you start crying again!” Jill warned her with a laugh, but her eyes were shining brightly as well. She glanced at them. “Any word from Trevor yet?”

“Not yet,” Rory said. “I called his cell phone and left a couple of messages, but that was on our way here from—” She suddenly remembered the wedding didn’t actually happen. Matt didn’t get married. “From the church.”

Kevin checked his own cell phone. “And if he was planning to catch a flight out to make it home for some of the reception, he could actually be on his way here as we speak. He probably had his phone turned off, and will get the messages as soon as he lands.”

Jill nodded and returned to gazing in wonder at her baby girl. No one was able to just walk away after being present to a real live miracle, even though it was getting late and they were all tired, emotionally spent from the day’s events.

“Anything?”
Rory asked, keeping her tone discreet. There had been no news from Danny either, who stayed behind with Matt for damage control.

Kevin just shook his head.

A moment later, the door opened and Rory glanced up as the elder O’Shea brother finally edged his way into the room with an armful of flowers.

Her heart skipped a beat when Matt followed. He was still in his rumpled white tuxedo shirt, having lost the jacket and tie somewhere along the way, his somber eyes shadowed with something more than fatigue. A deep red bruise spread from the bridge of his nose across his upper cheekbone, already halfway to black and blue.

Her lips parted in a silent expression of concern and sympathy, but he kept his head low.

“How is everyone doing?” Danny grinned widely, stepping forward to peer over Kevin’s shoulder. His voice dropped to a near reverent whisper. “Ah, she’s beautiful, Jill.”

“Thanks.” Jill beamed before tilting her head to glance past him. “Matt?”

He managed a small smile, shifting uncertainly. “Congratulations.”

Sitting up, Jill moved to hand the tiny swaddled baby to her mother, who willingly took her in her arms with a smile of delight.

“Come over here, will you?”

He stepped forward as Kevin made room. Jill reached up to wrap her arms around and rub his back comfortingly, whispering that everything was going to be okay.

Rory felt the blurry sting of tears in her eyes for about the hundredth time that day, but it was fueled by so many different emotions at this point that she couldn’t even begin to sort it out.

In pulling away, Matt quickly rubbed at the corner of his own eye.

“What happened?” Jill reached up to gingerly touch her fingers to his bruised cheek.

“Amanda’s brother felt the need to give me his opinion on the matter. Can’t say as I blame the guy.”

“And what happens now?” Kevin asked, reaching up to rest a brotherly hand on his back.

“According to her?” He tried to laugh, but it didn’t work. “I go straight to hell.”

Rory almost winced, sighing softly under her breath to witness the devastation in his face.

“No.” Mrs. Feeney shook her head determinedly, gently rocking the baby in her arms. “Not for being honest and true to your own heart you don’t, Matt O’Shea. What you did today was difficult, but it was the right thing. And don’t you forget that.”

He managed a small smile, but Rory could tell it lacked conviction.

Suddenly, the door flew open, and a disheveled and wide-eyed Trevor burst into the room, his business suit creased and wrinkled, dress shirt flapping out of his trousers, necktie flung back over his shoulder—a little like Clark Kent in search of a phone booth.

“Jill!” he gasped, breathless, his chest heaving as he stared at her in near disbelief.

Her hands flew up to her mouth as she gave him a bright, weepy smile, her eyes filling with tears all over again. “You’re here!”

Everyone moved out of the way as he rushed to her bedside. Practically falling to his knees, he took one of her hands in both of his, pressing a kiss to her fingers.

“Are you okay?” He gazed at her, reaching up to tenderly smooth her wilted blond curls back off her face.

“I’m fine,” she laughed. “So, why don’t you go meet your daughter?”

“My—my—” he stuttered, unable to even get the word out.

He slowly straightened, staring in near shock as Mrs. Feeney walked around from the other side of the bed to hand him the swaddled infant. Taking her awkwardly in his arms, in a stiff hold as if she might break at the slightest movement, he gazed down into her sleeping face.

“I know we never really got around to discussing names, but I was thinking we could call her Sophie,” Jill gently suggested.

Trevor only stared at the baby. There was a brief stretch of silence, everyone watching him for some kind of reaction or response. When he finally brought his eyes back to Jill, they shined with tears.

“Marry me?”

“What?”
she said with a gasp. “What did you say?”

“I want you to marry me,” Trevor continued with a renewed certainty, holding her gaze and his voice steady. “I want you to marry me and spend the rest of your life with me and I want to have ten more of these, every one exactly like her. And I want to do it all with you.”

Rory smiled, lowering her gaze to the floor. Perhaps she’d overestimated with the numbers.

Movement across the room caught her attention, and she glanced up just in time to see Matt disappear out the door at the very same moment Jill responded with a resounding
“yes.”

In the flurry of activity and excitement that followed, Rory was able to slip away unnoticed. She hurried out into the hall, but he was nowhere to be seen. Heart pumping in overdrive, she rushed down the stairwell, heels clicking on each step, to burst out through the main doors of the hospital.

The humidity from the day hadn’t let up, even as evening descended over the harbor. The sinking sun left a ripple of shine in dark water, the blanket of moisture in the air still heavy and thick.

She spotted him finally, the lone figure heading across the parking lot.

“Matt!”
she called out.

He paused with head bowed, but didn’t turn around, only holding up in his hand to indicate she shouldn’t follow.

Standing there alone, stuck in this void between their past and present, Rory could only watch him disappear into the summer night. Then darkness fell, obscuring any glimpse at all of a possible future.

***

When the rain finally came, it seemed never-ending; flooding lawns, branches and bushes bent low under the weight of water-soaked leaves, the ocean spilling out over the streets. At least it brought relief from the stifling humidity, the air now heavy with the scent of damp soil and low tide.

Rory perched on the wide windowsill of the hospital room, staring out at fat raindrops falling from the roof gutter to splash on the pavement below. The distant sounds of seabirds floated in through the open screen, a sign the storm was nearing an end.

A young intern was studying the chart by Jill’s bed with a serious frown of concentration.

“Okay. All looks good,” he announced with a sudden bright smile. “Congratulations again on your healthy baby girl.”