“Surely, no choice.” It wasn’t quite a question, but…
“Exactly. Scotland.”
Ciar winced. “We’ve a few years before that fight comes about at least,” he said, half teasing. His son would definitely play for Ireland.
“Mom, Grandma, and the Byrne sisters were here today.”
Ciar could hear the hesitancy in her voice, almost like she still wasn’t sure if he wanted her to change things even though he’s already assured her he did. “You do know that it’s our house, Gray, right? I bought the building for us. I want you to change everything until it suits you.”
She hesitated before answering. “Things have changed since then.”
“Goddammit, Gray. It is ours. Ours,” he repeated. “It’s where we’ll raise our family. I want you to make your mark on every surface. I want you to walk through every space and know it’s yours.
“I warned you more than once that now that I have you there, I’m never going to let you walk away, so you might as well decorate it the way you want. Please.”
Christ, he mentally swore.She was driving him crazy. He didn’t deserve promises of commitment, but he damn well wanted them.
“I thought you lo—” he cut himself off. “I thought you cared for me.”
“Don’t turn this on me, Ciar. You know I care for you, but you lied to me for months. You hurt me, and you weren’t there for me when I needed you. Just because you say you will make it rightwhen you get home doesn’t guarantee that you will. You know that.” And the final nail in his coffin. “I know that.”
There was nothing to say, but, “I won’t let you down again.”
forty-six
GRAY
“What do you think, Tina?”Gray was leaning against Imogen’s door, watching the older woman turn this way and that from her wheelchair, taking in the room’s new look.
If someone had asked her a few months ago whether she and Tina would be friendly with one another, Gray would have snorted in disbelief. Luckily for them, and Imogen as well, the two women realized they quite liked one another.
Gray had found that most of the nanny’s bluster was a cover-up for her loneliness. She had no family left. Her husband had left her over thirty years ago, and her only son had passed away during a military exercise in Lebanon, where he’d been stationed.
He passed fifteen years ago and was buried in a small, rural cemetery outside Dublin, where Tina had lived and worked most of her life. Soon after his passing, she decided to sell everything and become a nanny.
Tina admitted that she’d been unkind to Gray initially because she was afraid that Gray would decide to get a different nanny if she and Ciar reconciled.
When Gray explained that it would never happen because not only did Imogen love her nanny, but Imogen’s little brother would need Tina’s love and care as well, Tina had clamped her lips tight and simply nodded, but her shoulders relaxed and pink tinged her soft cheeks.
Her mom, Grandma Mary, Raven, River, Rowan, Bébhinn, and Mags all adopted Tina as a beloved family member, and together, they’d made Ciar’s two-story building into a home.
Tina clasped her hands under her chin, taking in the changes of Imogen’s suite. “It’s lovely, Gray. Lovely,” she repeated. “You and your mom and friends have created something special. Truly.”
“And your rooms? Will they work?” When Rowan found out Tina’s favorite color was yellow, which was the youngest Byrne sister’s favorite color as well, she took over the nanny suite and transformed the white walled monastery feel of Tina’s space into a warm, sumptuous sanctuary.
“You shouldn’t have,” she tsked, “but it’s lovely.”
“Ciar wanted you to love your rooms so much that you never want to leave.”
“Outrageous boy,” Tina muttered, even though she was clearly pleased Ciar had thought of her.
“Your son’s suite is quite handsome. That Mary is something to behold.”
Gray snorted at the description of her beloved grandma. “Grandma Mary is an opinionated wrecking ball, and no one gets in her way if they know what’s good for them,” she laughed.
There hadn’t been a lot of work to do in the living areas except to add more furniture and art. Bébhinn, Mags, Raven, and River had taken over the kitchen and living rooms upstairs and down while Gray and her mother focused on the primary suite.
Gray still felt uneasy about working on the intimate space when things between her and Ciar were far from finalized, but she admitted to herself that she loved making the bedroom her own.
