An Invincible Summer (Wyndham Beach), Mariah Stewart [best classic novels TXT] 📗

the cleanup, they walked as a group back to the park for the fireworks. They carried blankets on which they sat clustered together, watching the lights in the sky, oohing and aahing at every display, laughing and covering their ears at the loudest booms.

The show ended, and they gathered their things and walked back to Cottage Street, still in a group, still clustered together.

Like a family, Maggie thought as she trailed behind, watching their interactions, listening to their teasing and their laughter. She saw Joe look around, then look behind until he saw her. Then he dropped back and fell in step with her.

“This was the best, Maggie. I don’t know how to thank you . . .” He draped an arm over her shoulders.

“Please.” She shook her head. “I want to thank you for . . .” Her words caught in her throat. “You’ve no idea what you’ve given me. I will never forget this day.”

“This is just the beginning, Maggie. We’re not going away. We’re here as long as you want us.”

“Of course I want you. You and Jamey and Lulu. Always.” She started to tear up. “So you and Grace seemed to hit it off.”

“I can’t believe I have a sister who collects the same books I do. And I’m sure you’re thrilled she’s staying in Wyndham Beach for a while and starting up her web company.”

Maggie was just about to ask She is? when a car parked in front of her house. Brett got out and stopped on the sidewalk when he saw them.

“Hey,” he called to them. “Enjoy the fireworks?”

“Never saw better,” Joe said.

“Come inside and grab something to eat.” Maggie took Brett’s arm, happy to walk between him and their son. Miracle. She heard the word as clearly as if it had been spoken but had no idea where it had come from. Great-Aunt Ida, maybe, she mused.

“What’s the joke?” Brett asked as the threesome climbed the steps.

“Just thinking about my great-aunt Ida,” she told him.

“Who was she?” Joe asked.

“A story for another day.” They went inside, Joe heading straight for the backyard, where everyone was waiting for Emma to serve her trifle.

In the kitchen, Maggie fixed Brett a plate of cold chicken and the rest of the potato salad.

“I’m sorry there’s not much else left,” she said. “This group was like a bunch of locusts. And there weren’t that many people here.”

“This is perfect. Thank you.” He ate a few bites. “So how was it, having everyone together? Any fights? Bloodshed?”

She shook her head. “As it turns out, we have a very well-mannered family.” She realized what she’d said, then tried to amend it. “You know what I mean. Group.”

“I liked family better. It is our family. Like the saying goes: yours, mine, and ours.”

“Jamey had a few rough moments.” She told him how the boy had disappeared and how she’d found him on the lifeguard stand. “He was afraid we were going to try to take the place of his grandparents. He was very close to them.”

“What did you tell him?” A few more bites and he’d finished his late dinner. He took the plate to the sink and rinsed it, then set it on the counter.

“I told him we would never do that. That we want our own place in his life.”

Brett reached for her and pulled her into his arms. “I do want a place in his life, and in Lulu’s.” He nuzzled the side of her neck. “And in yours, Maggie. I want to be a part of your life again.”

“You always have been,” she assured him. “Always will be.”

He kissed her, a long, deep kiss, the kind of kiss they used to share in the back seat of his car, and she smiled.

“What?” he asked. “Is there something funny about kissing me?”

“No one kisses like you, Brett. You’d think I’d have forgotten, after all these years, but I haven’t.” She leaned back and grinned. “For a minute there, I felt like we were back in that old Jeep you used to have.”

“I’ll get an old Jeep if it would make you happy. Who says you can’t relive your youth?” He’d started to kiss her again when the back door opened.

“Oh God. Stop. Get a room.” Grace started to laugh, then hastened to say, “No. No room. Forget I said that.”

Maggie laughed, especially when she realized Brett looked mildly embarrassed.

“Come on out and get dessert,” Grace told them as she went back outside. “Emma’s made the most amazing trifle. White chocolate, dark chocolate, and pureed raspberries. To. Die. For.”

“How could anyone resist?” Brett took Maggie’s hand, and they followed Grace as far as the back door, where he paused, looking out at the gathering.

“Did you ever dream a day like this would come?” Brett asked her.

Maggie shook her head. “I prayed I’d meet Joe someday, but I never dared pray you and I would find each other again. And this? No. Never. It’s beyond a dream.”

He stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her. “This is nice. It feels almost like we’re a normal couple.”

“Are you implying there’s something abnormal about us?” she teased.

“I just meant it doesn’t feel like we’ve been apart for forty years.”

“It’s more like thirty-six.”

“Still, that’s a long time. Lot of water went over that dam in thirty-six years. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact we’re here, we’re together again, and Joe’s with us. We have grandkids together.” He shook his head. “How did this happen?”

“Just lucky, I guess. Blessed.” She rested against him, and they swayed together slightly. “Back then, when we were young, this is exactly where I thought we’d be at this stage of our lives. Celebrating a big holiday in Wyndham Beach with our family and our friends.”

“It’s different from the way we thought it would be, but it can still be good, right?” There was just a tinge of worry in his voice.

“It can be very good.” She leaned into him. “It will be very good.”

“I like the sound