* * *
Patrick’s arrival atthecéilíthat night did not go unnoticed. He’d worried a little about his family’s reception, considering he’d dragged Ian away, giving them all extra work to do without explaining his reason for being gone. Far from rejection, he was hugged and welcomed every bit as much as Ian, Tavish, Cecily, and Matthew were. It was comforting and reassuring, especially in light of the plan he and his golden-haired sister-in-law had concocted as they’d driven toward Hope Springs. Their plot might go terribly wrong, but at leastsomethinghad gone right.
He found Cecily. “Have you heard anything encouraging?”
She nodded. “Tavish tells me Eliza is sitting with Maura near the musicians. A rather perfect position.”
“What do I do if this doesn’t work?”
“You’ll be no worse off than you are now,” she said. “But if Eliza is at all receptive to the possibility of second chances, then it will have been worth the risk, don’t you think?”
“She’s worth any risk,” he said.
“Then go take it.”
Cecily was often quiet, but she had shown herself time and again to be fearless. Patrick liked her more every time he was with her. And, heavens, he hoped she was right about this.
Patrick moved toward the musicians. Eliza was right where Cecily had said she would be. Maura welcomed him warmly, but she watched Eliza, no doubt wanting to make certain her friend approved of him joining them.
“You’ve been gone for a while,” Eliza said.
“I took your advice.”
Her gaze narrowed on him, not in disapproval but in confusion.
He answered the question he was certain hovered in her mind. “I told Ian what I told you, and what you sorted about me.”
“Oh.” She watched him, hope in her eyes. “And did he denounce you as you assumed he would?”
“No. Hehelpedme.”
A tender and joyful smile touched her face. No matter that she was put out with him, she was compassionate enough to be happy for him.
Maura looked from one of them to the other a couple of times, brow creased in confusion.
“I’m an awful lying liar, Maura,” he said. “I think you probably ought to know that. Everyone likely should.”
Laughter filled Maura’s eyes. How easy it would be to play this off as a grand joke. But he owed Eliza vulnerability and honesty. He owed those things to all of them.
“I didn’t tell the family I was still alive. I didn’t tell them I was in Canada. I didn’t tell you I had Grady’s haversack. And I didn’t tell you the real reason I left the Widows’ Tower.”
Maura set her hand on Patrick’s arm. “I have always wondered about that. We tried to make a happy home for you there.”
“You did. And after years of warfare, it was a godsend.”
Quietly, Maura asked, “What drove you away, then?”
“Aidan asked so many questions about his da’s time in the war. He wanted to hear heroic things, and I wanted to be able totellhim heroic things, because Grady really was brave and unwavering and noble. But war is nothing short of a walk through the corridors of hell, Maura, and I was still so close to it. I was afraid I’d say something that would dim Aidan’s precious little light, and I couldn’t risk that.”
“He missed you when you left,” Maura said.
“I missed him. I missed you. All of you.”
She leaned closer and pressed a very sisterly kiss to his whiskered cheek. “We’ve missed you too, Patrick. It seems you’re finally coming back to us.”
She rose to her feet, the movement made a little more difficult by her quickly expanding middle. Patrick helped her. She smiled once more before moving in the direction of both her mothers-in-law.
“I’d wager that’s the most honest you’ve been with her about your flight from New York,” Eliza said.
