They waited on her, giving her time to collect her thoughts as she took a couple of sips of her coffee. “I’m an emergency room nurse. What do you guys do?”

The question seemed to break what remained of the ice, and the conversation flowed freely from there. Mac watched his father visibly relax when he realized his sons planned to make an effort where Mallory was concerned. If he could actually control the world, Mac wouldn’t have chosen for this to happen, but it had happened, and he’d do what he could to make it easy for his dad.

“I run the marina with Dad, and I have a construction company on the island, too,” Mac said when it was his turn. “I’m married to Maddie, and we have two kids, Thomas and Hailey, with a third on the way.”

Seeming to sense he was the toughest nut in the bunch, Mallory smiled warmly at him. “I can’t wait to meet them.”

Somehow Janey managed to get herself home, where she found Joe and P.J. in the sunroom together, the baby asleep in his father’s arms. The sight of them was all it took to trigger the tsunami of tears she’d managed to contain so she could get herself home.

“Janey, honey, what is it? Is something wrong with your parents?”

She dropped onto the sofa and curled up to him.

He wrapped his free arm around her and held her close.

Janey breathed in his familiar scent and that of her son, who’d had a bath in her absence.

“Baby, you’re scaring me. What’s wrong?”

“My dad has another daughter,” she said between sobs.

Her dog Riley scooted across the floor, dragging his hind end behind him until he was close enough to nuzzle her.

“What?”

Janey patted Riley’s head. “She showed up yesterday, out of the blue, claiming to be his daughter. And he’s happy about it.”

“Wait… Back up… She showed up from where?”

“Providence, I guess. Her mother just died and left a letter telling her who her father was. She came out yesterday to find him, and… And… I don’t want him to have another daughter. I’m his daughter. He doesn’t need her. And believe me, I know I’m being a total jerk, and I hate myself right now. But I can’t help it.” Sobs hiccupped through her, making her feel sick and stupid for being so emotional.

“Holy shit,” Joe whispered. “What did your mother say?”

“She was all calm about it because Dad didn’t know, and it happened before they met, so really, how could she be mad with him?”

“Still… They must’ve been totally shocked.”

“They were, but they’ve had some time to get past that. They found out yesterday.”