A Chesapeake Shores Christmas

“So, Dad, what’s going on between you and Connor?” Kevin asked point-blank, studying him intently.

“Who says there’s anything going on?” Mick replied defensively. “You saw the way he stormed out of the house. He’s not happy about your mother and me remarrying.”

“I know that, but when I spoke to him the other day and suggested he come down and go fishing today, he mumbled some kind of ridiculous excuse that didn’t make a bit of sense. I reminded him I needed his help to get the boat ready for the lighted boat parade the first weekend in December, and he blew that off, too.”

“Maybe he’s busy,” Mick suggested. “He’s working hard to make partner at the law firm, and he probably spends a lot of his spare time with that woman he’s been seeing.”

Kevin looked surprised. “You know about Heather?”

Mick brightened. “Is that her name?”

Kevin frowned at him. “You were just taking a stab in the dark, weren’t you, you sneaky old man? You had no idea he was dating anyone.”

“He’s a good-looking, successful young man. I never thought he was living the life of a monk.”

“But you didn’t know about any specific woman,” Kevin persisted.

“Nope,” Mick confirmed with a satisfied grin. “So, how serious is it?”

“Ask Connor.” Kevin’s expression turned sly. “Or aren’t the two of you speaking?”

“Now who’s resorting to guesswork?”

“I wouldn’t need to, if either one of you would give me a straight answer. Dad, if marrying Mom is going to come between you and Connor, maybe you should rethink it.”

“You’d have me put my life on hold because any one of you can’t be an adult and accept that I know exactly what I’m doing?” Mick asked incredulously.

“Look, Mom and I are getting along okay now, but I’ve had time to reconcile the perspective I used to have with the realities of what actually happened back then,” Kevin said, his tone reasonable. “Connor’s not had enough time, plus he’s even more hard-headed than you or I on our bad days. Why not have a spring wedding? Mom can walk along the pathway that’s lined with all those lilies of the valley she planted. It’ll be beautiful.”

“I am not waiting until spring just so your brother can make peace with this. If he knows he has that kind of power over the two of us, he’ll find some other way to force us to postpone that date. Years could go by while he manipulates the situation. In case you haven’t noticed, neither your mother or I are getting any younger.”

“I wouldn’t suggest you use Mom’s advancing age as an excuse for pressing ahead with a New Year’s Eve wedding,” Kevin said with a grin.

Mick scowled at him. “Of course not. Do you think I’m crazy?”

“Sometimes you do say things without thinking through the consequences,” Kevin said. “Something tells me that’s what happened with Connor.” He studied Mick intently. “Is that it, Dad? Did you back him into a corner?”

“We’ll work it out,” Mick said. “That’s what O’Briens do. We work things out.”

“Unless those things you’re talking about happen to be between you and Uncle Jeff or you and Uncle Thomas,” Kevin said knowingly. “How many years have the three of you been at odds? The only thing you and Thomas have managed to agree on is that Shanna and I belong together.”

“Whole different story,” Mick insisted. He heard the bell over the store’s front door ring, spotted Daisy Monroe coming inside with her pet poodle clutched in her arms and seized on the excuse. “You have a customer. Take care of her. I’m going home.”

The whole conversation with Kevin had left him more disgruntled than ever. He was in no mood to call Megan, but judging from the message she’d sent via Abby, he didn’t have a choice. Maybe he could bluster his way through it.

He walked down to Shore Road, found an unoccupied bench facing the bay where cell phone reception would be good, then placed the call.

“Meggie, my love, how are you?” he said exuberantly when she answered.

“I was better before you started avoiding me,” she said, her tone testy. “What’s going on, Mick? Don’t you dare lie to me and tell me it’s nothing.”

“Just a little glitch,” he claimed. “Nothing for you to worry about.”

“Mick O’Brien!”

“I’m telling you everything’s going to work out. Don’t you have that big show at the gallery this week? Tell me about that. Is everything coming together? I’m planning on flying up, you know.”

“Do not change the subject on me,” she said. “I want to know what’s going on. I’m not some outsider. Nor do I need to be protected from things.”

“Is this another of those partnership things you keep bringing up?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what it is,” she told him. “If there is anything going on with our family, then I need to be kept in the loop.”

Mick debated continuing with further evasiveness, but he could tell from her tone that she was losing patience. Sooner or later she’d learn the truth. She might as well hear it from him. At least he could put the best possible spin on it, assuming he could come up with one.

“I stopped by to see Connor the other day,” he admitted eventually. “After I dropped you at the airport, in fact.”

“And the two of you fought,” she guessed at once. “Oh, Mick, why couldn’t you just leave it alone? I warned you he needed more time.”

“With a wedding in a couple of months, time is exactly what we don’t have. I decided to move things along.”

“What happened?”

“I just told you. I went to see our son,” he said defensively.

“And?”

“I couldn’t make him see reason,” he admitted.

“In other words, he’s still opposed to our marriage.”

“You could say that.”

“Well, thank goodness Thanksgiving is right around the corner. We’ll all be together then. If we can get Connor to come for the whole holiday weekend, it’ll give me more time to get through to him. And you can use the time to apologize for whatever you said.”

“I don’t owe him an apology,” Mick said indignantly. “He’s the one who ought to be apologizing for trying to interfere in our plans. He told me about that ridiculous prenuptial agreement he wants us to sign. I told him I wasn’t interested.”

Megan fell silent. Mick was tempted to fill the void, but he knew perfectly well that the odds were he’d only make matters worse.

“Mick, how bad did things get between you and Connor?” Megan asked eventually, her voice filled with trepidation.

“He said some things,” Mick admitted. “I said some things. It might have gotten a little heated.”

Megan groaned. “I know what that means. It means it all got wildly out of hand.”

“It wasn’t all my fault,” he insisted.

“Maybe not, but it’s up to you to make it right,” she told him emphatically. “I mean it, Mick. Talk to Connor and settle this.”