Fool for Love (18 page)

"I don't
care
," he said,
laughing softly with exasperation. "That's what you're not getting. The
whole world could see my paintings and declare them masterpieces, and that
wouldn't add anything to my life that I don't already have."

Fixated now on the cabinet behind him, she
bit her thumbnail. "And yet…"

He put down the glass, went to her and
rested his hands on her hips. "And yet what?"

"You said that having me here with
you, all the time, would add something you don't have."

"Yes," he said, his voice hoarse
with the emotion she aroused in him without even trying. "It absolutely
would."

"You have this amazing talent that means
nothing to you, but I—"

"You," he said, kissing her
nose, "mean
everything
to me."

"How can that be?"

"It just
is
, baby. Damned if I
can explain it."

She reached for him, brought him down to
her and kissed him so sweetly, so gently, that Joe wondered how he managed to
remain standing.

"Let's go to bed." She took his
hands, linked their fingers and walked backward, leading him to what could be
his ruination. Even knowing that, he willingly followed her.

On the first boat off the island the next morning, Maddie stood at the rail,
holding a cup of coffee and pondering the coincidence of her mother being
released from prison on Independence Day. "Let freedom ring," she
whispered as butterflies stormed about in her belly. After tangling with Linda
over bad checks written to the hotel bar, her mother had a low opinion of all
things McCarthy. What would she say when she found out her eldest daughter
planned to marry their eldest son in a week's time?

Maddie shuddered when she imagined her
mother's reaction. Over and over she had practiced what she would say, how she
would break the news. Each time she pictured the scene, she saw her mother's
face turn red with rage.

Mac had wanted to come with her today, but
she'd insisted on doing this alone. Besides, they were having people over
later, and one of them needed to stay back to finish the preparations. Their
new house had a fantastic view of the fireworks, and they wanted to share it
with the people they loved.

She remembered the way he'd held her so
close during the night and made sweet love to her at dawn, as if to fortify her
to fight for them against what would no doubt be her mother's strong
objections. In the brisk breeze, tears stung her eyes. She shouldn't have to
fight for anything. He was a kind and decent man who loved her and her son with
everything he had. Her mother had never even met Mac, yet she would judge him
because his family was one of the "haves" on an island in which she
and her family had always been one of the "have-nots."

That wasn't his fault any more than it was
hers. Just as it wasn't their fault that her mother had written enough bad
checks to establishments such as the bar at McCarthy's Gansett Inn that the
proprietors had had no choice but to report her.
She
had landed
herself
in jail, and if the McCarthys could see fit to separate Maddie from her
mother's sins, then perhaps her mother could find it in her heart to judge Mac
for himself.

"Wishful thinking, girl," she
whispered to herself. "She's going to freak, and there's nothing you can
do to stop it." But nothing her mother could possibly say, Maddie reminded
herself, would stop her from marrying the love of her life—with or without her
mother's blessing. It sure would be sweeter, however, if her mother could find
a way to accept that her daughter was happy with Mac, and that she didn't give
two figs about his last name or his money.

With that thought at the forefront of her
mind, Maddie drove off the ferry in the black SUV Mac had bought to get their
little family around the island. Her mother's first question would be about
where she had gotten the money for such an extravagant vehicle.

During the hour-long drive to the state
prison in Cranston, Maddie focused on happy thoughts of Mac and Thomas, on
wedding plans and blissful nights in the arms of the man she loved. Nothing and
no one would ever come between them again. She was almost to the prison when
her phone rang, and Mac's number popped up on the caller ID. Even though she
knew he was calling to offer his support, she chose not to take the call for
fear that hearing his voice would cause her to fall apart in these last crucial
minutes.

No, she would wait until they were back on
the ferry home before she returned his call. "Please," she whispered
as she pulled into the parking lot and turned off the truck. "Please, for
once, be happy for me. Just this once." As fortified as she was going to
get, Maddie opened the door and stepped into the July sunshine. Inside, she
signed in and was assigned to an air-conditioned waiting room.

Thirty minutes passed in which Maddie
shivered in the chill before the door opened and Francine Chester appeared,
wearing the release-day outfit Maddie had sent her and carrying a plastic bag
of other belongings. Gray roots had overtaken her mother's cap of dyed red
hair. No doubt her first stop on the island would be at the beauty shop, which
would sneak her in as long as she paid cash.

"Get me out of here." Francine
brushed past her daughter as if they had just seen each other yesterday rather
than three months ago.

Nice to see you, too
, Maddie thought as she followed her mother to the
exit and directed her to the parking lot.

Francine tilted her head into the sunshine
and took deep breaths of fresh air. "About damned time they let me out of
that hellhole. Was your sister too busy to come with you?"

"Ashleigh wasn't feeling well,"
Maddie said of her infant niece. "Tiffany said they'll see you when you
get home. She has the apartment all ready for you."

"What apartment?"

"My old place at Tiff's house. We figured
you could stay there until you get back on your feet."

Francine eyed her with cagey green eyes
that didn't miss a trick. "And where will you be?"

"I wanted to talk to you about
that." Maddie clicked the button on her key fob to unlock the truck and watched
as her mother's eyes widened with predictable questions.

"Did you hit the lottery while I was
gone?"

In a way
, Maddie thought. Here goes nothing… "It belongs
to my fiancé."

Francine turned to her, incredulous.
"What
fiancé?"

Maddie swallowed the fear, the worries and
the sense of impending doom and looked her mother dead in the eye. "The
one I plan to marry a week from today."

"You're getting
married
, and
you haven't seen fit to mention this to me until now? You could've sent a letter
or mentioned it during one of the calls."

"I wanted to tell you in
person."

"So tell me. Who is he?"

Once again, Maddie refused to blink. She
refused to be ashamed or to cower under her mother's intense scrutiny.
"Mac McCarthy. Junior."

Francine released a harsh bark of
laughter. "Like hell you're marrying a McCarthy."

"I am
absolutely
marrying a
McCarthy, and I'm proud of it." She held open the door to the truck.

Francine crossed her arms and tilted her
chin defiantly. "I will not ride in a vehicle owned by a McCarthy."

"Fine," Maddie said. "Then
you can find your own way home." She walked around the truck to get in the
driver's side and started the engine. Her stomach ached, and her eyes burned
with tears. Did she really have the nerve to drive off and leave her mother
there with no money and no other way home?

In the brief span of silence that
stretched into tense minutes, Maddie realized her entire life had come down to
this moment—and if she had to choose between a past full of heartache and
disappointment and a future with Mac that promised to be filled with love and
joy, then she chose the future. With him.

She glanced at the open passenger door.
"I love him, he loves me, he adores Thomas, and I'm going to marry him,
with you or without you. I'd prefer to do it with you, but if you force me to
choose, I choose him."

Since she had no alternative, Francine got
in the truck and slammed the door. "You'll marry him over my dead
body."

Maddie shrugged. "If that's what it
takes." Despite her show of bravado, her hands shook so badly she wondered
how she would drive.

Janey was thrilled to find Maddie and the SUV in the
line for the three o'clock ferry. After checking her fresh-from-the-shop car
into the line, Janey skipped over to where Maddie leaned against the black
truck, her arms crossed and her face set in an unreadable expression.

"Hey!"

Maddie looked up, startled. "Oh.
Hi."

Janey studied her friend. "What's
wrong?"

"My mother."

"
Ohhh
." Janey leaned back
against the truck, next to Maddie. "I take it the pickup didn't go
well?"

"Let me quote, shall I? 'You'll marry
a McCarthy over my dead body.'"

"Ouch. I resemble that remark. What
did you say?"

"If that's what it takes."

"Good for you." Janey snorted.
"Where is she now?"

"On the boat. She took the ticket I
bought her and stalked off." Maddie slid her slender foot in and out of
her flip-flop, an aura of weary resignation clinging to her every movement.
"I knew it was too much to hope that she might be supportive, but
still…"

"You hoped anyway."

"I never learn. That's my problem. I
expect people to change, but they don't."

Janey linked her arm with Maddie's and
rested her head on her friend's shoulder. "Do you know what I love best
about you?"

Maddie tilted her head to lean it on
Janey's. "What's that?"

"You're always upbeat, even when you
have good reason not to be. I admire that quality in you, and I know Mac does,
too."

"Thank you. That's sweet of you to
say."

"I know she's your mom, but I'd hate
to see her take anything away from your happiness. Not when you and Mac waited
so long to find each other."

"You're right. You're
absolutely
right."

"She can't ruin it for you unless you
let her."

Maddie stood upright and turned to Janey,
a brilliant smile lighting up her pretty face. "I can't wait until you're
officially my sister-in-law."

Janey hugged her. "I can't,
either."

"So where's Joe?"

"On the island. He was on the one
thirty. I stayed over here to do a few errands after I picked up my car."

"How was last night?" Maddie
asked with a salacious smile.

"
Amazing
."

Maddie laughed. "That good,
huh?"

"It's incredible. We just have this
unbelievable connection."

"So why don't you look happy?"

"I am happy. I'm
so
happy.
That's the problem."

"You've lost me."

"Not even a week ago, I was engaged
to David. I had my whole life planned. I was in love, content, settled, you
know?"

"Uh huh. And now?"

"Now, it's like David's dead to me,
everything I ever felt for him is gone, and I can't be in the same room with
Joe and not want to jump him."

Maddie giggled behind her hand.

"What's so funny?"

"You are. You're madly in love with
Joe
,
and you don't even see it."

Janey stared at her, wondering if Maddie
had lost her mind. "How can you say that? I was in love with David a week
ago! When did I become this fickle fannie who loves a different boy every
week?"

"You're
not
a fickle fannie.
You were with the same guy all your life, Janey. He did a despicable thing that
you had the misfortune—or fortune, depending on how you look at it—to
witness."

"Fortune." She shuddered,
imagining what she might never have known about him if she hadn't seen it with
her own eyes. "Definitely fortune."

"Is it any wonder that you instantly fell
out of love with him?"

"I guess not. But how do you explain
that I managed to fall halfway in love with Joe in just a few days?"

"Maybe you were already halfway there
but never admitted it to yourself because you couldn't."

Janey sucked in a sharp deep breath.
"Jeez, you don't pull any punches, do you?"

Maddie shrugged with playful indifference.
"Just calling it the way I see it."

Janey found the insight truly astounding.
"You really think that's possible?"

"He's always been good old Joe, there
when you need him, to lend an ear or a shoulder to lean on, to make you feel
good about yourself because he had something nice to say about your hair or
your outfit or your smile. What girl wouldn't be halfway in love with a guy who
always gave her his full attention—especially when her fiancé was never
around?"