Free Marking Time by Marie Force Page A

them here for a week.”
    “A bad one?” Clare asked.
    “Not as bad as it could’ve been but enough to disrupt travel for days. Long story short, Jack asked her to move here, and Andi’s boss sweetened the pot by offering her the job managing the Newport hotel. She and Eric moved here the following February.”
    “That was after your wedding, right?”
    “Right. We got married on New Year’s Eve.”
    “I’ve wondered about how the girls reacted when he told them she was moving in.”
    “Well, they’d spent quite a bit of time with her by then, and Maggie, in particular, was just wild about Eric. Kate was very supportive. She said she wanted him to be happy. Jill was upset about it at first, but she came around in time.”
    Clare glanced at Andi across the room. She had a baby in her arms as she visited with her guests. “She seems hard not to like.”
    Frannie chuckled. “You’re right. She was good with the girls and respected the boundaries. I think that’s why it worked out so well.”
    Jack walked over to them, holding the other baby. “Frannie, can I give Robby to you for a minute?”
    She held out her arms. “Of course. Come see Auntie Frannie, big guy.”
    “Clare, we probably should offer up a toast to our daughter. Are you game?” Jack held out a hand to help her up.
    She took his hand. “Only if you do the talking. You’re better at that stuff than I am.”
    Clare stood next to Jack by the fireplace as he clinked a spoon against his glass to quiet the room.
    “I want to thank you all for coming tonight. We’re here to wish Kate a happy eighteenth birthday and to wish her well as she begins the next phase of her life.” He cleared his throat. “In Nashville,” he said, appearing to choke on the word as his guests chuckled. “Kate, I find it very hard to believe you’re already eighteen, and just to be sure, I got out your birth certificate today.” He reached into his pocket to retrieve a piece of paper.
    Kate groaned and made a face at him.
    Jack held up the birth certificate. “The dates don’t lie, so like it or not, it’s time for us to let you go. All we can do is hope that when you’re a big star you won’t forget to come home once in a while. Your mother and I are so proud of you, and we love you very much.” He raised his glass. “To Kate.”
    Kate’s cheeks turned red as her guests saluted her. She walked over to hug her father, and Clare was once again startled to witness the new level of intimacy between Jack and the girls. While he’d always been a wonderful father, his relationship with his daughters had clearly grown and deepened during her long illness. Kate pulled back from him and reached for her mother.
    “Will you play for us, Kate?” Clare asked as she hugged her daughter.
    “I’d love to.” Kate looked at her father with a big grin on her face. “I have a song just for you.”
    “Why am I afraid?” he asked.
    “Oh, be very afraid,” Kate joked and went to find her guitar.
    The room quieted again when Kate began to strum the opening notes of the song. “This is by someone I hope to meet someday—Martina McBride—and it’s for you, Dad.” She launched into the chorus for “Independence Day.”
    Jack tossed his head back with laughter. “Very funny, Kate.”
    She gave him a wicked grin as she finished the song. “This one’s for everyone else,” she said, launching into a haunting rendition of Sarah McLaughlin’s “I Will Remember You.”
    “She sure is something, isn’t she?” Madeline Harrington asked Clare.
    Clare had been so absorbed in Kate, she hadn’t seen Jack walk away. She glanced at her former mother-in-law. “She sure is. She’s going to get where she wants to be.”
    “I’m not sure whether to hope for that or against it,” Madeline said with a sigh.
    “You don’t approve.”
    “It’s not about approval. I worry—no more or less than you and Jack, I’m sure.”
    “I have a good feeling about it. I didn’t at