AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Did you tell her or not?”
“Maybe I didn’t. It’s not so easy just to blurt such a thing out.”
“Why?”
“It just isn’t,” Aidan muttered. “And I’m not some bloody Yank who’d leave her that way. I’m an Irishman who keeps his word, a Catholic who thinks of marriage as a sacrament.”
“Oh, well, then, that’ll convince her. If she marries you it’ll be a matter of your honor and your religion that keeps you with her.”
“That’s not what I meant.” His head was starting to spin. “I’m just saying she should trust me not to hurt her the way she’s been hurt.”
“Better, Aidan, she trusts you to love her as she’s never been loved.”
Aidan opened his mouth, shut it again. “When did you get so smart?”
“Nearly thirty years of watching people, and avoiding the situation you find yourself in. I don’t think she’s a woman who’s been given love and respect in equal measure. And she needs them.”
“I have both for her.”
“I know you do.” Sympathy stirred and Shawn gave Aidan’s arm a squeeze. “But she doesn’t. It’s time to humble yourself. That’s the hardest thing for you, I know. She’ll know it, too.”
“You’re saying I have to grovel.”
Now Shawn flashed a grin. “Your knees’ll take it.”
“I suppose they will. Can’t be more painful than a broken nose.”
“Do you want her?”
“More than anything.”
“If you don’t tell her just that, if you don’t give her your heart, Aidan, if you don’t bare it for her and give her the time to trust what she sees there, you’ll never have her.”
“She might turn me away again.”
“She might.” Shawn rose, laid a hand on Aidan’s shoulder. “It’s a risk. I don’t recall you ever being afraid of taking a chance.”
“Then here’s another first for you.” Aidan reached up, laid his hand on his brother’s. “I’m terrified.” A little shaky in the gut, he rose. “I’ll take a walk if you can hold things here. Get my mind clear before I go see her.” Then he touched his fingers gingerly to his nose. “How bad is it?”
“Oh,” Shawn said cheerfully. “It’s bad. And it’ll get worse.”
Her hand hurt like six devils. If she hadn’t been so busy cursing, she would have worried she’d broken something in it. But as she could still make a fist, she assumed it was only jarred from ramming into the concrete block that disguised itself as Aidan Gallagher’s head.
The first thing she did was grab the phone and change her airline reservations. She was leaving the very next day. Not that Aidan was running her off—oh, no indeed. She just wanted to get to Chicago, handle what needed to be handled quickly, efficiently, and personally before she came back.
Then she would plant herself in Faerie Hill Cottage and live a long and happy life doing as she chose, when she chose, and with whom she chose. And the single person who was not on that list of choices was Aidan Gallagher.
She called Mollie and arranged for her to dog-sit Finn.
Already missing him and riddled with guilt for leaving him behind, she picked him up and hugged him.
“You’ll have a wonderful time at the O’Tooles’. You’ll see. And I’ll be back before you know I’m gone. I’ll bring you a present.” She kissed his nose.
Since she was in no mood to work, she went upstairs to pack. She wouldn’t need much. Even if the business of relocating took a week or two, she had clothes in Chicago. She’d make do with no more than her carry-on and her laptop and feel very cosmopolitan.
Once she was on the plane, she’d settle back with a glass of celebratory champagne and make a list of all that needed to be done.
She’d persuade her grandmother to come back with her, to spend the rest of the summer. She would even try to convince her parents that they should come visit so they could see that she was settled and happy.
Everything else was just practical. Selling her car, the furniture, shipping the few things she loved. It was surprising how little of what she’d collected in the past few years she really loved.
Closing bank accounts, she mused as she set her carry-on beside the closet door. Finalizing paperwork. Arranging for a permanent change of address. A week, she calculated. Ten days at most, and it would be behind her.
The sale of the condo could be completed by mail and by phone.
It was all arranged, she thought. She’d take Finn and the keys to the cottage to Mollie in the morning, then drive to Dublin. Then she looked around and wondered what she would do with herself until morning.
She would work in the garden for now, so she could leave it in absolutely perfect shape, without a single weed or faded bloom. Then she’d go visit Maude one more time just to let her know she was going away for a few days.
Pleased with the idea, Jude gathered her gardening tools and gloves, slapped her hat on her head, and went out to work.
Aidan hadn’t intended to walk by Maude’s grave; but he usually followed impulse. When his feet took him there, he loitered, hoping, he supposed, to find inspiration—or at least a bit of sympathy for his situation.
He crouched down to trail his fingers over the flowers Jude had left there.
“She comes to see you often. She has a warm heart, and a generous one. I have to hope it’s warm enough, generous enough, to spare a bit for me. She’s your blood,” he added. “And though I didn’t know you as a young woman, I’ve heard tales that tell me you had a quick temper and a hard head—begging your pardon. I’ve come to see she takes after you, and I have to admire her for it. I’m going to see her now, and ask her again.”
“Then don’t make the same mistakes I did.”
Aidan looked up, and into sharp green eyes. He straightened slowly. “So, you’re real as well.”
“As real as the day,” Carrick assured him. “Twice she’s said no. If she says so again, you’re of no use to me, and I’ve wasted my time.”
“I’m not asking her to be of use to you.”
“Still and all, I’ve only one chance left. So have a care, Gallagher. I can’t weave a spell here. It’s forbidden, even to me. But I’ve a word of advice.”
“I’ve had plenty of that today, thanks.”
“Take this as well. Love, even when pledged, isn’t enough.”
Annoyed, Aidan dragged a hand through his hair. “Then what the devil is?”
Carrick smiled. “It’s a word that still sticks a bit in my throat. It’s called compromise. Go now while she’s being charmed by her own flowers. It might give you an edge.” The smile widened into a grin. “The way you’re looking right now, you’ll need all the help you can come by.”
“Thanks very much,” Aidan muttered even as his visitor vanished in a silver shimmer of air.
Shoulders hunched, he started toward the cottage. “My own brother calling me a brickhead. Sneering faeries insulting me. Women punching me in the face. How much more am I to swallow in one bloody day?”
As he spoke, the sky darkened, and thunder rumbled ominously. “Oh, go ahead, then.” Aidan glanced up with a scowl. “Shake your fist. This is my life I’m dealing with here.”
He jammed his hands in his pockets and tried to forget that his face ached like one huge bad tooth.
He came around the back, had nearly knocked on the kitchen door when he remembered Carrick had said she was with her flowers. Since she wasn’t at the ones there, it meant she was in the front.
Breathing slow to steady his nerves, he circled the house.
She was singing. In all the time he’d known her, he’d never heard her sing. And though she’d claimed to do so only when nervous, he didn’t think that was what brought her voice out.
She was singing to her flowers, and it stirred his heart. She had a sweet and a tentative voice that told him she didn’t trust it, not even when she thought no one could hear.
It was a pretty sight she made, kneeli
ng by her blossoms, singing quietly of being alone in a festive hall, with her foolish straw hat tipped over her face and the pup curled sleeping on the path behind her.
She didn’t seem to notice the dark clouds brewing overhead, the threat of storms grumbling. She was a steady and bright spot in a magic little world, and if he hadn’t already loved her, he would have tumbled at that moment. But he didn’t know how to explain to either of them the why of it.
His heart was simply hers. He knew stepping forward with nothing to guard it was the greatest risk a man could take.
He stepped forward, and said her name.
Her head whipped up, her eyes met his. He was sorry to see that soft and content expression vanish from her face, to be replaced by a cold and steely anger. But it wasn’t entirely unexpected.
“I’ve finished talking to you.”
“I know it.”
Finn woke and with a joyful bark, scrambled to greet him. That’s what he’d expected of her, he realized. That she would always be happy to see him, that she would rush forward eager for his attention.
It was hardly a wonder, he thought, she’d given him the boot when he’d treated her a bit like a puppy.
“I have a few things to say to you. The first of them being I’m sorry.”
That threw her off, but not enough to soften her. It might have taken her years to learn how to use her spine, but she knew now. “Fine. Then I’ll apologize for hitting you.”
His nose was swollen, and bruising was already spreading under his eyes. Had she actually done that? She found the fact horrifying and shamefully thrilling.
“You broke my nose.”
