Luke sighed. Unfortunately, there was nothing in Connor’s comment to justify Luke’s punching his fist through anything. He explained the entirety of the conversation he’d had with Moira the night before. “And then she threw me out,” he summed up.
“Oh, boy,” Connor murmured. “Been there, done that.”
“What?” Luke asked in bewilderment.
“Made an untimely proposal that got tossed right back in my face. You were away at school when Heather was in that awful accident, but I had this huge epiphany that day and realized I didn’t want to live my life without her. Unfortunately, after all the years I’d been protesting that marriage is nothing more than an unnecessary piece of paper, Heather didn’t buy my sudden conversion.”
“How’d you convince her you were ready to take that next step?” Luke asked, understanding at last what had gone so terribly wrong the night before. He’d changed his priorities on a dime and done it for all the wrong reasons, just as Moira had suggested before tossing him out of Gram’s cottage.
“Time and actions,” Connor said. “I waged a carefully calculated campaign to prove my sincerity to her. A few of those blew up in my face, too, like buying Driftwood Cottage for her.”
“But I thought she’d fallen in love with that house,” Luke said. “Wasn’t that why you bought it?”
Connor nodded. “And she accused me of buying it out from under her when she’d intended to buy it for herself. She wanted no part of it. Dad finally convinced her that she might as well participate in the remodeling or she’d wind up living in a house I’d renovated and it would be nothing like she’d imagined.”
Luke shook his head. “Women are a mysterious breed, aren’t they?”
“In my experience, they certainly are,” Connor said. “Did you at least declare your undying love when you were making this proposal last night?”
Luke winced. “Not exactly.”
Connor grinned. “Yeah, I blew that part, too. Women don’t seem to get that we mere mortal men sometimes have difficulty putting all the right words together. Personally, I think there ought to be a textbook available, or at least some kind of romance for dummies guidebook. I still blow things on a regular basis. Fortunately, Heather usually just rolls her eyes and patiently explains how I’ve gone so far off course. At least when she’s not freezing me out and waiting for me to figure it out for myself.”
Luke wasn’t entirely reassured to know that communication didn’t always improve just because two people had taken a walk down the aisle. Apparently, saying “I do” was the least of it. At least there was nothing unclear about those two words.
Connor gave him a commiserating look. “Do you really want to marry Moira?”
“I think so,” Luke said, then cringed at the lack of enthusiasm in his voice.
“No wonder she didn’t fall on her knees in gratitude if you sounded that enthusiastic last night,” Connor said with a shake of his head. “Look, if you’re not ready to get married, then you shouldn’t do it. Period.”
“I have this timetable,” Luke said.
Connor stared at him incredulously. “How do you envision that working? Were you going for a head count of women? So many dollars in the bank? What exactly?”
“It sounds ridiculous when you put it that way,” Luke said.
“Because it is ridiculous. Either you know in your heart that Moira is the one or you don’t. Which is it?”
Luke didn’t really have to think about it. “She’s the one,” he said with conviction. “I knew it the night we met.”
“Then maybe you need to consider scrapping that timetable of yours and grabbing her before she gets away, because if her mood earlier was any indication, she will go away, Luke.” He held Luke’s gaze, then added, “And once she’s gone, with all that physical and emotional distance between you, it’ll be that much harder to win her back.”
Luke sighed as Connor left him alone to ponder what a mess he’d made of everything.
He might have spent the entire afternoon in a funk if Dillon hadn’t called just then to let him know that they’d just returned home and he was taking Nell straight to the hospital.
“The hospital? Why?”
“She’s had a bit of a spell,” Dillon said, sounding shaken. “She fainted at the train station. She came around right away and wanted to continue on home, but I persuaded her she needs at least a night in the hospital to be checked out. Mick’s already alerting the others, but I need you to find Moira and let her know where I am.”
“I’ll tell her,” Luke promised. “And we’ll be there within the hour. Tell Gram I love her.”
“Will do,” Dillon promised.
“You’re okay?” he asked worriedly. The stress of watching Nell pass out couldn’t have been easy for Moira’s granddad.
“I’ll be a lot better once the doctors have confirmed that Nell is okay,” Dillon said. “I’ll see you soon.”
Luke hung up the phone, told Bryan to take over for him and headed to the gallery in search of Moira. But when he arrived, Megan told him she wasn’t there, and she wasn’t a hundred percent certain where she’d gone.
“Back to Gram’s?” he asked.
“Possibly.” She studied him curiously. “Is this about making things right with her?”
“No, it’s about Dillon and Gram. They’re at the hospital. I thought for sure Mick would have called you by now. Gram’s had a fainting spell.”
Megan muttered a surprisingly vehement curse. “I knew she was trying to do too much,
