Treading Water: Coming Home Part 39

"Yes."

"I didn't know you'd played a role in that. I suppose I should thank you for helping her to get a start."

"It was wrong of me to go against her wishes, and I learned a very painful lesson about what happens when you disappoint Kate Harrington. When she came to find me in St. Kitts, she said she too had learned a valuable lesson in the last decade."

"And that was?"

"That no one gets somewhere in her chosen field without help. I regretted disrespecting her wishes. She regretted the way she reacted when she found out about what I'd done. We both had a lot of years to wallow in the regrets-and a lot of years to grow up."

"I didn't know any of this."

"What I really want you to know is that despite the difference in our ages and the disapproval of people in both our lives, other than the day we broke up, every, single minute we spent together was nothing short of magical. We had the kind of connection that people spend a lifetime looking for and often never find. Since we've been back together, it's been just like that again. We're both older and wiser this time around, and we're very determined to make it work."

Jack felt his resistance crumbling under the weight of Reid's compelling arguments. "What about kids? She's a young woman who'll want a family of her own someday."

"Remember when I said there's nothing I wouldn't do for her? I meant that."

"So you'd have more kids now?" Jack couldn't fathom the idea, but then again he'd been managing young kids for the last decade and Reid had not.

"If that's what she wants."

"And she knows this?"

"We've talked about it."

Jack's mind raced as he tried to process everything Reid had told him.

Reid stood. "I've taken enough of your time, and I've given you a lot to think about. You don't have to say anything now, but it would mean a great deal to both of us if we could be married with your blessing. It would mean everything to Kate if you were with us for Christmas and the wedding we plan to have the day after. We won't ask anything more of you than your presence."

Reid extended his hand and held it out for a long, awkward moment. Jack could tell that Reid was about to withdraw it when Jack stood and shook his hand.

"I'll think about it." That was the best he could do.

Reid nodded. "Appreciate that. Hope to see you in Nashville for Christmas."

Jack kept his gaze fixed on Reid's back as he walked out of the office, closing the door behind him. He thought about everything Reid had said, especially the insight he'd provided into why he and Kate had broken up. He hadn't known that Reid had been so instrumental in helping Kate to have the career she'd always wanted.

Thinking back to headstrong, eighteen-year-old Kate, he could only imagine how she'd reacted to learning Reid had gone behind her back to connect her to Buddy Longstreet.

Quinn came into the office through one door, Jamie through the other.

"What'd he say?" Jamie asked.

Right in that moment, Jack made a decision. He might not fully approve of her choices, but no child of his was getting married without him at least there to watch it happen. "Looks like we're going to Nashville for Christmas."

Chapter 16.

Winter was slow in arriving, as Indian summer lingered well into November, past Thanksgiving, which Reid, Kate, Ashton and Jill spent with the Longstreets. There was, however, nothing slow about the frantic pace at which Kate and Jill planned a family Christmas and a wedding.

Soon after inviting her entire extended family to Nashville for Christmas, Kate realized she didn't have enough room to house everyone between her house and Jill's.

"We'll build something," Reid had said matter-of-factly at the beginning of November.

"Build something? Between now and Christmas? Are you crazy?"

"Darlin', do you know who you're talking to?" He'd rolled his eyes and told her not to give it another thought.

Only because she was so busy with all the other details of the wedding did she let him take over the project he was calling "The Bunkhouse." He'd chosen a spot behind a copse of trees that blocked the view of the site from her house and told her to stay away until it was done. For once in her life, Kate did as she was told, because it seemed important to him that she not see it until it was finished.

The property was overrun with cement mixers, construction vehicles and a team of men he'd recruited from somewhere. A decade after he shuttered Reid Matthews Development, he apparently still had sway in the local construction community.

He'd also been occupied with the renovations to his house, which was taking shape as the shelter they'd envisioned for women and children in crisis. After the first of the year, they planned to begin looking for a director.

The interview Kate had done with Nancy seemed to diffuse the rabid interest in her. When it became clear that she'd meant it when she said that interview would be the only one she'd give-and when it became clear that she had found other ways on and off her property-the reporters left their post outside her gate. Kate was thankful the siege seemed to be over-for now anyway.

"When do I get to see this so-called Bunkhouse?" she asked Reid over breakfast a week before the family was due to invade.

"Soon."

"How soon is soon?"

"If you keep asking me, it'll be longer."

"What if I don't like it?" she teased as he downed the rest of his coffee and stood.

He leaned over to kiss her on his way out. "I promise you'll like it. See you for lunch."

Kate was tempted to follow him and satisfy her curiosity, but she certainly had more than enough on her own to-do list. She and Jill had labored over every detail of the long weekend with the family, from where everyone would sleep to meals to entertainment to wedding plans.

She was poring over Jill's latest sleeping arrangement suggestions when her cell phone rang. Kate happily took the call from her stepfather's mother.

"Grammy Colleen! What an awesome surprise!"

"h.e.l.lo, love," Colleen said warmly. To hear Aidan tell it, her Irish brogue was thicker today than it'd been when she left the old country. "Have I caught you at a bad time?"

"Of course not. I'm always happy to hear from you. How are all the O'Malleys?" She and Colleen had become e-mail buddies over the years, and Colleen's cheerful dispatches full of amusing anecdotes about her sprawling family were a source of great entertainment to Kate, especially while she was on the road.

"Everyone is doing well. The grandkids are growing like weeds. But the reason I'm calling is I have some bad news. I can't make the trip to Nashville for the wedding as much as I'd absolutely love to be there. I've been having an awful time with my arthritis, and getting on and off planes would be next to impossible."

"Oh, that's too bad! It won't be the same without you. Dad and Aidan are chartering a plane to bring everyone, but if that doesn't work for you, I could send Reid to pick you up at the Cape so you don't have to drive to Providence. I know he'd be happy to do it, and he's a great pilot. You'd be perfectly safe."

Colleen's delicate laughter came through the phone line like wind chimes. "That's very sweet of you to offer, love, but I'm sticking closer to home these days, where I'm most comfortable. Getting old is no fun."

"Is there anything I can do to help you feel better? Are there specialists we could call who might be able to help? There has to be something. I hate to think of you in pain."

"Brandon and Colin took me to Boston last month to see a rheumatologist. I'm on some new medicine that's bothering my stomach-of course it's helping the arthritis. But I didn't call to be a killjoy. I want you to know how truly delighted I am for you and your Reid. We all are. Mike is heartbroken to miss the wedding because of the school trip to Europe that was booked a long time ago for Christmas vacation. She was so excited to be invited."

"Of course she was invited. She's my biggest fan! Tell her I hope she has a wonderful trip, and I want to see tons of pictures when she gets back."

"I'll be sure to tell her. She's sixteen now, if you can believe it, and learning to drive. Apparently, she landed them in the neighbor's yard a week or so ago. Brandon was fit to be tied telling me about it."

Kate laughed. "I can imagine."

"I hope you know all the O'Malleys will be there in spirit, wis.h.i.+ng you well and sending lots of love. Aidan has a few gifts from me."

"You shouldn't have done that."

"Yes, I should have. You know I love you and your sisters like my own grandchildren, right?" Colleen asked, her voice thick with emotion.

Moved, Kate said, "You've always been so good to us, and we love you, too."

"You girls and your mother saved my son's life. You have no idea..."

"We love him, too. I never would've thought that so much good could come from my parents' divorce, but my sisters and I ended up with a lot more people who love us and who we love, too."

"You can never have too many people who love you. I'd give anything to see you walk down the aisle to meet your new husband."

"We'll come to you, as soon as we can."

"Oh, honey, I know how busy you are. Please don't worry about me. Your mom has promised me lots and lots of pictures. Enjoy every minute of your big day."

Kate wiped a tear from her cheek. "I will, Grammy. Thank you so much for calling."

"Love you, honey."

"Love you, too."

Reid came in through the back door and stopped short when he saw her wiping away tears. "What's wrong?"

"I just talked to my Grammy O'Malley. She's not feeling too well, so she's going to stay home."

"I'm sorry, honey. I know you were looking forward to seeing her."

"I told her maybe we could go see her sometime soon."

"I'd love to meet her. She sounds like a real character."

"Oh, she is."

He came over to the table and put his arm around her.

Kate leaned into his embrace, comforted by the scent of fresh air and sawdust and his distinctive cologne. "What're you doing back so soon?"

"Forgot my phone." He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "You know what would cheer you up?"

"What's that?"

"A first look at your Bunkhouse?"

"Now?"

"Right now. Get your coat."

Kate's tears were forgotten as she scrambled from the kitchen to get her coat. She was back ten seconds later.

"That's more like it," Reid said of the smile she greeted him with. "I don't like to see tears on that gorgeous face."

"I'm apt to be a bit of a waterworks for the next week or two."

"I'll allow that, but then only smiles and laughter. Got me?"

"That sounds good to me." They headed out the door toward the path he'd worn in the gra.s.s between their house and the new bunkhouse. Just as they reached the tree line, Kate was felled by a wave of nausea. She stopped walking and took a few deep breaths of air that had finally gone cold in the last week.

"What is it, darlin'?"

"The usual this time of day." The nausea arrived with infuriating regularity at about nine thirty every day.

He rested his hand on her back. "Do you want to go back?"

She shook her head and took a couple more deep breaths, trying to battle through it.

"Isn't it about time you had a doctor confirm what we already know?"

"I have an appointment tomorrow."

"I hate to see you suffering."

"You do know there's nothing the doctor can do about the nausea, right?"

He put his arm around her to continue along the path. "Nothing at all?"

"Nope. I have to suffer through until it lets up."

"I hope it lets up soon. We have lots of plans to see to."

They came around the final bend before the clearing where the Bunkhouse now stood.

Kate stopped and opened her mouth to say something, but the words got stuck in her throat. "Oh, Reid... Oh my G.o.d!" He'd built a mini version of her log-cabin house, complete with the A-frame roof and deck.

"Told you you'd like it," he said close to her ear, sending s.h.i.+vers down her spine.