The Mighty Quinns: Riley (14 page)

Nan scrambled for a way to begin. She thought she'd have more time to explain why she'd come and what she wanted. But here he was, watching her with twinkling eyes and a bright smile.

“Maybe we should sit down,” she said. Nan pointed to a boulder sitting outside the stone circle. Carey followed her, taking a spot beside her.

She opened her mouth, then snapped it shut. “I don't know where to begin.”

“Then allow me,” he said. “I wondered if you'd ever come. After your mother stopped writing, I thought maybe she'd decided she wasn't going to ever tell you about Tiernan.”

“No,” Nan said, shaking her head. “She stopped writing because she died.”

His expression fell and she saw his eyes grow watery with tears. “I thought that might have been it,” he said. “She mentioned in some of her last letters that she was ill, but she didn't give me any details.”

“You knew my mother?”

“I did,” he said. “She stayed at our farm with some of her friends. We used to let out a few of the extra bedrooms to students traveling around Ireland. Oh, she was a lively young woman, always laughing and teasing. She couldn't keep still.”

“And your son? What was he like?”

“Handsome. Charming. Probably too charming for his own good, that one. All the girls loved him, but your mother, she was the one who captured his heart. When she left, he was so sad and angry.”

“I'm sorry about what happened to him,” Nan said.

Carey nodded, his face etched with grief. “It was a bad time. And my wife, she never really recovered. He was our only child and she grieved for him until the day she died.”

“Did they love each other? Tiernan and my mother?”

He folded his hands over his walking stick. “Oh, yes. I do think so. They were both so young, but they were happy together. When we got the news, it was difficult for Tiernan. My son wasn't ready to be a father and Laura had no support over here, so she didn't—”

“I don't understand,” Nan said. “You said Tiernan was going to be a father. Did he get another girl pregnant? Is that why my mother left?”

The old man took a long breath then shook his head wearily. “You don't know. You haven't figured it out, have you?”

Nan pressed her hand to her chest. Had her heart stopped beating? Why couldn't she breathe? “The baby was me,” she murmured. “It was me?”

“I'm sorry. I thought that's why you'd come. That's why I'd written to your mother for all those years. I wanted news of my granddaughter. You're my granddaughter, Tiernan.”

Nan stood and walked over to one of the tall stones, pressing her hands against it as she tried to breathe again. Now, everything made perfect sense. Somewhere, deep inside her, she thought this might be it, but she'd refused to consider it.

“She was pregnant when she left?”

Carey shook his head. “When your mother got home, she found out she was pregnant. She knew Tiernan was the father and she wrote him a letter to tell him. He threw the letter in the rubbish and I found it and read it. I wrote back to her, begging her to come and live with us, determined to make Tiernan stand by her. But by that time, she'd already married your father.”

“But then Tiernan died,” Nan murmured.

“No one knew about you, outside of our family. But it changed him. He became more reckless, more headstrong. I think, in the end, he realized how much he loved Laura and what a mistake he'd made. But, by then, it was too late.”

“You lost your grandchild and then your child.”

“It killed my wife. After Tiernan's accident, she
couldn't bring herself to look at your mother's letters. She was even afraid to look at your photos for fear she might love you and that you might resemble Tiernan—which you do, by the way. Living so far away from you was too much for her to bear.”

“I read your letters,” Nan said. “They're what brought me here. What if I'd never found them? What if my father had thrown them away? I never would have known.”

“I still have the letters she sent me. And all the photos she sent. And she left a sketchbook that I found in Tiernan's room after he died. I think you should have them.”

“I'd love to see them,” Nan said.

Carey stood up and whistled for his dog. “Come along, then. I live just down the lane. We'll walk and chat on the way.”

Nan got up, her knees wobbly and her emotions barely in check, and they started toward the road. Carey peppered her with questions about her life, from her very first memories of her childhood to what she'd been doing a week ago. She answered him numbly, her body and mind on autopilot.

She wanted to sit down in the middle of the road and just take a moment. Everything seemed to be moving so fast, she hadn't had time to react. She felt like crying and laughing at the same time.

How hard had it been for her father? He must have known, yet he kept the secret all these years, raising the child of another man. And what about her mother, walking away from the boy she loved and stepping into
a marriage of convenience, merely to give her daughter a name? Her entire life had been one big charade.

As Carey had said, his cottage was only a quarter mile down the road from the stone circle. It was a tidy little home, much like the Quinn cottage, whitewashed but with a slate roof and pretty blue front door. They walked through the front garden and he held the door open for her, Georgie scampering in beneath her feet.

“I'll just put on the water for a pot of tea,” he said. He pointed to the comfortable parlor. “Sit down and take a rest. I know this is a lot to comprehend in a very short time.”

Dazed, Nan walked into the cozy room then noticed the framed photos sitting on a shelf between the windows. She crossed to examine them more closely, then realized many of them were of her as a child. She drew a ragged breath and tears flooded her eyes.

This man was her grandfather. She wasn't alone anymore. She had family. Nan picked up a photo of a handsome boy with dark hair and devilish eyes. And this was her father. “Tiernan,” she murmured, running her fingers over his image, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Carey reappeared, clutching a large black book in his arms. Wiping the tears away with her sleeve, Nan sat down and took the book from his outstretched hands. She recognized what it was immediately. Her father had given her three or four of her mother's old sketchbooks, filled with drawings of Nan and various places around their neighborhood. But these drawings would be from before Nan even existed.

“Open it,” Carey said. “I think she left it with Tier
nan as a kind of memory of the time they spent together. When I moved from the farm, I found it in his closet and I kept it. I always hoped that one day, I'd get to meet you and I could give it back.”

She hugged it to her chest. “Thank you. I—I think I'll look at it later.”

“Well, I'd expect this has all come as quite a shock to you.”

Nan nodded. “I'm not sure what to say. This morning, I didn't have a family and now I do.”

“When are you planning to return home?”

“I have a flight back in a few days,” she said. “On Wednesday.”

“If you have a mind to write a letter now and then, I would promise to write back. And I hope we could exchange some photos.” He hurried across to the shelf and took the photo of Tiernan down. “You should take this. You need a photo of him.”

She looked at Carey, at the hope that was in his eyes. He'd never even known her, yet she could tell he didn't want her to leave. Maybe, he even loved her like every grandfather loved his granddaughter. She tried to imagine him, opening her mother's letters, staring at the photos, trying to know the girl she was. “Thank you,” she murmured.

“And if you ever come back to Ireland, you must promise to visit.”

Nan nodded. “Yes. I promise.” She paused. “Do you really think they were in love?”

“Oh, yes. I know they were,” he said. “If you'd have seen them together, you'd have known it, too. But I
don't believe your mother was ready to give up her life in America to marry an Irish boy she barely knew. She made the right decision. My son wasn't ready to be a husband or a father. Ireland would have been an unhappy place for both of you.”

Nan quickly stood. This was too much to take in all at once. “I—I should go. But—but I'll come back. Tomorrow.”

“Yes,” he said. “Tomorrow. I'll have your mother's letters for you. Maybe you'd like to come for a late breakfast? Or lunch?”

“Yes,” Nan said. “Breakfast would be nice.” She hurried to the door, then turned around. “Thank you.”

He smiled. “No, thank you. You've made an old man very happy.”

Nan slipped outside, then hurried down the front walk to the road. She started out at a brisk walk, but in the end, she ran, the sketchbook and photo pressed against her chest. When she reached her car, Nan leaned against the bumper and drew a deep breath.

Everything had changed. She had another grandfather, and another father. A life here in Ireland that she'd never had a chance to live. Nan opened the car door and slipped behind the wheel, carefully placing the book and photo on the passenger seat.

She'd go home, to the cottage and to Riley, to a place she felt safe. And she'd tell him everything she'd learned. He'd know what to make of it.

 

R
ILEY PACED BACK
and forth in front of the hearth. It was nearly six and Nan had promised to be back before
dinner. He glanced at his watch again. He should have sent his mobile with her and insisted that she call if she was going to be late. She could have had car trouble along the way. He should have demanded that she take his car instead of the Fiat.

“Idiot,” he muttered to himself. “I'm a feckin' idiot.”

He walked back to the kitchen and checked on the dinner he'd prepared. The shepherd's pie was sitting on top of the cooker, stone cold. And the bread he'd tossed in the oven to warm was so dry it was hard as a rock.

Riley grabbed the bottle of wine and removed the cork. Maybe getting pissed would make the time pass faster. He wasn't going to worry until dark. She could have gotten lost or just wrapped up in some interesting spot she found.

He didn't bother with a glass and drank the wine directly out of the bottle. The sound of a car on the road caught his attention and Riley strode to the front door and pulled it open.

To his relief, the Fiat appeared from below the rise and sputtered to a stop at the front gate. He cursed softly, but continued to stand in the doorway in an attempt to cool his temper. He wanted to demand an explanation but the moment she stepped inside the gate, he strode up the walk and pulled her into his arms.

His mouth came down on hers in a desperate kiss. Was she all right? Had anything changed? She looked nervous and upset and her eyes were red. Riley ran his fingers through her hair, then drew back. “I was worried. Is everything all right?”

“I—I'm sorry I'm late.”

He grinned and gave her a hug. “You should be. Dinner is ruined. But then, it probably wasn't much good to start with.”

“You made dinner?” A wide smile broke across her pretty features. “That's sweet.”

“Well, I didn't exactly make it myself. It came frozen and I put it in the oven. Shepherd's pie. And bread.”

“Yum,” she said. Sighing softly, she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest. “I went to see him today.”

Riley stepped back and hooked her chin with his thumb, forcing her gaze to meet his. “Carey Findley?”

She nodded, then looked up into his gaze. “He's my grandfather.”

“What?”

“I'm Tiernan's daughter. That's why I have his name. After my mother left Ireland, she found out she was pregnant with me. She wrote to him and he didn't want anything to do with me, so she married my father.” Emotion clogged her throat and tears tumbled from her eyes. Wrapped in the curve of his arm, Nan slowly walked into the cottage. He drew her along to the sofa and they sat, Riley wiping the tears from her cheeks with his fingers.

“Oh, I'm sorry. I never even imagined that this was possible. Did you?”

“Maybe. It made so much sense once I knew. Everything fell into place.” She forced a smile and looked at him through watery eyes. “He's so nice, Riley. He had all these pictures of me up in his parlor. Photos my mother sent him from when I was little. And he gave
me her sketchbook and a photo of Tier—My father. Biological father.” She glanced over her shoulder. “I left them in the car. Let me go get them.”

“No,” he said. “I don't want to let you go just yet.”

She sank against him. “I never really had grandparents. Not the kind that everyone has. My mother was estranged from her parents and I can see why now. And my father's parents died before I was born. But Carey is like one of those sweet, smiling grandfathers that you see in the movies.”

“Then you're happy you went?”

She nodded. “I'm happy I know the truth. It still hasn't completely sunk in, but I think I'll be all right.”

“I missed you,” he murmured, cupping her face in his palms and kissing her.

Nan giggled, then brushed aside a tear. “You did?”

“More that you can imagine,” he said with a low growl.

“Oh, no,” Nan said. “Don't look at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you want to drag me off to bed. I know that look.”

“You don't,” Riley insisted. “I'll get you a glass of wine, we'll take a blanket up on the hill and we'll relax. Wait right here.”

Riley pulled a quilt from the chest in the second bedroom, then grabbed two glasses. The wine was still sitting on the table by the door. When he got back outside, she was waiting by the gate, a large black book in her arms.