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Fianna gave Ryan a smile in support, knowing he hated it when his mother would go on about him still being single.
She hated it when people made remarks about her single relationship status at twenty-nine. But all of those people could eat dirt and die for all she cared.
Maybe that’s what Ryan referred to as coming off like she sat on her high horse all the time. It probably was some kind of coping mechanism. Growing up with a mother who could find a fault in anything—and everything—would do that to a person.
And here she was now.
She still worked with horses. Stormchaser enjoyed his retirement, and she could spread her knowledge about horse riding and jumping with a lot of cool and eager kids. And every day she came to work, she found herself wrapped up in the love of the Moore family.
It was whenever she went home alone to an empty one-bedroom apartment filled with dead plants that she felt sorry for herself. Looking in from the outside at the happy couples and families around her triggered her sadness.
Clearly, Ronan wanted to get back together. But she wasn’t sure she could trust him again. Could she give him her heart? Just hand it over on a silver platter after he’d been an absolute manwhore. Every single one of their family members and friends had heard her cuss him out.
Could she look at herself in the mirror, knowing that after all these years of spewing how much she hated his arrogant ass, she would return to him? She knew what more was in store for her, though. Earth-shattering, hot and dirty sex.
“Hmm. Something smells good in here,” Roger Moore said the moment he entered the kitchen.
Shauni stood from her seat and kissed her husband’s cheek. “All Emmy’s work.”
“Hi, Fi. I heard that last boy was doin’ a bang-up job?”
Shauni’s husband was a strict but also fair man. Looking up at Roger, she saw a carbon copy of Ryan. Perhaps a twenty-five years older version with gray hair, but Roger was still very much built like his farmer son.
“Yes. He’s very intuitive. Brooklyn had no trouble following his lead. He even did the jump over the brush fence.”
Roger sat down and said, “Good. And what about that family reunion? Did you get all the info you needed?”
Fianna took another bite of her chicken. She had nothing to tell him. She had avoided every little thing that had to do with the meeting with the Walker family.
“Everything is set. Can I get you some water?” Shauni answered.
Roger nodded and gave his wife a smile. “Thanks, darlin’. That would be great.”
“We’ll set the picnic tables in between the vegetable garden and the fields. We’ve already cleared it from a bit of rocks and weeds. Everything is set for next week.”
Fianna felt ashamed she hadn’t helped Ryan since it was her family coming over.
“And they are with three guys and two girls?” Roger asked.
Fianna answered in a measured voice, “The youngest is Finn. He’s seventeen, I believe. Then you have the twins: Catriona and Nora. They are twenty-years-old. I heard that Kieran, the firefighter, is thirty-two. And the oldest is Devlin. He’s thirty-six.”
“Hmm. Quite the age difference between them.”
Before she could stop it, she said, “Yeah. My father was still making babies, but then with my mother.”
Roger didn’t seem to be shaken by her bluntness. “You may be very well right.”
“I know I am. We once compared birthdays. Ryleigh’s sister Jessie had told Bree all about their birthdays. It’s like Rob Walker couldn’t help himself. Five kids with my mother, and five kids with that Brenda woman.”
Shauni placed her weathered hand on top of Fianna’s for a moment and squeezed. “It’s going to be okay, darlin’. Bree and Jessie are really looking forward to bringing you all together so that, at the very least, you know who they are and could see them once. The rest is up to you.”
“I know. Even Caitlin is coming from Winter Peaks to be here,” Fianna said.
“Well, if even Cait is joining the party, then you certainly can’t miss out.”
She smiled at Shauni’s enthusiasm.
“Who would have thought? You even got her smilin’, Ma.”
