McCarthys of Gansett Island Boxed Set Books 1-3 (27 page)

Mac glanced at Ned, who squirmed in his seat.

Big Mac let out a lusty laugh. “Looks like you’re about to be thrust outta the closet, old buddy.”

Mac had no idea what they were talking about.

“Ned owns half this island, boy,” Cliff Sutter said. “You want property for less than a mil, you go to him.”

“I might even cut you a deal,” Ned said gruffly.

Mac stared at him. “You drive a cab and dress like a hobo, and you own half this island?”

Big Mac and the others howled with laughter.

“What the hell’s wrong with the way I dress?” Ned huffed. “And I’ll have ya know that I drive a cab because I
like
to. Owning property doesn’t keep me all that busy, and sitting around the house watching soaps ain’t exactly my style.”

“I’ll be damned,” Mac said. “You think you know a guy. . .”
 

As the construction workers Mac had hired arrived, they were welcomed into the circle. Mac hoped this would become his new routine as he settled into working at McCarthy’s: waking up with Maddie, taking a walk with Thomas and then coffee with his dad and the boys before beginning work for the day. That he could find such contentment and sense of purpose on an island that once made him feel so confined still amazed him. Now he just had to find a way to tell his partners in Miami that he wasn’t coming back.

Maddie was greeted with hugs from coworkers full of questions about Mac. She filled them in as quickly as she could before Ethel started spewing orders at them.

“Mac is sooooo cute,” Daisy whispered to Maddie.

“I never get tired of looking at him.”

“And that he filled in here for you like that. . .” Daisy rested a hand on her chest and seemed to swoon a bit.

“He wants to marry me and adopt Thomas,” Maddie whispered, dying to tell someone who’d be happy for her. Tiffany didn’t qualify.

“Oh my God,” Daisy squealed.

“Ladies, are you listening to me?” Ethel barked.

“Yes, ma’am,” they said together, choking back giggles.

When Ethel went back to giving orders, Maddie told Daisy about the job offer at the Beachcomber. “I’d want to take you with me.”

“You mean it?”

“Of course, I do.”

“Oh, Maddie, I’m so happy for you. No one deserves all this more than you do.”

Maddie squeezed her friend’s arm. “Thanks.”

Later that morning as his workers began removing the existing roof on the main building, Mac crawled around in the eaves and made an interesting discovery. Much of the building’s frame had been recently replaced. “What the heck?” he muttered. “Why wouldn’t Dad have mentioned that?” It definitely made his job easier but presented a baffling mystery. Who would take the time and considerable effort—not to mention the expense—to prop up the sagging building? Certainly not Big Mac, who seemed to do nothing more than land boats, play with kids, and pass the bull with his buddies these days. Mac took a closer look at the quality craftsmanship, which had probably kept the building from falling down around them. “Very interesting.”

Climbing down the ladder from the attic, he couldn’t figure out who could’ve done the work. Out of curiosity, he ducked into his father’s office, which was located upstairs from the restaurant. On the desk were disorderly piles of paper, an open check register, discarded paper cups and general chaos.
 

Mac groaned.

“It’s quite a mess,” a voice behind him said.

Mac turned. “Luke. I didn’t hear you come in.”

Luke focused on the desk. “I can’t remember the last time I saw him in here.”

“That so?”

“He loves being out on the docks, hanging with people, coming up with new ideas to grow the business. It’s this part he tends to forget about.”

Mac heard the affection for his father in Luke’s voice. “The bills getting paid?”

“Doubt it.”

Right in that moment, Mac got it. It made perfect sense. Everyone loved Big Mac. Why not the quiet young man who’d worked for him for twenty summers? “You’ve been making repairs, haven’t you? That’s what you’re spending the money on.”

“What money?”

“The money I’ve seen you pocketing.”

“And of course you thought I was stealing from him,” Luke said, sounding bitter.

“I saw the new beams and couldn’t figure out who would’ve done that. Since he never mentioned it, I figured he didn’t know.”

“The place is a wreck, and I’d tell him, ‘Mac, we need to make some repairs around here.’ He’d say, ‘Oh, come on, Luke. We can get one more year out of it, can’t we?’ We’ve had that same conversation every May for four years.”

Mac smiled. “I can picture it.”

“Since all he wants to do is hang out with his buddies, I started working nights to prop up the roof before it collapsed and killed someone. I was relieved to hear he was finally going to let you replace it. One more good blow and we would’ve been screwed.”

“You did a really good job.”

“Thanks. Let me know what I can do to help with the rest of it.”

“I appreciate that.” After Luke went back to work, Mac stared at the mess on the desk, wondering how he’d manage to get the repairs done and reorganize the business at the same time. “Looks like I got here just in time.”

Mac worked long days that week, spending hours in the hot sun on the roof and taking home stacks of paper from the office every night to sort through. He quickly discovered the business was in arrears to just about every major supplier and talked to his father about writing some checks.
 

“Go right ahead,” Big Mac said. “You got the same name I do. Sign away.”

“Is there money in the account?”

“Plenty.”

“Is there a bank statement lying around somewhere so I can confirm that?”

Big Mac gestured to the office. “In there somewhere.”

“Fabulous.”

Early each morning, he continued to take Thomas out for a walk, and on Tuesday they began work on a special project. Sitting in the South Harbor Diner, he propped the drooling baby up on the table so they faced each other. “Okay, buddy,” Mac said, “let me hear you say Ma-ma. Ma-ma. You can do it.”

“Mmmmm,” Thomas said, chewing on his fingers.

“Close, but not quite.” Mac tugged the fingers out of his mouth. “Ma-ma. Ma-ma.”

More drool. “Mmmmm.”
 

Mac was so focused on the baby that he didn’t see another man approach the table.

“He’s awfully cute.”

Mac glanced up and fought back a gasp.

“Mind if I join you?” Tom Wilkinson asked.

Mac lifted Thomas off the table and rested him on his shoulder, facing away from Tom. “Sure.”

Tom slid into the booth across from Mac and accepted a cup of coffee from the waitress.

“I didn’t think you’d be hanging around,” Mac said.

“I wasn’t going to, but something about this island calls to me. The writing really flows here.”

Mac once again found himself fighting for self-control when all he wanted to do was tell this guy what he really thought of him. “I’ve read some of your books,” he said, trying to stay on safe ground.

“That so?”

“Uh huh.” Mac wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of hearing he’d enjoyed them.

“May I be honest with you, Mac?”

“If you must.”

“It took about thirty minutes on the island to find out you and Maddie aren’t really married.”

Mac’s heart began to beat faster. “We will be soon.”

As if Mac hadn’t spoken, Tom continued. “And to learn you only met her a week or so ago.”

Mac tightened his hold on Thomas. “What’s it to you?”

Tom sat back in the booth and stretched out an arm along the top. “Writers are notoriously bad at math, but even I can add nine plus nine to determine that’s probably my son you’re holding there.”

Mac swallowed a surge of panic. “He’s Maddie’s son.”

“No question about that. I guess the only remaining question is who’s his daddy? A DNA test should straighten that right out, wouldn’t you say?”

Mac refused to blink. “What do you want?”

Now Tom leaned forward, arms resting on the table. “Assurances that she’s not coming after me for money.”

“Has she yet?”

“That doesn’t mean she won’t.”

“She has no interest in you or your money. I can guarantee that.”

“What about him?” Tom nodded to the baby. “When he’s old enough to know who is father is?”

“He’ll have a father, and he’ll want for nothing.”

“Are you willing to put that in writing?”

“If you’re willing to sign away your rights to him.”

“I’ll have my lawyer draw up the documents.”

With one arm tight around Thomas, Mac reached for his wallet and laid it flat on the table to withdraw a business card. “Send the papers to my Miami office. They’ll get them to me.”

“And I won’t hear from any of you again?”

“If you hadn’t come here, you never would’ve heard from us in the first place. You have nothing we need.”

After a long pause, Tom said, “Is he a good baby?”

“The best.”

“I don’t suppose. . .”

“Don’t even ask.”

Tom shrugged as if he couldn’t care less, and apparently he couldn’t, which was just fine with Mac.
 

“Can I ask you one thing?” Mac said.

“Sure.”

“What kind of guy tells a woman he’s had a vasectomy when he hasn’t?”

“The kind who’s allergic to latex but loves sex.”

Mac stared at him, incredulous. Maddie was lucky that Thomas was the only thing she’d gotten from this guy. “We’re done here,” Mac said, anxious to be rid of him.

Tom took the hint and stood up. “I’ll be in touch.”

Mac just nodded and watched him walk away, praying he’d leave the island before Maddie ran into him again. Mac kissed Thomas’s forehead. “Let’s hope you got more of your mama in you than that scumbag, buddy.”

“Mam.”

Mac stared at him, breathless. “Ma-ma?”

“Mammmmmm.”

Mac grinned at the baby. “We’re getting closer.”

“Looks like it’s going to rain,” Mac said Thursday morning. “Let’s take the truck. You can drive.”

“I can’t drive your new truck!”

“It’s
our
new truck, and yes, you can. You do have a driver’s license, don’t you?”

She nodded. “But I haven’t driven in ages, and the truck is so new and perfect.”

Mac laughed at her distress. “It’s yours to use whenever you need it. In fact. . .” He rummaged around in his backpack and produced a set of keys. “Your own keys. I meant to give them to you before now.”

Maddie eyed the keys with trepidation as she reached out to take them. “All right,” she said with a sigh, “but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Before we go, Thomas and I have something we want to show you.” Mac picked up the baby from his mat on the floor. “You ready, buddy?”

“Ayeyayyayay.”

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Mac pointed to Maddie. “Who’s that? What’s her name?”

Thomas looked from one of them to the other.

In Thomas’s ear, he whispered, “Mama.” They’d had a breakthrough that morning. Mac prayed the baby would do it again.

“Mama,” Thomas said, clear as day.

Maddie gasped. “Oh my God!” Tears sprang to her eyes. “Did he just say. . .
Oh my God!
”

“Mama,” Thomas said again.

Maddie burst into tears and reached for the baby, hugging him close to her. “I can’t believe it! Where did that come from?”

“We’ve been practicing,” Mac said, overwhelmed by her reaction.

“I just can’t believe it.”
 

Thomas ran a chubby hand over the tears on her face. “Mama.”

“Yes, baby.” She hugged him tight. “I’m your mama. Who’s that crazy guy?” She pointed to Mac.

“Dada.”

Mac’s mouth fell open. “I swear I didn’t teach him that.”

She laughed through her tears. “He seems to have come to that conclusion all on his own.” Maddie reached for Mac to bring him into their hug. “That was the best surprise ever. Thank you.”

“It was all Thomas.”

“With a little help from his dada.”

After they dropped Thomas off with Tiffany, Maddie drove painfully slow and made a full and complete stop at every intersection on the way to North Harbor.

“At this rate, we should get there by next Tuesday,” Mac muttered.

“Be quiet. I’m concentrating.” When they finally arrived, Maddie released a long sigh of relief. “That was stressful.”

“You’ll get used to it.”

“Whatever you say.”

He kissed her and sent her on her way to the hotel.
 

As she worked her way through her list of rooms, Maddie thought about the job offer from the Beachcomber and how it would make her life—and Thomas’s—much easier. She was on her last room when Daisy came rushing in, clutching the
Gansett Gazette
.