“Gramps—” Janine began, but her grandfather silenced her with a single look.

“The next thing I realized is that she’s unhappy. Terribly unhappy. Being in love is difficult enough but—”

“Anton,” Zach broke in, “if you’d—”

Gramps cut him off with the same laser-eyed look he’d sent Janine.

“Don’t interrupt me, boy. I’m on a roll and I’m not about to stop now. If I noticed Janine was a little melancholy at lunch, it was nothing compared to what I’ve been noticing about you.” Suddenly he ceased his pacing and planted himself squarely in front of Zach. “All week I’ve been hearing complaints and rumors about you. Folks in the office claim you’re there all hours of the day and night, working until you’re ready to drop.” He paused. “I know you, Zach, probably better than anyone else does. You’re in love with my granddaughter, and it’s got you all tangled up inside.”

“Gramps—”

“Shh.” He dismissed Janine with a shake of his head. “Now, I may be an old man, but I’m not stupid. Maybe the way I went about bringing the two of you together wasn’t the smartest, or the most conventional, but by golly it worked.” He hesitated long enough to smile proudly. “In the beginning I had my doubts. Janine put up a bit of a fuss.”

“I believe you said something about how it’s easier to pluck a live chicken,” Zach inserted, slanting a secret smile at Janine.

“True enough. I never knew that girl had so much spunk. But the fact is, Zachary, as you’ll recall, you weren’t all that keen on the idea yourself. You both think because I’m an old man, I don’t see things. But I do. You were two lonely people, filling up your lives with unimportant relationships, avoiding love, avoiding life. I care about you. Too much to sit back and do nothing.”

“It worked out,” Janine said, wanting to reassure him.

“At first I thought it had. I arranged the trip to Scotland and it looked like everything was falling neatly into place, like in one of those old movies. I couldn’t have been more pleased when you announced that you were going to get married. It was sooner than I’d expected, but I assumed that meant things were progressing nicely. Apparently I was wrong. Now I’m worried.”

“You don’t need to be.”

“That’s not the way I see it,” Gramps said with a fierce glare. “Tell him you love him, Janine. Look Zach in the eye and put aside that silly pride of yours. He needs to know it. He needs to hear it. I told you from the first that he wasn’t going to be an easy man to know, and that you’d have to be patient with him. What I didn’t count on was that damnable pride of yours.”

“You want me to tell Zach I love him? Here? Now?”

“Yes!”

Janine turned to her husband and, feeling a little self-conscious, lowered her eyes.

“Tell him,” Gramps barked.