Page 71 of The Irish Redemption

“Who are you?”

“This is Cormac.” I introduce him with a smile.

“Your block still has power, so I’d guess this is a fuse issue. Where’s your box?”

Mom looks at him with narrowed eyes, then points down the dark hall with her flashlight. “At the end.”

“Excuse me.” He slides past us with impressive agility for a man of his bulk and heads down the hall. I stare after him until my mother catches my wrist and pulls me inside. The door slams and she jerks me into the lounge where a few battery-powered lights litter the shelves.

“Is that why you are late?” she scolds. “You were playing with a man while your poor mother lives in the dark. To think I was worried about you and instead, here you are flouncing around with a man.”

“I wasn’t flouncing,” I say, feeling my stomach twist into knots. “You refused to tell me what was wrong, so I came as fast as I could.”

“Not fast enough. I fell, you know!” As she barks at me in the dark, the light suddenly blooms above as Cormac fixes whatever is wrong with the fuses. We both blink quickly at the sudden change, then my attention drops to my mother’s ankle. She winces and sits immediately, rubbing at her apparently fine ankle.

“Mom,” I sigh softly. “Why didn’t you call 911?”

“Why on earth would I waste time doing that?”

“Because you lost power and you fell,” I reply, hurrying into the kitchen for the medical kit. Locating it, I bring it back through and kneel in front of her. “Calling 911 would have been the best thing.”

“Are you calling me stupid?”

“No, I?—”

“You think I can’t think for myself?”

“No.”

“Then why do you say these stupid things? I will not waste the time of others when I have a daughter who is supposed to take care of me!”She clicks her tongue sharply when I apply a cold compress to her ankle.

“There’s no swelling,” I say. “How long ago did you fall?”

“I don’t know,” she replies shortly. “It was dark.”

“An hour? Two?”

“I don’t know, Evelyn.”

It wouldn’t be the first time she’d be lying in order to lay the guilt on thick, but strangely, I don’t feel as guilty as I usually do. So often, she would reduce me to tears trying to reach impossible expectations, but something about her tone doesn’t quite hit the same now. Maybe it’s because of everything I’ve been through or because Cormac is somewhere nearby. I’m not sure, but when I apply a compression bandage to her ankle, none of her comments about my cold touch faze me like they used to.

“I’ve done all I can.” I pack up the kit. “But you should call a doctor tomorrow.”

“It wouldn’t have even happened if you’d been here.”

“Maybe, but if you fell in the dark and the dark was your emergency, there’s no way I could have gotten here in time.”

“Of course not,” Mom scoffs. “No time for your mother. You brush off responsibility like a duck brushes water. And then you bring strange men into my house!”

“Cormac isn’t strange,” I reply defensively. “He’s my…” Boyfriend? Partner? No word seems right to describe him. “I don’t know. But he’s not strange.”

My mother’s eyes suddenly light up. “Tell me, is he to be your husband?”

“Mom…”

“I told you to be careful, didn’t I? That no one would like you as you got older.”

“I’m only twenty-four.”

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