Love After Dark by Marie Force Read Free Book Online Page B

with their mom. We’re crazy about them.”
    “And vice versa,” Mac said. “They’re lucky to have you both, and they know it.”
    Grace Ryan came into the room, looking for him.
    Seamus got up to hug his friend.  
    “I’m so sorry about Lisa,” she said. “How’re you doing?”
    “Hanging in there and trying to help the boys, but it’s a tough thing, sweet Grace.”
    “It sure is. How can I help?”
    “I heard you brought brownies. That helps.”
    She smiled and kissed his cheek. “That’s the easy stuff. I’m here to help with the hard stuff, too.”
    “We could use some help picking songs and readings for the service. Lisa never got around to doing that.”
    “I’ll take care of it. I’ll get Maddie, Katie, Hope and Mallory to help me. We’ll make it lovely for her.”
    “I have no doubt it’ll be lovely in your hands.”
    “Stephanie wants to have everyone to the Bistro after,” Mac said. “She asked me to let you know to count on that.”
    Seamus had held it together for the boys’ sake all morning, but the generosity and support from their friends had him wrestling with his emotions. It had been a long time—he’d left his home in Ireland more than twenty years ago—since he’d felt so at home anywhere else. “Thank you. Thank you all so much.”

     
    Mac and Maddie spent a couple of hours with Seamus, Carolina and the boys. Mac and Shane even got the boys to go outside to toss a football around for a while, their puppy darting between their feet, making both boys laugh at his antics. But laughter had turned to tears when Kyle fell, skinned his knee and wailed for his mother.
    His heartbroken sobs would remain with Mac long after today.
    Maddie reached across the center console for his hand, and Mac took comfort in the gesture.  
    “Sort of puts some things into perspective, doesn’t it?” she asked after a long period of quiet.
    “Yeah. Not that our grief isn’t real and valid.” It had only been a few weeks since they’d lost their unborn child, and they were both still coming to terms with the loss.
    “At least we’re adults and know how to deal with it,” she said. “For the most part. Those poor babies will never understand this.”
    “Seamus and Carolina will help them through it.”
    “They won’t remember much about her.” Maddie wiped away a tear. “They’re too young. It kills me to know that if something happened to me today, Thomas and Hailey wouldn’t remember me.”
    “Don’t even say that.” The very thought of something happening to her was enough to send Mac into a full-on panic. “Please don’t even think it.”
    “This is a big reminder that we need to talk about these things, Mac. We were just recently off the island for a couple of days. What if something had happened to us? We need guardians for the kids. Hell, we need a will.”
    “I have a will. I leave everything to you.”
    “That’s nice to know, but what if we both die at the same time? What happens to our kids?”
    “Do we have to talk about this today when we’ve just come from the saddest thing I’ve seen in a really long time?”
    “No, but we do need to talk about it. I want to make an appointment with Dan to go over this stuff.”
    “Okay.”
    “We have to decide who’d get the kids if something happens to us.”
    “That’s easy. They’d go to my parents.”
    “What about my parents?”
    Mac glanced across at her, and the challenging expression on her face indicated this might not be as easy as he thought.  
    “You see? We need to have this conversation. What if your parents don’t want to raise their grandchildren?”
    “Of course they would. If they couldn’t, Janey and Joe could.”
    “Or Tiffany and Blaine.”
    “Are we going to fight about this?”
    “There’s a very good chance we will if you automatically assume they’re going to your family, as if mine doesn’t exist.”
    “Point taken. And you’re right. We do need to talk about it. Just not