Chapter Twelve
“I CAN’T BELIEVE MAGGIE agreed that easily.” Pru stared at the laptop, as if her sister was going to put through another Skype call to say she’d changed her mind. She’d gone into the family meeting prepared for a fight and instead she’d gotten full support.
Athena spoke from the laptop, where she’d yet to sign off the call. “She’s still so thrown by your engagement, I think she’s happy to see evidence that you’re still sane. Business makes sense to her, so don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”
As Pru absorbed the reminder of her recklessness, Kennedy wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “The spa is a great idea, and the business plan supports that. After all the work we put into that thing the last two weeks, I’d have been shocked if she said anything but yes.”
“It didn’t hurt that Porter is basically volunteering himself and whichever ones of us he can corral as free labor on his days off to get started on what can be done without a full crew,” Xander added, giving Porter the side eye.
Porter just grinned. “C’mon, Xan, when was the last time we swung a hammer together?”
“Without being paid for it? That would be the old treehouse, when we were thirteen. Building stuff is your first love, not mine.”
“I’m sure your wife will see that you’re fairly compensated for the time.” Porter punctuated the statement with an eyebrow waggle.
“Teenager present!” Pru warned.
“It’s cute how you think that should bother me,” Ari said.
Xander scrubbed a hand over his face. “God save us when you start dating.”
“That won’t be until she’s thirty,” Flynn insisted. He said it so easily, as if there was no question he’d be here when Ari turned thirty.
Hugging the idea of it to her heart, Pru declared, “I’m on board with this plan.” She already had so many things to worry about with acquiring a teenager. Adding dating to the mix just seemed like borrowing trouble.
Ari made a big, dramatic show of rolling her eyes, but Pru caught the smile. She liked being the center of everyone’s attention. At least there was no question that she was loved.
“Do you have your stuff packed?” Kennedy asked her.
“Already in the foyer.”
“Then let’s roll. There’s a pizza at the tavern with our name on it.”
“Pizza is an entirely appropriate celebration for such a momentous occasion as opening a spa,” Flynn declared. “Particularly in lieu of an adult beverage. Raise a slice for me.”
“We just had supper two hours ago,” Pru protested.
“That was supper. This is dinner,” Ari explained, grabbing the last clementine from the bowl on the counter. “Did you miss the part where I turned into a hobbit this summer?”
“A hobbit who’s been eating her body weight in clementines.”
Ari shrugged and popped a wedge of fruit into her mouth. “At least I won’t get scurvy.”
“That you won’t. Have fun at your sleepover.”
“I’m gonna trounce Kennedy at Killer Bunnies.”
Kennedy went brows up. “Should I be afraid?”
“Beware the Cyberbunny,” Flynn intoned. Killer Bunnies was another of Ari’s favorite board games that she’d introduced Flynn to through a sound thrashing.
“Noted. Come on Xander. Let’s roll.”
In a noisy knot, they all headed for the front door. Ari paused to give Flynn a tight hug. After an instant of hesitation, he squeezed her back, an expression of stunned pleasure on his face that had Pru’s heart melting. He stroked a hand over Ari’s ponytail. “Have fun, cailín beag.”
“Oh, I will.” She moved to Pru, offering a fast, hard squeeze. “Night, Mom.”
Pru’s heart stumbled. “Night, baby.”
Ari scooped up her backpack, and on a wink whispered, “Enjoy the empty house. I’m sure you’ll find an appropriate means of celebrating.” Then she shut the door smartly behind her.
“Did she just…” Pru began.
“I do believe she did,” Flynn confirmed. “Don’t think about it too hard. Your head might explode.” He wrapped his arms around her. “And how are you feeling about that little display there, Mum?”
Pru sighed and snuggled in. “I need a minute. My heart’s rolled over to show its soft underbelly.”
Flynn rested his cheek on the top of her head. “Mine, too. She’s an incredibly appealing kid.”
“She likes having a big messy family around, as unconventional as this one may be.”
“It’s a great family. Even if Xander keeps giving me those ‘I have a badge and I will use it against you, if necessary’ looks.”
She pulled back to look up at him. “He’s not hassling you, is he?”
“No. He’s worried about the circumstances, which we all are. I don’t blame him for it. He knows me the least, so it’s natural he’d be concerned. I’d think less of him if he didn’t look out for you.”
“Xander’s never been easy with lies or secrets.” Neither had she. But in this case, the ends justified the means. “Either way, it seems like you and Kennedy are back on reasonable footing.”
“We’ve sorted things out. Enough about your family for now. We do, in fact, have an empty house and no guests expected until tomorrow. What do we want to do with it?”
A smile tugged at Pru’s mouth. “I expect you have some ideas.”
“It happens that I do. Go get on some shoes you can walk in and grab a couple of towels.”
She blinked. “Shoes? Towels?”
“We’ve no one to look after here, and it’s after dark. I think it’s high time we revisited Opal Springs and pick up where we were so rudely interrupted after Kennedy’s wedding.”
“Oh!” Heat sparked low in her belly. “Well, okay then.”
By the time she came back with the requested towels, he was waiting by the back door, a picnic basket and blanket in hand.
“You’ve thought this out.”
“I have. I’ve thought a lot of things out about tonight. C’mon.”
With that cryptic statement, he took her hand and they made their way by flashlight down the trail. Opal Springs was much as it had been more than a month before, except there was no echo of a party, no sign of other people who stood to interrupt. They were completely, wonderfully alone, with nothing but a symphony of crickets for company. Now that the sun was down, the heat of the day was fading.
Flynn spread out the blanket on the bank and opened the basket.
“Champagne?” Pru asked. “Are we celebrating something?”
“I hope we will be.”
What does that mean? she wondered.
Instead of opening it immediately, he nestled the bottle in a notch of the rocks, submerged in the cool water, setting a pair of glasses on the bank above. Then he pulled off his shirt and Pru was distracted from anything else but the way his bare chest gleamed in the moonlight. A dusting of dark hair narrowed to a trail that disappeared into the waistband of the jeans he’d already unbuttoned. She itched to touch, to feel the warmth of his skin beneath her palms, against her own bare flesh.
Flynn caught her looking and grinned. “You’re looking at me like I’m an ice cream sundae on the hottest day of summer.”
“Well, now you’re just making me think about licking chocolate sauce off your abs.”
“We’ll add it to the list.”
Pru reached for her own shirt, tugging it up and off. “We have a list?”
“To be sure. I’ve been adding to it by the day. But you started it here, that night of Kennedy’s wedding, with the invitation to go skinny dipping. Why was that?”
“Here in particular or with you?”
“Well, I hope it was with me because you couldn’t resist my roguish charm.” As he spoke, Flynn shucked his jeans and Pru got a very clear view of his…charm.
“Um.” What were they talking about?
He laughed and jumped into the water. A moment later, he surfaced, black hair slicked back like a seal. “So, really, why skinny dipping?”
“Oh.” She stripped out of the rest of her own clothes. “Because I’d never done it before. Never even thought of doing it. It always seemed reckless, and I don’t do reckless. I don’t know when that started to bother me.”
She leapt, splashing into the spring and losing her breath. Compared to the warm night air, the water closing over her head was one step above frigid. She broke the surface on a gasp. “Holy crap, this is so much colder at night!”
Flynn swam the few feet over and snagged her around the waist, hauling her back against his body. “So, you thought you’d be a little reckless. And how does it feel now?”
Her back pressed to his chest, and his hands splayed across her belly, holding her in place and relieving her of the need to do much more than kick a little to stay afloat. She tipped her head back against his shoulder, looking past the canopy of trees up to the star-studded sky. “It feels…decadent. And a little wicked.”
He pressed a kiss to her ear and slid one hand a little further south. “I think we can do better than a little wicked.”
“I’m counting on it.” She wiggled a little, trying to urge his hand lower.
“But first—” Flynn spun her around in his arms, settling his hands at the small of her back. “—there are things I need to say.”
“You sound awfully serious.” Pru didn’t know what to make of that and resisted the urge to draw back. He wouldn’t wait until she was naked and aroused to drop bad news.
“We got into this because we didn’t feel we had a choice.”
She went stiff, but he held her tight when she would’ve pulled away.
“We’ve spent all this time worrying about the lies and the consequences. But the truth is, other than the when and how we met, I haven’t lied about anything. I haven’t regretted a single moment I’ve spent with you.” He grabbed her left hand and lifted it from the water, bringing it to his lips to kiss the ring he’d put there. “When I gave you this ring, I asked if you’d wear it and take what comes, with me by your side, partners ’til the end. We had some hazy notion of an end date, sometime after the threat to the adoption was past. But things have changed.”
Pru’s chest went tight with some strange mix of anxiety and anticipation. “They have?”
He nodded, more serious than she’d ever seen him. “They have. I’m in love with you.”
The admission stole her breath, had her hands digging into his shoulders.
“I think I was more than half there when I bought this ring. I want to stay, not just for cover, but for real. I want to make a family with you and Ari. And I want to ask you again, if you’ll keep wearing my ring and take what comes, with me by your side, partners ’til death do we part? Will you marry me, Pru?”
Her heart was going to beat straight out of her chest. Emotion lodged a hard fist in her throat. She wanted what he offered. Wanted it with a bone-deep desperation she’d never known. And yet…“What about your travels? Your music? The whole vagabond lifestyle? I can’t do that. I’m tied here.”
“My music’s a part of me, and I’ll play no matter where I am. As to the rest, I left home as a boy, and I’ve had my adventures, seen much of the world. I’m a man grown now, and I want home. For me, that’s you. And you’re here, so I want to stay. Will you have me?”
I want to stay. The four most beautiful words she’d ever heard. The words no one else had ever given her.
Eyes brimming, she framed his face. “I could never ask you to stay. You had to choose it on your own.”
He pressed his brow to hers. “I did. I do. I choose you.”
You’re here, so I want to stay. I choose you.
Finally. After all these years, all this time and effort taking care of everyone else, he was the one taking care of her. And she could let him because he’d chosen her. He loved her enough to stay. “I love you. God, how I love you.”
“Is that a yes?”
Pru laughed through the sheen of tears. “Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you.”
“Then I’d say now we can celebrate.”
~*~
After nearly fifteen years of avoiding anything resembling routine, Flynn found himself settling into one with an ease he wouldn’t have imagined. Guests came and went, and he didn’t feel a flicker of the envy that had plagued him as a child. He enjoyed meeting and chatting with each one, and finding a way to personalize their visit. Most swore they’d come back, and that gave him a sense of pride he hadn’t felt working his parents’ B and B. Here he was contributing to what Pru and her sisters were building, making it grow and thrive. And he was putting down roots for the first time in his adult life, twined around the woman he loved and the girl who’d already become a daughter in his heart. Life was good, and he could almost forget the threat hanging over their heads.
Almost.
Then Lydia Coogan called, requesting a meeting with him and Pru, and all his newly engaged bliss was eradicated in a twist of anxiety. This woman could destroy everything.
“What do you suppose she wants?” Flynn asked.
“She said she needed some clarification on a few things in your application.” Pru laid a hand on his arm. “I’m sure it’s fine. We went back and forth with Mae a few times, getting all the details right, and she’d known us most of our lives. It’s not surprising she needs some more information.”
“What if we’re asked to produce documentation of our relationship? Emails or whatever?”
“I don’t think they can do that. They aren’t immigration.” But now she looked as worried as he felt.
Immigration. There was another bridge they’d have to cross. But one thing at a time.
Flynn slipped his arms around her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to add to your stress. I’m just nervy is all.”
She burrowed in. “I’m ready for all of this to be settled, so it’s not hanging over our heads.”
“Your mouth to God’s ear. Where’s Ari?”
“Upstairs trying on every article of clothing she owns, trying to decide on a first day of school outfit. I can’t believe summer’s nearly over.”
“You’ve had lots of changes.”
“This year has been…crazy. I lost my mother, got Kennedy back, gained a daughter, started a new business, and found you. I barely recognize my life anymore.”
Flynn laced his fingers at her back. “A lot of good in there, though.”
“Yeah.” She lifted her head. “I wish my mother could’ve met you.”
It wasn’t lost on Flynn that had Joan still been alive, he might never have stuck around long enough to get here. Would Pru have made that first move without the impending adoption hanging over her head? Would he have even realized what he was missing? “I wish I could’ve met her. I heard so many stories about her over the years. Kennedy loved her very much.”
“We all did. She had the biggest heart. Nobody loved like she did.”
He stroked a hand through her hair. “I’d say the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.”
Her lips curved. The knock on the door wiped the smile right off her face. “Oh sure, now she knocks,” Pru muttered.
“Friendly, professional,” Flynn murmured. “We’ve got this.” He hoped he was right.
Pru had a welcoming smile pasted on as she opened the door. “Miss Coogan. Welcome. Please come in.”
As before, Lydia Coogan was dressed in business attire, the briefcase slung over her shoulder. Her no nonsense shoes tapped an impatient rhythm as she strode inside.
“Can I offer you some coffee? A glass of tea?”
“No.” After an absurdly long pause, she added. “Thank you.”
Pru’s smile flickered. “All right then. Please come through to the family parlor. We won’t be disturbed there.”
The woman perched on the edge of one of the chairs, back ramrod straight. Flynn and Pru sat across from her on the sofa. There’d be no relaxing during this meeting, and maybe there shouldn’t be. This woman had set herself up as enemy from day one. He reached automatically for Pru’s hand, feeling a matching tension coiling through her.
“I’ll be brief,” Miss Coogan said.
Flynn doubted she knew how to be anything but.
She pulled a file out of the briefcase, flipping it open. “I’ve been checking your references, Mr. Bohannon. The six you provided all checked out, though all expressed their surprise at your involvement with Miss Reynolds.”
“As we said before, we kept our relationship quiet,” Flynn said.
Miss Coogan ignored that. “I’m sure you read in the paperwork, each of your references is then asked to provide an additional reference as part of the process. I’ve been working my way through those, which has taken some time, given the time difference between here and Ireland.”
Was he supposed to apologize for that?
She consulted something in the file. “Miss Reynolds, you arrived in Galway on May twenty-fifth, two years ago, correct?”
“Yes.”
“You and your sister Kennedy spent a day there, before traveling to Ennis, where you met Mr. Bohannon.”
“That’s correct.”
“Where did you meet him?”
“He was playing in a pub there.”
Miss Coogan’s gaze felt almost hostile as she flicked it from Pru back to the notes in her lap. “And do either of you happen to remember the name of that pub?”
“No. Callahan’s? Gallagher’s? One of those Irish surnames probably. I was there for two weeks, and I ate in a lot of pubs. I don’t remember that one in particular. Certainly not after all this time.”
“What about you, Mr. Bohannon?” Flynn wasn’t mistaking the harsh gleam in her eye as she stared him down.
“I’ve played in literally hundreds of pubs over my career. I could name half a dozen pubs I’ve played in Ennis over the years, but I couldn’t tell you which one I played that night.”
The woman nodded, as if that confirmed something. “Understandable. Since you weren’t in Ennis at all.”
Ice crawled up Flynn’s spine, and Pru’s hand flexed in his. “Excuse me?”
“You were not in Ennis at the time Pru and Kennedy Reynolds were going through. You weren’t even in Ireland. See, one of your references put me in touch with one Darcy O’Hara. He said if anyone knew anything about you being involved with a woman, it would be her.”
Oh fuck.
Pru frowned. “Who is Darcy O’Hara?”
But it was Lydia Coogan who answered. “One of his groupies, apparently. She followed him on the road for nearly a year, trailing him from venue to venue. During the period in question, she—and he—were in Paris, playing Corcoran’s Irish Pub. She emailed me very detailed notes on the itinerary, including pictures and plane tickets that prove that you could not possibly have crossed paths with Miss Reynolds on that trip.”
Pru opened her mouth, then closed it again.
Flynn felt the ice turn to sweat. “Darcy was more or less a stalker. She could have invented any number of things, and likely would once she heard I was getting married.”
“Perhaps she could. But she didn’t. You lied, Mr. Bohannon. Both of you lied.” She expanded her gimlet stare to include Pru. “And your sister and her husband are complicit.”
Pru’s face had gone white. “I can explain.”
Miss Coogan slammed the file shut and shoved it into her briefcase. “I don’t care, Miss Reynolds. I didn’t like this situation from the beginning. I don’t appreciate bending of the rules to accommodate people. The rules exist for a reason. But if you think I’m going to allow Ari Rosas to stay in your care, you have another thing coming. I’m pursing an injunction to have her removed from the home.”
“No! You can’t!” Pru was on her feet in a second.
The social worker slammed the briefcase shut. “I can and I will. Liars have no business raising a child. I don’t know what game you’re playing, but it will be over by the end of the week, I can assure you.”
“We’ll fight you on this,” Flynn snarled. He had no idea how, but there had to be something.
Coogan flashed a humorless smile. “Go ahead and try.”
Pru followed as the woman headed for the front door. “Miss Coogan, please. Just listen.”
“The time for listening is past. The time for truth is past. I suggest you start saying your goodbyes.”
The house shook as she shut the door behind her.