Page 116 of Twist of Fate
He chuckles. “It’s in Clare.”
“All right, and why are we going to Clare for the weekend?”
He takes a deep breath. “To meet your family.”
“My what?—”
“This is where you can tell me if I’ve overstepped,” he says, taking my hands and leading me to the couch in the living room. I feel as though I misheard him. Family? I don’t have any. “I remember your mam mentioning that her father was from Clare and that she believed she still had family there.”
I nod. “Yeah, she always told me he came from a large family, but that’s all she knew.”
“She never tried to find any of them?”
I shake my head. “She was too scared they’d want nothing to do with her. She said there was a big falling out when my grandfather left.”
“That was what I was told as well, but when I spoke with his grandniece on the phone, she didn’t know any specifics. Her grandfather, his brother, never spoke about it.”
“Grandniece? You actually talked to them on the phone?”
“Of course I did. Did you really think we were just going to drive down there and wander the streets until we stumbled upon someone with the last name Farrell?”
“I don’t know what to think. I can’t believe you did all this,” I say, gripping his hand. “How did you manage to pull this off?” How did he even know my mom still used her maiden name?”
“Rian.” He shrugs. “He truly is a tech genius.”
“I don’t know whether to be impressed or terrified.”
“Today, let’s go with impressed.”
“All right.” I laugh. The puzzle pieces made a little more sense now. I didn’t know him well, but I knew enough to know he was an evil genius in disguise. “So, we’re really going to do this?”
“Only if you want to. If you’re not ready, we can go later or?—”
I kiss him. My mouth swallows his surprised grunt as I launch myself at him. I wrap an arm around his neck while he pulls me into his lap.
“How on earth did you manage to pull all this off with everything you have going on?”
He gives a nonchalant shrug. “I have my ways.”
“You’re amazing.” I kiss him again, and this time, I use my mouth and tongue to express exactly how I feel.
It has been six weeks. Six weeks with this man, and I don’t think I’ve ever been happier. He has brought joy back into my life. I hadn’t realized just how much grief had taken from me until I found Finn again.
The hole my mom’s death left will never fully heal, but the love I’ve found with Finn dulls the ache.
I love him.
I wish I could find the courage to tell him.
It’s not that I doubt his feelings. He’s referred to me asmy heartafter knowing me for a week. But yet, every time I go to say those three little words, I find myself suddenly unable to speak.
He pulls back to look at me, smoothing his hand over my hair. “It’s important to me that you find your support system.” What about you? I want to ask. Where’s your support system, Finn? But I let him continue. “When you told me about your mom being sick and how lonely you felt through it all? I don’t want you to ever feel alone again, Ash.”
I flinch, suddenly considering his motives for today. Is he doing all of this just out of love, or to soothe his guilty conscience when we end things in six weeks?
I offer him a reassuring smile, even as I attempt to dispel my own fears and doubts.
This is the real reason I haven’t said those three words: I worry that, at the end of the day, I’m still the only one who wants this to work.
