“All of them,” he conceded with shocking candor. He looked at her with bemusement. “Why couldn’t I see that before?”
“Because you thought you were put into the legal world to defend the rights of all men who’d been mistreated by conniving women. You saw them through the prism of your own experience or, to be more precise, your dad’s.”
“Maybe,” he said, which amounted to a huge concession coming from him. “All I know is that for two weeks now, I’ve sat there listening and taking notes, all the while wondering why any woman would want to stay married to these men.” He met her gaze. “I think you’ve ruined my career.”
“Not that I necessarily think that would be a bad thing,” she said at once, “but I doubt it’s true. There are plenty of men who deserve to have someone like you fighting for them in court. Maybe you just need to be more discriminating about the cases you take.”
“I’m trying to make partner. The heavier my caseload, the better my chances.”
She halted him by putting a hand on his arm. “Is it worth it?” she asked. “I know making partner is like the Holy Grail or something, but what if you lose your soul in the process?”
Now Connor laughed. “Despite your low opinion of what I do, I’m not selling my soul to the devil.”
“If you say so,” she said, not entirely convinced.
“Seriously, Heather, I’ll be fine. I just had a rough couple of weeks. Seeing you and little Mick is just what I needed. You’ll ground me again.”
She wanted to believe she provided some kind of balance to his life, but she was one person, little Mick only a baby. They couldn’t be responsible for saving him from the gloomy aspects of the kind of law he’d chosen to practice. Only he could do that.
But from what she’d heard him say tonight, perhaps he was actually starting to do that.
CHAPTER 12
After rushing to get to Chesapeake Shores on Friday, Connor had deliberately made himself wait until Saturday evening to see Heather. He’d needed the time to think. Discovering that he was suddenly disenchanted with some aspects of his career had come as a shock to him. He suspected it would pass once he’d had a weekend filled with watching his parents make fools of themselves under the guise of having fallen in love all over again.
To his surprise, though, they actually seemed to be genuinely happy. He couldn’t deny the glow on his mother’s face or the light in his father’s eyes every time he caught a glimpse of Megan. And their teasing banter as they showed the stacks of photos they’d taken in Paris, tripping over each other’s words as they shared their honeymoon memories, was a revelation to him. He couldn’t recall a single time from his childhood when there had been so much rapport between his parents or so much laughter in their house.
There had to have been, of course. People didn’t stay married for nearly twenty years before divorcing without at least some joy to keep them hanging in for so long. Had Connor been too young when there’d been laughter, instead of tension, or had he blocked it out in his zeal to blame his mother for tearing the family apart?
He’d certainly managed to turn a blind eye to every single good time he and his mother had spent together. He grudgingly admitted that her recent gentle nudging had stirred a few of those happier memories. He’d have to ask Abby or Kevin, who were older, about the laughter one of these days. Of course, to ask would be to risk having the rest of his bitter memories of the past shattered.
As he sat off to one side, in place for the honeymoon reminiscing but not quite part of it, Carrie came over and snuggled up beside him.
“Hey, short stuff, what’s up with you?” he asked, studying his niece’s pensive expression.
“Caitlyn and me have been thinking,” she told him solemnly.
It was practically a given that those two thought in unison, Connor thought, restraining a smile. “Is that so? About what?”
“We really, really liked being in Mommy’s wedding to Trace. And we liked wearing the pretty red velvet dresses for Grandma Megan’s wedding to Grandpa Mick.”
“And you looked beautiful,” he assured her, having no idea where she was heading with this. But all women, even at nine, loved being told they were pretty. Of that he was sure.
She beamed at him. “You thought so?”
“Of course.”
She gave him a wistful look. “We’d like to do it again,” she said.
Connor was lost. “What? Wear pretty dresses? I’m sure you have a whole closet full of dresses that you can wear anytime. I know how much your mom and your grandmother like taking you shopping. And if you want to go someplace where you can dress up, maybe your mom will bring you and your sister up to Baltimore, and I’ll take you out someplace fancy for lunch. Or we can go to one of the hotels for afternoon tea. You can pretend you’re princesses.”
She shook her head fiercely. “No, silly. We don’t want to wear just any dresses. We like the kind for weddings.” She gave him a sly look. “Lunch would be good, too, or even tea, but weddings are the best.”
He stared at her blankly. “Why tell me?”
“Because we heard Mommy talking, and she says you and Heather should get married. So we think when you do, we ought to be in the wedding.” She regarded him hopefully. “What do you think? Will you ask Heather if it’s okay?”
“I think your mommy talks too much,” he said, scowling at his big sister across the room. Abby managed to pull off a totally innocent expression, as if she weren’t perfectly aware that Carrie had just put him on the hot
