Blackout After Dark (Gansett Island #21) - Marie Force Page 0,105
gave him pleasure to see her with the kids. She’d told him how much she’d missed with her daughters because she’d had to work so much to support them after her jackass husband left. It also gave him pleasure to know that because of his years of house flipping, she’d never have to work another day in her life. She could devote herself to her daughters and their seven grandchildren, with an eighth one on the way.
He pushed off the doorway and went to join her on the sofa, taking pains not to jostle the baby. For a guy who’d never had kids of his own, Ned had become rather adept around babies and little ones.
“Have you heard anything?” Francine asked, her brows furrowed with worry.
“Big Mac talked ta Mac.” Ned kept his voice down so he wouldn’t disturb little Mac. “Emma Linda and Evelyn Francine were born on the chopper.”
“Oh my Lord! Are they all right?”
“The babies are small but healthy, and they’re keeping ’em in the NICU fer at least forty-eight hours to keep an eye on ’em.”
“And Maddie?”
“Mac said she lost some blood durin’ the delivery, so they’re givin’ her a transfusion. But otherwise, she’s fine.”
“Thank goodness,” she said, exhaling a deep sigh of relief.
Ned pulled out his phone to show her the photos Mac had sent. “This beauty is our Emma, and this little doll is Evelyn, named in part for her Grandma Francine.”
“It’s so sweet that they did that,” Francine said, looking a little misty. “My mother’s name was Evelyn.”
“I remember that, and Linda’s mother was Emma.”
“They did good.”
“Sure did, and it’s such a relief ta have it done and over.”
“You said it. Hopefully, we only have to go through this one more time.”
“Hope so, ’cause it’s awful tough on the grandparents.”
“That’s for sure. You’re the best grandpa ever. The kids are so lucky to have you.”
She twisted him up in knots when she said things like that. “I’m the lucky one ta have this amazin’ family at my age.”
“And the best part is we get all the fun and none of the work.”
“That’s right,” he said, chuckling. “We’re still gonna keep tryin’ ta have one of our own, though, right?”
She giggled as her face turned bright red, the way it always did when he said things like that. He loved to make his pretty redhead blush. “Stop it.”
“Never.” He’d waited a lifetime for her and their family, and he planned to enjoy every second with them.
Chapter 39
“I’ve been thinking,” Frank said as he twirled his fiancée, Betsy, around on the dance floor.
“About?”
Frank looked down at her, marveling as he did every day about how lucky he was to have found her after so many years alone since he lost his young wife, Joann, to cancer. “About you and me and making some plans.”
“What kind of plans?”
“The kind where we get to spend forever together.”
“I thought we’d already made those plans.”
“I’m talking about making it official and tying the knot. What do you think?” He’d surprised her over breakfast one morning last spring with a ring and a proposal that’d made her cry. Since then, they’d had a busy summer and hadn’t given much thought to a wedding.
“I think that’s a fine idea. With all the weddings you preside over, it’s probably time you got one of your own.”
“My brother Mac has offered to get internet ordained so he can preside over our wedding when we’re ready.”
“Of course he has,” she said, laughing. “He’ll do a great job.”
“I told him he can only marry me and you. I don’t need him cutting into my gig.”
“No one can replace you, Your Honor. When are you thinking to have this so-called wedding of ours?”
“That depends on what kind of shindig my bride wants.”
“Small and simple works for me.”
“That’d work for me, too, except there’s nothing small or simple about the McCarthy family.”
“True. What do you propose?”
“What do you think about late October at the Wayfarer? The season will be over, the tourists will be gone, and we’ll have the place to ourselves again.”
“You mean this October?”
“Yep. I don’t want to wait another year to marry you, Betsy Jacobson. It won’t take much to pull it off for this October.”
“That’s like two months from now.”
“Right, and all you need to do is buy a sexy dress and show up on time. I’ll talk to Nikki and figure out the rest.”
Before she could respond to that, a collective shout erupted from the other guests.