Jep, is your kitchen outside?” Willa asked.
“One of them is,” he replied.
Nathan inclined his head. “After you.”
Sean gave another hesitant smile as she watched her young daughter bounce up and down as she accompanied a man almost a century old. “Willa has found a new buddy, so it seems.”
Nathan shoved his hands into his shorts pockets. “Might be a recipe for disaster.”
“It might,” she said as they followed Jep and Willa.
Just then, the breeze brought with it the sound of very old music, like maybe from the World War II era, or older.
“Jep, my middle brother and his wife all love the old tunes,” he stated. “From the twenties and thirties, mostly. My little brother is in love with seventies classic rock. The result is a cluster of strange and great music. You’ll get used to it.” He nodded before she could reply. “Speak of the devil.”
A pregnant woman rounded the corner of the stilt house, making her way toward them. Tall and lanky, she had only a delicate baby bump. With long reddish-brown hair piled atop her head, a wide, genuine smile exposed white teeth. A natural beauty—even from a distance Sean could tell that.
“Um, warning, she’s a hugger,” Nathan said softly moments before the woman pulled Sean into a tight embrace.
“Hi! I’m Emily!” the pregnant woman exclaimed. “I’m Nathan’s sister-in-law, married to the middle Malone boy. It’s so nice to meet you!” She pulled back, her hands still gripping Sean’s upper arms, and inspected her. “I really love your eyes. They remind me of extra-big almonds.”
“Oh,” Sean said with surprise. “Thank you.”
Another filter-less soul.
Yet...Sean found she liked her. She sensed a sincerity in her that oftentimes wasn’t present in others. Emily didn’t seem shy, either—qualities that Willa had, Sean noted. Maybe that was why she immediately liked Emily.
Emily slipped her arm through Sean’s and pulled her along. “Is this gruff-looking guy behaving himself?” she asked Sean.
“Sis, I’m not that bad,” Nathan said, and gave Sean a raised-eyebrow, innocent look. “Besides, I’m a pirate. Just ask Willa. I have to look gruff. It’s in the Pirates Handbook of Rules.”
Emily snorted. “Good Lord! I’ll just bet it is.” She gave her head a shake at Sean, a gesture that seemed to link them as conspirators. “Now he thinks he’s a pirate. And your little girl is absolutely adorable.”
“Thank you.” Sean just smiled. She didn’t know what else to say. She was in Friendly Overload with Emily. Never had she met such...nice people.
When they rounded the corner of the house, the yard opened up, with a dock leading to the river. Across the river, a lone white water bird stood in the muck edging the marsh, its long orange beak stark against the green-and-brown reeds. The sharp, pungent scent of salt hung in the air. Nathan’s shrimp boat sat at the end of the dock, the outriggers jutting skyward.
A small red-tin-roofed house was farther down the dock. And where the grass ended and the river bank began, beneath looming oak trees, several white Adirondack chairs sat facing the water. There were two occupants—a handsome dark-haired guy and a lovely blonde woman. Behind them was a picnic table covered with a checkered tablecloth. Close by, a small enclave stood, apparently the outdoor kitchen. Jep, Willa and another man—Nathan’s father, perhaps—stood over a large cooler, peering inside. Emily led Sean to the couple in the chairs.
“I’ll just go help Dad, Jep and Willa,” Nathan said, and left Sean to Emily’s caretaking.
“Hey, guys,” Emily said to the couple. The dark-haired guy leaped to his feet and grasped Sean’s hand in a firm shake.
He smiled wide, and the very same green eyes that Nathan had twinkled. “I’m Eric Malone, the baby of the family and obviously the better-looking one.” He dropped his hand and moved to stand behind the other chair, enveloping the young woman who sat in it. “This is my gorgeous fiancée, and Emily’s baby sister, Reagan.” He kissed the top of her head.
“Nice to meet you both,” Sean answered. “I’m...Sean Jacobs. My daughter, Willa—” she glanced over to where her daughter was helping the men “—has found a new friend. We live just up the river.” Sean noticed Reagan wasn’t exactly meeting her gaze. Not precisely, anyway. It was then she saw the walking stick propped against the chair.
Wow. Blind. At such a young age.
She briefly wondered how it happened.
“I was an airman once upon a time,” Reagan offered with eerie intuition, as though she’d seen the question in Sean’s eyes. “An explosion on the tarmac and...voilà! Now I’m a blind artist engaged to a crazy rescue swimmer.”
“Oh, I’m...sorry,” Sean stammered. “I mean, I didn’t intend to stare.”
“I stare all the time,” Eric stated with a smirk.
Reagan nodded. “He does.” She grinned, and Sean noticed how much she looked like Emily. Yet different. Beautiful in a different way. “And it’s fine. Life is good,” she said, and slipped a hand up and grasped Eric by the neck, caressing his cheek.
The look on his face was absolute and pure love.
“Mama! Come over here and look at these sea diamonds!” Willa hollered from the cookery.
“Ha! Old Jep’s pulling that sea diamond stuff with the kid,” Eric exclaimed. “He did the same to us when we were growing up.”
Emily laughed. “I remember.” She shook her head. “The years have left that old sea biscuit unchanged.”
As a group, they made their way to the cookery, and Sean stood back and noticed what a large, grand cluster of family they were. Never had she been around such engaging people. They all seemed so close. So fond of one another. The brothers teased each other, and King Jep seemed to be the instigator of most of it. She’d gathered that Emily and Reagan had grown up with the boys, and the sense of family bond was strong. Stronger than Sean had ever seen in her life. And the way Eric looked at Reagan? The protective arm he had around her?
She briefly wondered what that would be like to have.
* * *
FOR THE FIFTH TIME, Nathan turned his gaze toward Sean and his brother and sisters-in-law. What were they talking about? Now that they were all walking to the dock kitchen, he busied himself, making sure he didn’t appear to be the least interested in what they had been discussing.
“Hey, Captain Nathan, whatcha keep lookin’ at my mama for?” Willa said loud enough for everyone to hear.
Just that quickly Nathan learned how perceptive and intuitive Willa Jane Jacobs was.
Eric, that irritating jackass, threw back his head and laughed. “Dang, brother.” He clapped Nathan on the back. “That was a clear bust-out.” Eric held up his hand to Willa, who, without hesitation, gave him a high five.
Nathan had no reply. There was no getting out of a Willa observation. That was a fact he’d come to realize, just as clearly as Sean knew she couldn’t pull one over on her daughter. So, the fact he’d been staring at Sean had been flatly called out by a five-year-old. Hell, he couldn’t help it. But now he’d make a conscious effort not to. The last thing he needed was to be the butt of his brothers’ ribbing. That would only make him want to punch them in the face.
Besides, he didn’t want to make Sean more uncomfortable than she probably already was. He briefly wondered what she thought. Her expression seemed closed, so he didn’t even try to guess what might be going through her mind. He merely turned around and continued deveining the pile of shrimp he’d been working on. Hoped it wasn’t obvious that he wanted to knock Eric on his ass.