“My parents raised five children in it until Maggie was close to five years old.”
“I didn’t say it was impossible,” she clarifies. “Just that it’s small.”
“This isn’t the conversation I planned to have when I came here.” And I need to put an end to it because I haven’t even had time to wrap my head around all of these ideas for myself. I’m speaking about it out of turn.
She laughs and points to the barn about a hundred yards away, where my brother fires his glass. “He’s in there.”
“Is he surly today, then?”
“Isn’t he always?”
“Good point. I’ll go find him.”
“Good luck.”
“I’ll need it. Kane’s a horse’s arse when he gets interrupted.”
“I meant with Izzy,” Stasia says.
I wave and walk out to the barn. It’s no use knocking, he won’t hear me, so I open the door and slip inside then close it behind me. Kane’s across the room, dipping hot glass into water to cool it down. He’s drenched in sweat, but he looks satisfied in the morning’s work so far.
Once the glass is safely in a cooler, and Kane turns around, I step forward.
“Good morning.”
“It is, aye,” he replies. “You have good timing.”
“I wouldn’t have, but I sat for a chat with your lovely bride.”
His face softens. I’ve never seen my moody, surly brother as happy as I have since he found Stasia. “And how is she, then?”
“She looks great. Says she feels fine. I suspect she’s sick of being pregnant.”
“You’d suspect right. She yelled at me last night for putting her in this condition, and then scowled at me when I stopped rubbing her feet. It’s abused, I am. On a daily basis. But I don’t think you came here to discuss my wife’s pregnancy.”
“I didn’t, no. Is anyone using the cabin over the next few days?”
His eyes meet mine in surprise. “Not that I’m aware of.”
“I didn’t know if Ma and Da were up there.”
“They’re with Maeve,” he says. “Are you planning to take a couple of days to go up there?”
I nod and then rub the back of my neck in agitation. “I know, it’s unlike me.”
“I’m wondering if I’m speaking to my brother, Keegan O’Callaghan.”
“There’s no need to be a wanker.”
Kane grins, enjoying himself. “It’s empty.”
I nod and turn away.
“You could have called for that.”
“You don’t answer your goddamn phone,” I remind him. “And I like coming out here. You have a nice property. How many acres is it?”
He props his hands on his hips and stares at me. “Do you have a fever, then?”
“Fuck off.”
He laughs and shakes his head. “I have twenty acres.”
“How far down the coastline does your property go?”
“Let’s go out and walk it,” he says, gesturing for me to follow. We walk past his house and wave at Anastasia, who’s still sitting on the sunporch. “My house sits on the edge of the property. There’s only about an acre that way before you hit the next owner’s land, although they’ve never built anything there. I’ve thought about buying it, but I don’t have a purpose for it right now. The barn sits in the middle of this five-acre patch, close enough to the house that I don’t have to walk all over God’s green Earth to get out there.”
“So, it runs along the cliffs for a while then?”
“It does.”
“Have you ever considered selling part of it?”
He stops and turns to me, his eyes—so like mine—narrowed on me. “I hadn’t before. What’s on your mind?”
“Just an idea that started taking shape over the past couple of weeks. If I were to buy property not attached to the pub, I’d want waterfront. But that’s hard to come by on an island. Not to mention, I don’t make the millions it would take to buy some of the houses here.”
“Money is no object—”
“You don’t pay for me, Kane.” I clap him on the shoulder. “I love you for saying that, but I pay for my own.”
“Stubborn arse,” he mutters.
“If you would ever part with an acre or two along the cliffs, I’d buy from you and build a house there. And, maybe one day, raise a family there.”
“Jesus, Keegan, what’s gotten into you?”
“I asked you the same question not long ago.”
He nods thoughtfully. “They’ll change your world, a woman will. If that’s what you want, Keegan, I’d be happy to work something out with you regarding the land.”
I nod, my mind racing with ideas. “Let’s talk about it again once I’ve had time to think on it more.”
“Good idea. When are you headed to the cabin?”
“In a few hours.”
He laughs loud enough to scare a dozen birds off a nearby tree. “You don’t mess around when you’ve set your mind to something.”
“It runs in the family.”
* * *
Before I can whisk Izzy away for a few days, I need to make one more stop. I asked my sisters to meet me at Maeve’s house for a little conversation.