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“I’ll just be taking those from you.” Gracie held out her hand for their towels and then disappeared through one of two doors at the other end of the cottage. A low murmur of voices sounded, and Kane realized she wasn’t alone here.
“Are you okay?” Kane asked, turning to look down at Iris, whose eyes had followed Gracie’s movements. He had to imagine that discovering relatives, and ones that apparently knew you, was a bit disconcerting.
“Jury’s out on that,” Iris muttered. Pursing her lips, she tilted her head, nodding a few times like she had the other night, and it dawned on Kane what she was doing. What he had thought was an odd quirk of hers, like tugging on an earlobe when stressed, was instead her likely tuning into her second sight. He had so many questions. Now was probably not the time, Kane thought, and instead watched Iris conduct some sort of internal debate with herself. When her eyes cleared, refocusing and realizing he was staring at her, she shrugged and gave him a lopsided grin.
“Occupational hazard,” Iris said. She tapped her forehead with one finger. She seemed lighter now that she could speak openly about herself, and Kane found he was even more interested in getting to know this fascinating woman. “I was checking in with my spirit guides.”
“You can hear them?” Kane asked. He kept his voice low, not wanting to reveal anything to Gracie that Iris wasn’t comfortable with sharing.
“Yes, they speak directly to me. It took me a long time to figure out what was going on and, let me tell you, it was a relief to realize what was actually happening. For a while, I thought I was becoming detached from reality.”
“I suppose that would be jarring,” Kane murmured. He paused, his hands in his pockets, and rocked back on his heels as he thought about what that must have been like for Iris. It must have been strange to have voices speaking to her, independent of her own thoughts, and if that was how her powers manifested for her then, surely, she must have questioned her sanity a time or two. He would have, that was for certain. But at the same time, it spoke of her confidence as a person that instead of dismissing these voices, she had explored what that meant for her. It took a certain level of courage to muscle through an experience like that and then develop those skills into a successful business. Layers, Kane thought to himself. She had so many layers to her.
“I’m sorry to keep you waiting. I had to interrupt King of the World himself to end a business call and extract himself from buying another country or whatever he was doing.” Gracie sniffed and then laughed when a man dressed in pressed slacks, a white button-down, and a striped tie stepped from the room behind her and poked her in the ribs. He carried himself as someone comfortable negotiating million-dollar deals in high-level boardrooms and looked decidedly out of place in this homey Irish cottage.
And yet the ease of which he moved around the room spoke of his comfort here. Interesting, the juxtaposition of the two. Kane was already making character notes in his mind as the couple stopped in front of them.
“Iris, I’d like to formally introduce you to Dylan Kelly, your great-great-great…hmmm I’m not sure how many greats, actually. Grandfather, though is where I’m getting at.”
Kane’s mouth dropped open, and his eyes flew to Iris’s face. Was she buying this nonsense? Surely, Gracie had simply misspoken, and she meant that Dylan was descended from Iris’s father?
“Wait.” Gracie turned and pinched her nose, looking up at Dylan, who wore an amused smile on his face. “You wouldn’t be her grandfather if you were her father, right? So what does that make you?”
“I wasn’t her father. And in this life? A descendent is all.” Dylan wore an easy smile as he came forward, his hand outstretched to Iris. “My apologies for the convoluted nature of things. It’s…tricky to explain.”
“It doesn’t have to be tricky if you’re just honest about it.” Gracie shrugged.
“Not everyone handles the mystical with the same ease you do, my love,” Dylan said, shaking Iris’s hand. Turning, he offered his hand to Kane.
“I’m Kane.” Kane only offered his first name and accepted Dylan's firm shake and coolly assessing look.
“Nice to meet you both. Can I put on a cup of tea for you? I think we have some catching up to do,” Dylan asked.
“Yes, please,” Iris said. She pursed her lips together, her head tilted at that angle again, and Kane watched Gracie watching Iris. Gracie’s eyes narrowed and then widened, and Kane wondered if she’d picked up on Iris’s abilities.
Fascinating lot, these people were. Ideas for stories were already swirling in his mind, and he had to tamp down his enthusiasm that yelled at him to pull a notepad from his pocket to start cataloging details.
“Please, sit,” Gracie said, turning to clear the bottles. Iris and Kane sat next to each other on the long bench on one side of the table while Dylan brought cups and a teapot over. “Sorry for the mess. I was in the middle of making a new arthritis cream.”
“Ah, you’re a chemist, then?” Kane asked since Iris continued to be silent, her wide eyes tracking Dylan.
“Nope, I’m a healer. Among other talents,” Gracie said, a smile hovering on her lips as she watched Iris’s reaction closely. Iris raised her eyebrows but, still, she said nothing.
“There we go, that’ll be set to steep for a moment,” Dylan said as he brought a packet of biscuits to the table. “Now, let’s explain ourselves a little more clearly before Iris runs for the hills.”
“I’m not…” Iris stopped and shook her head. “I’m listening.”
“Do you believe in reincarnation, Iris?” Gracie asked, taking a biscuit from the pack and nibbling on the corner.
Kane’s mouth dropped open. He couldn’t help it. This was not where he was expecting the conversation to go. Instead, he’d thought that maybe Gracie would haul out an old book with a weathered family tree on the pages.
“Of course I do,” Iris said. She twisted a purple crystal that hung on a chain around her neck. “Is that what you’re getting at? Dylan’s a reincarnation of family in my past life?”
Kane’s eyes flew to Dylan, the one who looked the least likely to accept any of this and instead found the man to be at ease with the conversation. Interesting, Kane noted.
“Not the entire family, just one man,” Dylan clarified. “It seems that I was the father of your great-great…well, however many generations it would be, grandmother.”
“How do you spell your name?” Iris asked, continuing to twist the chain around her finger.
