Saving a Legend: A Kavanagh Legends Novel (11 page)

K:
To her credit, she did try to say no.

F:
Yeah, well, she’s never been good at keeping secrets lol, especially when it comes to setting me up.

K:
Are we being set up?

F:
I’m guessing you’re not texting me to place a flower order.

K:
What if I am?

F:
Then it’s past business hours, shop closed…and disappointed.

K:
Maybe that’s not the reason I’m texting you then.

F:
Go on…:)

K:
I missed seeing you today. Why didn’t Shea come to the center?

F:
She’s sick, so we stayed home.

K:
I hope she feels better soon. Can I see you?

F:
I need to focus on Shea tonight. I don’t date, remember?

K:
I think that ship has sailed, flower girl. We’re dating.

F:
Kieran, I don’t date. I can’t. I have to focus on Shea. I love talking to you, but friendship is all I have to offer.

Frowning at the screen, he realized that her walls were still up, and he needed a lot more than a text to be able to get them down. Despite her slight flirting here and there, she kept stopping it from going further. When he was standing in front of her, though, he knew she wanted him. Her body couldn’t lie.

Standing, he pulled some bills out of his pocket and tossed them on the bar. If the only way she’d let down her defenses was when they were face-to-face, then he was going to see her right now.

“You leaving?” Clare asked, scooping up his empty glass.

“In a minute. Do you guys serve soup?” he asked.

Clare frowned, looking confused, but then she nodded. “Yeah, but it’s a bit bland. Want some to go?”

“Thanks, yeah. That’ll be fine.” He turned to Nora. “Thanks for tonight, I had fun. I needed to get out for once.”

“Sure, anytime.” Nora smiled and lifted her glass in the air. “But if your brother is anything less than the perfect gentleman, I’m coming after you.”

“Oh, come on.” Kane rolled his eyes, hearing the last part of the conversation. “I can be a gentleman when I want, kitty.”

Kieran laughed, then pointed a finger in warning at his brother. “I promise, Nora.”

Clare returned and handed him a small brown bag. He thanked her and dropped a few more bills on the bar before saying goodbye to everyone. He gave Kane one last strict look, ensuring he understood his promise with regard to Nora.

He left quickly, eager to find what was hiding behind the beautiful blue eyes that had been dancing around his mind for days.

Chapter 8

After parallel parking in front of Fiona’s apartment building, Kieran got out and triple checked the locks on his car. Thankfully, Kane had garaged it the last few years for him, and had kept it in good shape, unlike this neighborhood, which was downright seedy. He worried he’d come back out to find his car up on blocks.

With one last look around, he climbed the steps to the building and glanced at the buttons for the buzzer.
DOHERTY
was in big black letters next to the top button, so he clicked it and waited for the beep of the door unlocking. Instead, the intercom scuffled and churned, a voice finally cracking through.

“Who is it?”

He recognized Fiona’s voice on the other end, barely. “Kieran. I brought you something.”

There was silence for a few beats too long, and he grew anxious. He shifted from one foot to the other before pulling his phone out of his pocket and texting her.

K:
I need to see you, flower girl.

Another few seconds went by before the door finally buzzed and he grabbed it, moved inside, and bounded up the stairs two at a time until he reached the top. The small hallway had four doors in it, leaving him unsure of which was hers until one on the right swung open. Fiona stuck her head out, then stepped fully into the hallway and closed the apartment door behind her.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, glancing around nervously, her voice low. She was trying to smooth her hair, which was in a messy bun at the back of her head. She blushed deeply when she saw him looking, and her bright pink cheeks made her only more attractive to him.

“I brought some soup for Shea, because you said she was sick. Isn’t that what friends do?” he told her, holding up the bag for her to see.

“Oh.” She looked hesitant for some reason, maybe even sad, before glancing back toward her closed door.

He frowned, feeling like he was missing some part of the equation. “Is everything okay?”

“Um, yeah. It’s just been a hard day. I didn’t mean to encourage you to come here with our texting. It was just nice to be in touch with someone else today. It’s really not a good time for you to be—”

A loud scream came from inside the apartment, interrupting her attempt to brush him off. Fiona blushed even harder, not looking back at the door.

Kieran stood taller with alarm, staring at the wooden door behind her. “What’s going on in there?”

Her eyes went wide as he strode past her. “Nothing!”

Fiona tried to stop him, but he just ignored her hand on his arm as he turned the doorknob. A high-pitched shrieking hit him the moment he entered, and he turned back to see Fiona wringing her hands nervously.

Placing the soup on a table by the door, he stepped farther into the apartment and took stock of the situation. The small apartment was completely covered in scraps of paper. It looked as if someone standing in the center of the room had just ripped apart several reams of paper and tossed the resulting confetti in every direction. It was hard to tell what else was going on, with paper covering so much of the small space.

Fiona began to pick things up, tidying everything, but the frazzled look on her face told him this was too much for her. Something had happened here that she didn’t know how to fix. He understood now why she had been trying to push him away tonight; she clearly was hiding something.

And he wasn’t going to leave until he knew that both she and Shea were safe.

“Where’s Shea?” he asked, concerned about the child’s safety. Honestly, it looked like someone had ransacked the apartment.

“In our room.” Fiona pointed toward a small hallway at the other end of the apartment.

They share a room?
Pushing aside his dislike of her tiny apartment in a treacherous neighborhood, he stormed back to the bedroom to find Shea. Opening the bedroom door, he found the little girl sitting on the bed with her hands covering her ears. Her legs were folded up so her knees were pressed to her chest, and she was rocking back and forth. She was muttering something he couldn’t understand, then screaming intermittently. The bedroom, thankfully, was not in the same state of disarray as the rest of the house, although the bed was unmade.

“Shea! Are you okay?” He approached her slowly, his hands up in his best nonthreatening stance.

She started screaming again and rocking faster, keeping the distance between them.

“Kieran, please.” Fiona stood in the doorway, a mixture of fear and embarrassment on her face.

“What’s going on here, Fi?” He turned to her as he tried to figure out what the hell he’d just walked in on. He hadn’t meant to yell at her, but it was impossible to be heard over Shea’s screaming any other way.

Fiona motioned for him to follow her out of the bedroom and back into the main room. The screaming was still obtrusive but not as deafening.

“Seriously, Fiona. What’s happening right now? Why don’t you look as shocked as I do?”

“Because this is normal for me. This is my life, Kieran.” She sighed, fidgeting with her hands again. “I don’t know what’s wrong. She ripped up a few of her notebooks, wouldn’t explain anything to me. She’s been like this all day, and she won’t let me near her to figure out what’s wrong.”

“You’ve just let her scream all day?” Kieran gaped.

“I’m not
letting
it happen, I’m trying to talk to her and calm her down. I’ve tried everything I can think of—I haven’t been sitting here doing nothing! I just can’t figure out what’s wrong.” Tears brimmed her lower lids, making Kieran feel guilty for implying anything else. They dashed down her cheeks, as if racing, then fell onto the swell of her breasts.

Stepping toward her, he gently grabbed her upper arms and pulled her to his chest. She didn’t even try to resist, allowing herself to melt into his embrace. Wrapping both arms around her tightly, he rested his cheek on the top of her head.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly, just loud enough for her to hear. He was frustrated having been in that environment for thirty seconds, so he couldn’t imagine what it was like for Fiona to be around it all day.

She nodded, but he couldn’t see her face. Her sniffling and shaking shoulders told him she was crying, which made him hold her even tighter. Her hands pressed against him as if she was afraid he’d let her go.

“I want you to take a minute to relax, okay?” He glanced around the room. The kitchen corner in the large living area was the least cluttered at the moment, so he gently pulled away from her and pointed in that direction. “Go make yourself something to drink, tea or whatever is relaxing. Let me go talk to Shea and see what I can find out.”

“Kieran, you’re so sweet to try to help, but she isn’t going to let you near her.”

“Won’t hurt to try, flower girl.” He kissed her forehead, and her eyes flickered up to his. He recognized the desire behind her exhausted gaze. Biting her lip gently, she nodded and walked toward the kitchen.

Taking a deep breath to try and forget the heated look in her eyes and focus on the task at hand, Kieran turned back toward the bedroom and reentered the dramatic situation. Shea was now seated on the floor against the dresser, still rocking back and forth, covering her ears with her hands. Her screaming wasn’t as shrill as before; it had grown more hoarse, as if she was tiring. He was surprised she had any voice left if she’d been like this for hours.

“Shea?”

She glanced up at him, seeming to look right past him but didn’t stop rocking.

“Are you okay, honey?”

Standing up suddenly, she grabbed the drawer handles to the dresser she was sitting in front of and yanked one hard. It slid right out, and the entire drawer fell to the floor with a loud bang, clothes scattering everywhere. She grabbed the next handle to do the same thing, but Kieran leapt forward, lifting her straight up off the ground and into his arms.

“Shea, what are you looking for? Calm down,” he tried to tell her as she screamed bloody murder in his arms, squirming and kicking in every direction.

Despite her objections, he realized her skin was like fire against his. Securing her with one arm, he snaked his free hand around and pressed it against her forehead as he carried her over to the bed and sat her on the edge.

It almost hurt to touch, her forehead was so hot.

“What happened?” Fiona asked, bursting through the door, a tea bag in one hand. “I heard a loud crashing sound.”

“Just the drawer. I’ll fix it in a minute,” he assured her before turning his attention back to the child. “Shea is really hot—is that normal?”

“Shea, are you sick?” Fiona asked, getting on her knees in front of her little sister, worry etched across her face. Fiona turned hyper-focused as she leaned forward and kissed Shea’s forehead, then her cheek, despite Shea’s objections. The little girl’s screaming died down into moaning and hiccups, and she rubbed the back of her own hand across her nose. “I think you’re right. She feels like she has a fever.”

Shea hiccupped again, calming down considerably, but still refused to make eye contact or respond to either of them.

Fiona took the opportunity to sit on the bed next to the child, now that Shea was calmer. “There’s some cold and fever medicine in the bathroom vanity, Kieran. Can you grab it?”

“Got it.”

Pulling open the medicine cabinet once he made his way into the bathroom, he found a thermometer on the top shelf and the medication bottle. Grabbing both items, he headed back to Shea.

“Should we take her temperature?” he asked Fiona, holding the thermometer up.

Fiona gave him an appreciative smile, tilting her head slightly to the side as she nodded. “Yes, thank you.”

He handed Fiona the thermometer as he started pouring a small amount of the liquid medication into a tiny measurement cup.

“Shea, this needs to go under your tongue, okay? Can you open up?” Fiona asked, but Shea shook her head no and started rocking again.

“Okay, how about we put it under your arm instead? Can I do that?” she asked her sister, lifting her little hand gently.

Shea was reluctant but allowed the thermometer to be tucked into her armpit. Fiona let out an audible sigh of relief, and Kieran beamed at their successful teamwork as he watched Shea calm down.

“Jeez, Shea. You’re definitely sick.” Kieran frowned, reading a temperature of 100˚F when Fiona lifted it up for him to see after it had beeped that it was done.

“She definitely should have some of that medication and get some sleep,” Fiona agreed, nodding toward the measuring cup he’d already prepared with medicine.

Rereading the label one last time to double-check he’d portioned it out correctly, he offered the tiny cup of sticky liquid to Shea, and thankfully she accepted it without complaint. Slowly and gingerly, she downed the liquid with a grimace on her face.

“Good job, baby girl,” Fiona said with another kiss to the little girl’s forehead.