Ultimate Cedar Cove Collection. Debbie Macomber

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СКАЧАТЬ His son had made some unusual requests over the past few months, but this was one of the strangest.

      “Sing. Remember how you used to sing to me when I was a kid?”

      As though Jack could forget. He’d sung to Eric when the boy was strapped to a hospital bed, incredibly weak from the devastation of his disease. The drugs had been experimental at the time, but they were Eric’s only chance to beat leukemia.

      “Just sing! We’re desperate.”

      Jack could hear the two baby boys wailing in the background and grinned. Glancing around to make sure no one was listening, he started humming a little ditty he’d learned as a boy. “Two Irishmen, two Irishmen…”

      The cries increased and Eric got back on the line. “You’re no help.”

      “What are you doing in town?” Jack demanded.

      “Shelly needed me.” Tedd and Todd, too, from the sound of it. “You have no idea how much work two babies can be.”

      “Shouldn’t you be in Reno?” His son had agonized over the decision about following through with the transfer to Nevada. As soon as his twin sons were born, Eric wanted to be with them and Shelly. He used some of his vacation time, and for two weeks he’d stayed at the apartment with Shelly and the babies, but he couldn’t delay starting work any longer. Now he flew back each weekend for two days. At Shelly’s insistence, the twins had gone through DNA testing, and what had been obvious to Jack the minute they were born was now official. Eric was the father.

      “Dad!” He shouted to be heard above the crying twins. “Are you still there?”

      “I’m here,” Jack assured him.

      “Do you think you could get Olivia to marry me?”

      “Just a minute, son. If anyone’s marrying Olivia, it’ll be me.”

      He smiled at Eric’s laughter. “So, you and Shelly have decided to get married?” he said.

      “Yeah,” Eric replied. “It’s about time, don’t you think?”

      “About ten months later than it should’ve been, but you didn’t ask my opinion.”

      “Shelly’s getting ready to move to Reno with me.”

      Jack hated the thought of being separated from his son yet again, hated the thought of missing out on his grandchildren, but he very much approved of Shelly. “So you’re going to take my grandsons away from me.”

      “You can visit anytime you want.”

      “Count on it,” Jack told him.

      They ended the conversation a few minutes later, after Jack agreed to ask Olivia about performing the ceremony for Eric and Shelly. Actually, he was grateful for such a good reason to see his favorite judge. They’d been spending a lot of time together lately, and that was a trend he wanted to continue.

      As soon as he could leave the office, he headed for Olivia’s house. He found her working in her rose garden in the backyard. She’d recently planted a row of bushes, which she pampered to a ludicrous degree— in his opinion, anyway. But then, he believed in plants that looked after themselves. “Like weeds?” she’d asked scornfully when he’d shared his gardening philosophy. Today she wore a large straw hat that shaded her eyes, a pair of faded jeans and a worn man’s shirt. Jack stopped to admire the view of her bent over the rose bushes.

      “I wish you’d spoil me as much as you do those roses of yours.”

      “Hush,” she chastised. “I’ve just planted these and they need my attention.”

      “So do I,” Jack complained.

      “Stick around and I’ll feed you dinner.”

      He grinned, glad of the invitation. His relationship with Olivia was complicated. If the twins hadn’t decided to make their entrance into the world when they did, he might have coaxed her into bed with him. But when he’d returned from the hospital, she’d had time to think, time to assess whether this was the right step for them. Her decision was that, yes, eventually it should and would happen—but unlike Jack, she wasn’t in a hurry.

      In the weeks since, he’d done his best to shower her with love, much as she did those fancy roses she’d planted.

      “I heard from Eric this afternoon,” he told her. “He asked if you’d be willing to marry him and Shelly.”

      “Of course.” Olivia reached for a large watering can and sprinkled the freshly fertilized earth. “Did he tell you when they’d like to do it?”

      “No, but that’s a minor detail, don’t you think?”

      “Seeing how long it’s taken him to get to this point, I can’t help agreeing.” She raised her hand to her face to brush away a stray hair and in the process smeared dirt across her cheek. Jack looked down to hide a smile.

      “There must be something in the air, because I heard from my son today, as well,” she said casually. “James and Selina are coming for a visit next month.”

      “That’s great. I look forward to meeting them.”

      “I can hardly wait to hold Isabella. Do you realize she’s going to be a year old this month? I swear I don’t know where the past year went. She barely knows me and Stan.”

      At the mention of her ex, Jack tensed. “I suppose Stan will want to see James.”

      “Of course!” She straightened, hands on her hips, and glared at him in a way that made him want to squirm. “Don’t tell me you’re having another jealous fit?”

      “Who, me?” he asked, but the fact was that he didn’t like the idea of Stan being anywhere near Olivia. He could read her ex-husband more easily than a first-grade primer, and he didn’t like what he saw. Stan Lockhart might be married to another woman, but he definitely had interests outside the house. Stan didn’t like Jack hanging around Olivia, either. Naturally she didn’t see it. Although he’d never asked, Jack had the feeling Stan had done everything he could to discourage the relationship.

      “What’s for dinner?” he asked, deciding to avoid the one subject that remained a sore spot.

      “I was thinking of making an Oriental chicken salad.”

      “That’s the one with the grapes and Chinese noodles I liked the last time?”

      “You’re easy to please,” she told him, smiling.

      How true that was. After years of scrounging on his own and eating far too many fast-food meals, Olivia’s cooking was a treat. Still, much as he enjoyed the food, it was Olivia he came to see, Olivia he longed to be with and Olivia he loved. He hadn’t actually told her how he felt. For a man who worked with words, Jack knew he was strangely inadequate at expressing his emotions. When it was a matter of political argument or moral persuasion, he could express his thoughts clearly and directly. But feelings…

      “You look preoccupied,” Olivia murmured, pulling off her gardening gloves.

      He СКАЧАТЬ