Island Promises: Hawaiian Holiday / Hawaiian Reunion / Hawaiian Retreat

They’d never been in love, though they tried to pretend otherwise through the frightening weeks she’d been on hospital bedrest, each moment tense and anxious, then the long weeks while their girls were in the neonatal ICU, and afterward, when their life had become a blur of medical appointments and tests.

Eventually, they couldn’t pretend anymore. By the time the girls were two and Grace had been diagnosed with prematurity-related cerebral palsy, both of them had realized they made better friends and coparents than husband and wife. Megan had always considered their divorce the very definition of amicable.

Friendly or not, Megan still didn’t feel she belonged at this wedding.

Grace’s medical needs were complicated, though, between her overnight gastric-tube feedings, her medications and her breathing treatments. Megan couldn’t put her on a plane and send her away with just anyone. While Nick and Cara were experienced enough to handle any complications, and Nick’s mother, Jean, was comfortable caring for her, all of them would be focused on the wedding, not on a needy seven-year-old girl.

The hard reality was that Grace couldn’t go to Kauai unless Megan went along to take care of her, and Sarah—sweet, loyal, loving Sarah—wouldn’t attend her father’s wedding unless her sister could go, too.

So here Megan was, swallowing her social awkwardness at feeling like an interloper and focusing instead on her genuine happiness that Nick had found someone as wonderful as Cara to be stepmother to her twins.

“We should have thought to help you through security,” Cara exclaimed. “Was it a nightmare?”

“Not too bad,” Megan lied.

“The good news is, the plane is on time. They should be boarding in twenty minutes or so. Let’s find you a place to sit. Looks like there’s room over by my brother. I’m so excited you finally have the chance to meet him. He’s fantastic. You’ll love him.”

Cara led them over to a row of chairs with a few empty seats on the end and a convenient spot to park Grace’s wheelchair. She could see a tall guy with dark hair, but she couldn’t see his face—he was turned away, speaking with an elderly woman she guessed was a grandmother.

“He can help you carry all this stuff onto the plane. Shane, this is Megan, Nick’s first wife, and these are their gorgeous daughters, Sarah and Grace. Girls, this is my brother Shane. I guess he’ll be your new step-uncle.”

Her brother turned around with a smile...and Megan’s stomach did a somersault.

It was him. Sexy ER Guy.

Oh. She only needed this to ratchet the fun factor into the stratosphere. She felt as if she’d just thrust her face into a hot, steamy sauna and her vague sense of awkwardness at being here for Nick’s wedding suddenly nosedived into excruciating embarrassment.

She saw startled recognition flash in his blue, blue eyes before he smoothly hid it.

“Hi, Megan. Nice to meet you,” he said. Oh, how could she have forgotten that delicious voice? It had been one of the first things she had been drawn to a month ago during their brief ER interaction.

“Um, hi,” she mumbled.

“Sit by me,” Grace demanded of her sister, and Sarah dutifully plopped onto the aisle seat next to the wheelchair, which only left the spot right next to Cara’s extremely sexy brother.

Despite the heat still burning through her cheeks, she stood frozen with indecision. Oh, could this day possibly get any worse?

Nick’s mother, her former mother-in-law, Jean, came over just then. She brushed her cheek to Megan’s before greeting her granddaughters. “Hello, my darlings!”

Since their grandmother was there, Megan seized on it as a ready excuse to escape for a moment. “I need to go talk to the gate attendants about stowing the wheelchair when we board. I’ll be right back,” she told the girls.

They barely heeded her, happy to be surrounded by people fussing over them. She walked quickly away, feeling Shane’s gaze on her retreating back.

The gate attendant had her fill out a claim ticket for the chair, which would be stowed in cargo during the flight and would be waiting for them when they made their connection in Los Angeles. To her vast relief, he also told her those with special needs would be boarding in only a few moments. At least she wouldn’t have long to endure the torture of sitting next to Cara’s brother, whom she had treated abominably.

With deep reluctance, she returned to her daughters and sat down beside him, aware of his heat and strength. What could she possibly say to him that would explain her actions of a month earlier? She didn’t know where to start.

She was further relieved when he spoke first. “Your daughters are adorable,” he said. “How old are they?”

“Seven,” she answered. Her voice came out a little on the ragged side, so she tried again. “They’re seven.”

“How long have you and Nick been divorced?” he asked in an undertone, after a careful look to make sure the girls were busy with a couple of coloring books their grandmother had brought along.

She wondered at the hard note in his voice. “Five years now—which, incidentally, is about three years longer than the marriage lasted. Just in case you were wondering or anything.”

He glanced between her and Nick, who was holding hands with Cara. Shane’s sister. Megan forced herself not to squirm. She had long ago accepted that she and Nick had tried as hard as they could to make a marriage work that never should have happened in the first place.

Still, right now she would rather be anywhere else on earth than waiting to board a plane for her ex-husband’s destination wedding—alongside an extraordinarily great-looking guy she was fiercely attracted to. Especially when she’d acted like a stupid, immature girl around him the first time they’d met.

“How’s the shoulder?” she asked. As much as she’d like to pretend they were strangers, it seemed pointless.

He rotated his left arm reflexively. “Good. I get a little twinge here and there, but it was only a through-and-through, like the ER docs said. I was back on the job just a few days later. I’ll have to be a little careful body surfing while we’re in Hawaii, but other than that, I’m good.”

“Did they ever catch the guy who shot you?”

“Yeah. He’s in custody now. He was only a stupid kid trying to earn a little street cred by shooting at a cop. I’m still not sure he meant to hit me.”

“I’m glad you’re okay.” She might as well say it, just come out and apologize and clear the air, but the gate attendant’s voice suddenly came over the loudspeaker, inviting those with special boarding needs to come forward.

She stood. “That’s us, girls,” she said.

“We get to go on first?” Sarah’s eyes widened, as if someone had just offered her a free puppy.

“Aren’t we lucky?” Megan said dryly. To her, boarding a plane early only meant more time sitting in one spot, waiting to be jostled by other passengers trying to stow their luggage.

She grabbed their bags and started pulling one while trying to push the wheelchair with her other hand.

“Let me help.” Before she could protest that she could handle it, Shane grabbed the bag from her and started tugging the other one.

She reminded herself to be grateful. One of the first things she’d learned when she had twins—one with special needs—was to take whatever help was offered, even when her pride bristled.

The girls handed their boarding passes to the agent with excited flourishes that made the woman smile.

“Do you need further assistance aboard?” she asked.

“No. Thank you.

“We’re going to have to leave the wheelchair here for them to stow,” Megan told Grace at the door to the aircraft. “Do you want me to carry you?”

“No. I can walk,” she insisted.

Despite the stress and turmoil of the day, she wanted to hug her brave, wonderful, independent daughter who had come so far. Grace stood up from her chair and moved with her careful, stiff-hipped gait down the aisle.

“Look for Row 14, and seats C, D and E,” she said to Grace.

“There’s a coincidence,” Shane said behind her. “I’m in Row 14 as well. Seat F.”

The jet had two aisles, with two seats by the window, four in the middle and two more across the other aisle. She and her daughters and Shane were assigned the middle seats.