“How’s Breena?” he asks. “Does she like her new nanny?”
“Aye,” I tell him. “She’s a young lass, but she’s very good with her.” Maeve and I finally hired a nanny after interviewing over a dozen. Maeve said I was too hard on them, expected too much. Is it too much to ask for identification, half a dozen references, and certification in CPR and first aid? Not when you’re hiring someone to watch your child.
“Mam says you scared half of them away.”
I shrug. “Matter of opinion.”
“Might as well tell Father Finn now, Breena will become a nun, you know,” Megan says.
I frown at her. “Why’d you say that?”
“Because no bloody bloke this side of the Atlantic will date a girl with a father like you,” she says, but I know she’s only teasing me. And hell, she’s right.
I blow out a breath. “Frankly, I think I’m quite happy with that notion.”
She laughs and teasingly smacks my shoulder. “Course you are.”
Keenan watches us both with a smile. “You two have excellent chemistry,” he says. I eye him warily. What the hell is this? I’ve never seen Keenan play the part of Cupid, but he’s damn near pulling his arrow on the bow already.
“We do,” Megan says. “But what the hell are you playing at, Keenan?”
Ah, do I love this woman.
Keenan smiles. “Oh, nothing,” he says, stroking his beard. “It’s just that… well…” his voice trails off. “You shouldn’t wait on marrying.”
Megan’s eyes grow wide. “Marriage? Are you—”
But then she looks at me and clamps her mouth shut. Is she that opposed?
“Aye,” I tell him. “It’s a fair point. Megan, do you know the laws that protect you if you’re wed to a man of the Clan?”
“Thought I was protected being related to the McCarthys?” she says.
“You are,” I tell her. “But that protection magnifies if we’re wed.”
“I see.”
“There’s more,” Keenan says. “You know how the brothers live on premises?”
I nod. “Carson, at the very least, I’d like you to consider moving into the mansion. It’s only fitting, now that we know you’re McCarthy blood.”
“Aye,” I tell him, and my voice is husky with emotion. I swallow to hide it. I haven’t fully processed yet that the man who had a hand in raising me, who taught me to be the man I am today, was actually my father. A part of me wishes I knew this when he was still alive.
“Yes. Yes,” Megan says. “It’s perfect.”
“Thank you, Keenan.”
He shrugs off my thanks. “No need to thank me. You know mam will lose her mind having Breena nearby and think of how good it’ll be for Breena to grow up near her cousins.”
“Aye,” Megan says. “I can say a lot for growing up around your cousins. I mean, some days they’ll do your damn head in, but other days…” she grins when Keenan rolls his eyes.
I explain to Breena why we’re moving the next day, and things move quickly. I live nearby and our possessions are few, so within days, we’re getting settled. It’s hard, though, because this was where Eve and I last lived together. It seems as if leaving here and moving into the McCarthy family home is symbolic. As if I’m leaving the ghost of Eve behind to take on my new life with Megan.
Breena transitions easier than I do. She loves being around her cousins and Maeve, and she’s taken a liking to her new nanny. Nolan and Cormac built a wooden playhouse way in the back of the property, and Breena loves to play there. We’re finally settled in, so I find Megan, and the two of us stroll to the cliffs.
“Remember that first night?” she asks.
“Aye,” I tell her with a smile. “The night you caught me in the cemetery, and I gave you hell for leaving without a guard.”
“Mmm,” she says. “The night I let my mind actually imagine something between me and you.”
I look at her curiously. “You mean to tell me you didn’t before?”
“Well…” she says, looking a bit sheepish. “I mean I did? I’ve always liked you Carson, and I’ve most definitely always found you…” she bites her lip. “Attractive. But I knew that your heart belonged to Eve, even after her death.”
My voice is a little husky when I whisper, “Aye.”
It seems she’s affected by memories as well, since she bites her lip and doesn’t speak for a moment, but when she does, her voice wobbles a little. “I think we should tell her.”
“What do you mean?” Megan comes up with all sorts of outlandish ideas.
“Tell her,” she says. “Tell Eve.” She shivers as the wind nips from the shore, cold and biting.
I eye her thoughtfully. “Don’t you reckon she knows, then? I mean, Father Finn says that death only separates us from life by a thin veil, or something, doesn’t he?”
“Aye,” she says. “But just because someone might already know something, don’t you think it’s still important to tell them anyway? Like… I tell you I love you. You know that I do. But doesn’t it… mean more if I say so?”