Page 104 of Against Ebony Irish Seas

She cocked her hip, grinning. “Not yet… I want to see the look on her face when I tell her.”

“If it’s anything like the look on Sophie’s…” Jamie started laughing. “Sorcha is—”

“Yes, let’s talk about Sorcha,” Sophie said, turning to him and putting her hand on his chest. “Ghislaine, if you could give us a minute.”

She kissed them both on the cheeks. “Of course. You two are done! Go. Make up. Sorcha wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Thank God was all Sophie could think as Ghislaine walked off. “It’s a good thing Sorcha finally appeared to me and told me who to call for help. Eoghan has been a godsend, meeting witheveryparent and then some. But if you see Sorcha again, you might tell her to appear to the woman first next time—like she did with Ghislaine. We might have more sense than you men.”

Sophie started to smell oranges and wondered if it was Sorcha’s way of telling her she agreed.

He scratched the back of his head, fighting a smile. “I haven’t proven I have much sense lately, that’s for sure, but I love you with all my heart. And I hated being alone and in the quiet, meaning I was wrong about everything. So, if you want to go to Provence and live, I’ll go. With an open mind and heart. Because Greta’s happiness and yours is as important to me as the sun rising.”

She wanted to melt when he said things like that. “Well, we have a new head of the Garda coming, which makes me feel better, and a little bee told me the vandals will soon be coming forward—”

His face blanched. “What? Who?”

“Sorcha,” she said with emphasis as he nodded. “And while we may have protests from time to time, I think we can help Greta understand what they mean so she won’t be scared of them. I mean, she loves what we did today for you—because no one should get in trouble for something they didn’t do. Her words. I was also to give you this when I saw you.”

Walking toward him, she kissed his cheek.

His mouth slid into a soft smile. “Give her this back for me when you see her,” he said and kissed the delicate line of her brow. “Is she back?”

She pursed her lips. “No. We had her sign rushed here via post. I thought I would give it another day for things to change, although it’s killing me to be away from her.” She nudged him for effect.

“Hoping I would take an anti-eejit pill, were you?” he asked, his mouth curving.

“It was either that or the shovel,” she said dryly. “How could you eventhinkto let me go when a matchmaking Irish ghost told you I’m your soulmate?”

He grimaced heartily. “Refer to the eejit pill.”

She uttered an uncharacteristic growling sound as she thought about all he’d been willing to give up because of some old-fashioned sense of nobility and sacrifice. “Don’t do it again.”

He took her hands in his, looking her straight in the eye. “The promise I would give you now is as important as any, and I make it with all my heart. You have my word,mo chroí.”

Trust bloomed within her, knowing he was a man who honored his promises. “Good!” She touched his chest again, this time with more tenderness. “Now tell me how you really feel after today. Shaving the beard gave me hope.”

He winced. “You too, huh? Well, I don’t truly know how things will go with the complaint against me, but I am more hopeful today than I’ve been. And with my complaint against Principal Doyle in the works, I figure there’s a strong chance of a new head of the school being appointed. I can’t imagine she would be effective after all the parents stood against her. And she has no family to keep her here.”

“Eoghan was determined it had to be every single parent, Jamie.” She got tears just thinking about how hard he’d worked to make it happen. “He even arranged for the children to be taken care of and called people’s bosses to make sure they’d be let off work. He was incredible. Ghislaine said she had trouble keeping up with him.”

He glanced away, and Sophie thought he was likely looking for Eoghan, whom Ghislaine had corralled to talk to the press. What an ambassador he was for the center. And to think, he would soon be Ghislaine’s father-in-law!

“I owe Eoghan a debt,” Jamie said after swallowing thickly. “I owe so many in the village. I’ll be buying pints for the rest of my life and quite happily.”

She leaned in and finally hugged him. “We both will. Jamie, I couldn’t have done this without them. Seeing this kind of support has made me fall even harder for this town. Warts and all.”

He caressed her nape. “Me as well. Sophie, I told Bets that I’d like to begin readying for the start of the children’s arts program in October.”

He scanned the crowd for her. She was among his friends, talking with her hands as Linc smiled winningly beside her. Brady caught his eye and waved dramatically in his direction, miming drinking a whiskey. When Jamie gave him a thumbs-up, Ellie let out a cheer. The pub would be filled to the brim soon, and he couldn’t wait to be among them. They had stood for him. And he would remember it all his life.

“Bets says we have so much interest in the children’s summer program that we need a whole new strategy,” Sophie told him. “She stopped enrollment at two hundred kids—”

“Two hundred!”

“And that doesn’t include the adult inquiries.” She laughed. “People from around the world want to come to Ireland to learn to paint and draw and all the rest. Some with their children. Jamie, it’s incredible.”

“We’ll need more teachers—”

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