'You'll make me sorry?' she all but sputtered. 'I'm already sorry I did the first thing to try-'
'Brenna.' He gave her a casual little shake that had her mouth dropping open again. 'There are times you're better off to just shut your mouth and listen. This is one of them. Now, as I was saying,' he went on while she blinked at him. 'Being tricked is one thing, but surprised is another matter. And I'm thinking that, under it all, you wanted to surprise me with something, like a gift, and I threw it back at you. For that, Brenna, I'm sorry.'
The fear and sorrow were sliding away, but it was hard to resist grabbing onto the tail of them. 'I don't think a great deal of your apology, either.'
'Take it or leave it.'
'You're awfully damn pushy yourself all of a sudden.'
'I've my limits, and you should know them well enough by this time. So- how much is Magee willing to pay me for the tune?'
'I didn't ask,' she said stiffly.
'Ah, so you can keep your fingers out of some pies. It's good to know.'
'You're a hateful man. I told you it wasn't about the money.' She pushed at him, and rather than humiliate herself with the bloody gate again, stomped down the path. 'I don't know how I could have been blind to that part of your nature all these years. How I could have thought myself in love with you, I'll never know. The very idea of spending my life with the likes of you gives me a cold chill.'
He couldn't stop the grin. It was so lovely to have all the parts of his life nicely in order again. 'We'll get to that in just a minute. It matters that it wasn't about money, Brenna, matters that you weren't thinking, 'Well, if I'm going to be with this man he'd damn well better prove he's man enough to make a living off his talents. And since he won't, I will.''
'I don't give a tinker's damn how you make your living.'
'That's what I'm seeing now. It was more of, 'I want to be with this man, and feeling as I do about him, I want to help him with that which matters to him.' It's a lovely thought, but that doesn't change the fact you should've left it to me.'
'You can be sure I'll be leaving such matters, and everything else, to you in the future.'
'If that vow lasts a week, I'll expect to see pigs flying over Ardmore Bay. And in case you're wondering in that calculating brain of yours, I'll be contacting Magee myself, and I'll send him music if what he says convinces me- which is what I intended to do once he came here and I got his measure.'
She stopped at that, eyed him suspiciously. 'You were going to show him your work?'
'I was, most likely. I'll admit that dozens of times in the past I've come close to sending it off and then pulled back. When something comes out of you, it's precious. There was a fear of others finding it wanting. It was safer not to risk it. I was afraid of losing something that mattered to me. Does that make me less in your eyes, Brenna?'
'It doesn't, no. Of course it doesn't. But if you don't ask,' she said, remembering her father's words, 'the answer's always no.'
'I'm not arguing your point, just your methods. Now tell me this, if Magee had said to you, 'Why, what are you sending me this silly amateur music for? Whoever wrote it has no talent whatsoever,' would you have thought less of me?'
'Of course not, you pinhead. I'd've known that Magee had no taste other than what he may have in his own mouth.'
'Ah, well, now, that's tidied up a considerable mess. Can we go back to the part where you're in love with me?'
'No, because I'm not anymore. I've come to my senses.'
'That's a damn shame, that is. You'll have to wait here a minute. There's something I need from inside.'
'I'll not stand out here. I'm going home.'
'I'll only come after you, Brenna,' he called over his shoulder as he walked to the door. 'And what I have in mind is best done here, and in private.'
She considered climbing over the gate just to spite him, but the whole emotional mess had made her tired. It might as well get finished now as later.
So she waited, arms crossed. When he came out, he carried nothing, which only made her scowl.
'The moon's full,' he commented as he went to her. 'Maybe there's others have more to do with the timing of all this than we know. But it was meant to be in moonlight, and it was meant to be here.'
He slipped a hand into his pocket, kept it there. 'I had a plan at one time, how I'd let you chase me down, wear at my resistance and convince me there was nothing for me to do but give up and marry you.'
Her eyes went blurry with shock. 'I beg your pardon?'
'Do you really think you were tugging me around like a puppy on a leash? Is that the kind of man you want when the day is done, O'Toole? The kind you want walking beside you through life, fathering your children?'
'Is this a game you've been playing?'
'Partly, and as much as you were. Game's over now, and I find I want this done more in what might be the traditional manner. Brenna.' He took her hand, not at all displeased that it was trembling. 'I love you. I don't know when it started, years ago or weeks. But I know my heart's lost to you, and I wouldn't have it another way. You're what I want, all there is of you. Make a life with me. Marry me.'
She couldn't take her eyes from his face. The whole world was in his face. 'My head hurts,' she managed.
'God bless you.' With a half laugh, he took her hand, kissed it. 'How could I not love such a woman?' He kept her hand firm in his as he took the ring from his pocket.
The pearl gleamed like the moon, white and pure, in a simple band of gold. 'A moon tear,' he told her, 'given to me to give to you. I know you don't wear rings as a rule.'
'I-they-with the work they get caught and banged around.'
'So I got a chain for it as well. You can wear it around your neck.'
He would have thought of such a thing, she realized. Such a small and lovely detail. 'I'm not working at the moment.'
He slid it onto her finger, and her hand steadied under his.
'I suppose it suits me, as you do. As the whole of you suits me. But you won't make me cry.'
'Yes, I will.' He touched his lips to her forehead, her temple. 'I bought you land today.'
'What?' Tears might have dazzled her vision, but she managed to step back. 'What? Land? You bought land? Without a word to me, without me laying eyes on it?'
'If you don't like it, you can bury me in it.'
'I might. You bought land,' she said again, but her voice had gone dreamy.
'So you can build us a house, and the two of us can fill it into a home.'
'Damn it. There you are, you've made me cry.' She threw her arms around his neck. 'Just hold on a minute, I'm a mess.' With her face buried against his shoulder, she breathed him in. 'I thought it was just a longing for you, and that would be enough for both of us. I do long for you, but it's not enough and it's not all. Oh, this is where I want to be. And I did chase you down, nothing will convince me otherwise.'
She drew back enough to touch her lips to his. 'I had it all worked out what I would say to you tonight, and now I can't remember just how it was to go. Only that I love you, Shawn. I love you as you are. There's nothing I'd change.'
'That's more than good enough. Will you come inside now? I'll warm your supper.'
'It's the least you could do after you let it go cold.' She linked her fingers with his. 'You won't insist on a big, fancy wedding, will you?'
'I don't see how when I've a mind to have us wed as quick as can be managed.'
'Ah.' She leaned against him. 'I do love you, Shawn Gallagher. There's one more thing,' she said as they walked toward the cottage. 'Won't you need a name for your song, the one Magee wants?'
'It's 'Brenna's Song,' ' he told her. 'It always was.'
