“Oh, my love,” Mary whispered, as she sat beside him. “Do you think it isn’t the same for me with our lads?” She stared at him, as tears fell unabashedly down her cheeks. “I had Maggie, aye, but you had six of them. I missed out on everything with them.” She shook her head. “’Tisn’t a competition over who suffered most, darling.”
She moved so she knelt in front of him, cupping his face, as she kissed him tenderly. “We all suffered. Every day, until we were reunited. You’ve loved us with a devoted abandon. Don’t stop now. I couldn’t bear it if you stopped now.”
Seamus looked at her, torment and shame paramount in his gaze. “I’ve not known how to tell you what I did. What I made Dunmore promise. I knew it wasn’t right. From the moment I asked it of him.” He closed his eyes. “’Tis why I never spoke of it to Maggie. I feared how she’d look at me.”
Mary’s fingers tightened on his cheeks, until he dared to look into her eyes again. “Believe in your daughter’s love, Shay. She will forgive you.” Mary took a deep breath. “Be the brave man who I know you are. The brave man who you’ve always been. Take pride in the fact she’s chosen such a worthy man.” After a moment, when Seamus remained silent, Mary said, with a hint of disappointment in her tone, “Don’t be like my da.”
He jerked, as though she had wounded him. “’Tisn’t fair, Mary.” His blue eyes were filled with righteous indignation. When she met his anger with calm patience, it evaporated. “I remember bein’ so angry at him, and now I’ve done the same thing.”
“Not truly,” Mary whispered, as she rose. She paused, as he wrapped his arms around her belly, tugging her forward to hug her, his face buried against her middle. “My da merely wanted to see if you were a strong-enough man for his daughter. You passed that test.”
“Aye, I’m acting like a miserly bastard, who clings to his daughter and destroys her happiness because he wants more time with her.” His hold on Mary tightened. “I’m sorry.”
Arching over him, she kissed his head. “Apologize to Maggie. Make it right between her and Dunmore, and all will be forgiven.”
“Will you forgive me?” He peered up at her, fear and hope in his gaze. “Do you still love me?”
“Oh, a chuisle,” Mary breathed, her hands cupping his face, as her hazel eyes filled with love. She traced away a tear on his cheek, as he heard her call him my heartbeat in Gaelic. “Of course I love you. Nothing you could do could stop me from lovin’ you, Shay.” She smiled at him. “And I will forgive you.”
As he turned, tumbling her to their bed, Mary shrieked. Laughing, she ran her hands through his thick hair, before tracing her fingers over his face. “I love you as I never knew I could love, Shay.” She gasped, as he kissed her. “Make me forget ever bein’ parted from you.”
* * *
Maggie heard her mother’s shriek and giggle, and she fought a bitter resentment that she would never share such happiness with Dunmore. For she knew, deep inside, if she wasn’t with Dunmore, that she wouldn’t want to be with any other man. She knew her family would say that she was being melodramatic and emotional. However, she had seen how Cormac had waited and had pined over her sister, Niamh. Maggie suspected she would act in the same manner, as she wished for Dunmore’s love.
She flopped onto her side, punching at her pillow, as she battled the vision of an older version of herself, standing on the kitchen stoop, waiting for Dunmore. Smiling impersonally as he arrived to eat another family dinner, while he stared at her with aloof disinterest.
Tonight’s dinner had been absolute torture. Rather than the teasing looks, Dunmore had refused to glance in her direction. Rather than accidentally brushing his hand over hers as he reached for the salt or butter, he had sat far enough away from her that there was no opportunity for him to touch her. Even when he arrived, he had looked at everyone but her. It was as though she no longer existed.
When he had kissed her, he had discovered she was as passionate as a day-old fish, and now wanted nothing to do with her. She stifled a sob, as she curled into herself, unable to stop the tears from pouring out of her again. She hadn’t cried this much since Jacques had threatened her, and even then she had felt hope. Hope because she had found a new family. Or had rediscovered her own family.
Now all she felt was a soul-crushing despair. Dunmore didn’t want her. He hadn’t been as affected by their embrace as she had. He didn’t desire a future, as she did. With a stifled moan, she wrapped an arm around her waist. “Did I wait too long?” she asked herself. “Or is he only interested in the chase?” After a long moment, she whispered in a horror-struck voice, “Was it all a game, and he never cared for me?”
With these disturbing thoughts roiling through her mind, sleep remained elusive deep into the night.
Chapter 3
Seamus entered the kitchen the following morning, sighing with frustration to see the room filled with his children, as they jabbered about their upcoming day. Just once he wished for quiet and privacy.
