11. Beck

B eck arrived at The Haven, her daughter’s breathtaking waterfront property, itching to share the news. She wanted to get her daughters alone first so she could confirm their suspicions, which turned out to be rather easy.

When Nick went upstairs to get Dylan from his late-morning nap, and Peyton’s husband, Val, headed to the beach to set up the volleyball net and fishing rods for the kids, she had the perfect opportunity.

But before she could gather the girls, Savannah swooped into the kitchen and grabbed her arm. “To the deck,” she said, where Callie and Peyton were setting a long table. “I have news.”

“So do I,” Beck said, earning a look.

Outside, when they spotted Savannah and Beck, Callie rushed over and Peyton—well, Peyton didn’t rush anywhere, but she moved as quickly as a woman could in her ninth month.

“Get this, you guys,” Savannah said, bringing Beck closer and lowering her voice. “Lovely texted and asked if she could bring the three B&B guests today. What do you think that means?”

All three of them looked at Beck, who angled her head and smiled, waiting a beat to enjoy the moment of anticipation and the warmth of the sun on her skin.

“It means that those guests are your biological grandfather and aunts.”

They squealed, gasped, and generally reacted exactly as Beck expected they would.

“How do you know?” Callie asked.

“He told me outright when I came home that first night they checked in. And then Mel and Jazz came back, and we talked for hours! I had to take Oliver to Miami, as you know, so Eddie and Lovely had dinner last night at the Beach Table and he told her, too.”

Another noisy gasp came out in sisterly unison.

“And what did she say?” Callie demanded.

“To him? I don’t know,” Beck told them. “I told him about the party today and obviously, Lovely wanted them to be here. I talked to her this morning, and she just seemed a little…giddy. Happy, I think. Pleasantly surprised.”

“That’s so amazing,” Peyton said on a sigh. “I’ve been worried about her.”

“No need. Honestly, I think he’s a really a nice man and he handled the whole thing with grace and tenderness and a remarkable amount of humor.”

“He must be great,” Savannah said, “or she wouldn’t have invited them here.”

“And she’s being the class act we know and love,” Beck added. “She told me to come alone and that she’d drive over with them so she could make them all comfortable walking into this family party. She also said she’d come a little late, so we have a chance to break the news to everyone else and save her the awkward explanations and raised eyebrows.”

“Who’s going to raise a brow?” Peyton said. “It’s not like we don’t know the history.”

“She’s just being careful and kind,” Beck replied, turning when she heard Maddie and Ava’s laughter floating up from the beach. “She’ll want us to gently explain it to the kids. Oh, and Kenny doesn’t know he has a grandfather, and I think he and Heather should get here any minute. He texted me about going back to her house for Marc, who probably wanted to sleep in late.”

“Jessie, Chuck, and the hooligan will be here, too.” Savannah said, shrugging at their looks. “Sorry, Beau’s a handful.”

“I can’t wait until you have a kid who misbehaves,” Peyton said. “Then we’ll see who’s a hooligan.”

“What about Josh and Julie?” Beck asked, trying to figure out just how many people would be finding out this earthshattering news today.

“He said they are going to a party at her family’s house,” Savannah said. “So that’s the guest list.”

At the loud cry of a child’s voice, Savannah slid them a side-eye. “I hear the call of the wild, er, Beau.”

Beck walked to the railing to look down at the beach just as Heather, Kenny, and Marc walked up to the group down there.

“Once Nick comes down, we’ll have a quorum,” she said.

“I’ll go get him,” Savannah said. “He’s dressing Dylan. Callie, can you get that crew up from the beach so we can try to explain the latest shockeroo in Coconut Key?”

“Of course.” Callie rose on a happy sigh. “I can’t get over the fact that we have another grandfather. I think that’s so cool.”

“It is cool,” Savannah agreed. “But wait until our kids have to make a family tree for a school project. ‘Oh, honey, that’s your grandfather who knocked up Grandma Lovely… Why, yes, just like me and Dad. And Grandpa Oliver and Grandma Beck? Well, one is my mother, and one is Daddy’s father, so…’” She groaned. “I think I’ll homeschool just to avoid the gnarled branches.”

“Or you tell the kids the truth,” Peyton said, rubbing her belly with one hand. “We do have a lot of branches, some broken, but Val’s big Cuban clan is just as—well, maybe not just as complicated—but that’s what families are—messy and wonderful.”

Savannah patted her sister’s belly as she passed. “You’ll love her, McFatFace, but she’s a little na?ve. Come to Auntie Savannah for reality checks.”

Peyton flicked her away, laughing, while Callie took off for the beach.

“So, Mom,” Peyton said to Beck, “you have two sisters. Can I say from experience, that’s a gift? Usually. Unless one’s Savannah.”

“I heard that!” Savannah called as she stepped inside.

“I wanted you to!” Peyton shot back.

Beck laughed at them, sliding her arm around Peyton to guide her to a comfy rattan sofa. “I’m overjoyed, a little shocked, and excited. I can’t wait to get to know them even more.”

“What should we expect?” Peyton asked. “I mean, what are they really like?”

“Awesome, all of them,” Beck said without hesitation, sitting next to her. “Mel is just a ball of fire and hilarious. She’s half-Hawaiian, gorgeous, and very protective of her father. And Jazz is like a long, cool icicle who I think could easily thaw. Also beautiful, in that highcheekboned blond way. And Eddie? Oh, I really like him.”

“Apparently, Lovely did, too, which surprises me,” Peyton mused. “I don’t know why, but she’s so squirrelly on the subject of your less-than-noble conception, so I imagine she’s a little embarrassed to come face-to-face with him.”

“She’d tell me if she didn’t like him, trust me,” Beck said. “And she wouldn’t have agreed to ride over here with them.”

“Well, that’s good,” Peyton said. “They’ll have to be Coconut Key regulars.”

“I don’t know.” Beck shrugged, thinking about all she knew about the successful sisters and Eddie’s two homes out West. “They’ve got full and busy lives in California. I doubt they’ll be spending a lot of time here, but I do really want to get to know them before they leave.”

“Oh, she’s moving.” Peyton grabbed Beck’s hand. “Feel this little girl kick.”

Instantly, Beck put her hand on the rise of Peyton’s belly, a big smile pulling when a tiny foot jabbed her palm. “Oh, there she is! Hello, sweet…” She made a pretend frown. “Name My Daughter Won’t Tell Me.” She leaned in close to whisper, “I know you have a name picked.”

Peyton just smiled, then looked past Beck. “Oh, look. Here come the troops. Get ready to tell the tale, Momma.”

Little Beau came tearing onto the deck with a running lead, then Jessie and Chuck came up the stairs, followed by Val, then Maddie and Ava, and Heather and Kenny.

Marc stayed way in the back, looking at his phone, a little disconnected from the group, although the rest of them seemed intrigued, peppering Beck with questions about Callie’s announcement of “big family news.”

Before he could run off, Callie snagged Beau’s hand. “I’ll get Dylan, too,” she said. “We can hang in the playroom while you talk, Mom.” She winked at Beck, who beamed in gratitude at her youngest daughter’s considerate thinking.

A minute later, she looked from one to the other as they gathered in a semi-circle around her, making Beck suddenly feel like the matriarch of this clan.

“Where’s Lovely?” Jessie asked.

“Well, that’s what I want to tell you?—”

“Is she okay?” Val asked, concern in his dark eyes as he put an arm around Peyton.

“Yes,” Beck assured them. “She is fine. But she’s bringing some people today who…who might surprise you. They’re guests at Coquina House, but they’re also…” She fought a smile, surprised at how happy this news made her and hoping for the same reaction from them. “They’re also my biological father and two half-sisters who arrived in Coconut Key two days ago.”

At first, there was silence, then a lot of questions. Marc just shook his head and walked away, looking disinterested. Kenny bolted right after him, and said something no one heard.

Beck answered the questions as best she could, sensing that Val and Nick had already been clued in by their wives, but soon everyone was chatting with theories and opinions. Before long, they reached the obvious consensus that more family could only be a good thing.

“I knew I could count on all of you,” Beck said, overwhelmed by how much she loved this group.

“Of course,” Nick said, her son-in-law coming closer with a supportive arm. “We love you and Lovely and this whole family. I’ve done my share of upsetting the apple cart, what with my long-lost father discovering me the weekend of my wedding. How is Olipop, anyway?” he asked with a smile.

She smiled at the “grandfather” name that Savannah had hung on Oliver that, like most of her nicknames, stuck like glue.

“On his way…” She made a face. “I almost said ‘home.’ But that’s here, I hope.”

“Well, he’s selling the manse in Sydney,” Nick said. “So that’s a step out of Australia and closer to us.”

“But he’s keeping the beach house,” Beck reminded him.

“Which is smart,” he said. “You can go hang there all summer long, which is winter here, so…”

“Which would mean leaving my business in the middle of the high season,” she said, the argument she’d given Oliver a dozen times when he suggested they split their time between two continents.

“Don’t you want to retire, Beck?” He leaned closer to add, “I have to tell you, it’s a good life.”

But she’d just started working after a lifetime of being a wife and mother, and kind of hated the idea of giving it up. “I love every minute of running Coquina House,” she said. “Why would I quit now?”

“To spend more time with Olipop,” he replied. “The guy loves you, you know.”

She nodded slowly. “And I see him a lot.”

“He wants you to go to Australia. To spend time there and soak up his homeland.”

How much time, she wondered. “And I will, I promise,” she said. “But I?—”

“They’re here.” Savannah whizzed by, passing Dylan off to Nick. “Watch him. I went to get him in the playroom and Beau the Barbarian was teaching him the fine art of nose-picking.”

“Eww.” Nick took his toddler and made a gross face. “Dis gusto !”

Dylan giggled and snuggled into his father’s neck.

“Anyway, Beck, one life change at a time,” he said. “Incoming new family in five, four, three…”

Beck turned to the stairs that led up from the driveway, getting a flash of déjà vu from the day Oliver had appeared at the top of the steps—a sixty-one-year-old version of his great-looking son. From the moment they met, he’d made Beck a little weak in the knees.

She’d certainly felt weak yesterday, kissing him goodbye at the airport. When he’d pressed his lips to her ear and whispered that if she had her passport, he could whisk her away…she darn near buckled.

If Peyton wasn’t literally days from giving birth, she might have?—

“Happy New Year, everyone!” Lovely’s sweet voice easily reached the whole group on the deck, since they’d grown quiet in anticipation. “I’m thrilled to introduce you all to Eddie Sylvester and his daughters, Melody and Jazz.”

As the greetings rose and people slowly closed in for introductions, Beck held back, caught by something in her mother’s voice. And her expression—a look of wonder and exhilaration that Beck was certain she hadn’t seen before.

Goodness, Lovely was happy about this reunion.

She watched her mother put a light hand on Eddie’s shoulder, gesturing as she introduced him to Savannah and Peyton and Callie. Instead of looking at her granddaughters, though, Lovely’s gaze was on Eddie.

A look of…

Oh, dear. Oh, my. Oh… wow .

They both laughed at a joke Savannah made, and Eddie turned to Lovely, leaning close to her ear to say something private to her, and getting a look of…well, Beck couldn’t follow the exchange. She had no idea what they’d said.

But she was quite fluent in the concept of infatuation. And, whoa. Lovely Ames, her seventy-five-year-old mother who’d been single for a lifetime, was…one smitten kitten.

The first time Beck got Lovely alone—passing each other in the hall on the way to and from the bathroom—she grabbed her mother’s arm and stated the obvious.

“You like him.”

Lovely flushed like Ava did when Maddie teased her about that Levi boy in their calculus class. “I do, yes. Don’t you?”

“Very much.” Beck leaned in and whispered, “Maybe not as much as you do.”

“Oh, dear.” She put her hand to her lips. “Am I making a fool of myself?”

“Not even in the least. No one in the world knows you like I do, Lovely.” Beck took her hand. “I just think it’s sweet and fun and wonderful that you two have talked and connected.”

With a sigh, she tugged Beck closer. “He’s very attractive, isn’t he?”

“Oh, yes. I mean, considering he’s my biological father.” And seventy-six, Beck added mentally, not wanting to say anything to take the smile off her mother’s face.

“Well, yes, that’s weird, but…” Lovely giggled a little. “I mean, those eyes! And he’s so poetic and…just dear. At least it explains how he, um, wooed me in the first place. The chemistry is like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.”

This whole thing was like nothing she’d ever experienced before, at least as far as Beck knew.

“I’m glad you’re having fun,” Beck said, wanting to add a warning but, again, the spark in her mother’s eyes was too delicious.

“And we’re going to continue having fun,” Lovely said. “It’s just not going to end.”

Beck blinked at her, not sure how to take that.

“I mean for two weeks,” Lovely added quickly. “He said he wants to spend the time he’s here with me. We’re going to go up to Grassy Key to swim with the dolphins and he wants to go out on Chuck’s charter boat. Oh! And he wants to go kayaking to see manatees, all the things that tourists do.”

“Kayaking and swim with the dolphins?”

“Well, not on the same day—we’re too old for that.” Lovely laughed, then her expression grew serious. “I know that means I won’t be around much to work at Coquina House, but this feels like something that happens once in a lifetime.”

“Don’t even think about it,” Beck assured her. “With Oliver gone, I’ve got nothing but time, and I want you to have fun. I really do, Lovely.”

She squeezed Beck’s hand again. “I don’t want to give up this opportunity.”

“And I don’t want you to,” Beck whispered, gripping her hand right back. “I can totally handle everything while he’s here with ease. You just…be careful.”

“Me? Of course. I can kayak and I’m not afraid of swimming with the dolphins.”

She meant be careful with him . Beck had never seen Lovely give her heart to a man, but she assumed it would be like everything else her mother did—with full commitment, passion, and trust.

And what would happen when it was over? Would Lovely be shattered by that goodbye?

“Just so you know what you’re doing,” Beck said vaguely.

But not so vague that Lovely didn’t get the message. “Pffft.” She flipped her wrist. “I’m not going to fall in love and get my heart broken, Beckie. I’m not a teenager, as if that isn’t obvious to everyone.”

“I know,” Beck said, pulling her mother in for a hug. “I’m so, so happy for you. I want you to sink into the whole thing and enjoy every minute.”

“I will! I am! I…” She felt Lovely straighten a little in her arms, sucking in a soft and silent breath at whatever—or whoever—she saw over Beck’s shoulder.

As if Beck didn’t know.

“There you are.” Eddie’s voice was low and warm and had the same note of pure joy that Beck heard in her mother’s.

And, she noticed when she turned, the same light in his eyes. Well, at least the feelings were mutual. Shocking as all get out, but…why not?

“Eddie, have you had a chance to talk to everyone?” Beck asked.

“I have and will continue, but…” He tipped his head and smiled at Lovely, not saying what his expression clearly communicated—he’d missed her.

“I was just on my way back,” Lovely said, taking a step toward him. “But Beck and I had to whisper in the hall.”

He lifted a brow. “Have we passed the family test?” he asked, as if there was no question what they’d been discussing.

“With flying colors,” Beck assured him. “And have we?”

“Are you kidding? Your daughters—my granddaughters ,” he corrected, lowering his voice and fighting a smile, “are spectacular. Savannah is a hoot with a heart of gold and Mel is already in love with her. Callie is clearly a genius who has bonded with my go-getter, Jazz. And Peyton is going to slay motherhood, which, if you ask me, could be any day now. Oh, and Kenny. Such a fine man, and so is his growing family.”

Beck smiled at him, almost unable to process his dead-on assessment of her kids, and Lovely looked delighted by it—and him.

“He does have a way with words, doesn’t he?” she asked.

“He does,” Beck said on a laugh. “And I can’t disagree with any of it. I’m so proud of all of them.”

“As you should be.” He put a light hand on Lovely’s shoulder. “Did you negotiate for the time off, or should I plead your case to Beck? We have to do the dolphins if nothing else.”

“No negotiating necessary,” Beck told him. “Lovely is my partner, not employee, and she can—and should—take as much time off as possible. Everything she mentioned sounds tourist-y and divine. We encourage everyone visiting to swim with the dolphins.”

“Yes!” He fist-pumped. “Definite bucket list item and the number one reason to come to the Keys. Well…” He smiled at Lovely. “Number two.”

Beck looked from one to the other, aware that she might just as well not even be standing in this hall with them. The chemistry and connection was off the charts.

Good heavens, she never saw this coming.

In her back pocket, she felt her phone vibrate and pulled it out. “I bet that’s Oliver, who should’ve made it to L.A. by…” She frowned at the screen. “No, it’s Serena McFadden.”

“The real estate agent?” Lovely asked. “Funny day to call.”

“Probably wants to wish me Happy New Year,” Beck said, holding the phone and stepping back, feeling like she needed to leave these two alone anyway. “’Scuze me. I’ll just be a second.”

Turning, she slipped into the dining room and tapped the screen. “Hello, Serena. Happy?—”

“Oh, it will be happy when you hear what someone wants to pay you for Coquina House.”

Beck choked a laugh. “It’s New Year’s, not April Fools’. You know the B&B is not for sale.”

“Everyone has a number, Beck, and I think someone might have yours.”

For a moment, she was tempted, just to hear it. “No, thank you. Coquina House is not, and never will be, for sale, my friend. Thank you so much for letting me know. And Happy New Year.”

“I’ll call you next week.”

Serena was nothing if not relentless. Beck chuckled. “I’ll be very busy taking care of happy guests, but thanks.”

With that, she tapped the phone and stepped back into the hall—just in time to see two not-so-young “lovers” silhouetted in the door frame, conveniently under a mistletoe that still hung for the holidays.

Lovely and Eddie stood face to face, with her looking up at him and him gazing down. They weren’t touching, but even from ten feet away, Beck could feel the electricity arcing between them.

This was, she had to admit, a spectacular diversion for Lovely, who deserved all the love in the world. She’d never had her one true love, or fated mate, as she’d heard her mother refer to the concept of a soul mate.

But this also was…two weeks. Then what? Would Lovely be able to let go once she’d found him or?—

In her hand, the phone buzzed again, and Beck glanced down to see a text.

Serena McFadden : 7 figures. First is not a 1.

She stuffed the phone in her pocket. “Please,” she muttered to herself. “You can’t put a price on Coquina House.”

Just then, Lovely tipped her head back and let out a laugh that sounded like wind chimes in the ocean breeze.

She couldn’t put a price on that, either.