Chapter Twenty-three
“It’s gonna be okay, Jag. Don’t you worry.”
Christian’s soft whisper pulled Andi from a surprisingly deep sleep. She didn’t open her eyes, though, or give away the fact that she’d awakened. This was like the old days of listening to a toddler’s babble through the monitor in the morning, and the memory warmed her.
“You did everything right. You know that, boy. That’s what you were trained to do, and you didn’t know that was my daddy. You stopped when I said the code word, too.”
Jag’s only response was a dog sigh and the soft thump of a tail.
Slowly turning her head, Andi sneaked one eyelid open to see the morning light peeking through the curtains she’d drawn last night, hoping Christian might sleep in. He sat up, Jag’s massive head resting in the nest of his crossed legs. The dog’s tail moved up and down, patting the bed with the same rhythm that Christian’s little hand stroked his black and tan flank.
“Mommy said Daddy had to go away again in a hurry, but you did the right thing, and then you stopped the bad guy. You did your job, Jaggerman. I’m proud of you.”
Andi bit her lip to keep from letting out a whimper of her own pride at her son. But she wanted to hear him talk, wanted this sneak peek of the innermost thoughts that he revealed only to his dog.
“I knew Liam would keep us safe.”
Her heart rolled around helplessly. He’d gone and fallen for Liam as hard as she had. And yet, she’d literally sat at that table and questioned him last night. Or questioned her own judgment.
How could she do that? Yes, she’d been knocked backward by the shock of Jeff being alive and all the terrible things he’d done. Yes, that had made her question every decision she’d ever made. And, yes, she was fragile but had to be strong for her son.
Yet the one constant in everything was Liam. Until he left her on the porch while she was trying to find the words to tell him not to pull that license.
So she’d stood outside and silently cried trying to tell herself that Christian needed her “one hundred percent” even though…that was how much she needed Liam.
“I love you, Jag.” Christian leaned over and planted a kiss on the dog’s head. “I hope I can keep you and Liam forever.”
But Liam was going to the town hall to pull the marriage license this morning. She let out a soft moan at the thought, and instantly, Jag’s head was up and Christian turned.
“Hey, bud,” she whispered, reaching her hand out. “How’d you sleep?”
He lifted a shoulder. “It’s a school day, Mom.”
“You don’t have to go to school today,” she said. “You can stay here at Waterford all day with Jag and me.”
“But I want to go to school, Mommy.”
“Oh.” She pushed up on her elbow. “Really?”
He nodded, looking back down at Jag.
“I thought you’d want to stay here with Jag, and we can talk about what happened with Daddy.”
He swallowed visibly and still didn’t answer, making Andi immediately sit up to reach for him. “Oh, honey, it’s going to be okay. I know that was awful yesterday, but I promise you—”
“I want to go to school,” he said. “I made a friend.”
She drew back at the quiet admission. “You did?”
“His name is Ryan, and he’s really nice and he has a dog, and we were thinking that after school one day, we could play and have both our dogs.”
The request was so…so mundane that it shouldn’t have sent a shot of joy through her, but it did. “Of course, Christian. You can do that.”
“His dog is named Tommy, and he’s a beagle.” Christian smiled. “He has a picture of him. Can I get a picture of Jag?”
“Yes, yes, of course.” She gave him a hug. “And if you want to go to school, you can.” Any threat to him was gone now, and she’d planned to keep him here only so he could heal, but it seemed he was on that road faster than she was. “Let’s get up right now and get ready, and I’ll take you to school.”
“With Liam?”
They had gone to school every day together, but that had been for their safety. An escort, a bodyguard, and a husband were no longer necessary.
Nice. Wonderful. Perfect, in fact, but not necessary.
She checked the clock. It was almost eight. Surely Liam was on his way to the town hall to end their “marriage” before the clock chimed nine bells on Bushrod Square.
“Liam might not be here for a while,” she said. “I’ll take you to school.” Since Liam had, in the midst of last night’s craziness, thought to ask Molly and Darcy to drive to Vestal Valley College and bring Andi’s car here.
“I want Liam to go, too,” Christian said, the tiniest whine in his voice. “He makes it fun.”
She gave him a playful sad face. “I’m not fun?”
“You’re funner when he’s around.”
Wasn’t that the truth? On a sigh, she threw the covers back. “Well, I’ll try to be funner when he’s not.” Since he wouldn’t be around anymore.
The thought punched her in the gut as she walked into the bathroom, making her close her eyes as it hit hard. Did she even want to go back to life before Liam?
She showered and dressed quickly, while Christian went downstairs for breakfast. When she got to the bottom of the steps, she heard him chattering in the kitchen.
“I don’t think your momma would let me do that, lad,” Gramma Finnie said in response to a question Andi had missed.
“What’s he asking you to do, Gramma Finnie?” Andi asked as she came into the kitchen to find the two of them sitting side by side at the counter, the older woman’s laptop open and Christian intently studying the screen.
“Can she put my picture on her blog?” he asked.
“Hmmm. I don’t know. I prefer to keep your face off the Internet, bud.” Andi peeked over Gramma Finnie’s shoulder as she got closer. “What’s the topic?”
“Oh, I’m blogging about that lovely memorable event we had here recently. I got some great pictures.”
“I’m in one, Mommy!”
Andi froze and inched back, still not having read the screen, but it wasn’t necessary. Finnie was going to blog about the wedding?
“Do you think that’s a good idea?” Andi asked. Gramma knew what transpired yesterday. Maybe she didn’t know Jeff had been arrested, and Andi sure wasn’t going to announce that now in front of Christian, but blogging about a fake wedding would be wrong.
“I think it’s a grand idea,” Gramma Finnie replied. “All those happy people celebrating a moment when life changed for the better. Hashtag joy and new beginnings!”
Andi stared at her, eyes widening with each word. “Christian, honey, can you run upstairs and get your backpack? It’s time to leave for school.”
“Okay.” He seemed a little torn over that, getting off the stool slowly. “Gramma Finnie, can I ask you a question?”
“Of course, but if your mom says you can’t be in my post, then—”
“Will you come to my school?”
She hooted softly. “Today? Now? I’m still in my dressing gown, lad.”
“No, in October. For Grandparents’ Day. My Grammie and Granddad came down from Boston last year, and they might come again, but lots of kids have two grandmas.”
October? Andi knew they’d be long past this pretend marriage by then. “Christian, I—”
“Oh, lad.” The old woman put her hand around his shoulders, cutting off Andi’s protests. “I think you ought to ask Liam’s father, too. I would be a great-grandmother.”
The Dogfather showing up on Grandparents’ Day? That would be…Andi closed her eyes. That would be amazing and impossible.
But Christian beamed. “You are a great grandmother,” he said. “I’d like you there, too.”
“God bless ya, child.” Gramma Finnie gave him a hug, pulling him into her bony bosom. “Now go get your stuff, or you’ll be late for school.”
As she nudged him away, Andi turned to get coffee, hoping to hide her emotional response to the exchange as Christian ran up the stairs, Jag on his heels.
“You don’t seem happy about this, lass,” Gramma Finnie said when they were alone.
Looking down at her hand as she reached for the coffee pot, Andi’s gaze fell on the rings she still wore. “Jeff was arrested last night,” she said quietly. “So…Liam and I don’t…” She exhaled. “It’s probably best if you don’t blog about the wedding that wasn’t.”
“Oh, I like that, The Wedding That Wasn’t. I’d use that for a title, but…” She got off the barstool and put her hand on Andi’s shoulder, slowly turning her around. “The big event I was talking about was our recent doggie graduation from obedience training. My readers suck that stuff up with a straw.”
“Oh.” Andi gave an embarrassed laugh. “I just assumed.” She shook her head. “Never mind.”
“But now I understand why Liam was moping around here like a mush-faced pug who chewed a hole in his favorite toy.”
She managed a smile, but then she realized what she was saying. “He was here already?”
“He stayed here last night.” She gestured toward the big sofa in the living room. “But he went out to the kennels early.”
“Then that means he hasn’t gone to…” She looked out the window toward the drive, her gaze landing on his big Ford F-250 at the far end of the driveway, a ridiculous surge of hope rolling through her. He was still here.
“He’s not moving fast,” Gramma Finnie said. “More like a man with a broken heart.”
Andi let out a little whimper. How many times would Andi break that heart? That heart that she…oh, yes, she loved him.
“I know, I know,” Gramma Finnie murmured, as if she could read Andi’s mind and heard that admission.
“You do?”
Next to her, Gramma Finnie slid a narrow arm around Andi’s waist. “The oldest of the Kilcannon clan suffers from a bit of a curse, ya see.”
Andi inched back, frowning. “A curse?”
“Oh, we Irish have curses.”
“What is it?”
Gramma Finnie bit her lip, her blue eyes twinkling. “Once they find their fated mate, they won’t settle for less. It’s why I worry about Daniel ever finding love again. But it was true of my Seamus who pursued me with a determination that would curl your hair. Same with Daniel and Annie. Now Liam.”
“Liam?”
“Oh, he’s loved you from the beginning and, I suspect, will love you to the end. That’s the curse.”
“It is?” Andi blinked at her, the words tumbling together, but the ones that mattered echoed in her head.
He’s loved you from the beginning…will love you to the end.
Just then, she caught sight of Liam crossing the yard, passing the dog training pen, moving with determination and not…a man with a broken heart. If anyone’s heart was broken, it was Andi’s.
She stared at him, a whirlwind of emotions swirling.
“What are you waiting for, lass?” Gramma Finnie asked.
“I’m not really sure,” she admitted on a breathy whisper. “I guess I want to be certain.”
Gramma Finnie gave an unladylike snort. “Certain you’re a fool if you let that lad go.”
She was so right.
“Do you think he’ll give me another chance?”
Gramma Finnie laughed so loud it drowned out the sound of Christian’s footsteps pounded on the stairs.
“I’m ready, Mommy!”
“So am I, Christian. So am I.” She gave Gramma Finnie an impulsive kiss on the cheek.
“Hashtag Wedding That Wasn’t,” Gramma quipped.
Andi pulled back and narrowed her eyes at the older woman. “Hashtag Wedding That Was.”
Gramma looked down and took Andi’s left hand, running her wrinkled finger over Andi’s. “That has a much better ring to it, don’t you think?”
“It most certainly does.”
* * *
Liam glanced in his side-view mirror, doing a double take at the sight of Andi and Christian running down the driveway toward his truck. Hitting the brakes, he put his arm on the open window frame and turned to get a better look at that wheat-colored hair flying in the wind and the little boy running just as fast next to her.
“Can you take us to school?” Christian called.
Liam opened his mouth to point out the fact that Andi’s car was right there, since maybe she’d forgotten, but he shut it fast when she mouthed, “Please?”
Was she coming, too? She didn’t need to be there when he went to the town hall to pull the marriage license, but…
“Sure.” He waited until they caught up, climbing out to open the heavy back door for Christian. “How you feeling today, big guy?” he asked.
“Good.”
Ah, the resilience of youth. Christian would be fine. He’d never be an extrovert, but that hadn’t hurt Liam.
“Gramma Finnie’s coming to Grandparents’ Day in October,” Christian announced.
“She is?” He probably did a lousy job of hiding the surprise in his voice.
“Even though she’s a great grandma.”
“In more ways than one,” Liam muttered, looking toward the front seat to see Andi already climbing in and getting situated. So, she was definitely coming along for the ride.
How the hell was he ever going to get over her?
All the way to Jackson Elementary, Andi kept the conversation light and breezy. No talk about the trauma in the square yesterday, which he understood. Christian chattered about Jag and Gramma Finnie and all about his new friend, Ryan. Somehow, Liam got roped into agreeing to have Ryan, his dog, Tommy, Christian, and Jag have a playdate at Waterford Farm later that week.
Andi seemed unfazed by that idea and, in fact, offered to talk to Ryan’s mother to make it happen.
Didn’t she realize they had to stop this now? The charade was over? Was it to ease Christian “away” so that he didn’t get hurt again? Fine. But big boys could hurt, too, as he’d realized during his fitful, miserable night on the couch.
“I’m going to go in and talk to the principal and his teacher,” Andi said as they pulled up to the school, and Liam had to decide whether to park or get in the car line, since he was now an expert at car-line navigation.
Fat lot of good that would do him in this lifetime.
“Okay. I’ll wait for you. And then…you want me to drop you off at work?”
She looked at him, silent. “I’ll only be a few minutes but I have to tell them what happened.”
She was more than a few, Liam noted, as he parked and watched the parade of parents and kids stream into school. He waited for the kick of longing for a life he’d always wanted to have, but it must have finally been drummed out of him by his last and final ride down the Andi Rivers Slippery Slope to Misery.
It wasn’t supposed to hurt this much, was it? But it did. That damn slope was a knife-edged slide that cut him right in half. Why the hell had he fallen so hard for her? Twice?
He closed his eyes and forced himself to think about Zelda. That dog needed him. She needed to be coaxed out of her shell and taught to trust. He didn’t know why or how, just that he could do it.
Great, Liam. You can make dogs love you, but not the one and only woman you ever really wanted.
In the mirror, he caught sight of Andi coming back, a lift to each step he already recognized as the way she walked when she was truly happy. He’d seen that tilt to her head and that irrepressible light in her eyes.
This must be the joy of having her ordeal behind her.
Before she got to the truck, he hopped out to round the front and open the passenger door for her.
“Thank you, Liam,” she said, then she grinned at him. “And if you tell me not to thank you…”
He nodded and barely smiled, fighting the ache that she was so happy and he was so far from happy that they spoke another language there.
“To work?” he asked when he got back in the truck.
“I thought you had an errand to run.”
He glanced at her while he pulled his seat belt back on. “I can do it alone.”
“I want to go.”
“You want to make sure I actually do it?” he asked with a dry laugh. “Because if I don’t—”
“I know what will happen if you don’t.” She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “We’d be legally married and need an annulment.”
“So, you want to be sure this is done right.” He pulled into traffic and headed toward the town hall near Bushrod Square, not looking at her, because it gutted him to see that the light in her eyes hadn’t diminished one bit. She was damn pleased about this. Sparkling, practically.
He parked in the small lot by town hall, climbed out of the truck, and slammed the door with a little more force than was necessary, hustling straight toward the wide stairs without waiting for her. He didn’t want to walk next to her as she bounded up the stairs to pull their license and end this union.
So he got ahead, moving much faster, aching to get this over with.
“Don’t.” She grabbed his arm.
“Sorry,” he mumbled. “I should have waited for you. But—”
“Don’t go in there.”
He turned and looked down at her, something in her plea hitting him hard. She was two steps below him, barely at his chest level.
“What did you say?” he asked.
“Don’t go in there.” Swallowing, she took one step, then another. Not his height, but at least on the same level. “I want to do something first.”
“Okay.” He scanned her face, looking for a clue, but all he saw was that damned light of joy in her eyes. “What is it?”
She glanced at the square. “Here’s what we need to do now,” she said, the tone in her voice almost sounding like she was reciting something.
He waited for her to continue, frowning a little.
“Come on. With me.” She took his hand and tugged him in the opposite direction.
“Where?”
“You’ll see.”
She pulled him along as they crossed the street, and she still had that little dance in her step. His feet were leaden, but he went along, curious and confused. In the square, she took him to the path, the very one they’d followed the night he walked her home from Bushrod’s a few months ago.
“We go to a place where we’ve never had anything but good memories,” she said, still with that cadence to her voice like she was repeating something.
Finally, they reached the middle of the square, near the gazebo and the statue of Thaddeus Bushrod. The very place they’d kissed a few months ago on a hot summer night. That was a good memory, except for the fact that she’d walked away from him.
How many times did that have to—
She spun and looked up. “I can’t remember everything you said, but I do remember the part about the bond. You said to establish a bond and show him that you love him completely.”
“What are you talking about?”
“What you told Christian about Jag. Remember?”
He blinked as it finally made sense. “Yeah,” he said slowly. “That’s how you show your dog everything is forgiven and all is good and you’re a team again.”
Nodding, she put her hands on his chest. “Does it work for people who need to be forgiven? Like me?”
For a long moment, he had a little trouble catching his breath, probably because his heart was ricocheting around his chest. “I guess it could.”
“Because you said if you do that, ‘he’ll love you back so hard you won’t believe it.’ Do you remember that part, Liam?”
He nodded, hating the hope that slithered up his spine, but there it was. Full-blown hope, the way he felt every time he climbed to the top of the Andi Rivers Slippery Slope of Misery. “I do remember.”
Reaching up, she slid her hands around his neck and threaded her fingers into his hair, sending heat flares down his back.
“Andi,” he whispered. “Is that what you want? For me to love you back so hard you won’t believe it?” Because he already did.
She pressed his neck harder. “This is where we started, Liam. That night this summer. It could have all been different if I had said, ‘Yes, I’ll date you, I’ll fall in love with you, I’ll have a relationship with you.’ Instead…”
“We ended up married.” He gave a dry laugh, wrapping his arms around her as that hope grabbed hold of his chest and squeezed. “And if we don’t go to the town hall before nine, we’re going to stay married.”
“I’m good with that. Really, really good.” She leaned into him, her eyes swimming with tears. “Let’s start this whole thing over from the very beginning, and we’ll take our time, and we’ll fall in love the proper way.”
“Andi, we’re already married.”
“Yeah.” She smiled. “So then we know the ending is happy.”
He let his head fall so that their foreheads touched, while the wonder of the moment rocked him.
As he lowered his head and kissed his wife, the town hall bells rang on the hour. With each chime, Liam knew the life he’d always wanted was about to start.