“I remember,” Mick said. “But they will be welcomed as family, just as you will be. Ma wouldn’t have it any other way. She’s taught us all to value family above all else, however someone comes to be a part of it.”
“It’s a lesson you’ve learned well, Mick.”
Mick accepted the compliment graciously. “It’s probably the best part of who I am,” he said quietly.
The truth of that settled in his heart and gave him comfort, even as he reluctantly let go of his role as his mother’s protector.
Luke hadn’t realized how hard it would be to have Moira missing for most of the day. Though she popped into the pub from time to time for a chat, he’d gotten too used to her being within sight just when he needed a glimpse of her. He wondered if he hadn’t pushed her away, just when he should have been keeping her close.
He knew better, though, because when he did see her now at the end of the day, her eyes were shining with excitement over her day’s work. He’d insisted that she keep the laptop at his apartment and work there once she’d taken however many photographs she wanted to. He often came home late at night to find her asleep on the sofa, the computer on the table beside her, the pictures still on the screen. That’s how he found her tonight.
Not for the first time, he was unable to resist stealing a look at the pictures before waking her and urging her to get ready for bed. Megan was right. Even to his untrained eye, he could see that she had an incredible talent. He’d done exactly the right thing by pushing her to take the time to do justice by it.
More than once, though, a nagging fear set in that in doing that, he’d pushed her into a different world, one where he wouldn’t be able to follow. Not that he thought he couldn’t cope with her success, with others feeling they had a right to a piece of her time and attention. That was the least of it. What worried him was that she’d no longer be content with the small-town owner of a local pub. Artistic triumph and success did strange things to people, and he had no idea how Moira would cope with it. After all her years of feeling like a failure, would she be one of those who got swept up in the glamour of it?
It was amazing to think that a woman who’d been as lost as she had been such a short time ago was now on the verge of finding herself in such a huge and public way. He wanted to be happy about that—he was happy about it—but it made him uneasy. He couldn’t deny it.
She woke while he was pondering all that, rubbing her eyes and blinking at him. “How long have you been home? Why didn’t you wake me?”
“I was enjoying the view,” he teased.
“Of me, sleeping?”
“Actually, no. I was talking about the pictures you left on the screen of the computer. They’re remarkable, Moira.”
“I think they’re better now that I’m taking the proper amount of time to get to know people,” she confessed. “Megan was right about where I’d been going wrong. I spent all morning watching Ethel in front of her shop doling out penny candy to wide-eyed children before I saw exactly the shot that captured not just their delight, but hers.”
“Then this break has worked out well?”
She nodded, then slid over to snuggle against him, her head resting on his shoulder. “But I miss you, Luke. I miss the pub. I thought I’d at least have more time to stop in for a visit, but the days seem to pass in a blur, and the next thing I know, you’re here and waking me.”
“I think it’s probably good that you’re so caught up in your work, don’t you? That’s what it takes to be successful in that field.”
“But I don’t want to sacrifice the other things that are important to me,” she said. “I can see how that could happen. I don’t know that I can give this my all and do the same with you. Eventually, you’re bound to get tired of my being distracted or absent, and there will be someone who will have the time for you.”
Luke smiled. “Are you already jealous of a woman who doesn’t exist?”
“Oh, she exists,” Moira said direly. “It’s just that you may not have crossed paths yet.”
“No one will be more fascinating to me than you,” he promised. “And if I get only these late-night hours, well, then, having you in my bed is not exactly a punishment.”
She searched his face, her expression uncertain. “It’s enough?”
“For now,” he said. “And for as long as it takes.”
“If that changes, if you start to lose patience, you’ll tell me?” she said.
“I will,” he assured her, but he knew he wouldn’t. He couldn’t, not if he was going to be the kind of man who supported the woman in his life while she followed her dream, just as she’d supported him in following his.
Rather than the two weeks she’d planned, Moira had spent three focusing entirely on her photography. In the end she’d even called Peter and told him he’d have to find someone else to handle the assignments in Dublin. Thankfully, there’d been enough time left.
The results of her extra efforts were good, she thought. Maybe even spectacular. She held her breath as Megan looked through the photos she’d brought by the gallery as possible additions to the portfolio.
This time when Megan looked up, she was beaming. Relief flooded through Moira.
“They’re better?” she asked.
“A thousand percent better,” Megan confirmed. “It’s going to be
