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“Beautiful,” Cameron mutters under his breath, and I find myself studying him more closely.
“Did I miss something?” I ask him quietly.
Cameron just shakes his head. Before I can question him further, the back door opens, and Maggie herself comes through it with Anastasia and Maeve right behind her.
“So, this is where the cool kids are,” Maeve says with a grin as she holds up a bottle of Irish whiskey. “Let’s have a drink, yeah?”
“None for me,” Shawn says as he turns from the window. Shawn is the youngest brother and the deepest thinker. He’s quiet but calculating. Perhaps a bit moody, but being an artist will do that to you.
I should know.
I glance longingly toward my barn as Maeve fills the glasses that Anastasia brought with her. I don’t want to make a toast. I don’t want to salute a man who hurt my sister the way Joey Lemon did.
Before I can, Maggie raises her glass.
“To Joey,” she says. “Who turned out to be the slimy piece of shit everyone warned me he was.”
She drinks, and the rest of us share a surprised glance before swallowing our own shots.
“A wife should know, don’t you think, when her husband is in love with someone else?” Maggie asks the room.
“A man shouldn’t be in love with anyone but the woman he married,” Shawn replies. “It’s not the wife’s fault that her husband made the decisions he did.”
“Ah, well. It’s done now, and I don’t even get the satisfaction of throwing him out on his ass.” She shrugs a shoulder and holds her glass out to Maeve for another shot. “More.”
“Maggie—” Maeve begins, but I interrupt.
“Give her all the feckin whiskey she wants.”
Maggie smiles at Maeve, who gives her another shot. The rest of us sit by, stone-cold sober, watching our sister get shit-faced. She’s more than earned it, and that’s the truth of it.
Maggie’s eyes are glassy as she sings off-key when our mother comes out back and finds us here, keeping watch.
“My God, what are you all about?”
“Well, mother dear, I’m getting drunk,” Maggie says. “Alone, I guess, because they’re all just watching.”
“We’ve an eye on her,” Keegan assures our mum. “How’s Da?”
“He’s asleep in that recliner Kane has in the study, with Murphy snoring with him. Maggie, my love, you should eat something to sop up some of that alcohol.”
“Nah,” Maggie says, shaking her head. “It feels too good to be numb right now.”
“We’ve got her,” Maeve assures Mum. “You’ve had a rough few days, with travel and all of this. You and Da should rest.”
“Well, everyone’s gone now, and the caterers just pulled out, so we’ll do that.” Mum walks over and cups Maggie’s face in her hands, the way she’s done with all of us since we were wee lads and lasses. “You’re a wonderful, strong woman, Maggie, my love. You have your drinks and sing your heart out tonight. We’ll worry about tomorrow when it comes.”
“Love you, Mama.”
Anastasia has sat by, quietly watching us all, soaking in stories from childhood with a small smile on her gorgeous face. I motion for her to come and sit next to me, which she does, and slides her hand into mine. I lean over to kiss her temple and catch Cameron watching us.
“What?”
“I didn’t say anything,” he says, but I can see the wheels turning. I’ll tell him later about how I’ve fallen for Anastasia and my plans. But for now, I need to focus on my sister and make sure she doesn’t do or say anything to hurt herself while she gets good and drunk.
“Don’t get married,” she says to me and then looks at each of us in turn. “Don’t any of you ever get married. It changes you. Makes you mean. Impatient.” She sips her whiskey. “It makes you stay where you’re not wanted.”
Cameron’s hands fist on his legs. His jaw clenches. He’s clearly watching her with the eyes of a man who isn’t just looking at someone he considers a sister but rather someone he sees as a woman. It’s something I need to pay attention to.
“Are you ready to go to bed?” Maeve asks Maggie. Since our parents moved back to Ireland a few years ago, Maeve took it upon herself to be even more maternal than she used to be, and that’s saying something. “Come on, I’ll tuck you in.”
“Yeah,” Maggie says with a deep sigh. “I’m really tired.”
“I’m sure you are.” Maeve holds out her hand for her. “Come on, love.”
Maggie walks next to me but stops. I stand, in case she needs me to carry her in. But she just wraps herself around me and holds on tight.
“I’m really sorry,” she whispers.
“Whatever do you have to be sorry for?”
“For all of this. For being a pain in the ass.”
“Mo chroi, you’ve been a pain in my ass since the day you were born. We will get through this. Go get some rest. We’ll figure the rest out as it comes, as Mum said.”
