Coming Home (38 page)

“Thanks, Tay. Love you guys.”

“Love you, too.” She kissed him full on the lips, patted his face and got into her car.

“I saw that,” Buddy grumbled.

“
She
kissed
me
.”

“Uh-huh.” Buddy surprised the hell out of Reid with a hug. “Enjoy all this, brother. Don’t let the haters get you down.”

Leave it to Buddy to say what everyone else was thinking. “I won’t.”

“Anything I can do—you know where I am.”

“There is one thing…”

“What’s that?”

“Well, I know Kate asked you to walk her downstairs to the wedding, but if you could maybe be my best man, too, I’d be mighty grateful.”

Buddy glanced at the Bunkhouse and then at Reid. “I thought you’d ask Ashton to do that.”

Reid would never admit to how much it pained him that he didn’t feel comfortable asking his son to stand up for him. “Don’t want to push my luck.”

“Right. Yeah, probably wise. Of course I’ll do it.”

“Thanks—for that and everything.”

“You have no idea how glad I am to see you guys back together and happy as hell. I beat myself up for a long time over what happened the first time around.”

“You shouldn’t have. It was all our doing. You got caught in the crossfire.”

“Still… Feels like we’re righting a wrong or something, you know?”

“I sure do, and I’m so glad you and your family will be a part of it.”

“So are we. We’ll see you for Christmas.”

Reid was incredibly thankful that his “family” would be present for the holiday. He needed all the friends he could get with Jack Harrington and Jamie Booth coming to town. “See you then.”

He went back inside where Ashton was cleaning up the beer bottles, soda cans and pizza boxes. “Thanks for the help tonight, son.”

“Sure, no problem.”

They’d been cautiously polite to each other in the weeks since he and Kate had been back in town. Neither he nor Ashton had any appetite for trouble in their relationship, and for that Reid was profoundly grateful. But he would give almost everything he had to feel that his son was even slightly happy for him and Kate. He wanted that more than he’d realized, until it became clear that Ashton wasn’t going to say the words he longed to hear.

It was enough, Reid told himself, that his son was participating, that he’d come to help with the Bunkhouse when Reid asked him to. Except it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t anywhere near enough. At some point, Reid needed to tell him about the baby that was on the way, but he’d yet to find the right time to broach a subject that might upset his son.

“Are you going to head home?” Reid asked when all the work was done and the living room had been straightened after the impromptu gathering.

“I was thinking about crashing the hen party,” Ashton said with a devilish gleam in his eyes. “Want to come along?”

“Kate was pretty adamant about wanting some time with her sisters.”

“So was Jill.”

Their eyes met in a moment of lighthearted unity that made Reid feel like there might be hope after all.
 

“Are you in?” Ashton asked.

“Sure, why not? But if it goes bad, it was your idea.”

Ashton laughed as Reid locked up the Bunkhouse and they headed for the well-worn path that led to Jill’s place.

Reid felt like a kid sneaking out to perpetrate a prank with his favorite partner in crime. The air was brisk and cold. Snow flurries danced in the air, a promise of things to come over the next few days. Kate had refused to get too hopeful about a white Christmas, but all reports indicated snow on Christmas Eve.
 

“Colder than a well-digger’s ass,” Ashton muttered.

“Sure is.”

The lights were on at Jill’s, and an inviting wisp of smoke curled from the chimney.
 

Ashton marched right up the front stairs as if he had every right to be there and rapped on the door.

Jill answered a minute later, surprise registering on her face. “What’re you doing here?”

“My dad wanted to see Kate.” He stepped aside so she could see that Reid was with him.

Reid let out a bark of laughter. “He lies. This was all his idea.”

“We’re freezing our agates off,” Ashton said. “Are you going to let us in?” When Jill hesitated, he said, “
Pretty
please?
”

“Oh, all right.”

“She can’t resist me,” Ashton said to his father as they went inside.

“Don’t push your luck,” Jill said, even though Reid could tell she was delighted to see his son.
 

Ashton truly pushed his luck by stealing a kiss from her.

Wanting to give them a minute alone and hungry for a glimpse of his fiancée, Reid looked around the family room, which was empty. He followed voices to the kitchen, where he found Kate with Maggie.

Kate’s eyes lit up with delight when he walked into the room. He hoped she would always be that happy to see him.
 

“What’re you doing here?” she asked.

“Ashton wanted to see Jill and dragged me along.”

“I’m so glad he did.” Kate came over to hug and kiss him. Over her shoulder, he noticed Maggie watching them. With an interesting combination of their features, she was as gorgeous as her sisters.

He pulled back from Kate’s embrace but kept his arm around her. “You must be the mysterious third Harrington sister.”

“That’d be me.” Maggie stepped forward to shake his hand. “Great to finally meet you.”

“You, too.”

“I owe you a long-overdue thank-you,” she said.

Reid looked down at Kate, who seemed equally baffled. “Whatever for?”

“I understand you flew my sister home to Rhode Island after I fell off the ladder.”

“Oh, that. Well, it was no problem.”

“I was really happy to have her there.”

“We’re really happy to have you here,” Reid said.

Maggie smiled at him, and he relaxed a bit when it became clear that she had no beef with him marrying her sister.
 

Ashton came in with Jill, who introduced him to Maggie. Reid noticed his son’s face was flushed with color that couldn’t be completely attributed to the cold. He had a dazzled, stunned look about him whenever he glanced at Jill, which was often. To see his son truly in love for the first time was an amazing thing.

“Since you two have officially crashed our party,” Jill said dryly, “what can I get you to drink?”

“Beer works,” Ashton said. “For both of us.”

Jill rolled her eyes at him and got the beers.
 

Ashton leaned on the center island, making himself right at home with the chips and dip. “So, ladies, what’d we miss?”

Chapter 17

The all-out invasion occurred at high noon the next day, when three limos started down the lane to the house.

Kate had been vibrating with excitement since she woke up at five and bounded out of bed to greet the day on which her family would finally arrive. She’d wanted to go to the airport to meet them, but Reid had convinced her to spend the morning at home to get through the hours of nausea she battled each day.

Since the nausea had been particularly intense today, she was grateful for his foresight. How in the world was she going to keep the secret about her pregnancy if she turned green at exactly the same time every day?
 

As the limos got closer to the house, she decided she’d worry about that tomorrow.

“Ready?” she asked Reid, who’d been quieter than usual all morning. He had to be nervous about her family arriving, knowing some of them were less than pleased about him and the wedding.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“In case I forget to tell you later, I love you for a million reasons, but I especially love you for welcoming my family into our home for the holiday and our wedding. I love you for building that amazing Bunkhouse practically overnight, and I love you for going to see my dad when you knew you wouldn’t be welcome.”

“That’s a whole lotta love, darlin’,” he said with a warm smile.

“I want you to remember how much I love you no matter what happens in the next few days.”

“I will.”

“Promise?”

Nodding, he planted a lingering kiss on her lips.

It was the last moment of peace or quiet as people poured out of the limos. Kate stayed close to Reid, introducing him to everyone and not giving anyone a chance to say or do anything untoward. She noticed her dad and Uncle Jamie went out of their way to say as little as possible to Reid, even though both of them shook his hand—somewhat begrudgingly, it seemed to Kate.

Her mom, Andi, Aunt Frannie and all her grandparents—real and adopted, in the case of the Booths—hugged and kissed Kate and Reid, which she appreciated. The six kids—the Harrington and Booth twins along with the O’Malley boys—were running and screaming in the yard after being cooped up all morning on the plane.

Kate spent the next hour getting everyone settled. Her dad’s family, his parents and the Booths—senior and junior—took possession of the Bunkhouse, while her mom’s family and her grandma Anna settled in Kate’s house. Maggie had decided to stay at Jill’s where it was “safe.”
 

“Everything is beautiful, honey,” Kate’s mom, Clare, said of the Christmas decorations Kate had labored over the last few weeks.

“I’m so glad you think so.” Kate hugged her mother again. “I can’t believe you’re all here and that we actually pulled this off.”

“I know. It’s amazing. I remember the first Christmas after Dad and I got divorced, and I hoped that someday we might have a Christmas just like this one, all of us together with the people we love most.”

Kate blamed pregnancy for putting her every emotion on full alert. She blinked back tears. “That’s what I wanted, too. I wanted it so badly. It’s been such a long time since I was able to be with you all for Christmas.”

Clare embraced her daughter. “We’ve missed you, honey.”
 

“Hey, Clare, do you remember where I put my phone charger?” Aidan asked as he came in, stopping short when he saw them hugging. “Oh, sorry.” He started to back out of the room.

“No,” Kate said, holding out a hand to him. “Don’t go.”

He came in to take her hand, and they added him to their hug.

“I’m so happy to see you,” she said to her stepfather. “Thanks for coming.”

Aidan planted a kiss on Kate’s forehead. “Our pleasure, honey.”

“Have you had a chance to talk to Dad at all?” Kate asked her mom. “About the wedding?”

Aidan and Clare exchanged glances that set Kate’s nerves on edge.

“Some,” Clare said. “He’s doing the best he can.”

“He’s here,” Aidan added. “That’s something.”

“Yes,” Kate said softly. It was something, but it was nowhere near enough.
 

“I know for certain that he wants you to be happy,” Clare said. “That’s all we’ve ever wanted for you.”

“I’m so happy. I’ve never been happier.”

“Let him see that for a few days,” Aidan said. “He’ll come around.”

“What about Jamie?” Kate asked.

“He’ll follow your dad’s lead,” Clare said. “You know how they roll.”

Kate laughed, because she did in fact know how they rolled—as a unit. They always had, and they always would.

“It means a lot to me that you guys support us,” Kate said.

“I’ve learned that life can be very unpredictable, and we’re far better off when we go with the flow rather than trying to fight our way upstream,” Clare said.

Aidan smiled at his wife. “Well said.”

“Plus,” Clare said with a devious grin for him, “I’ve learned that being married to someone
much
younger has its challenges, but they can be overcome with patience. A lot of patience.”

“Oh, that’s very funny,” Aidan said, swatting her on the rear. “Now what the heck did you do with my phone charger?”

Kate had refused to hire any help for the weekend but had yielded to Reid’s pleas for caterers for the wedding. With the help of her mom, Andi, Jill, Maggie, Frannie, Grandma Anna, Grandma Madeline, Mary Booth and Frannie’s daughter Olivia, they managed to get everyone fed and outside for a huge game of football on the lawn.

Even though she wanted to play, Kate was mindful of the new life growing inside her and wisely decided to hang out with the seniors on the porch who were watching the action on the lawn as it turned from touch to tackle. Her Grandpa John and Neil Booth made a wager they thought no one else noticed, but Kate did and somehow refrained from laughing at their predictable antics.
 

The game came down to a last-minute touchdown that Ashton completed despite Jill cutting him off at the knees just short of the end zone.

Her face flushed from exertion, Andi jogged over to Kate. “What’s up with Jill and Ashton?” she asked.