Mike kissed me. “I’ve been wanting to beat the crap out of this guy for ages. I’m feeling a lot better now.”
Paul grumbled. “You didn’t. I let you land that punch, because—”
I kicked him.
Unlike the O’Connors, he didn’t pretend he hadn’t felt it. “Jesus Christ! Does everyone in this family communicate by kicks?”
Mike took a swig of his drink. “We like to be subtle.”
“You’re all mad.”
Lauren dropped down beside him. “As hatters. Why is your cheek swelling?”
Paul leaned back and delivered a long look at Mike. “Ask your brother.”
Mike shrugged. “Ask Natalie.”
I widened my eyes at Lauren. “It’s totally not my fault. How did he not know you two were a thing?”
She let out a beleaguered groan. “Because he’s an idiot. They’re both idiots.”
We spent the next hour and a half needling each other and devouring an unseemly amount of fish and chips. At some point my gaze, now slightly fuzzier, fell back on Kate and Maggie, who still sat close. I shook my head. “They must have figured everything out.”
Mike ate a poor, innocent fry doused in vinegar and salt. “Figured what?”
“Any lingering resentment about your dad and uncle. Paul,” I said, remembering Patrick’s month mind, “you sounded like you knew what was between the brothers. What was it?”
He cut a derisive look my way. “None of our business.”
Lauren laughed. “So basically, you’re clueless.”
He scowled at her. “My mum said they all had a fight, that Brian was always a rebel but it worsened, and then he took off for America and never came back. And the next thing Maggie heard, he was married. Broke her heart.”
Mike snorted. “You make it sound like he married my mom as soon as he arrived.”
Paul shook his head. “Why don’t you think he did? Do you know how many undocumented Irish are in America? They can’t come home if they ever want to return to the States.”
Well, I didn’t know. “How many are there?”
“Forty, fifty thousand.” He scoffed at our astonishment. “Don’t any of you read the papers? There was a whole article this morning.”
Mike leaned forward. “What are you implying? He married my mom for citizenship?”
Paul leaned back. “I’m not implying anything. Just stating the facts.”
Mike shook his head. “They got married because they were in love.”
Paul laughed. “Ah, I’m sure of it.”
I squeezed Mike’s had so he didn’t leap up and attack Paul across the table. “He probably wouldn’t have left Maggie and Ireland if he was madly in love with her.”
“Unless,” Paul said darkly, “he had an excellent reason for wanting to get away.”
Mike’s grip tightened on mine, and I didn’t need to look at him to know his face had gone stony. He was thinking about his father’s involvement with the Nationalists again. “That’s possible,” I said quickly, “but instead of just conjecturing, why don’t we ask them?”
They all stared at me like the crazy bug had bitten me. Paul shook his head. “I don’t want to uncover that old shite.”
“We can’t ask them about their old romances,” Lauren added.
I shrugged. “Why not? What’s the worst that can happen?”
They were all silent for a moment, and then Mike stood abruptly. “I’m sick of only knowing half truths.”
Lauren sighed and also stood. “It’s on your head if she freaks out.”
They all started forward, but I tugged Mike’s hand to stop him. “Maybe I shouldn’t go with you guys.”
Paul raised his brows. Lauren leveled a look at me. But Mike was the one who spoke. “This is your crazy idea, Sullivan. So get your ass up.”
So all four of us crossed the room and ranged ourselves before the O’Connor widows. Mike took center stage. “What happened twenty-seven years ago? Between Dad and the two of you.”
Kate’s cup rattled against the saucer as she plunked it down. Maggie spoke sharply. “None of your business.”
Lauren looked mulish. “We’re curious. And everyone here loves to gossip, so if we buy enough pints, someone’s going to talk. But we’d rather you did.”
The women exchanged a glance, and then Kate sighed in defeat. Maggie scowled. “It was all bound to come out sooner or later. Come on, then. We’ll go back to my place.”
First, Maggie had to make tea for all of us. She poured for herself last, and then we settled around the low wooden table, warm mugs between our hands as the rain started to patter down. “We grew up together. Patrick and Brian and me.” She nodded at Paul. “I had a baby sister, you know, but she was ten years younger and quiet, so we never paid her any attention.
“Brian was the daring one. We’d go swimming at night or tell our parents we were on school trips and sneak out to parties. Stupid things. Patrick was a little older, and stubborn as hell. Came with us but would worry the whole time.”
She paused and turned her mug before sipping from it. “And I was...young. Not purposefully cruel, but I flirted with Patrick when I knew my heart went to Brian. Stole kisses from both. Still, I didn’t expect Patrick to be so shocked when Brian proposed and I said yes.”
Beside me, Mike shifted. Slowly, I lay my hand on his and our fingers entwined. Maggie pushed out a breath and continued. “We were going to live at the farm when he came back from university. But Brian—he was so rash. He wanted a united Ireland. He wanted to go off and fight.”
Mike jerked. “Mom—”
Kate pressed her lips together and looked down.
Maggie continued. “We tried to talk him out of it. I begged. Patrick forbade it. And yet Brian said, ‘I have got to do this. I love you, but this is bigger than us.’” She glanced at Kate and then pushed her shoulders back defensively. “It’s true.”
“So?” Lauren’s face was tight.
“So he left. Made some very unsavory friends. And when he came home, they came with him. All these angry young men. And then one night the farmhouse burned down, and there was insurance money, and where did it go? To the nationalists.”
Mike’s hand tightened on mine. “You’re not saying he did it on purpose.”
Maggie met his gaze straight on. “Brian wouldn’t. Those friends of his—I don’t know. It didn’t look good.”
“But why did he leave?”
She shook her head. “He owed money. He should have used the home insurance to pay off the bank, but it disappeared the same way the loans had. He thought he could make more in America. But if he did we never saw it. I think he mostly just wanted to wash his hands of it all.” She took a stoic sip. “And I did take up with Patrick while he was gone. I would have gotten over it, but Brian never asked me to.”
Mike focused on his mother. “Did you know all of this?”
“I learned.”
Lauren kept shaking her head. “So he just married you so he could stay? No. Dad wouldn’t do that.”
“I loved your father very much. And he loved me. It just took time.”
“And that was it?” Paul burst out, gaze locked on his aunt. “You never talked to him again? It was just— over?”
Maggie looked out the window. “Sometimes things are just over.”
