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  That was a long time ago. Kelly loved her aunt with all her heart, but Claire would never understand. Not in a million years. But Maddy would. She found herself wishing it was Maddy’s hand on her forehead, Maddy’s soft voice asking if anything was wrong.

  “You’re okay?” her aunt persisted.

  “Sure I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  Claire studied her for what seemed like forever, and she wished she could run into her arms the way she did when she was Hannah’s age.

  I’m scared, Aunt Claire . . . make it better . . . make it go away. . . .

  Hannah elbowed her way between them and pulled on the hem of Claire’s pale green cotton sweater. “Can we go now? Bathrooms smell funny.”

  Kelly took her future stepsister’s hand in hers. “Come on,” she said with a wink for her aunt. “I’m sure your grandma’s plans for lunch include ice cream.”

  “Why don’t you come over for supper tonight,” Claire said as she elbowed the door open for them. “We need to talk.”

  “I’d love to,” Kelly lied, “but I have math club.”

  “Tomorrow then.”

  “I’m going over to Maddy’s.”

  Oops. Wrong thing to say. Her aunt’s face seemed to close in on itself every time she mentioned Maddy’s name.

  “Then Saturday morning for breakfast.”

  “I really want to, Aunt Claire, but five of us in the senior class are being interviewed for the documentary Saturday morning. We’re the seventy-fifth graduating class and—”

  “You’re going to make time next week, Kelly Ann. I want to know what’s going on.”

  She leaned over and pressed a kiss to her aunt’s cheek. “Did anyone ever tell you that you worry too much?”

  “No,” Claire said, ruffling her hair with a loving hand. “You’re the first.” She straightened the collar of Kelly’s shirt. “Your father doesn’t know how lucky he is.”

  It hurt to hear those words and know how wrong they were. She had always been the good girl, the achiever, the one you could count on to do the right thing. When her cousins were screwing up and getting in trouble, Kelly the Good was snagging straight As and being voted class president. Her cousins had messy boyfriend troubles, occasional acne, and their fair share of fender benders and blown curfews, while Saint Kelly sailed along with the wind at her back.

  The crazier things got in the O’Malley family, the greater the pressure Kelly felt to be perfect. Nobody asked her for perfection. Nobody had to. She had been hardwired that way from the start, in competition with some idealized view of herself that she couldn’t possibly live up to. But that didn’t keep her from trying. She liked the sense of order that came with following the rules. She liked making lists then checking off the items one by one as she completed them. She liked knowing her father and her aunt didn’t have to worry that she was going to totally mess up her life by making some stupid, stupid, one-time-only mistake. . . .

  Hannah was watching her closely, those big blue eyes of hers taking it all in, storing it away until she got home and could tell Rose and Maddy every single detail, beginning with the ice cream and ending up with Kelly hugging the porcelain receptacle.

  Something to look forward to.

  Chapter Three

  ROSE HAD RESERVED a table for fourteen in the main dining room at Bernino’s, a steak and seafood restaurant situated atop one of North Jersey’s many rolling hills. Maddy dawdled in the lobby, pretending to fuss with Hannah’s shirtsleeve until her aunts had claimed their seats at the far end of the table and she could situate herself and her little girl out of the line of fire at the opposite end.

  Unfortunately, she would have had to find seats in Delaware to escape their notice.

  “The girl’s not eating her broccoli.” Aunt Toni punctuated her statement with a wave of her well-loaded fork. “She’s wasting good produce.”

  Aunt Connie nodded sagely. “I never let any of my children leave the table until they finished all of their vegetables.”

  “Which probably explains the rise in eating disorders in Paradise Point,” Gina whispered in Maddy’s ear.

  “You’re being rude, Gina.” Toni glared at her daughter across the table. “Tell everyone what you said to Madelyn.”

  Gina’s smile was wickedly bland. “I was just telling Maddy about the time you and Father O’Donnell got stranded under the—”

  The table erupted in raucous laughter. Toni pushed back her chair and made to leave in a self-righteous huff until Connie reminded her that they had driven there in her car, and she wasn’t going anywhere before she had dessert.

  “Make sure you pass that along to your boss,” Lucy said to Crystal. “We’ll end up on Jerry Springer instead of PBS.”

  Another burst of laughter from the assembled group, followed by a few comments that would make a seasoned sailor blush.

  “Toni looks like she wants to crawl under the table and disappear,” Maddy said to her cousin. “I almost feel sorry for her.”

  “She had it coming,” Gina said, spearing a broccoli floret from Hannah’s plate and popping it into her mouth. “The woman has a mouth on her that won’t quit.”

  Gina reached for another floret, but Hannah covered her plate with her hands. The second Gina’s fork withdrew, Hannah picked up the biggest piece of broccoli she could find and ate it with the same enthusiasm she usually reserved for ice cream sundaes.

  “You’re good,” Maddy said. “That was an impressive display of maternal power.”

  “I’ve had more practice than you,” Gina said with a wink. “Just do what works and forget the rest.”

  Maddy caught Claire’s eye across the table. Her future semi-sister-in-law was watching the two of them with an expression that was equal parts curiosity and—could it be?—dislike.

  “What’s her problem?” Gina mumbled behind her water glass. “At least we combed our hair before we went out.”

  “Gina!”

  “I’m serious. Look at that face on her. I’d get a food taster if I were you, cuz.”

  “She’s sitting next to Connie. Can you blame her?”

  “That’s not Connie she’s glaring at, honey. She’s aiming that stink eye right at you.”

  “You’re imagining it.”

  “Am I?”

  “Get over it, Claire,” Gina murmured behind her linen napkin. “At least you didn’t inherit the DiFalco thighs.”

  How were you supposed to instill in your child the value of good manners when you were teetering on the verge of a full-blown laughing jag? Thank God for Aunt Lucy, whose impeccable timing saved her from total humiliation.

  “So, have you all heard what Olivia Westmore is planning for the old McClanahan cottage?” Lucy asked the table at large.

  “I heard she’s going to rent it to summer people,” Pat volunteered from the other end of the table.

  “God forbid.” Aunt Connie crossed herself. “One thing we don’t need is more summer people.”

  “Speak for yourself, Connie,” Rose said. “Summer people are what brought our town back from the dead.”

  “Of course you like them,” Connie shot back. “You make money off them at your inn. The rest of us have to deal with the messes they leave behind.”

  “What messes?” Claire broke in as Crystal scribbled away in her reporter’s notebook. “I haven’t heard of any trouble connected with summer people.”

  “That’s because there hasn’t been any.” Lucy locked eyes with Connie until her younger sister finally glanced away. “Connie doesn’t like Olivia because Olivia is dating one of her exes.”

  “Wait! Wait!” Crystal held up a hand. “Slow down! I can’t keep up with you.”

  “You should carry a tape recorder,” Kelly offered helpfully. “That way you won’t miss anything.”

  Good thing the poor girl didn’t look their way, because the looks Connie and Toni aimed her way would have killed a lesser human.

  “If you’re talking about Matthew,” Conni
e said icily to Lucy, “that’s ancient history. I couldn’t care less who he dates.”

  “Good,” said Rose, “because Olivia isn’t dating him any longer. He was far too old for her. She’s seeing the man who’s funding the project for NJTV.”

  “Since when are you such an expert on Olivia Westmore?” Clearly Toni had been itching for a good fight all day, and now that she had one in her sights, she wasn’t going to let it go. “You don’t know her any better than we do.”

  “Actually, I do.” Maddy had never seen her mother quite so gleeful at besting one of her sisters. “We’ve become very friendly since Olivia became vice-president of the Business-women’s Association.” She leaned in for the kill. “Did you know that Olivia’s brother was featured in a documentary on the changing face of Eastern Europe last year? He’s a very well-known photographer with PBS connections. They’ve been trying to bring him on board for our—”

  “Oh damn!” Claire leaped to her feet. “I’m sorry! I tipped over my water glass.”

  One of the servers brought over a stack of napkins and quickly replaced the water. Claire, red-faced with embarrassment, reclaimed her seat.

  Aunt Connie didn’t want to hear about Olivia’s semi-famous brother. “I don’t know why they’ve been spending so much time interviewing her,” Connie said with great indignation. “She wasn’t born here. She doesn’t know the first thing about our town’s history.”

  “Her parents were born here,” Rose said. “Not that it matters.”

  “She’s part of the future,” Denise jumped in. “She’s helping to shape the direction we’re going in.”

  “Maybe they want her brother,” cousin Fran offered. “If he’s that good, he’ll raise the show’s profile.”

  “Weren’t you listening?” Toni said to her daughter. “She’s dating the producer. That’s the reason.”

  Poor Crystal dropped her pen in surprise, then disappeared under the table to retrieve it. Make a run for it, Maddy thought. At least somebody had to get out of there alive.

  “Better have your eyes checked, honey.” It was Lucy’s turn to join in. “When Olivia’s around, those boys aren’t thinking about history. They’re thinking cleavage.”

  “If you’re such good friends,” Toni said to Rose, “then you can tell us what she’s planning to do with the McClanahan cottage.”

  “I’d love to,” Rose said. “She’s opening a tea shop.”

  “What a great idea!” Maddy and Denise said simultaneously, then laughed.

  “A tea shop?” Toni tried to scowl, but her most recent cosmetic surgery weakened the effect. “What do we need a tea shop for? You can buy tea bags at Super Fresh.”

  “Not that kind of tea shop,” Claire said. “She’s planning to serve a full English tea every afternoon.”

  Rose quickly covered her obvious surprise that Claire was in the loop right along with her. “That’s right. The shop will be called Cuppa, and she hopes to open it this summer.”

  “Who wants hot tea in the summer?” Maddy’s cousin Pat asked. “She’d do better with an ice cream stand.”

  “I think it’s a great idea,” Maddy said. “Upscale, trendy but traditional. I think she’s going to clean up.”

  “So do I,” Rose agreed.

  At least they were on the same side of one battle today.

  “Just so long as it’s not another salon,” Gina observed. “More power to her.”

  “Which one is the McClanahan place?” Crystal asked as she reclaimed her seat. “Is it that old barn near the lake or—”

  “It’s the one on the corner of Shore Road and Paradise Point Drive,” Claire said.

  “With the red lacquer front door and the trellis of roses?”

  “That’s it.”

  “The place looks like a Hallmark card,” Toni said. “It’s sweet enough to make my teeth ache.”

  “Assuming you had any teeth of your own left to ache,” Gina murmured, and Maddy kicked her under the table.

  “So that’s why all those workmen have been going in and out,” Maddy’s cousin Denise remarked. “Joe put in a bid for the plumbing, but it went to the Bielewski brothers.”

  “Those robbers.” Connie dabbed butter on her slice of Italian bread. “You should see what they charged me to replace a hose on my washing machine.”

  You could hear Denise’s jaw hit the floor clear on the other side of the table. “You called Bielewski instead of Joe, Aunt Connie? How could you do something like that!”

  “Joe didn’t wipe his feet last time he came by,” Connie said with great indignation. “I had to follow him around with a spray bottle of Resolve.”

  “We’re family.”

  “You’re getting divorced.”

  “It’s not final yet. The least you could have done was called.”

  “I didn’t see you calling when they came to your house to film the kids getting ready for the dance recital. You called everyone else in the family except my grandchildren.”

  “Maybe if your grandkids had any talent, I—”

  “Hey!” Franny called out from across the table. “My kids have more talent in their little fingers than your kids—”

  Her family was off and running, insults flying across the table like rice at a wedding. Poor Kelly’s eyes were popping, and Claire looked a tad too amused for Maddy’s taste. After all, there were more than a few skeletons in the O’Malley closet, too. The only difference was, Maddy’s skeletons were there at Bernino’s having lunch with them.

  She turned toward Rose, who nodded, then tapped her knife against her water glass.

  “As charming as this discussion is,” Rose said, “maybe we should table it for another time. I’m all for providing Mr. Lassiter and our Crystal here with colorful anecdotes for the documentary, but let’s not get carried away. We’re here to toast Maddy’s upcoming wedding and to start making plans.”

  From the looks on her aunts’ faces, you would think her mother had suggested a mass suicide into the salad bar.

  Which, considering the way the day had unfolded so far, just might be an improvement.

  “TELL ME IT’S over,” Gina said as they exited Bernino’s parking lot two hours later. “Tell me it was all a bad dream.”

  “It’s over,” Maddy said, laughing, “but it wasn’t a bad dream. It was our family.”

  Gina flipped on her directional and turned right at the traffic light. “You mean I’m not going to wake up and find out Harriet Nelson is my birth mother.”

  “Not unless DiFalco was her maiden name.”

  Gina sighed loudly. Her cousin usually had a high tolerance level for family chaos. It must have really been terrible if Gina had noticed it. “They were in rare form today.”

  “And you wonder why I ran away from home after high school.”

  “Hell, no. I wonder why you ever came back.”

  Bless Gina. She always understood.

  “Thanks for drawing some of the fire in there. It’s nice to know somebody else in this family pisses off the aunts,” Maddy said as they waved good-bye to Denise and Rose. “I was beginning to think I had that honor all to myself.”

  “Not as long as I’m still around.”

  Some of the afternoon’s tension finally started to drain away, and Maddy leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. “Did you know Rose and I fought in the dressing room after she threw everyone out?”

  “Try telling me something the whole family doesn’t know.”

  “You heard us?”

  “We didn’t have to. The seismic activity was a dead giveaway.”

  “I told her Aidan wanted us to elope.”

  “Get out!”

  “He said we should grab Hannah and Kelly and elope to Vegas.” She started to laugh. “Let Rose throw us a party when we got back and charge it to the PBS crew.”

  “Oh yeah,” said Gina, starting to laugh, too. “I’m sure our Rosie would be up for that.”

  “It’s not like I’m thinking of doin
g it or anything, but the second she told me to try on that strapless Band-Aid dress, I was looking to pick a fight with her.”

  “Bet you got our Rosie’s blood pumping.” Gina merged onto the highway behind Aunt Lucy’s Buick. “So now what are you going to do?”

  “Run away from home again.”

  “Not an option anymore. You’re here to stay.”

  Maddy feigned a shiver. “A life sentence in Paradise Point.”

  “Within shouting distance of every single DiFalco relative on the planet.”

  “Stop the car,” Maddy said. “I have a sudden urge to play in traffic.”

  Of all the cousins, Gina was the one who understood text and subtext. She always laughed where she was supposed to, but she saw beneath the black humor to the heart of the matter. There was more to Gina than her bawdy persona would lead you to believe. Maddy was one of the few people who was allowed to see the woman behind the laughter.

  “I thought things were getting better for you and Rosie.”

  “They were,” Maddy said, then corrected herself. “They are. We’ve both been trying hard to be more understanding, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit we’ve had some rough spots since Aidan and I got engaged.”

  “I thought she was crazy about him.”

  “She is. I think it’s the wedding that’s making us both crazy.”

  “Maybe not. Maybe it’s the documentary that’s fraying everyone’s nerves. All this looking back isn’t doing any of us any good.”

  Maddy looked closely at her cousin. “I thought you were enjoying the attention.” Gina’s salon stood to receive a fair bit of airtime when the documentary finally ran as part of a feature on the new wave of female entrepreneurs who were reshaping the old shore town.

  “Dig deep enough, and you’re bound to find something someone wanted to keep buried.” Gina shook her head as if to brush away the idea. “I’d just as soon they kept the focus on your wedding.”