She looked from Luke to Moira and then to Dillon, where her gaze lingered. “Love and family are the only things that matter in the end,” she repeated quietly. “Jobs come and go. Careers come and go. Love is the one constant, the one thing that makes all the rest worthwhile.”
Luke knew then just how stupid and mule-headed he’d been with his determination to stick to a plan. As Gram had just said, plans were all well and good. Risks and unexpected twists were what kept life interesting.
Gram gave them both a hard look. “Have I gotten my point across?”
“I heard you, Gram,” Luke said.
“And it’s nothing I’ve not said and thought myself,” Moira confirmed, giving Luke a defiant look.
“Okay, then,” Gram said, looking pleased. “It’s time for the two of you to run along home. Mick will be back soon. I’m being discharged in an hour or two, and he can drive Dillon and me home. I’ll see you both there later.”
Luke nodded, then bent down to press another kiss to her forehead. “I’m glad to see you’re back in fighting form,” he said.
“And intend to stay that way,” she retorted with conviction.
Moira gave her a hug as well, then followed him from the room.
“We should stop for breakfast somewhere and talk,” Luke said as they left the hospital.
Moira shook her head. “I’d rather go straight home and straighten up the cottage,” she said, avoiding his gaze.
Luke frowned. “Moira, what she said made perfect sense. I get it. There’s a proposal still on the table. We need to discuss it.”
“I’ve turned it down,” she reminded him. “My reasons for that haven’t changed. An immigration snafu and a lecture from Nell may have given you some kind of change of heart, but you’ve said nothing to me to change my mind.”
“Which is why we need to talk,” he repeated impatiently.
She regarded him with the same sorrowful expression she’d worn the other night when she’d kicked him out of Gram’s cottage. “Not today, Luke. I’m exhausted. You must be, too.”
“This is more important than catching up on a few hours of missed sleep,” he argued.
She finally met his gaze. “Yes, it is, which is why you need to be giving it more than a few minutes’ thought. Whatever you say could change the course of both our lives. It’s too important to be tossed out impulsively, then regretted for years to come.”
Luke understood what she was saying and, thinking of Heather’s reaction to Connor’s sudden epiphany, he grasped why she wanted to be cautious. What he didn’t know was whether a few hours or even longer would give him enough time to come up with all the right words to prove that he was finally ready for the life she’d wanted all along.
Apparently, word had spread like wildfire along the O’Brien grapevine not only that Nell would be home by early afternoon, but that Moira had once more turned down Luke’s attempt to persuade her to marry him. How they knew about the latter was anybody’s guess. Luke himself might have sought commiseration from his cousins for all Moira knew.
What she did know was that first Laila and then Jess magically appeared at the cottage not fifteen minutes after her return from the hospital.
She’d barely settled Laila in the kitchen with a cup of tea when Jess arrived.
“Not that it’s not a joy to see you both,” she said, her tone wry, “but I’m wondering why exactly you’re here. It will be a while before Nell’s back.”
“It’s not Gram we’ve come to see,” Jess said. “We’ve come to try to talk some sense into you.”
“You turned down Luke’s proposal,” Laila said incredulously. “Not once, but twice. Who does that?”
Moira couldn’t help it—she laughed at the question. “You, of all people, would ask me that? How many times did Matthew try to persuade you to marry him before you said yes? I’ve heard the stories, so please don’t pretend otherwise.”
Jess chuckled. “She has a point, Laila.”
Moira whirled on her. “And you? It’s my understanding that Will jumped through hoops for years before you even agreed to a date with him.”
Laila flushed. “Unlike Jess, there were extenuating circumstances in my case,” she insisted defensively.
“And in mine,” Jess said, just as defensively.
Moira nodded. “There are quite a few in mine as well.”
“But you don’t have the luxury of waiting around,” Jess said. “Not if you expect to stay in Chesapeake Shores. Connor was very clear about that.”
“So Connor’s the blabbermouth who filled you in?” Moira asked.
Jess shrugged. “One of them. Mum’s worried about you, too.”
“Lovely to know my future is a hot topic among the O’Briens.”
“Your future and Luke’s,” Jess emphasized. “He’s one of us, so naturally we’re concerned with how this turns out. This is what O’Briens do.”
“Luke is the one who, up until a few days ago, wanted no part of marriage,” Moira reminded them.
Laila leveled a solemn look directly into her eyes. “But he’s always wanted you! That should count for something, don’t you think? Men don’t always know their own minds the way Matthew did with me or Will did with Jess.”
“Oh, yeah,” Jess confirmed. “They get all tangled up when marriage is mentioned, even when they’re crazy in love. If you went through our family one by one, there would be a lot of different variations about what it took for the men to make a commitment, but the one thing never in doubt was that they loved the women.”
She glanced to Laila, who nodded confirmation.
“Sometimes it took a gentle push to get them to say the words,” Jess continued. “Sometimes it took a crisis, as
