Page 90 of Steel Rain

“What?” I asked, confused.

“Are you changing your name or not?”

I had never thought about it.

As a girl I thought I’d change my last name. It was tradition. But I had lost respect for the custom since.

Then again, I had no respect for the Flanagan name. My father was a bastard. My mother was fine, though hardly agoodmother by any measure. I suppose it only mattered to me because it was Sibby’s last name. But wouldn’t she marry soon as well, and shed our father’s only gift to us?

“What do you want?” I turned the question around.

“I want to know how to introduce my wife to people,” one brow rose, amused. “But your name, your choice.”

Maybe it’s because he wasn’t forcing me to choose it. Maybe it was because he was the first man to give me a voice. Maybe it was because I wanted to be connected to him in every possible way.

Whatever it was, the choice was easy to make.

“Sinead LeBlanc.”

“Well, Mrs. Sinead LeBlanc,” he said with a wry little smile. “You should wear the white dress.”

Chapter 42

Sin

Hewalkedmetothe big house after I picked a suitable dress. White. He had chosen a dress of white lace, with a light sheen. Bridal. My husband was traditional in many ways. There was something endearing in that. How ancient he seemed. He called us medieval at Green Fields, but there was something so timeless about Ajax that he seemed even older. How many lives had he lived to become so wise?

“I’ll get you a ring,” he said, as he walked me up the porch steps to the main door.

“Will you wear one too, or will you be like some of the men and …” Like my father. Like Keith. Like the men who took their vows far less seriously than the women they lashed to them?

“I’ll tattoo your name on my skin if that’s what you want,” he chuckled.

My heart leapt to my throat. I almost laughed out loud, his response surprised me so much.

“No, you don’t need to do anything that drastic. I’m just …”

“You’re just prying to see if I am like the other men in your past,” he finished for me. “I’m not. And you’ll believe it soon enough.”

He kissed the back of my hand like a gentleman before stepping back.

“I have to go back to the gym to get dressed myself. I’ll meet you in there.” Then a kiss to the lips, and he was off, jumping down the stairs in one large leap.

When he gently landed, he looked over his shoulder at me. Maybe he was making sure that I was watching. Whatever the reason, he smiled. Big, bright, and shining up to his eyes. I returned that smile, and felt giddy, like there were butterflies fluttering under my ribs. I was a bride, with a groom who made my heart flutter.

Dreams were a strange and fickle thing. Sometimes, when you’ve lost faith in them, they have a way of blossoming like a rare, and fragrant flower, making themselves known after your bleakest, darkest winters.

He walked down the path, to the woods where the barracks and gym were nestled away. He was well out of sight before I turned and walked into the big house.

Had he done something different to this place? Was there more light in these creepy hallways?

“Miss Flanagan,” a soft voice called from the stairs as light footsteps came down.

“Malinda!” I said with a smile. She and her family were old Irish. One of a long line of stalwart housekeepers of the Green mansion. She was younger than me but had a sort of ancient grace. She probably learned that from her mother. “Call me Sin.”

“Sin,” she said, almost wincing at the harsh sounding nickname. “Eoghan had me set up a room for you to change in. I’m to help you get ready.”

She led me down the hallway to the wing where all the guest rooms were housed. Like a hotel, it was door after door, each one with its own suite. Most were unoccupied, though I knew the one with the blue door belonged to Dairo. It was at the corner and was quite grand. Large enough to hold a grand piano in it, because music had been his speciality once. I used to play duets with him when we were kids, entertaining Isla’s Christmas parties.

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