Page 95 of The Irish Redemption

With a final glance, I head back out of the building to find Saoirse and Cian hugging in the parking lot.

“Did you tell him?” Saoirse asks as they break apart.

“Yeah.”

“What did he say?”

“Told me I looked sad and to go and speak to someone called Mabel.” I scoff softly. “But the strangest thing… I felt like he understood.”

“You’re just convincing yourself of that,” Cian says.

“No. He reached out, and for a moment, it was like…” I shake my head. “I don’t know. Maybe it was nothing, but I’m convinced he understood. He heard me. He knows.”

“I think so too,” Evie says.

“You have to have his back.” Saoirse chuckles, wiping her eyes. “You're his girlfriend.”

“Maybe, but he did seem tender. Just from an outside perspective,” she adds hurriedly.

“Dad would have loved you,” Cian says with a smile. “He had a soft spot for soft people.”

“I’m not soft!” Evie protests, to which we all laugh.

“Sure, sweetie.” She elbows me in the ribs as I pull her in for a kiss.

“Right.” Saoirse claps her hands together. “Ready to say goodbye?”

“Is there anything you need?” Evie stands in front of me, adjusting my tie with her delicate fingers. “Anything I can get you?”

“Just you,” I say softly.

“You have me.” She cups my cheek with one hand and guides me down to a soft, tender kiss.

“And I am forever grateful.” As the kiss breaks, I stand back to admire us in the mirror. Evie wears a black dress on loan from Saoirse and I wear a black suit with a white shirt and black tie. We might be at the old family farm, which hasn’t seen this much activity in years, but it’s the perfect place to lay Brenden to rest. And as per Ma’s sharp instructions, we all have to dress respectfully.

“Did you grow up here?” Evie asks as we duck through the low hallway and move down through the farmhouse.

“Not as much as I would have liked. I was born in the States, but about half, maybe three-quarters of my childhood was spent here.”

“Is this where you’d also want to be laid to rest?” She looks up at me. “Here?”

“As long as it’s next to you, I won’t care,” I reply easily. “But here would be good.”

“Noted.”

“Why, planning on bumping me off?”

“It’s crossed my mind. A lot of money in ranch inheritance, right?”

“Millions,” I tease, kissing her temple.

We head outside and follow an old cobblestone path through the overgrown garden to a large pond out the back of the house. Ma is there holding a back marble urn, with Cian and Saoirse around her.

“Why the pond?” Evie asks, her voice low.

“Brenden loved the pond. He spent a lot of time there raising a family of goslings he rescued. It was adorable looking back then, but at the time I was so jealous. He told me he was raising an army of swans that would eat me in my sleep.”

Evie stifles a laugh. “Must have been some shit swans.”

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