Why did that suddenly sound like such a lie?
Damn Nat and Barb for double teaming her and putting all those thoughts in her head!
‘… don’t you think, Prita?’
Prita jerked her attention back to the conversation at the sound of her name. ‘What? Sorry, I was wool-gathering.’
‘Of course. You’ve got a lot going on at the moment.’ Barb smiled at her softly, knowingly. Damn, had the woman read what was going on in her head just then? She had an uncanny ability to know what was going on in a person’s mind. ‘I was just saying that you should take your dad inside and get him settled in and put the kettle on. I’ve got some ginger slice all ready to take out of the oven in a few minutes, so I’ll go back and bring some down and then you can have a good catch up.’
‘Sounds perfect to me,’ Diarmuid said. ‘I could do with a lovely cuppa. That swill they serve on the plane is enough to shrivel a man’s nose hairs.’
Barb laughed and waving goodbye, headed back up to the main buildings.
Flynn reached out and touched her arm. ‘I’ll go down and get Carter. I could bring him back in about fifteen minutes. Give you a chance to catch up with your papa.’
‘Yes. Please.’ She gripped his hand, so thankful he knew what she needed.
She led Diarmuid to the cottage and took him to one of the two bedrooms upstairs. ‘Carter has taken this one and the other can be yours. Sorry about the size but I had to use the two larger ones downstairs for my new office and waiting room. Although, you can have the main bedroom downstairs if you prefer and I’ll move up here.’
‘It’s fine, aingeal. This is lovely.’
He slung his bag on the bed and then she took him back downstairs, pointing out the bathroom and toilet on her way to the kitchen. As she filled the kettle up with water, he sat at the kitchen table. ‘So, that Flynn seems a capable fellow.’
She stilled then turned the tap off and put the kettle on the stove. ‘He is. CoalCliff wouldn’t be what it is without him.’ She turned to face him and crossed her arms. ‘But you’re not here to talk about Flynn. Tell me about what’s going on with this inheritance for Carter.’
Diarmuid folded his hands on the table in front of him and looked up at her. ‘First, I’d like to know why the police were down here. Barb said there’d been some trouble and putting two and two together after your house burned down, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that trouble is aimed at you, my aingeal. What’s going on?’
Prita was about to argue it was nothing when she realised it was talk about this or Flynn and she’d far rather talk about the person who was coming after her. So, while the kettle warmed on the stove behind her, she told him about the trouble she’d had since moving here, the threatening calls leading to her house being burned down. She left out the dead animals and the fact she’d run into whoever it was in her house when he set the fire, but the rest was enough to have Diarmuid Brennan’s eyes turning to fire, his nose to whiten as he puffed breaths in and out.
‘Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you say something?’
‘There was nothing you could do, Papa, and I didn’t want you worried.’
He stood and began to pace. ‘You didn’t want me worried? But that’s my job. I’m always going to worry about you, aingeal. No matter what you say. I worried about you when I sent you back to be cared for by your mother’s family. I drove Ameera insane with my constant need for updates and photos, especially when you refused to talk to me those first few years.’
He’d been worried? He’d called and asked for updates and photos? She’d never known. She’d always thought he’d been too deep in his own grief and then full of the determination to live the ‘life full forward’ that he and her mother always strove to live, to give her a second thought. It had taken her years to forgive him for that.
‘I knew it. I should have come earlier to take care of things for you. I’ve been such a lousy father.’
‘Papa,’ she said sharply, letting go of her grip on him. ‘I don’t need you to take care of things for me. I’m an adult, fully capable of taking care of things for myself. Something I’ve been doing well before becoming an adult.’ Hurt washed over his face and she swore at herself. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to make that sound like I blamed you for anything.’
‘But you do.’
She sighed. ‘I did, once, but I got over that long ago.’ At least, she’d thought she had. Maybe the echoes of it were still there, but she didn’t truly feel that way. Especially since Carter had come into her life. She understood now in a way she hadn’t before just how difficult being a parent was. How much there was to juggle. She reached for his hands. ‘What I meant to say is that you just being here is enough. I don’t want you here so you can take my burdens from me. But sharing them, that’s something else.’
He looked baffled for a moment then smiled. ‘You’re just like your aunt. She was always on about balance to your mum and me. It’s one of the reasons I sent you to her.’
‘What?’ Prita blinked at him. ‘How would you know that about Taaii Ameera? I thought you never had anything to do with her?’
‘What? No. That’s not true. Your mother always kept in touch with her younger
