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Kneeling in front of my great-grandmother, I took her frail hand in mine and pressed a kiss to the back of it. “I’m so sorry, Nanny.”
“What are you sorry for, pet?”
“For letting you down.” I blew out a pained breath and shook my head. “For disappointing you.”
“Look at my face,” she instructed, cupping my cheeks between her tremor-racked hands. “Does this look like a face filled with disappointment?”
I couldn’t answer her.
It hurt too much.
“I am so proud of you,” she pushed, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to my brow. “And if Granda was here, he would tell you the same thing.”
Fuck.
She hit me through the heart with that line.
“Before I go back to Beara, I have something for you,” she whispered in my ear, so that Darren couldn’t hear her. “I don’t want you to show your brothers and sister.” She slipped a folded-up envelope into the front pocket of my hoodie. “Granda only left it for you, but I couldn’t give it to you at the time. Not while he was… Well, when you were in your father’s house. I’ve been holding onto it for you. Until the time was right.”
“Granda?” I frowned in confusion. “Left what for me?”
“The letter inside explains everything,” she whispered, pressing a finger to her lips to silence me. “Not a word to the others, ya hear?”
I nodded cluelessly.
She smiled. “Now, be a good boy and enjoy your homecoming.”
“Enough hoarding,” Edel ordered, pushing her way into the action. “I’m sorry, Nanny, but I have to steal your grandson for a moment. Joey, I have a little present for you.”
“We,” John called over from where he was helping Gibsie untangle himself from the net of a goalpost. “We have a present for him.”
“Don’t mind him,” she said, rolling her eyes. “It was my idea.”
“Actually, it was both of our—”
“Stop stealing my thunder, John,” Edel huffed. “Come on, Joey, let me show you.”
“It’s so cool,” Ollie chimed in, catching ahold of one of my hands, while Sean took hold of the other. “Dellie let us help.”
“And you were the best little helper,” she crooned, leading us around the side of the house to the back. “I couldn’t have done it without you, my sweet boy.”
“I’m super helpful,” he agreed, blowing his own trumpet. “Sure I am, Dellie?”
“Yes, you are, pet,” she mollified him by saying as she led us through the backyard toward what looked like a recently renovated outbuilding. “Now, let’s show Joey the annex.”
“The annex?” I frowned. “What’s that?”
“That,” she teased, stopping at the door of a freshly painted outbuilding, “is your abode.” Reaching into her pocket, she retrieved a set of keys and dangled them in front of my face. “I figured as soon as you got home, you’d be on the hunt for somewhere for your little family to live, so I went out on a limb and made a preemptive strike.” Grinning, she dropped the keys into my hand. “Like I said, welcome home, Joey Lynch.”
“Huh?” I stood there, with the keys in my hand, and my brain on empty. “I mean…what?”
Laughing, she pushed the door inward and stepped inside, followed swiftly by Ollie who barreled into the annex after her. “Follow us.”
“Well, Seany?” I muttered, hoisting him into my arms before stepping inside. “I guess we’re doing this, aren’t we?”
______________________
“The second bedroom is a little cozy,” Edel explained, as she walked me around what looked I could only describe as a high-end duplex. “But the master is a decent size, with an en suite attached.”
