Page 73 of Last Wish Wedding

“I’m starving,” Noah announced and dropped his backpack by the stairs. “Can we eat soon?”

Kelsey glanced at the empty refrigerator, a flash of guilt crossing her features. “I don’t have much in the house.”

Mac sensed an opportunity. “I could grab some pizzas. Let you two settle in.”

“Pizza!” Noah’s face lit up, the first genuine excitement Mac had seen since retrieving him from the Prescotts. “Can I have pineapple and ham on mine?”

Mac raised an eyebrow at Kelsey, who nodded. “Afraid so,” she confirmed with a small smile. “He’s one of those.”

“Hey, pineapple on pizza is awesome.” Noah dropped onto the sofa with the easy physical abandon of childhood. “Uncle Jason said it was an abom… abomi…”

“Abomination?” Mac supplied.

“Yeah. He wouldn’t let me order it.” Noah’s expression clouded.

Kelsey’s jaw tightened minutely, and Mac made a mental note to add extra pineapple to the order.

“I should get a change of clothes anyway,” Mac added, feeling suddenly like an intruder in the domestic scene. “While I’m out.”

Understanding flashed in Kelsey’s eyes. She knew he was giving them space, mother and son time to reconnect without his awkward presence.

“Thanks,” she said softly. “That would be great.”

“So how was the beach trip?” Mac asked Noah, trying to normalize the conversation while he pulled up the pizza place’s online menu.

Noah perked up. “We went to this really cool museum with all these pirate things! And Aunt Jennifer took me to look for shark teeth on the beach.” He tilted his head. “Did you and Mom really get married while I was gone?”

The directness of the question, delivered with a child’s unfiltered curiosity, made Mac hesitate. The gold band felt tight on his finger.

“We did,” he confirmed, looking to Kelsey for guidance.

She settled beside Noah on the sofa. “We’ll tell you all about it after you got settled, honey.”

“Was there cake?” Noah asked pragmatically.

Mac laughed, and the tension eased from his shoulders. “There was. Your Aunt Amy made sure of it.”

“Did you save me some?”

“I think there might be a piece in the fridge at your great-grandfather’s house,” Mac said.

“I have a great-grandfather?” Noah asked as Kelsey slipped onto the couch beside him.

Mac took the opportunity. “I’ll call in that pizza.” He pulled out his phone and stepped toward the door. “See you in a bit.”

Outside in his car, Mac leaned his head against the steering wheel, exhaling slowly. The past few days had been a whirlwind of legal maneuvering, emotional declarations, and now… domesticity.

He was a husband. A stepfather. Words that hadn’t existed in his vocabulary forty-eight hours ago.

After calling in an order for two pizzas, including a small ham and pineapple monstrosity for Noah, Mac drove toward his own house. The property sat quiet and imposing, the modern architecture a stark contrast to Kelsey’s cozy cottage.

Inside, the space echoed with emptiness. He’d never bothered with a security system, as there was no need, nothing to steal.

He waded through the sleek, minimalist rooms to gather clothes and toiletries and mentally catalog what else he’d need for an extended stay at the cottage. They’d need to live together, the attorneys had emphasized. The Prescotts would be salivating over any evidence their marriage was a sham. The sheriff’s intervention had gotten Noah back, but the custody battle was far from over.

The prospect of sharing Kelsey’s bed every night sent heat coursing through him. That part would be no hardship. But the rest of the day-to-day reality of family life was uncharted territory.

Upstairs, Mac paused in the doorway of an unused bedroom. It could be Noah’s, he realized. The room had good light, a view of the cove. He would like that, being able to watch for marine life from his window.