Page 18 of Irish Rose
“Give me the baby, missy,” Hannah told Dee. “You’re already carrying two. And we’ll let the men handle the bags while you come in for a nice cup of tea and put your feet up.”
“Stop fussing,” Dee said. Then she laughed as her uncle grabbed her in a fierce hug.
“How’s my best girl?”
“Fit as a fiddle and glad to be home. Look what we brought back with us from Skibbereen.” Still laughing, she held out a hand to Erin. “You remember Erin McKinnon, Uncle Paddy. Mary and Matthew McKinnon’s daughter.”
“Erin McKinnon?” His face seemed to scrunch together as he thought back. Then, with a hoot, he was beaming. “Erin McKinnon, is it? Faith, lass, the last time I saw you you were no more than a baby. I used to raise a glass with your da now and then, but you wouldn’t be remembering that.”
“No, but they still speak of Paddy Cunnane in the village.”
“Do they now?” He grinned as if he knew exactly what was said. “Well, get inside out of the cold.”
“I can help with the bags,” Erin began as Adelia started to shoo her children indoors.
“I’d appreciate it if you’d go with Dee, let her show you your room.” Travis was already pulling out the first of the luggage. Even as he set them in the drive, his gaze was following his wife. “She doesn’t like to admit she gets tired, and having you to fuss over will keep her from overdoing.”
Erin stood a moment, torn between carrying her own weight and doing what was asked of her. “All right. If you like.”
“It wouldn’t hurt if you told her you’d like to sit down with a cup of tea.”
Quietly domineering, Erin thought again. On impulse, she leaned over and kissed Travis’s cheek. “Your wife’s a fortunate woman. I’ll see that she rests without knowing she’s been maneuvered into it.” Still, she picked up one of the cases and took it inside with her.
The warmth struck her immediately, not just the change of temperature but the colors and the feel of the house itself. The children were already racing through the rooms as if they wanted to make sure nothing had changed in their absence.
“You’ll want to go up first, see your room.” Dee was already stripping off her gloves and laying them on an ornamental table in the hall. Hooking her arm through Erin’s, she started up the stairs. “You’ll tell me if it suits you or not, and if there’s anything else you want. As soon as you feel settled in, I’ll show you the rest.”
Erin only nodded. The space alone left her speechless. Adelia opened a door and gestured her inside.
“This is the guest room. I wish we’d had time to have some flowers for you.” She glanced around the room, regretting she hadn’t been able to add a few more personal touches. “The bath’s down the end of the hall, and I’m sorry to say the children are always flinging wet towels around and making a mess of it.”
The room was done in gray and rose with a big brass bed and a thick carpet. The furniture was a rich mahogany with gleaming brass pulls and a tall framed mirror over the bureau. There were knickknacks here and there, a little china dog, a rose-colored goblet, more brass in a whimsical study of a lion. The terrace doors showed the white expanse of snow through gauzy curtains, making a dreamlike boundary between warmth and cold. Unable to speak, Erin gripped her case in both hands and just looked.
“Will it suit you? You’re free to change anything you like.”
“No.” Erin managed to get past the block in her throat, but her hands didn’t relax on the handle of the case. “It’s the most beautiful room I’ve ever seen. I don’t know what to say.”
“Say it pleases you.” Gently Dee pried the case from her. “I want you to feel comfortable, Erin, at home. I know what it’s like to leave things behind and come to someplace strange.”
Erin took a deep breath. She wasn’t able to bear it, not for another second. “I don’t deserve this.”
“What foolishness.” Businesslike, Dee set the case on the bed with the intention of helping her cousin unpack.
“No, please.” Erin put her hand over Dee’s, then sat. She didn’t want her cousin to tire herself, and she didn’t want her to see what a pitiful amount she’d brought with her. “I have to confess.”
Amused, Dee sat beside her. “Do you want a priest?”
With a watery laugh that shamed her, Erin shook her head. “I’ve been so jealous of you.” There, it was out.
Dee considered a minute. “But you’re much prettier than I am.”
“No, that’s not true, and that’s not it, in any case.” Erin opened her mouth again, then let out a long breath. “Oh, I hate confession.”
“Me, too. Sinning just comes natural to some of us.”
Erin glanced over, saw both the warmth and humor and relaxed. “It comes natural enough to me. I was jealous of you. Am,” she corrected, determined to make a clean breast of it. “I’d think about you here in a big, beautiful house, with pretty things and pretty clothes, your family, all the things that go with it, and I’d just near die with envy. When I met you at the airport that day, I was resentful and nervous.”
“Nervous?” She could pass over resentment easily. “About seeing me? Erin, we all but grew up together.”
