Morna's Legacy 04 - Love Beyond Measure Read Online Free PDF

inside. “Aye, I reckoned she was, though she looks young enough to be yer sister. What is yer name, laddie, and how old are ye?”
    Continuing to move down the hall in the direction Jerry indicated, Cooper occasionally glanced behind him so that he could look at Jerry as he spoke. “Cooper and I’m four years old, but not really four because I’ll be five very soon.”
    “Ach, I’d have guessed ye a fair deal older than that, laddie.”
    Cooper nodded, clearly expecting this response. “Yeah, everybody says that.”
    “And ye…” Jerry lowered his voice so that I knew he now spoke to me and not Cooper, “must be Grace, aye?”
    I nodded, battling a brief moment of confusion. The reservation must have required something more than the name of the magazine for him to know my first name. I knew for certain I hadn’t been given the chance to introduce myself yet.
    We stepped into the kitchen and, while the smell was enough to alert us that someone had been busy cooking, the room was empty. Still, Jerry ushered us inside.
    “Go on and have a seat, the both of ye. I believe me wife has stepped upstairs to invite our other guest down for a meal, though he usually dines in his room, I expect he’d like to meet the two of ye.”
    “Why?” I asked the question before I had a chance to check it, but I didn’t understand his conclusion. If I were staying at an inn, I certainly wouldn’t feel the need to meet and greet every new guest that checked in.
    “Ach, well,” the old man seemed slightly rattled by my question, or perhaps, the bluntness of it. “He’s been here several months now, and the two of ye are the first guests we’ve had since he arrived. I expect me wife thinks ’twould do him good to see some other people.”
    “Don’t you think a grown man can decide for himself what would do him good? Why has he been here so long? It certainly doesn’t look like there would be much to do around here.” I surprised myself once again with another question. Usually, I wasn’t this blunt, but something about this situation and the conversation at present felt very odd to me, and I couldn’t help but continue my inquiry.
    “Why, lass, I just offered ye food. Why ye feel the need to berate me so, I doona know. Both of yer questions ye can ask the lad yerself when he gets down here. Now, sit.”
    He pointed at a chair to his left. I did as he bid, ashamed at my lack of manners. “I’m sorry. I’m afraid jet-lag is hitting me rather hard. I appreciate the food. We both do.”
    Jerry patted and squeezed my shoulder once again. “Doona worry about it, lass. Travel is a tough business. Ye two help yerself to the food. I’ll go see if me wife needs some help.”
    He slipped quickly away. Before I could gather the energy to stand, I glanced over to see Cooper standing on his tiptoes in an effort to reach the eggs on the stove, just nearly about to dump them right onto the floor.
    Leaping from my seat, I pulled on the last of my energy reserves to reach for the tilting plate.

    *

    “How do ye feel, lad?”
    Morna’s voice next to his bedside worried Eoghanan. Perhaps the travel had injured him this time, though as he lay with his eyes closed, he felt no more pain than usual. Each time the journey made his head ache and his wounds burn, but all in all, he seemed in less pain than the previous times.
    He jerked his eyes open, adjusting to the bright light above him, working to collect himself from the slight confusion that followed each journey before finally looking in Morna’s direction.
    “I feel better than before, though me head aches as it always does.”
    “Aye, I’m afraid there’s no way around that bit of it. Do ye feel like rising from yer bed for a while? We have new visitors who will be staying with us. I think it polite if ye come and meet them. Ye are bound to bump into one another over the next few weeks.”
    Her words surprised him. Not a soul had happened across his host’s home since his