Northern Sons Read Online Free PDF Page A

just what he was there for. I followed behind him, not sure of my place in all of this.
    The crowd seemed to part before us, and I saw who we were walking towards. At the back of the room, with a group of strangers all around him, was an older man with thinning grey hair and a face that seemed like it had one too many sunburns over the years. He reminded me of the way Ronan's jacket looked after a hard ride on a hot day - cracked and weathered but still tough enough to hold together.
    "Hello, Ronan," the older man said, "Nice of ye to make an appearance."
    Ronan held his eyes steady on the man. The blue of his eyes seemed to shift subtly from day to day, and today they were the deepest I'd ever seen them. I could feel the intensity in his expression and I began to get scared about what sort of person could cause such a reaction from the man I knew and loved.
    "Hello, Terry," he said, "Thanks for coming and drinking all of our whisky."
    That line got a few quiet laughs from around the room, but you could still cut the tension with a knife. It seemed like everyone was waiting for something to be said, but only Terry and Ronan knew what it was.
    "An' this must be your American bird," Terry said, raising his glass slightly in my direction, "Ye be sure this one don't steal your pants, now." I wasn't sure what he meant, but he got another few quiet laughs, mostly from the Belfast crew. Whatever the joke was, it seemed like Ronan was the butt of it.
    I could see that Ronan was about to speak, so I stayed silent for the moment. "This is Catrina," he said, before turning to me. "Cat, this is my dad."
    My jaw dropped but I quickly picked it up again. Terry was Ronan's father?! In the two months I'd known him, he'd barely spoken of his dad. From the few things he did say, it always sounded like his dad was dead - not leading another chapter of the Druids up in Belfast. I was immediately clouded with confusion tempered with anger. Why had he concealed this from me? Why didn't he tell me that his dad was the person coming to visit today? I was so full of questions, but I knew better than to voice my concerns in this place. Instead, I smiled at Terry and put my arm around Ronan in a show of support. I was uncertain about the last part, but he put his arm around me and I breathed a relaxing sigh, knowing that I'd made the right choice.
    Suddenly I understood the hesitation and anxiety I'd seen in Ronan all morning. Whatever the real story was between them, I was certain that it wasn't happy. There was some kind of terrible rift between them, the cause of which I could only guess at. I still had my concerns because of the way he'd concealed the truth from me, but I knew that the best choice was to stand by my man. Ronan meant too much to me to throw this in his face.
    "She's a fine looking woman, boy," Terry said to Ronan, "Better'n th' likes of you deserve, anyway."
    Ronan gritted his teeth but said nothing. Terry was doing his best to poke the bear at every turn, but I couldn't imagine why. All around us were the Belfast and Dublin members of the club, mixing amongst each other with comfortable ease. But for some reason these two simply couldn't see eye to eye.
    "Ah'm just rollin ye in it, lad," Terry said, and I felt his hold on me relax slightly, "Let's go do our business, shall we? Leave these boys to do the drinkin' while we do the hard talkin'."
    Ronan nodded and let go of me. He leaned close and gave the faintest hint of a smile which told me that the cheerful man I'd gone to sleep next to last night was still in there somewhere, he just couldn't let that side of himself out right now. He motioned towards the door to the room where the club held their meetings and Terry walked towards it. They stepped in together and shut the door behind them. As soon as it was closed, the revelry in the clubhouse seemed to resume where it left off when we were first noticed. Rather than talking about what had just happened, everyone seemed far more