“Yes,” she said.
“Well, I best be going,” he said walking quickly toward the door.
Good, maybe she’d put the fear of God into him. Men like Declan and Michael feared women who didn’t accept their bullshit lines.
She walked into the kitchen and the men were all looking away and not at her, but she knew they had heard.
“And I would ask that you keep that piece of information to yourselves,” she said.
“Yes, ma’am,” they all said in unison as they painted the new walls.
She hurried back upstairs to her mother’s room. Sitting on the bed, she read through the journals until they abruptly ended.
The last entry only said,I can’t stay here any longer. I have to leave.
Glancing at her phone, she realized there was nothing from Patrick. What if he never responded?
Tears welled up in her eyes and she sat there crying as the sun went down. Crying for her mother, her grandmother, and the mess their lives had become.
Why did she feel such a responsibility to straighten it all out? The past was in the past and there was nothing they could do to change it. Only, she felt the need to make things right.
With a sigh, she went downstairs, refusing to look at her phone again tonight.
It was then that she heard the back door open.
Thinking that one of the workers had returned, she went into the kitchen.
Ronan stood there, his dark eyes shining bright. Looking like a million dollars.
“Are you crying?”
“No,” she said wiping her eyes.
“Yes, you are,” he replied walking over to her.
Tears bubbled up again and she did her best to keep them from flowing.
“What’s wrong?”
She sighed. “This afternoon, I found my mother’s journals. I spent the afternoon reading them.”
“And they upset you,” he said.
“Yes. And I haven’t heard from Patrick. Nothing.”
He pulled her in his arms and hugged her close.
“I thought you were going to tell me Declan came over and tried to do something stupid.”
She sighed. “Oh, he stopped by, but I told him that I had recently gone through a bad breakup, and when he learned what I did, he left.”
Ronan grinned. “Is it worse than sending goats over to eat my roses?”
A little giggle escaped from her. “Oh yes.”
“Come on, let me take you to the pub tonight. You need cheering up and I would love to hear your breakup story.”
“Oh, you’ve heard it,” she said, grinning.
