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“Yeah.”
As they crossed the road, Bollocks let out a greeting bark.
Hands waved, and the boys called out their own greetings that whisked away in the breeze.
“I’m gonna put on my Farmer Marco. Catch you later.”
“And he’ll have fun,” Breen told Bollocks as she boosted over the stone wall. “Who’d have thought it?”
She wandered down the road, and yes, she could see a few more signs of spring in the green haze on the trees, a few brave wildflowers drinking in the sunlight.
“This’ll make all four seasons for me, Bollocks. Just about a year ago now, my life changed. Marco’s, too, as it turns out. That bus ride to my mother’s to go through that ridiculous routine she insisted on. Sort the mail, open every damn window, water all the plants. The first time I saw Sedric. He made me so nervous. God, I was so unhappy.”
She dropped a hand to brush over his topknot as they walked. “Honestly, I don’t think I knew how deeply unhappy until I broke away from all of that. Until I finally found me. And you, of course.”
When he wagged in agreement, she spread her arms wide as if to pull in all she had, all she knew, all she felt.
“Marco’s right. This is a day and a half.”
They made the turn to Marg’s cottage, and she thought of the first time she’d walked this path. Still a little dazed at stumbling through the portal after the puppy Bollocks had been.
And the shock of recognition, and so many nerves, when her grandmother stepped into the open doorway.
It stood open now, a welcome. Delighted to accept, Bollocks dashed ahead. And Marg came into the doorway.
She wore her glorious hair bundled back. The rough trousers and frayed sweater told Breen she’d been at work, either indoors or out.
“A fine bright day for the gardening,” Marg called out. “And haven’t we just come in from it to have some tea, and here you are, back from the Capital.”
“With a lot to tell both of you.”
“Come in and sit. We’ve biscuits aplenty after yesterday’s baking. And for you as well.” She bent to pet Bollocks. “Always for you as well. The coat suits you perfectly, I see.”
“You knew about the gift from Kiara?”
“She consulted me on it.” Marg welcomed Breen with a hug and a kiss on both cheeks. “And sure don’t you look as bright as the day?”
“I was just thinking how spring comes early here—or earlier than I’m used to. And with it I’ll have seen all four seasons in Talamh, and Ireland. So many firsts for me, Nan. So I feel bright.”
She moved into the kitchen, where Sedric, in baggy trousers, poured the tea. She greeted him as Marg had greeted her. He smelled of fresh earth and green.
“The first time I saw you, on the bus. Part of me must have known you, or had some inkling. It made me so anxious. You made that wind come up, so all the papers from the file cabinets scattered. So I’d find out about the money my father and Nan left me. My life changed in that moment.”
“It wasn’t the money itself so much.”
“It didn’t hurt. Jesus, we scraped by every month. But no, it was learning he hadn’t just walked away from me. If it had just been the—literal—windfall, I wouldn’t have come to Ireland. Without Ireland, I wouldn’t have come here. So I’m feeling bright, even though I have a dark story to tell you. It’s one Dorcas the Scholar told me.”
“You went to Dorcas’s cottage? Sedric, let’s get this girl some tea and biscuits to wipe that part of the visit away.”
She sat and let them fuss because she knew they enjoyed it.
In the cozy kitchen, with the windows open to the air and the fire keeping the air warm, she told them the tale, beginning to end.
“I marvel I’ve never heard a whisper of this before. Have you, Sedric?”
“I have, now with all this said.” His silver hair gleamed as he bent his head, looked down at his own hands. “Long ago, a child myself. A story I took for frightening the littles, as I was, to behave, not to wander. I’ve given no thought to it since.”
“This same tale?” Marg asked.
