And then beyond the village, nestled between old trees and half-hidden by wild hedgerows, sat the O’Byrne Estate.
Her breath caught.
Even through the glass, even choked by bramble and weather and time, the house pulled at her.
It was grand once. She could see it in the bones. The tall chimneys. The arched windows. The long, curved drive now cracked with moss and age.
It wasn’t just a house.
It was a challenge. A challenge that intrigued her. And it was huge.
“That’s it,” John said, voice reverent. “Still standing.”
They turned onto the gravel path. The car jostled violently. A bird startled from the gable.
Aisling stepped out into the mist and stared up at the looming facade. The wind whispered through the trees, tugging at her hair, cold and insistent.
The front door was heavy oak, weathered but proud. The brass handle gleamed beneath a layer of grime.
John hauled her suitcase up the steps and placed it beside her.
“Welcome home, Miss O’Byrne.”
She swallowed hard.
“Does it come with ghosts?”
He winked. “Only the good kind. We’ll be talking soon. The townsfolk are going to want to meet you.”
As the taxi rolled away, Aisling stood there for a long moment, the keys from Liam Walsh heavy in her pocket, the future whispering through the trees like a dare.
She was here.
She had no plan. No job. No idea how to fix a crumbling estate.
But for the first time in a long while, she wasn’t afraid.
She was exactly where she was supposed to be.
“Welcome home,” she said softly as she entered the estate.
CHAPTER5
Aisling awoke to the sound of something chewing and the pitter-patter of rain hitting the window.
Not metaphorically. Not dreamily. Something very real was gnawing its way through her morning.
She sat bolt upright in bed, hair tangled, heart thudding. Where was she? And then she remembered falling into bed.
In the doorway stood a goat.
A goat.
No, she had not been drinking the night before. No sleeping medications. Nothing unless she was hallucinating.
It stared at her, mid-munch, with enormous dark eyes and her favorite straw hat clamped between its teeth.
“No!” she shrieked, scrambling out of the covers.
