Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 81504 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81504 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
I’m shaking with nerves as the time draws near. Tully takes my hand.
“Your hands are freezing, lass. You feeling okay?” He looks at me with so much concern in his eyes, the wall I’ve constructed around my heart seems to melt a little.
“I am,” I say softly. “You?”
He kisses the fingers of my hand. “Never been better.”
Mary enters the library, smiling.
“I heard the news. Congratulations!”
I stifle a groan. “How did you hear? Tully, you said Keenan wouldn’t tell anyone!”
He frowns. “I’m sure he didn’t.”
Mary looks at the two of us in confusion. “Keenan? It was Tiernan who told me.”
“Tiernan knows!”
Mary blinks. “I should think so. He’s a teacher at the school, isn’t he?”
“Aye, but I don’t know why that would have anything to do with me being pregnant!”
She stares at me, open-mouthed. “You’re pregnant?”
“Oh, dear,” Tully mutters.
I stifle a groan. “Aye. What were you talking about then?”
She giggles. “That you were made teacher of the month, of course. Faidha was telling everyone at breakfast. But being pregnant! My goodness, that’s a bigger deal, isn’t it?”
I sigh, when the door opens and one of the staff enters. “Your guest is here.”
“Please Mary,” I whisper. “You don’t know what we just talked about.”
She makes a motion of pretending to zip her lips, then gives me a nod.
I smile. I like her.
I’ve warned her what to expect of Mum. It seemed to give her only momentary pause, and soon she was eager to move past whatever might be awkward, for the sake of meeting her.
Mum comes in, scowling, and I wince. She looks even worse than she did before, with her hair all a tangle and her clothes wrinkled. She carries an umbrella in one hand, though it’s bright and sunny out, and a large, ancient handbag in the other.
I rise and go to greet her. “Hey there, Mum.”
She swivels her gaze to me, glaring. “McKenna. You should know better than to get in with the likes of the McCarthys.”
I sigh.
Tully, God bless that man, ignores her biting remark and gives her his most charming grin. “Welcome, Mrs. Byrne. Can I take your coat?”
She shrugs out wordlessly, and for one brief moment, smiles. “Hello there. If it isn’t the young man you were with the other day.” She frowns. “I’m guessing you’re a McCarthy, too?”
“I do belong to the Clan,” he says. “Though I assure you, we aren’t all the monsters you think us to be.”
She sniffs. “Didn’t think you’re monsters, but I definitely don’t want my daughters involved with anyone like their stepfather.”
Tully grins. “I think we can arrange that. Now, we have someone here to meet you, of course.”
Mary gets to her feet nervously, as my mum’s eyes come to rest on her.
“Ahhh,” she says softly, shaking her head. “It’s you.”
Mary extends her hand. “So nice to meet you. My name is Mary.”
My mum eyes her hand warily, then finally takes it. “Nice to meet you, too, Mary.” For one brief moment, my mum looks as if she doesn’t battle those demons in her mind, as if she’s forgiven me for ever agreeing to being with the McCarthy Clan. As if things are actually alright with her.
I try to keep up the chatter, but it’s difficult with Mum. We’ll begin a sentence, and moments later she says things like, “Of course they have crystal chandeliers,” and “Do their women really never have to work another day in their lives?”
“It’s not quite like that,” I tell her. “While all their needs are met, they don’t have to worry about paying their bills. But quite a few of them still do have jobs, absolutely.” I don’t know why I’m defending them. Don’t I want to leave myself?
Mum nods, still frowning. “I was told the same thing.”
And that gives me pause. “What were you told?”
“That my needs would be met. Now look at the home I live in.”
She has a point. I’ll have to ask Tully about that.
Tully changes the subject expertly, getting Mary to open up about her childhood and upbringing. Mary conveniently doesn’t mention she knows the men of the north.
“And I was told that Father Finn would know my birth mum,” Mary says warmly, with a sad, watery smile. “And I… I’m so pleased to meet you.”
For one brief moment in time, it’s as if my mom’s years of mental illness have been erased. She hugs Mary. She hugs me.
“My girls,” she says softly. “My girls.”
“We’ll have to get you to come out more often, then.”
“You’re welcome anytime,” Tully says magnanimously. “Anytime.”
She’s enamored with Tully, no question. “Well,” she says with a sniff. “If all the men of the Clan were as nice as this one…”
His twinkling eyes meet mine.
“If only,” I say, giggling to myself, because I don’t know if I’d call Tully “nice.” Powerful? Aye. Handsome? No question. Loyal, devoted, fierce?