She grinned. “I’m finished now,” she said, gesturing to her empty plate.
Kevin’s eggs and bacon and potatoes were beginning to congeal into a greasy mess. He eyed them with disgust. “I suppose I am, too.”
Outside the cafe, Gracie stood on tiptoe and brushed a kiss across his cheek. “Good luck.”
His gaze settled on her. “When I’ve taken care of this, you and I need to talk.”
“Isn’t that what we just did?”
“You talked. I listened. Now I have a few things I’d like to say. Where are you going to be?”
She regarded him with apparent uneasiness. “At the Victorian.”
He wondered just how uneasy she would be if she realized what he intended to talk about was marriage. He pressed a hard kiss against her lips. “See you soon.”
Her wariness clearly escalated. “Take your time.”
Kevin chuckled at her obvious attempt to put off whatever he had on his mind. “Gracie, you can dish it out, but you sure can’t take it.”
Her chin immediately tilted up a defiant notch. “I certainly can take whatever you intend to dish out, Kevin Patrick Daniels.”
“We’ll see, darlin’. We’ll see.”
Gracie hadn’t even had a full ten seconds to be relieved that things between Delia and Kevin were going to be smoothed over. Now, with this enigmatic promise of his to have a talk with her, all she could do was worry. She hadn’t liked the gleam in his eyes one little bit. There’d been an awful lot of speculation about marriage going on at the Beachside this morning. She certainly hoped Kevin hadn’t had anything to do with sparking the gossip or that he hadn’t been taking it to heart.
“Well, it’s about time you got here,” Helen announced, pouncing on her the instant Gracie climbed the steps to the Victorian a few minutes later. “We’ve got a lot to do.”
“There’s no need to panic. Ray Mason and his crew are back on the job this morning. I hear them hammering away. We can take a breather.”
“Forget the house,” Helen declared. “We have a wedding to plan.”
Gracie broke out in a cold sweat. “A wedding?” she repeated cautiously. “Whose?”
“Bobby Ray’s and Marianne’s, of course. Whose did you think?” Helen asked, then chuckled. “Were you afraid we were going to do a surprise event for you and Kevin?”
“Of course not,” she said defensively, then hastily improvised. “I was thinking of you and Max.”
That drew a frown. “Oh, when the time comes, if it ever does, I suspect we’ll just elope,” Helen said lightly. “Max probably won’t want to leave the hotel for more than a day or two.”
Something in her tone alerted Gracie that something had happened in Paris that she’d missed. “Trouble brewing?” she asked.
“Between Max and me? Heavens, no,” Helen said, a little too brightly.
She was obviously lying through her teeth.
“Into the kitchen,” Gracie ordered.
Helen actually did as she’d been told, another clue that something was seriously wrong.
“Sit.”
Helen sat.
Gracie poured them both cups of coffee from the pot that Helen had brewed. “Okay, what happened?”
“Nothing, really.” Helen grinned ruefully. “I’m being silly, I’m sure.”
“Helen, just tell me.”
“Okay, okay. It’s just that he seemed so distracted that whole time we were in Paris, like he couldn’t wait to get back to Cannes.”
Gracie chuckled. She couldn’t help it, even though it drew a scowl from Helen. “I’m sorry. It’s just that the trip to Paris was probably the most spontaneous thing Max Devereaux has ever done in his entire life. He had, what, maybe twenty-four hours notice that we were coming?”
“Less than that, actually.”
“Yet he put everything aside and raced to Paris.”
“Well, yes.”
“Helen, Max does not drop things and take a holiday. He plans every little detail. Even when he came here, he spent a whole week working out the logistics, making sure he had staff to cover for him while he was gone. You actually got him to do something totally impetuous.”
“Which he obviously regretted.”
“I don’t think he regretted being with you for a second,” Gracie reassured her. “I do think he worried about all the work he’d left on his desk. Old habits are hard to break. Give it time.”
Helen’s expression brightened. “Do you think so?”
“Yes. I think so. I can’t think of another person on earth who could have gotten him away from Cannes on a moment’s notice like that. Most women couldn’t even get Max to take an unscheduled coffee break.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
Helen preened. “I guess I’ll just have to practice my technique on him more often.”
“The more often, the better,” Gracie agreed.
“Good,” Helen said, obviously relieved and reenergized. “That’s settled then. Let’s get busy on the wedding. We don’t have much time. Bobby Ray insists he won’t wait a minute longer than Labor Day weekend.”
“That’s the weekend this place is supposed to open,” Gracie protested. “How can I manage both?”
“Think of it this way. You’ll be guaranteed a full house with all the wedding guests coming from out of town.”
“Ah, yes, the silver lining,” Gracie said. “I knew there had to be one.”
“There always is,” Helen agreed.
25
Kevin found Aunt Delia in the garden. Not that she was doing much weeding, though. She was kneeling by the bed of pink-and-purple petunias, her gloved hands idle, her gaze focused on some point in the distance. Her strawberry-blond hair, which still astounded him, was smushed by a wide-brimmed straw hat.
“Aunt Delia?” he said softly.
Her head snapped around. A tentative smile formed. “Kevin? I didn’t hear you come up. I wasn’t even sure you’d come back home from wherever you were.”
“I got back yesterday. Just now, though, you were lost in thought. Everything okay?”
She searched his face. “I’m not sure. Is it?”
He reached down and squeezed her shoulder. “Everything is fine,” he reassured her. “I’m sorry if I’ve worried you. I just needed some time to think. Your news took me completely by surprise. I couldn’t help thinking of how much my mother missed by never knowing the truth, how different things would have been for her if she
