Tears of the Moon Read Online Free PDF Page B

waited.
    â€œHere we are, Dad. Stew hot from the pot.”
    â€œAnd smelling like heaven.”
    Mick O’Toole was a bantam of a man, small and spare of build with a thick thatch of wiry hair the color of sand and lively eyes that drifted like the sea between green and blue.
    He had a laugh like a braying donkey, hands like a surgeon’s, and a soft spot for romantic tales.
    He was the love of Brenna’s life.
    â€œIt’s good to be warm and snug now, isn’t it, Mary Brenna?”
    â€œThat it is.” She spooned up stew and blew on it carefully, though the scent of it made her want to risk a scalded tongue.
    â€œAnd now that we are, and about to have our bellies filled as well, why don’t you tell me what’s worrying your mind.”
    He saw everything, Brenna thought. That was sometimes a comfort, and other times a bit of a nuisance. “It’s not a worry so much. Do you know how you told us what happened when you were a young man and your grandmother died?”
    â€œI do, yes. I was right here in Gallagher’s Pub. Of course, that was when Aidan’s father manned the bar, before he and his wife took off for America. You weren’t more than a wish in my heart and a smile in your mother’s eye. There I was, back where young Shawn is right now, in the kitchen. I was fixing the sink in there, as it had a slow and steady leak that finally made Gallagher give me a whistle.”
    He paused to sample the stew, dabbing his mouth with his napkin, as his wife was fierce on table manners and had trained him accordingly.
    â€œAnd as I was on the floor, I looked over and there was my grandma, wearing a flowered dress and a white apron. She smiled at me, but when I tried to speak to her, she shook her head. Then lifting a hand in a kind of farewell, she vanished. So I knew at that moment she’d passed over and that what I’d seen had been the spirit of her come to say good-bye. For I had been her favorite.”
    â€œI don’t mean to make you sad,” Brenna murmured.
    â€œWell.” Mick let out a breath. “She was a fine woman, and lived a good and long life. But it’s left to us still living to miss those who aren’t.”
    Brenna remembered the rest of the story. How her father had left his work and run down to the little house where his grandmother, two years a widow, lived. And he found her in her kitchen, sitting at the table in her flowered dress and white apron. She’d died quiet and peaceful.
    â€œAnd sometimes,” Brenna said carefully, “those who pass on miss others. This morning, in Faerie Hill Cottage, I saw Lady Gwen.”
    Mick nodded, and shifted closer to listen as Brenna told him.
    â€œPoor lass,” he said when she was finished. “It’s a long time to wait for things to come ’round for you.”
    â€œSome of us do a lot of waiting.” Brenna glanced over as Shawn came out with a tray piled with food. “I want to speak to Shawn about this when the pub quiets down a bit. Darcy says there’s an outlet up in her rooms that isn’t working proper. I think I’ll go see to that after we’ve had our meal here, then take some time to talk to Shawn. Unless there’s something else you have for me to do today.”
    â€œToday, tomorrow.” Mick lifted his shoulders. “What we don’t get to at one time, we’ll get to another. I’ll just take myself up to the cliff hotel and see if they’ve decided on which room they want renovated next.” He winked at his daughter. “We could have ourselves a nice piece of work there for the whole of the winter. Where it’s warm and it’s dry.”
    â€œAnd where you can sneak down and check on Mary Kate in the offices where she’s fiddling with a computer all day.”
    Mick grinned sheepishly. “I wouldn’t call it checking so much. But I’m grateful she decided to take a job close