Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 86360 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86360 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Her eyes twinkle, then sober again. “But it’s not always possible to do so flawlessly. There will be times when you’re convinced you’re right, of the merit of what you believe. There are times you’ll fight against him. And there are even times he may allow it.”
It’s almost uncanny how well-timed her words are. I can only nod.
“And when Nolan grew to be a toddler… that was my time. I’d given Seamus three sons. I’d withstood so much, taken what I could, upheld the code I was expected to. Lass, I’d even left my home to wed a man I’d never met, all for the good of The Clan.”
Her example is powerful. One that I’ll remember.
“How did you do it?”
“Leave?” she asks.
I nod. “We all have a purpose, Caitlin. And I knew in my heart my purpose was here. Among them. That I was to be the matriarch of the family.”
I sigh. I know what my heart tells me as well, though I don’t want to listen or heed the message. My marrying Keenan will bring peace between The Clans. It will secure my own safety as well as the boys at St. Albert’s. And joining the McCarthy family means more than that. So much more. Here, I’ll have friends. Brothers. A mother. And soon, little ones of my own.
Family.
“There have been times I’ve gone against Seamus. Times I came to be glad that I did. And times I wished I hadn’t. Sheltering Nolan as I did, I came to regret it.” She sighs. “I babied him. And he grew to be a good man, loyal and honest, but he lacks the self-control and discipline of his brothers. And it shows.” She looks away, back to the church, her gray eyes once more shining with tears. “I well know he’s taken to the drink, that he’s in a bad way. I know they’ll have to do what needs to be done to see to his wellbeing. But God, sometimes it hurts right here.” She makes a fist, pounds her fist at her heart, and closes her eyes. Tears leak from her closed eyes.
I can’t help myself. I reach for her and hug her. She hugs me back. It’s only a brief moment, but we understand each other in that moment. She knows the difficulty I face. I know the pain she holds. I can walk away from this, away from all I’ve ever had, and seek the great unknown on my own. Or I can stay, in solidarity with the people I’ve come to know and dare I say, love.
She wipes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “I could use a stiff drink,” she says with a laugh. “But we’ve got a wedding to plan. Thank you for sharing this with me.”
We leave the little graveyard, and I leave a piece of my heart behind me. At the edge of the graveyard, one of the men stiffens and curses, and signals to the other.
Boner looks to Tully and lifts his phone. “We lost the signal. Christ, we missed calls.” Boner signals to me and Maeve. “Go. Now. Something’s amiss, and we need to find out what.”
We walk quicker than we did before. Maeve’s eyes are drawn together, and she holds my hand tightly. “I shouldn’t have taken you there.”
“You didn’t mean anything by it. How were we to know they’d lose connection?”
“He wouldn’t want me to take you off the grounds, not when so much is at stake.” She shakes her head. “God.”
“Maeve,” I begin, when shouts come up in front of us. Men are running, weapons are drawn. We still, both of us, waiting for direction, when a car comes toward us.
“It’s Seamus,” Maeve says.
Seamus rolls down the window when he approaches and speaks directly to Maeve. “Keenan and Cormac were taking Nolan to the doctor,” he says. “They were overtaken. Seems Nolan’s sickness was a decoy, likely orchestrated by our rivals. Retaliation for the death of the Martins at St. Albert’s.”
“Mother of God.”
“Cormac says that Keenan was taken into custody. Five masked men, and he couldn’t fight them off. He saw the Martin mark.”
The Martins. My blood relatives. They took Keenan?
“Where’d they take him?”
Seamus shakes his head. “No idea,” he says. “They shot Cormac.” Maeve gasps. “He’s alright, lass,” Seamus says, in a voice that’s so familiar to Keenan my heart aches a little. “He will be, anyway. Shot him in the leg. Told him to relay the message. Says we’ve got something of theirs, and they won’t let him go until they have it back.”
Maeve’s eyes go to mine, and we know. We know exactly what’s theirs.
Maeve grabs my hand and tugs me to her.
“Get her into lockdown,” Seamus orders his men. “Now.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Keenan
I open my eyes, blinking at the dim yellow light that hurts my head. I’m bound, somehow. Rope tied about my body, my mouth gagged. I hear voices all around me, none familiar. I try to remember what happened. What the bloody hell happened?