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“I thought it was just us and the kids,” Ned said glumly. He was hardly in the mood for another festive party with all the happily married couples in their lives.

  “That’s what I thought, too. They must’ve invited the whole gang.”

  “Great.”

  Ned held her elbow as they went up the stairs to the deck, where the gathered group tossed something at them and yelled, “Surprise.” He held up his arm to protect his face from whatever was flying at him. Rose petals rained down upon them.

  “Surprise?” Francine said. She turned to him. “It’s not your birthday or mine.”

  Mac and Maddie approached them, holding glasses of champagne and wearing broad smiles. “It’s not your birthday,” Maddie said, kissing them both. “Welcome to your wedding.”

  Ned figured he’d heard her wrong until things began to happen all around him.

  Frank McCarthy stepped forward with a marriage license for him and Francine to sign. Maddie and Tiffany signed as their witnesses.

  Next came flowers for both of them, as well as Maddie and Mac and Tiffany and Blaine. Ashleigh, Thomas and Hailey finished out the wedding party he would’ve chosen for himself.

  “I don’t understand,” Ned finally said when he could get a word in edgewise.

  “You wanted to get married and couldn’t find a date,” Big Mac said, “so Mac and Maddie found one for you.” Big Mac put his tree-trunk arm around Ned. “All you gotta do, old pal, is stand there and get married.”

  He was going to cry, goddamn it. Right in front of everyone. He was going to actually cry. Here, standing before him, ready to stand up with him and Francine, was the family he’d always wanted but never had. He spared a glance for Francine and discovered she was already crying.

  To hell with it, he decided as he stopped trying to fight his way through the emotional wallop. “’Tis a heck of a thing ya’ve done here,” he said to Mac and Maddie. “Thank you.”

  “So you’re happy about it?” Maddie said. “I told Mac if you were mad, it was all his idea.”

  “It was all my idea.”

  Maddie patted his face indulgently. “Yes, dear.”

  “Well, it was.”

  “I’m very happy bout it,” Ned said gruffly as he sniffed. “Never been happier bout anything.”

  “I knew you would be,” Mac said with a big smirk for his wife.

  Frank rubbed his hands together. “What do you say, Ned? Francine? Shall we do this? It’s been a full week since I married Laura and Owen. I’m starting to get twitchy for another wedding.”

  “I ain’t got a ring fer her,” Ned said, feeling suddenly panicked. They were really going to do this. “I need a ring. She deserves a ring.”

  “Gotcha covered.” Mac produced rings from his pocket. “We took the liberty of choosing these for you, but the store said you can return them if there’s something you’d rather have.”

  “I don’t know what ta say. Ya thought of everything. Ya even found a way ta get a tie on me.”

  “That was the hardest part,” Maddie said, patting her new stepfather’s chest.

  Tiffany and Blaine hugged and kissed Ned and Francine.

  “This is so exciting!” Tiffany said to her mother. “I almost told you about it five times this week!”

  “I kept the secret,” Ashleigh said to her grandmother.

  “Yes, you did, sweetheart. I had no idea!”

  “Places, everyone.” Maddie clapped her hands. To Ned, she said, “You stay here with Mac and Blaine.”

  Ned let her position him where she wanted him. His heart was beating so fast he worried he might pass out or something equally embarrassing. But this was the moment he’d waited so long for, and nothing was going to ruin it for him or Francine. So he took a series of deep breaths, hoping to calm his racing heart.

  He gestured to Big Mac. “Come ere.”

  Big Mac walked over to him. “I’m here.”

  “Stay. Need ya right here with me.”

  His best friend hugged him. “You got it, buddy.”

  Big Mac shook hands with Mac and Blaine as he joined them.

  Looking around at all the faces gathered before him, Ned saw everyone he loved in this world. The five McCarthy kids, who’d grown up with him as their beloved adopted uncle, his buddies from the morning meetings at the marina and the friends like Luke Harris, who’d become family to him over the years. He wiped his eyes and tried to keep his emotions under control even as he realized he was fighting a losing battle.

  Evan and Owen played gentle guitar music as Ashleigh and Thomas came outside, holding hands.

  Ned loved those kids so damned much. He couldn’t wait to watch them grow up and to spoil them the way any good grandfather would.

  Next came Tiffany, looking gorgeous and elated as she preceded her equally beautiful sister Maddie through the door. Maddie carried Hailey in her arms, and the baby blew kisses that made his heart melt. Ned held his breath, waiting for Francine to appear, and when she did, she carried a bouquet of white flowers and wore a smile that stretched across her pretty face.

  The sight of that face and that smile settled and calmed him. In a few minutes, she would be his wife, and they’d get the rest of their lives together. Nothing had ever made him happier than that did.

  The rest of it was a blur. Vows were spoken, rings were exchanged, and Frank pronounced them husband and wife. Ned hugged her and kissed her—probably longer and deeper than was technically appropriate, but who the hell cared? Francine, his Francine, was finally his wife, and it was all because their kids had loved them enough to do this for them.

  Standing hand in hand with his new wife, surrounded by the family he’d always wanted, Ned Saunders considered himself the luckiest man on earth.

  Acknowledgments

  It takes a village to bring a book to market, and I’m so very lucky to be surrounded by a wonderful group of helpers. First and foremost on “Jack’s” Team, my right-hand wing woman Julie Cupp, who runs the whole show so I can write. I have no idea how I ever did this without her. Thank you, Julie, my major domo! And to Holly Sullivan, who reads every word before anyone else does, I love you and I love working with you! My niece, Isabel Sullivan, helps me with EVERYTHING and brings her adorable “business associate,” aka my grandniece Harper, over for regular visits that brighten my days. Isabel has also become a faithful reader of mine in the last few months, which makes me so happy. Love you, Bean!

  Thank you to my one of my favorite BFFs, Lisa Cafferty, CPA, who has saved the day for me in every possible way since she joined our team in November. I am so relieved to have her expertise and sharp eye on the business side of the house every day. Nikki Colquhoun (Julie’s BFF) takes on every task we throw her way with endless wit. I so appreciate her contributions. Another of my longtime BFFs, Cheryl Serra, has joined the team as our director of publicity. She’s AWESOME and full of energy and good ideas—thank you, Cher!

  Linda Ingmanson, copy editor in chief, drops everything for me any time I need her, and I so appreciate her sharp eye and her sense of humor. It’s so fun to work with you, Linda, and I’m grateful for your contributions. Joyce Lamb is the last set of eyes on many of my books these days, and she is also terrific to work with. Kristina Brinton is the brilliant graphic designer who creates most of my self-published book covers, including Gansett After Dark as well as the three new covers we just did for Maid for Love, Fool for Love and Ready for Love. With that update, all the Gansett Island book covers are now Kristina’s, and I’m truly thankful for her amazing work. My beta readers, Anne Woodall, Ronlyn Howe and Kara Conrad, are always happy to read for me, and I appreciate their contributions.

  On the home front, my husband, Dan, does just about everything, which gives me so much more time to write, and I’m thankful to him for taking care of us so I can do my thing. My kids, Emily and Jake, are always supportive and understanding of what I’ve got going on, and I love the people they’re growing up to be. They make me laugh every day, and I ne
ed that!

  Sarah Spate Morrison, family nurse practitioner, is always willing to take a medical question—or six—and comes back with all the info I need to keep my stories as authentic as possible. I appreciate her help, and Sarah, happy birthday!

  To my wonderful, amazing, incredible readers—you will never know how much I appreciate and enjoy you all. I read every one of your emails, your Facebook posts and your tweets, and you make me smile ALL THE TIME with your love for my crazy made-up worlds. You often ask me how long I’ll continue to write Gansett Island books. I’ll say the same thing I always do—as long as you love to read them as much as I love to write them, we’re good. Love you all and thank you so much for making every dream I ever had come true.

  xoxo

  Marie

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  Turn the page for a sneak peek of I Want to Hold Your Hand, Green Mountain Series, Book 2.

  I Want to Hold Your Hand

  Green Mountain Series, Book 2

  by

  Marie Force

  Chapter 1

  A new boy moved to town over the summer. His name is Caleb Guthrie. Hunter and Will like him, but I haven’t decided yet.

  —From the diary of Hannah Abbott, age twelve

  Hannah Abbott Guthrie looked forward to the second Thursday of every month, when she met her high school friends in St. Johnsbury for lunch and an afternoon at their favorite spa. The tradition began after Hannah lost her husband, Caleb, in Iraq almost seven years ago. She’d continued to meet the girls every week long after the first awful wave of grief passed into the new reality of life without Caleb.

  Like her family, her friends had been there for her one thousand percent, and Hannah loved her “escape from it all” days passionately. This time, she was even considering the possibility of taking her friend Becky up on the standing invite to spend the night in St. Johnsbury so she wouldn’t have to drive home after the relaxing afternoon.

  Her brother Hunter had volunteered to come by when he got back to town to check on Caleb’s old dog, Homer, so he wouldn’t have to spend the whole day and night alone. Even with Homer covered, she was playing the invitation by ear. Since Caleb died, she had a lot of trouble sleeping, and if she was going to be up at all hours, she preferred to rattle around in the privacy of her own home.

  Hannah picked up the overnight bag she’d packed just in case she decided to stay, gave Homer a snuggle and let him know Uncle Hunter would be by to see him later. She locked the door to the huge Victorian she’d inherited from Caleb. The house was far too big for one person, but Caleb had loved the house that had come from his grandmother, and Hannah would never sell it.

  She unlocked her aging SUV and put her bag into the back before sliding into the driver’s seat. The day was chilly but sunny, an early spring day in northern Vermont, where winter hung around far longer than it did just a few hours south. In deference to the lingering winter, Hannah had chosen to wear a heavy coat rather than the new spring jacket she was ready to break out any day now.

  With the key in the ignition, she turned it and got a clicking sound that didn’t bode well for going anywhere. “Come on,” she whispered. “Not today. Do this tomorrow when I’ve got nowhere to be.” She turned the key again and got the same click, click, click noise that she recognized as a dead battery. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

  She leaned her head on the steering wheel as she tried to remember where everyone was today. Her dad and Hunter had gone to a business conference in Montpelier. Will was in New York helping his girlfriend, Cameron, pack up her apartment for her move to Vermont. Colton was up on the mountain at the family sugaring facility, Wade knew as much about cars as she did, Lucas and Landon were working a twenty-four-hour shift at the volunteer fire department and Max was at school in Burlington.

  Her sisters, Ella and Charley, were as useful in this situation as Hannah and Wade. Her mom had taken Hannah’s grandfather for his annual physical this morning. That left one person she could call and, as luck would have it, he was the last person she wanted to call.

  “If I call Nolan he’s going to get all hopeful, and I can’t do that to him,” she said, reasoning with herself and the cold air. It had been enough that recently she’d danced with him at the Grange and then let him drive her home. That was more than she’d done with any man in all the years since Caleb died.

  But Nolan wasn’t just any man. He’d been less than circumspect about his feelings for her, never missing a chance to inquire about her to one of her family members—all of whom loved relaying Nolan’s thoughtful sentiments to her at every possible opportunity.

  “You’re being foolish. You can either call Nolan and continue with your plans or miss the day with the girls. Those are your choices.” The one thing she didn’t feel foolish about, after living alone for close to seven years, was talking to herself. If anyone knew how often she had full conversations with herself, they’d probably have her committed.

  She reached for the cell phone she kept in the car for emergencies and made the call, holding her breath while she waited for him to answer the phone at the station he ran in town.

  “Nolan’s.”

  At the sound of his deep voice a flutter of nerves filled her belly.

  “Hello?”

  “Oh sorry. Hey, Nolan, it’s Hannah.”

  “Hannah.” With the single word came hope, surprise and hesitation. That he managed to convey so much by only saying her name was one of the many reasons she’d kept her distance from him. His feelings for her were a badly kept secret, and being around him made her nervous. She’d known him all her life, so the nerves were stupid, really, but she had them every time she laid eyes on the man. “What’s going on?”

  “Well, my car won’t start, and I’ve got somewhere to be for once.”

  “What’s it doing?”

  “Clicking.”

  “Sounds like the battery. I’ll be right there.”

  “Oh um, do you have time?”

  “Of course I do,” he said as if that was the stupidest question he’d ever heard. “That’s my job. I’ll be there in a few.”

  “Thanks, Nolan.” She put the phone in her purse and waited, feeling anxious and unsettled. He had that effect on her, and he wasn’t even here yet. In the last six weeks, she’d tried not to think about the night she’d danced with him and then let him drive her home. She’d tried not to think about how she’d let him kiss her good night, or how much she’d really, really liked kissing him.

  Her fingers found their way to her lips as she relived the moment on her front porch. He’d insisted on walking her to the door. “I had a good time tonight,” he’d said. “Thanks for dancing with me.”

  “It was a terrible chore.” She hoped her wittiness hid the nerves that were rampaging through her.

  “I’m sure it was,” he said with a good-natured laugh. “I’m known for my two left feet.”

  “You’re a smooth dancer.”

  “Am I?” he asked, sounding surprised.

  “Very.”

  “Huh. I always thought I kind of sucked at it.”

  “You don’t.”

  The wor
ds had hung in the air between them, which had gone heavy with expectation.

  “Hannah . . .” His fingers on her face were soft despite the hard work he did with his hands every day.

  She’d been rendered breathless and speechless by the yearning she’d seen on his handsome face, which had been illuminated by the porch light. And then his lips were on hers, gentle and undemanding but no less earth-shattering than a much more passionate kiss would’ve been. Hannah had ruined it by pulling back from him when she didn’t even want to. Why she’d done that was a question she still couldn’t answer six weeks later.

  He’d called her the next day, but coward that she was, she’d let the call go to voicemail and hadn’t seen or spoken to him again—until today. Although, she’d listened to his sweet message over and over again until she knew the words by heart.

  Oh hey, Hannah, it’s me, Nolan. Um, I, ah, wanted to say I had a nice time last night. There’s a new Mexican place in Stowe that I’ve been wanting to check out. I remember you love Mexican food, so if you’d like to go sometime, you have my number. Call me, okay?

  She hadn’t returned the call or told anyone about the kiss. Not her mother, her sisters or especially her nosy brothers and father, who would’ve made way too much out of what had been a rather simple kiss. Except it hadn’t been simple at all. It was the first kiss she’d received since being widowed, and she couldn’t escape the feeling that she’d somehow betrayed Caleb’s memory.

  Of course she knew that was ridiculous. Caleb would be furious at her for moldering away in the home they had loved, still alone after all these years. Her husband was a get-things-done kind of guy who hadn’t stood around waiting for life to find him. He’d gone after his dreams with gusto and passion, including his desire to serve his country.

  If he came back to life for one day and found her stuck in the same place she’d been for almost seven years, he’d kick her ass from one end of Vermont to the other. Hannah knew she had to own the guilt she felt over kissing Nolan and not pass it off as a betrayal of Caleb’s memory. She knew without any shadow of a doubt that her husband had loved her as much as it was possible for a man to love a woman, and he’d want nothing but the very best for her.