LITMIR.BIZ

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to know. “Are you going to tell her about Connor?”

      “For all I know he’s blabbed to her himself,” he grumbled.

      “If he were speaking to her, he might have, but I doubt he broke silence to fill her in on this,” Abby said. “Dad, you need to fix this before Mom finds out. If she hears about you telling Connor to stay away from his own home, you know she’ll postpone the wedding until it’s resolved.”

      Mick grimaced. “That’s what I was trying to avoid when I went to see him. I wanted peace.”

      “And instead you’ve made it worse,” Nell said. “Mick, you’ve always had the tact of a bulldozer. And Connor’s more like you than anyone else in the family. You should have known better.”

      He scowled at the two women. “Are you going to sit here berating me, or are you going to help me straighten this out before Megan gets wind of it? Do either one of you actually have any helpful suggestions?”

      “You could start by calling Connor and apologizing. Tell him you didn’t mean it,” Abby suggested.

      “But I meant every word,” Mick argued stubbornly. “He’s the one who needs to change his attitude.”

      “You’re not going to win him over by banishing him,” Nell said. “That’s not a tactic to win anyone’s heart. All it tells him is that you’re choosing his mother over him.”

      “Well, what would you have me do?” he asked testily. “Cave in and tell him it’s just fine if he wants to do his best to ruin the wedding?”

      “Of course not,” Abby said. “But he needs to spend more time here, not less, and he and Mom need to be thrown together as much as possible. She’ll win him over. It may not happen on your timetable, but it will happen.”

      “I’m not postponing this wedding,” Mick insisted, his jaw set.

      “If Mom finds out about this, you may not have a choice,” Abby said realistically. “She’s determined that this family will be united and at peace before the ceremony takes place.”

      “Well, I can’t be expected to work miracles, now can I?” Mick grumbled and threw down his napkin.

      Nell put her hand on his. “No, but ‘tis the season of them. Perhaps there’s one waiting in the wings.”

      Mick’s faith was as strong as any man’s most of the time. Right this second, though, he doubted there was a miracle on tap that could possibly fix this mess he’d made.

      Megan knew there was something seriously wrong in Chesapeake Shores. Even if Mick hadn’t been clearly avoiding her, it was plain in Nell’s voice and in Abby’s. No matter how hard she’d tried, though, she hadn’t been able to get the truth out of either one of them.

      “I can’t get down there this weekend to see for myself,” she complained to Abby. “Keeping me in the dark is just making me imagine all sorts of things. Is it the baby? Has Bree been having problems with her pregnancy?”

      “Bree is fine,” Abby assured her. “Healthy as a horse, according to the doctor. She seems to have more energy than ever. She’s been getting ready for the children’s Christmas play at her theater. I went to a rehearsal the other night and the kids are absolutely precious, Mom. Wait till you see them.”

      “I’m sure they are,” Megan said distractedly. “What about Jess? Is she okay? The inn hasn’t suffered another financial setback, has it?”

      “Business at the inn is booming. Jess is doing a fantastic job. Bookings for the holidays are strong.”

      “Kevin and Shanna, they’re okay? Henry’s biological father isn’t making trouble about the adoption, is he?”

      “Mother, I can’t speak for every single person in Chesapeake Shores, but all of the O’Briens are just fine,” Abby said, apparently losing patience with Megan’s persistent, probing questions. “Now I need to go. I promised Carrie and Caitlyn I’d take them into town to see the decorations today. Santa’s going to be at Ethel’s, too. They’ve already put on their coats and gloves. I need to get them out of the house before they roast or burst with excitement.”

      “Well, if you happen to cross paths with your father, tell him that if I don’t hear from him by the end of the day, the wedding’s off,” she said, meaning it.

      Just because Abby had uttered a bunch of reassuring platitudes didn’t make Megan believe her. Being kept in the dark about something was unacceptable, and she knew without a doubt that Mick was somehow all mixed up in this pact of silence.

      “You don’t mean that,” Abby said, sounding dismayed.

      “Actually I do,” she said firmly. “I will not turn my life upside down to come back there, if this is the way I can expect to be treated. I feel like an outsider, instead of a member of this family. You’re all keeping secrets from me, and I want you to know I don’t like it.”

      “I’m not the one who needs to hear that,” Abby protested.

      “Well, of course you aren’t,” Megan said impatiently. “If I could get your father on the phone for two minutes, I’d tell him that myself. Since I can’t, you’ll just have to be the messenger.”

      “Mom, I really don’t want to get caught in the middle,” Abby said, a pleading note in her voice.

      “Oh, fiddlesticks. You’ve planted yourself in the middle for quite some time now. You should be used to the role.”

      Abby sighed. “I love you, Mom.”

      “And I love you. It’s my feelings for your father I’m starting to question. Give the girls huge hugs for me, okay?”

      “Will do,” Abby promised.

      Megan let her go, then hung up, even more frustrated than she’d been when she made the call. She looked up and found her boss regarding her worriedly.

      “Megan, are you absolutely certain that moving back to Chesapeake Shores and marrying Mick is what you want?” Phillip Margolin asked. “If Mick is already shutting you out, it seems to me that’s not a good sign.”

      She met his concerned gaze. “Right this second, I’m not sure about anything,” she admitted.

      “Then stay,” he urged. “You know you’re valued here. You’ve made a wonderful life for yourself in New York.”

      “I have,” she conceded. “But my family’s there. I don’t want to live the rest of my life apart from them.”

      “Even though Mick is clearly exasperating you?”

      She smiled. Only a lifelong confirmed bachelor could ask a question like that. “That’s what he does, but I can’t seem to make myself stop loving him just the same.”

      From the moment she’d told Phillip of her plans, he’d tried to be supportive, but it was plain he wasn’t above using this to keep her right where she was. Letting her go was going to disrupt the smooth running of his gallery. Still, his tone resigned, he asked, “Do you want to go down there now and find out for yourself what’s going on?”

      She considered the offer, then shook her head. “We have the opening next week. Whatever’s going on in Chesapeake Shores can wait until I go there for Thanksgiving.”

      “Are you certain? Will you be able to focus if you’re worrying about your family?”

      “I’ve always worried about my family,” she reminded him. “And I’ve never lost focus yet.”

      That didn’t mean the next two weeks wouldn’t be a struggle, but perhaps it was just as well not to be anywhere near Mick when he seemed intent on infuriating her.

      Mick sat at a table in the coffee area of Shanna’s bookstore, relieved to be around family who apparently had no idea about what was

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