Irresistible (Cloverleigh Farms #1)(14)

Despite being busy, he’d found time to fall in love with Stella Devine, the granddaughter of Mrs. Gardner next door. She’d come up from Detroit for a visit, Woods had taken one look at her and that was that. When he moved down to Detroit to be with her, the girls and I moved into the house. He and Stella were getting married at Cloverleigh in a few weeks. I was the best man.

Hopefully I wouldn’t jinx him.

“So when are you coming up?” I asked. “Am I supposed to be planning some kind of bachelor night?”

“No,” he said emphatically. “Neither Stella nor I want anything like that. I’d settle for a few beers somewhere. We’re coming up on the Wednesday before the wedding, and Thursday is the day Stella and her sisters are doing some kind of all-day girl thing, so maybe we can hang out that night.”

“Done,” I said. “My parents get in that day, and God knows I’ll need to escape the house. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Me too.” He lowered his voice. “All this wedding shit is driving me crazy. I’m trying to be interested and involved, but Jesus fuck.”

I laughed. “I can imagine.”

“And the cost—my God, we want to pay for everything ourselves, but I had no idea how expensive things are. And her sister Emme, who’s a wedding planner, has talked her into all these extras. It’s insanity. Stella has lost her mind, I swear.”

“Well, we knew that. She’s marrying you, isn’t she?”

He laughed. “Fuck off.”

“I’d better go. We’re getting a ton of snow tonight,” I told him. “The roads will probably be bad.”

“Yeah, we’re getting some here too, but not like you guys are up there. Can’t say I miss it.”

We hung up, and I packed it in for the night. Up at reception, I said goodbye to Frannie’s mom, who looked anxious.

“Oh, there you are,” she said, knotting her hands together. “I’ve been texting Frannie. It’s so bad out there, I don’t want her to drive in the dark. The roads will be icy.”

“I’ll bring her back, Daphne,” I assured her. “Don’t worry.”

“Okay.” She glanced over her shoulder. “I’d send John to come get her, but I worry that his eyesight isn’t great for night driving.”

“No problem. Really. My tires are good in the snow, and it’s a short ride.”

She smiled in relief. “Thanks, Mack. You have daughters, so you know how it is.”

“I do. Have a good night.”

But as I hurried out to the parking lot and impatiently brushed off my car, I realized it wasn’t only my daughters I was so eager to get home and see—it was her daughter too.





Mack





The blizzard was in full force. The roads were awful, and traffic crawled. Normally, the ride between my house and Cloverleigh was only about fifteen minutes, but today it took nearly two white-knuckled, curse-muttering hours. Not only did the snow and ice slow me down, but twice I had to pull over and help out other drivers. One lady had gotten herself stuck in a ditch, and some guy had spun out onto the shoulder trying to take a curve too quickly.

By the time I pulled into the garage at the back of the property where we lived, Frannie’s little Volkswagen was pretty well buried at the curb, and I was tense and irritated and starving.

But the moment I stepped through the back door, the smell took the edge off my mood. My stomach rumbled with anticipation as I inhaled.

“Daddy!” Felicity shouted, running over to me. “You’re home!” She wrapped her arms around my waist and squeezed.

I hugged her back without telling her to wait so I could take off my coat and boots and gloves, even though I was getting snow on the floor. Whenever I was late, the girls reacted this way, and I often wondered if part of it was worry I might not come home—if I’d abandon them the way their mother essentially had. “I’m home. Wow, it smells good in here.”

“We made chili.” Felicity looked up at me and gave me a smile. “And macaroni.”

“Macarons,” said Frannie from the stove with exaggerated French pronunciation. “And if you don’t stop calling them macaroni, I’m never coming over to make them again.”

From the way the girls all giggled at once, which was my favorite sound in the world, I got the feeling it was already some kind of joke between them. My mood lifted further. “Well, whatever it is, it smells so good my belly sounds like a bear.”

Felicity pressed her ear to my stomach. “It does. You’re right.” Then she looked over at Frannie. “Did you know my dad has hair on his belly?”

Frannie burst out laughing while I considered strangling my middle child. “Thanks, Mavis. Have I mentioned you have a goofy haircut yet today?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“Well, you do. Now let me get my boots and coat off so I can eat, okay?”

“Okay.”

I yanked off my boots and left them on the back hall rug next to four other pairs, tossed my gloves and hat on the little bench near the door, and hung up my coat. While I was out of sight, I ran my fingers through my hair, attempting to repair the damage done by wearing a hat for two hours.

When I stepped into the kitchen, Winnie was there wanting a hug. “Hi, Daddy.”