“I think it will be the last time,” Heather told her with a sad sniff.
“And you’re unhappy about that?” Bridget said.
Heather nodded. “I’m absolutely certain it would be a huge mistake for us to marry now,” Heather said with a touch of her old spirit. “He doesn’t really want to get married.”
“But he asked. Isn’t that cause to celebrate?”
Heather shook her head. “You’re not hearing me. I turned him down—not just today but every time he’s asked since the accident.”
“But why would you do that?” Bridget asked, clearly mystified. “I know you love him.”
“He didn’t ask because he wants to be married,” Heather said. “He asked because he made some deal with God.”
To her shock, her mother smiled. “Did he now? To save your life, I imagine.”
Heather nodded. “That’s what he said.”
“Then he’s an honorable man, wanting to live up to his end of the bargain.”
“Of course he’s an honorable man,” Heather said impatiently. “There was never any doubt about that.”
“From where I sat, there was,” her mother said wryly.
Heather scowled at her. “This is so not the time for another lecture on your low opinion of Connor.”
Again, her mother’s lips curved into a smile. “I might have been wrong about him. Wouldn’t you enjoy rubbing that in my face from now till Kingdom come?”
“You’re not taking this seriously,” Heather accused. “He’s furious because I turned him down, and now I can’t even go home, because there’s no way I can manage on my own. I’ll be locked away in this hospital forever.”
Her mother actually laughed at that. “You always did have a flair for drama,” she teased. “If you want to go back to your apartment, I’ll come with you. I can stay on for a while longer.”
“I thought Dad was insisting you come back home,” Heather said, though she took heart from the unexpected offer. She wanted so badly to be out of this place and back to normal, or at least what passed for normal these days without Connor living under the same roof.
Her mother waved off the concern. “Your father can manage on his own for a while longer,” she declared, an oddly guilty expression on her face. “The truth is, I haven’t felt such a sense of freedom in years. Who knows? Maybe I’ll settle in Chesapeake Shores, too. It seems like a nice town.”
“Without Dad?” Heather asked, unable to hide her shock.
Her mother merely shrugged. “You never know. Maybe it’s time to shake things up.”
Heather brushed at the last of her tears as if to clear her vision, then stared at her mother. “Are you serious?”
Bridget hesitated, then admitted, “I might be. But I do know I intend to stay right here until you’re back on your feet and are able to manage on your own again.”
Though she was still reeling from her mother’s unexpected offer and the hint that she might make a permanent move, Heather seized on the prospect of an obvious solution to another of her problems. After all, she’d learned quilting from her mother. “Would you be willing to teach the quilting class at the shop for me, just for a few weeks?”
Her mother’s eyes immediately lit up. “I’d love it,” she said enthusiastically. “Megan took me by to see the shop and showed me some of the quilts you’ve made. You haven’t forgotten any of the lessons I taught you. In fact, your stitches are better than mine and you’re more creative than I ever dreamed of being. You’re willing to break the rules for your own designs. I never dared.”
“But without the basics I learned from you, I never would have risked trying my own designs,” Heather told her. “I’m so grateful to you for sharing your talent with me. And I would love it if you’d work with my class. They’re all really nice people. I think you’d enjoy them. Some are around my age, but there are a couple of older women, too.”
“I’ll be happy to do it, but I think you could teach it yourself, at least in another week or two,” Bridget said. “We could find a way to get you down the stairs.”
“Oh, I plan to be there,” Heather said. “But I wouldn’t mind a few of your lessons myself. It’ll be like a refresher course for me.”
“Then that’s settled,” Bridget said, looking pleased. “Now let’s talk about this latest proposal of Connor’s.”
“No,” Heather said, her good mood vanishing.
“Later, then,” her mother said a little too agreeably.
Something told Heather she was just going to lie in wait until Heather was at her most vulnerable before taking Connor’s side again. Who would have thought Bridget Donovan and Connor would ever take the same stance? It was one of the more ironic turn of events since the accident. And Heather had a feeling they both still had plenty to say.
* * *
Connor couldn’t bring himself to go anywhere near the hospital. In fact, even after he discovered a few days later that Heather had been released and had moved back into her apartment with her mother there to look after her and little Mick, he stayed away. So far he’d managed to cajole other people into picking up his son and bringing him over for his visits with his dad.
Though his caseload was already picking up with the kind of legal matters he wouldn’t have bothered with in Baltimore, there was still not enough work to distract Connor from the lousy mood he was in. He expected someone in the family to call him on it, but he hadn’t expected it to be go-with-the-flow Jess.
He was sitting in the kitchen at the house just after dawn, staring into his cup of coffee, when his younger sister walked in, scowled at him, poured herself some coffee, then sat across from him. It was obvious to someone who knew her well that she had something on her mind. Connor braced himself.
“This has to stop,” she said. “You have the whole
