“I’d like to move to the mainland.”

He took a bite of cold potato. “So why don’t you?”

“I can’t leave my mother. She has a lot of problems, but I dream about getting out of here. Better jobs. A fresh start. No one knows me there.”

“Why would you want to live alone with your son in a place where no one knows you?”

She shot him a withering look.

He had no idea what she meant. He’d ask his sister Janey. She knew everything that went on in Gansett.

A knock on the door startled them.

“Maddie? Are you home?”

He got up to answer it. A pretty dark-haired woman looked at him with accusatory eyes. “Jim came home for lunch and saw a man . . .” Her brows furrowed. “Who are you, and what’re you doing in my sister’s apartment?”

“Come in, Tiff,” Maddie called.

Mac stepped aside to admit her, deciding that Tiffany must resemble their other parent, because he saw none of fair-haired Maddie in her. And whereas Maddie’s curves were extravagant, her sister had the lean, lithe build of a dancer. At the moment, she resembled a protective panther about to pounce.

Tiffany saw Maddie and let out a gasp. “What happened?”

Mac extended his hand. “Mac McCarthy.”

Tiffany just stared at him, and once again, Mac wondered why his name drew such an odd, almost hostile, reaction from the Chester sisters.

He let his hand drop to his side. “We had an accident,” he said, filling Tiffany in on the details.

She went to her sister for a closer look. “Oh God, Maddie.”

“I know.”

“Don’t worry,” Mac said. “I’m taking care of her.”

Tiffany’s head whipped around, and the look she gave him could’ve cut glass. What was that all about? “I’ll take care of my sister. You can go now.”

“I tried that,” Maddie said. “He’s quite difficult to get rid of.”

For a brief instant, Mac thought he saw affection on her face, but it was gone before he could celebrate the breakthrough.

“It’s my fault that she’s in this predicament, so I’ll be covering for her at the hotel and at the daycare until she’s able to get back to work,” Mac said.

Tiffany looked from her sister to Mac and back again to Maddie. “You can’t be serious.”

“What else can I do, Tiff? I can’t lose the hotel job, and you’ve got your dance classes. We need the help. I can barely move, let alone take care of four babies.”

“How will you care for Thomas?”

“We were just discussing that when you arrived,” Mac said.

“You’ll move in with us until you’re recovered,” Tiffany declared.