Just then Dillon walked into the kitchen, took in the sight of them together at the kitchen table and smiled. “It’s nice to see two of the most important women in my life getting along so well,” he said, dropping a kiss on each of their foreheads.
“We’ve been having a wonderful chat,” Nell said.
“We have,” Moira confirmed. “Thank you for giving me a fresh perspective on things, Nell.”
“I always have a pot of tea and a friendly ear for family,” Nell said, winking at her.
“I think I’ll go for another walk on the beach,” Moira said. “You’ve given me a lot to think about. Perhaps this time things will fall into place.”
After she’d gone, Dillon regarded Nell with a lift of his brow. “I never expected to see the day when you and my granddaughter would be chatting away like magpies. What were you talking about?”
“This and that,” Nell said, chuckling at his obvious frustration. “I like her, Dillon. When she lets down that guard of hers, she’s lovely. She’s young and struggling to find her way, but I think she’s determined to make sense of her life and choose a future that will fulfill her.”
“You are speaking of Moira, is that right?” he asked, clearly not quite believing her unexpected praise.
Nell nodded. “I think I understand where that rebellion of hers comes from. She’s at a crossroads in her life, wanting things and not sure she’s making the choices that will please you and her mother.”
“All I want is to see her settled and happy,” Dillon said. “Isn’t that all any of us want for our children and grandchildren?”
“We know that,” Nell concurred. “But sometimes we don’t convey it all that well to them. We push and prod them to achieve various goals, be it in education or in their choice of a career. Sometimes we just need to let them be to find their own way.”
“And you honestly think Moira has found hers?”
“I think she’s getting there,” Nell confirmed.
“And would you like to share anything about this path she’s chosen? Is Luke in the middle of it?”
“That’s for them to decide now, isn’t it?” Nell said. “You and I need to spend this time forging our own path.”
But even as she said the words, she regretted that she had no idea what lay at the end of it. Even with Dillon’s promise to stay on for a time, there was far too much uncertainty about things at their age.
14
Moira steered clear of Luke’s the day after their argument. She still had plenty of thinking to do. She was weighing her various options, which in some ways was a ridiculous waste of time. If her mental pro/con list came down on the side of a relationship with Luke and a family, it wasn’t as if she could snap her fingers and make it happen.
Her lack of control over her own destiny annoyed her as much as his intransigent attitude did. Was the man incapable of bending, of seizing an opportunity that was here now rather than pushing it off to a more convenient time? It was ironic, because the Luke she’d first met in Ireland had been charmingly spontaneous.
She’d spent most of the day alone on the beach, arguing with herself and getting nowhere, when she saw Laila approaching.
“Mind if I tag along?” Laila asked.
“Of course not, but why are you here, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“Do you want my trumped-up excuse?” Laila inquired with a grin. “I’m supposed to get more exercise, according to my obstetrician.”
Moira regarded her curiously. “But that’s not the real reason?”
Laila shook her head. “I heard about the fight between you and Luke. I decided that you and I have something in common.”
“We’re both involved with impossible O’Brien men?” Moira asked. “Though after yesterday, it seems as if I’m much less so than you are. You, at least, have a ring on your finger.”
Laila smiled. “That’s the thing,” she said. “Relationships aren’t entirely about whether there’s a ring on your finger.”
“Where I grew up, that was supposed to be the goal,” Moira said. “Even my mum, who’s been bitterly divorced for a very long time, preached that every chance she got.”
“I suspect what she really wants for you is to find a man who’ll love you with his whole heart, not just put a ring on your finger.”
Moira thought about that, then slowly nodded. “I do think that’s how my grandfather feels, so perhaps my mum does as well.”
“Not that you asked for my opinion, but personally I think that’s how Luke feels about you,” Laila said. “I can’t read his heart, but his actions certainly seem to indicate that his feelings are very strong. I’ve known him most of his life. No woman has ever kept his attention for so long. And I was there that night at Nell’s when he saw that you’d come with Dillon. The expression on his face was one of undisguised joy.”
Moira gave her a wry look, suddenly understanding what this visit was really about. Laila had come as a fence-mender. “Did he come blathering to you about offering me a job, then?” she asked her.
Laila laughed. “Yes, I believe we’re all agreed now that it was a boneheaded move on his part. Even Luke saw the error of his ways. He realized that he hadn’t read between the lines at all.”
Moira wasn’t convinced of that, but she didn’t argue. He hadn’t called last night or even this morning to beg her forgiveness or even to explain himself. She’d kept her cell phone with her for that very possibility, but it had remained stubbornly silent. She’d even checked the battery and the bars for reception to see if the phone was at fault. It wasn’t. It was
