“My God, I did, and when my older brother Tavish found us, he damn near shook my ears straight off my head.”
I laugh out loud at the image, a wee Mac with those bright blue eyes, and an angry older brother.
“Did he? He’s your older brother?”
Mac sobers and turns the car off. “Was,” he corrects.
“Oh,” I say in a little voice. “He isn’t with you anymore?”
He turns to me, shaking his head. “Your father really hasn’t told you anything about the Cowen Clan, has he?”
I wouldn’t say he hasn’t told me anything…
“Not much at all, no,” I say truthfully. “I’m very sorry, I didn’t know.”
He turns to me and brushes his palm against the side of my face. “You’re a sweet girl, Bryn. But remember one thing, love. You don’t ever apologize for things you aren’t responsible for. You didn’t know.” He shrugs. “And I’m glad of it. Makes me feel like we’ve a clean slate.”
But he doesn’t tell me any more about Tavish.
“It’s late, Mac. Will anyone be up?”
He shakes his head. “Doesn’t matter. I’m taking you to my private home first. You’ll come back here in the morning for breakfast and meet my sisters and family.”
I squirm, a little uncomfortable about the thought of meeting his family.
“Will they… want to meet me? I don’t know much about our families, but I… I do wonder if it’s… awkward?”
He smiles, bends, and kisses my cheek. “I’ll make sure it isn’t.”
He opens his door, then comes around to my side and opens mine for me.
“If this is your family home, then where’s yours?”
“We each have chalets, smaller, private homes where we live, near the main house. I spend quite a bit of time at the main house, but once we are of age, we’re given a choice to move to our own place or stay. Of course, every one of us has chosen our own place.”
“Yeah, Iwishthings would go like that with us.”
I wonder how things are going at home, if everyone’s okay. There’s a severe shortage of people I could reach out to. I hate my brother, and my father’s preoccupied with things. My mother doesn’t know how to use a mobile ever since the stroke, and her caretaker’s unapproachable and grumpy.
“So where are you, then? Where’s your place?”
“Closest to the main house.”
We walk down a steep incline, and it looks as if we’re walking down to nowhere. From here, we can barely see the mountains that surround us, and the trees that flank each side of the main house.
Then we turn a bend, and I breathe in quickly. I hadn’t seen the little chalets before, but that's no surprise because it's so dark out. Each little one looks like a magical hut, like fairies or elves designed them long before humans ever lived.
“Oh, wow, Mac. This is gorgeous.”
“Thanks very much,” he says humbly, then he stops short. “You know, on second thought, we do need to go to the main house, don’t we? You don’t have a thing with you.”
I shake my head. “Nope. Definitely unprepared for an impromptu sleepover.”
“Come, then. Islan will probably be up.”
I don't know why I'm more nervous about meeting his sister than I am his father and mother. Just knowing that he’s rival mafia should make me afraid of meeting his family. But sometimes meeting another woman is most intimidating of all.
“Don’t be afraid,” he says gently. “They don’t bite.”
