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“Darcie? Did I make you sick?”
“No, not a bit, I promise! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings like that.” Darcie was on the verge of tears. Never in a million years would she have deliberately hurt Sondra’s feelings.
“I know. You’re forgiven.”
The dining room fell awkwardly silent. Then Shamus stood up and raised his glass. “Darcie, love, bless your soul.”
Everyone erupted into laugher, for Shamus was the absolute last person any of them would have expected to say such a thing. Well, actually Darcie was the absolute last person, but since she’d let the cat out of the bag, the next in line was Shamus.
Even Sondra was laughing as Simon hooked his arm around her, pulling her close to kiss her good and hard, and didn’t break away until she melted against him. “God, I love you, Sunny. I wouldn’t change a thing about you. Just, from now on leave the cooking for me. All right?”
“Deal. You know what? I hated cooking, if I’m honest. All that measuring and temperatures. How am I supposed to know when an egg is room temperature?”
Her confession only made everyone laugh harder.
Seeing an opportunity, Henry eyed the twins. “Speaking of food, you’d better serve proper chips—not those skinny imposters you’re always after from McDonald’s.”
The twins shared a look and a smile. Did they know their uncle or did they know their uncle? “We know, Uncle Henry. Proper chips, fried in proper fat!” Keefe mimicked his uncle’s gruff Irish tone.
“None of that oil!” Sophie added with a smirk.
“I don’t sound like that,” Henry huffed.
“Yes, you do,” they said in unison.
“Uncle Henry, you’ve been on about those fries since forever!” Sophie said.
“Rest assured we do know they’re better and I swear to you that I will serve nothing else because they can’t be beaten,” Keefe said.
“Speak for yourself,” Sophie shot back. “I love McDonald’s fries.”
Keefe scoffed. “You have the palate of a toddler.”
Sophie rolled her eyes. She was the business brain—hardworking, dedicated, and focused. Keefe, on the other hand, was the artist, bringing creativity to his cooking and whatever else caught his fancy.
Before her husband started a debate, Sylvia interrupted. “And on that note, who’s ready for dessert?” Sylvia asked as she stood up from her chair and collected plates. “Sondra, we already got rid of your brownies, but we have chocolate cake and ice cream.”
Sondra laughed and shook her head as she got up from her seat to help with the clearing up. She considered apologizing for giving everyone food poisoning, but since nobody had bothered to tell her, she figured they had brought this on themselves.
Nan nudged Shamus with her elbow, urging him to speak. Shamus raised his voice a bit, just enough to get the attention of everyone. “Sylvia, Sondra, love, can that wait for just a minute? Nan and I have something we need to talk with you all about.”
Sylvia and Sondra both nodded and put down the dishes they were carrying.
Not knowing how to break the news to the family, Shamus started, then stopped, then started again after a reassuring nod from Nan. “There’s no easy way to tell you this, so I’ll just be out with it.” Shamus looked at Nan and asked for the photograph. She reached into her handbag and produced an envelope that she handed over. “This picture was in Cian’s wallet. Darcie, my love, you’re in it. You’re just a wee child, but I know that’s you.” Shamus removed the photograph from the envelope and handed it over to Darcie to see first. Connor inched closer to his wife so they could look together. “We would have showed it to you before, but we thought we’d try to find out who the other girl is first.”
Darcie looked at Connor with worried and confused eyes. Connor moved even closer to her, taking her under his arm. The picture was of two young girls standing at Cian’s side. All three were smiling. “I don’t understand,” said Darcie. “What is this? I’d never met Cian until recently and I don’t recognize that girl.”
“I do,” Shamus said. “Or at least I think I do.”
Connor handed the photograph to Henry, who looked at it, then his eyes grew wide as well as Sylvia’s. One by one, each person around the table viewed the photo and, one by one, they were left astounded.
“That girl looks exactly like my first wife, Caireann, did at that age. I think Cian has, or at least had, another daughter. What he’s doing with the pair of you together, I don’t know. My guess is that Cian couldn’t stay away from you, Darcie, and found a way to see you. Maybe he was posing as a family friend or a neighbor. I’ve been doing a little digging but haven’t come up with much. Except…” Shamus couldn’t bring himself to say the words out loud.
Once again, Nan reached inside her handbag, only this time she produced a card. “This card, along with a painting, was waiting for us when we came home today.” She opened the card and read it out loud. “All my best wishes for a long and happy marriage. Love, Cian.”
Darcie gasped and clapped her hand over her mouth. Connor reached across the table to take the card from his aunt. He needed to see this for himself.
“The handwriting isn’t Cian’s,” stated Shamus. “I’m sure of it.”
