“Give me just a minute, son, will you please?”

“Um, sure.” Hesitantly, Mac turned and walked away.

“That’s your son.”

“My oldest, Mac Junior.”

“How old is he?”

“Thirty-seven.”

“How old are your other kids?”

The question was asked in a cool, relaxed tone, but he could see how hungry she was for information about his family. “Grant is thirty-six, Adam is thirty-four, Evan is thirty-two and my baby, Janey, just turned thirty.”

“Four boys and a girl,” she said softly. “I wondered if I might have siblings.”

“You don’t have any others?”

She shook her head. “My mom never married. I was her only child.”

“As I recall, she had a big family.”

“Who didn’t approve of her decision to have a baby on her own.” Mallory shrugged. “We didn’t need them. We had each other.”

“So now you’re alone in the world.”

“Not entirely. I have fantastic friends and a career I’m proud of.”

“What do you do?”

“I’m an emergency room nurse in Providence.”

“That’s very impressive.”

“You really think so?” she asked wistfully, clearly hungry for more than just information.

“I really do.” He cleared his throat and tried to think of what his next move should be. “I need to talk to my wife. Her name is Linda, and she’s the center of my life. She has been since shortly after your mom and I broke up. Do you have a phone number or some way I can reach you?”

She shook her head. “I can see that you’re a nice man. You’re the good guy my mother said you were, but I just wanted to meet you, not turn your entire life upside down. There’s no need to explain me to your family or your wife. That’s not why I came. I got what I needed, and I appreciate your time. I won’t take any more of it.”

“So you’re not one bit curious about your five siblings? How about your cousins? There’re quite a few of them. Laura and Shane both live here on the island. They’re my brother Frank’s kids. He’s up there at the table. He’s a retired Superior Court judge. My brother Kevin is a doctor—a psychiatrist, actually. He’s got two sons—Riley and Finn. They’ll be here in a couple of weeks for Laura’s wedding. She’s marrying Owen Lawry, who’s my son Evan’s best friend. If I were you, someone who doesn’t have much family to call my own, I’d at least want to meet everyone before I decided I didn’t want anything to do with them.”

“And how do you plan to introduce me into this lovely family of yours?”

“As the daughter I never knew I had?”