Family Reunion, Nancy Thayer [the kiss of deception read online .txt] 📗

away from Beck. She palmed a handful of sand and let it drizzle down her fingers.

“Ari, listen. I want you to come with me. I want to marry you. We don’t have time for a big wedding, but we can have a small one, whatever you want, and—”

Ari looked back at Beck. Enough light shone from the town, boats, and stars for her to see his face, his eyes. “Beck, are you sure? Marriage is huge. With your move, your new clients, marriage might be too much.”

“I think it will be damn fabulous,” Beck said with a grin. “I was always my best at a football scrimmage. Lots going on, plotting moves, kicking up our energy, and—”

“You think our marriage will be like a football scrimmage?”

“Yeah, maybe, just the first few months. We’ll have to find a place to live, not too far from B.U. so you can take courses. Find a good ob-gyn for you and a pediatric doctor for the baby. Plus, we’ll be dealing with so many relatives. Hen and Mom and Michelle will go crazy organizing baby showers.”

“But the baby—”

“The baby is mine. I will be the baby’s father. I could be, after all, if I’d slept with you on our first date.”

“I’m kind of stunned.” Ari was wide-eyed. “I didn’t know you could be so…impetuous.”

“You don’t know a lot of things about me. I don’t know a lot of things about you. But I know how I feel when I’m with you.”

Ari smiled. “How do you feel when you’re with me?”

“Like I’m right where I should be. Ari, this world is crazy, and I’m crazy about you. I want to be with you.”

“You sounded like Humphrey Bogart just then,” Ari said, joking to hide her emotions. She was afraid to believe this was real. ‘Kid, this world is a crazy place…’ I’m sorry, Beck, this is all so much. And I need to tell you something that’s happened…”

“Is it more important than the fact that I love you?” Beck asked.

Ari took a deep breath and let go of her fear. Happiness streamed through her. “Nothing is more important than that. I love you, too, Beck.”

Beck pulled her to him and kissed her for a long time. They kissed and kissed while the sand whispered as it shifted beneath them. They talked, about how soon they should get married, and if they married on the island, Hen could be the flower girl and have the best dress, and Michelle could be a bridesmaid because Ari’s best friend would be the maid of honor. They spoke of how they had to tell their families before they told their friends, and whether they wanted an apartment in Boston or a house in one of the nearby suburbs. As they talked, the stars grew brighter, and fewer boats passed, and the last car ferry blew its horn and slid into the harbor.

“We should go,” Beck said.

They stood up, brushing sand from their clothes.

“Come home with me,” Ari said. “Spend the night with me, Beck.”

“What about Eleanor?”

“Her house is big. Everyone else is on the second floor. We’ll sleep on the first floor in a room far away from theirs.”

“Let’s go.”

Because they had arrived separately, Beck drove his convertible behind Ari as she headed toward her grandmother’s house. They parked in her driveway, held hands, and crept into the house, to the bedroom at the far end, the one Eleanor had jokingly given Ari at the beginning of the summer.

“What did you want to tell me?” Beck said as they turned the covers down and slipped off their clothes.

“Nothing important,” Ari told him. “Just, when this house is sold, which will be soon, Gram is giving me three million dollars.”

“That’s nice,” Beck said, but he seemed not to have heard her, because he slid into bed and pulled Ari into his arms.

Twenty-Seven

For the last time, Eleanor’s family had gathered at the bluff house, this time to go through the house, choosing and marking what pieces of furniture or art or attic treasures they wanted to claim for themselves.

Eleanor had sat out on the deck during this process. She’d already chosen the furniture and other items she wanted in her new house on Fair Street, including the small unpainted wooden cradle that her mother, Eleanor, Alicia, Cliff, and Ari had slept in. She wanted to keep that for Ari’s baby, just as she had also packed several boxes of heirloom toys and baby clothes and taken them to her new home. She wanted those to give to Ari’s baby and she felt slightly confused and even guilty because she didn’t want to allow Cliff and Judith to have them for their child. Okay, maybe she’d give Judith and Cliff some. Maybe half. She very much liked Judith.

Eleanor’s family had left thirty minutes ago, thanking her for her generosity, hugging her, and reminding her of the days and times they would come to pick up their treasures. Alicia had cried at the realization that this was the last time she would be in the old island house, but Alicia could be dramatic…and, as always, complicated. At some point during the day, she had made a small calendar of the coming week, marking exactly what hours and what day each relative would return with a moving crew to haul out the larger pieces of furniture. Not surprisingly, she had earmarked the first day for herself.

Eleanor had had several sleepless nights wondering if she was doing the wrong thing. Now that Ari was going to give Eleanor a great-grandchild and Cliff and Judith were going to give her a new grandchild, Eleanor wondered if it wouldn’t be right to keep the house for these new children to enjoy. That thought had led her down the path of regrets: Had Phillip really wanted to spend time in the mountains? Had he felt pressured to spend his summers here? Had Eleanor been selfish and shortsighted?

Well, she couldn’t go back