The thrill of finding her clients their perfect home was gone for her; most of the time she was too busy dealing with the administrative and managerial tasks of running her business to be able to work directly with clients. And there were only so many charitable dinners that she could attend alone anymore.
If she was being truly honest with herself – she was lonely, and more than a little bored. With Keelin no longer living in Boston, Margaret had little to focus on other than her business.
Margaret sighed and stared at the farmland rolling past her window. She couldn’t deny the charm of Ireland, that was for sure.
Her thoughts drifted to Sean and to what she was doing. Nerves kicked up in her stomach as she thought about knocking on his door.
Fiona had called her a runner.
Well, maybe this time she would run towards love.
Chapter 26
Even though she’d spent the entire drive building up her courage, Margaret couldn’t quite bring herself to step out of the rental car. She’d parked in front of a gated driveway at a house located just outside Dublin City Centre. Scanning the neighborhood, Margaret approved of the elegant gates and neatly kept houses that lined the street. It was clear to her that Sean’s business was doing just fine if the house behind the gate was any indication.
A brick house with two carriage lights and tidy flower boxes sporting happy purple flowers was situated back from the street, a neat lawn in front. Margaret wondered who took care of the flowers; she just couldn’t imagine Sean standing outside watering his plants. She wondered if he had a housekeeper – or perhaps even a long time girlfriend that she didn’t know about. What was she even doing here? She should probably just go and get a hotel downtown. Nodding to herself, Margaret put her hand to the key.
“You going to sit outside all day or were you planning on coming in?”
“Eek!” Margaret jumped, and then was slammed back against her seat, her seatbelt all but choking her as it caught. Putting her hand to where her heart slammed against her chest, she turned to glare out the window at Sean.
“Sure and you didn’t need to be sneaking up on me now,” Margaret said, her Irish accent growing thicker with her anger.
“I’ve been walking up the street for five minutes now. It wasn’t exactly stealth. If you’d glanced in your mirrors you’d have seen me,” Sean said reasonably, rocking back on his heals, a leash in his hands. Margaret followed the line of the leash to where a scruffy small dog in shades of brown, black, and white sat patiently staring up at her, his tongue lolling from his mouth.
“What is that?” Margaret asked, strangely fascinated by the odd little creature.
“That is a dog,” Sean said patiently.
“I’m aware it’s a dog, Sean. What kind?” Margaret said impatiently.
“It’s a mutt. Baron was the oldest dog at the shelter. Nobody wanted him. I suppose I identified with that,” Sean shrugged, a pink stain spreading up his cheeks. “So I took him home with me for company. We’re pals now.”
Margaret felt her heart clench a bit at his words, seeing a new side of Sean for the first time. Not only his loneliness, but his kindness in taking in the ugly dog that nobody else wanted.
“That’s quite a regal name,” Margaret said, finding herself smiling down at the little mutt. Baron was beginning to grow on her.
“I thought he needed something to boost his self-esteem,” Sean agreed, turning his gaze on her again. “So, were you planning on sitting in your car or did you want to come in?”
“I haven’t decided yet,” Margaret admitted, turning to stare back at the road.
“Baron thinks you should come throw the ball for him,” Sean said.
“Is that so?” Margaret shifted her gaze down to where Baron’s body vibrated on the ground, clearly wanting her to get out of the car.
“That’s what he told me,” Sean said.
“I suppose that I can’t disappoint him,” Margaret agreed, fighting to keep a smile off of her face.
Sean reached over and pulled her car door open and Margaret unbuckled her seat belt, turning to swing her feet onto the ground. Baron immediately jumped into her lap, turning to give her face a thorough swipe with his tongue.
“See? He likes you,” Sean said.
“Yes, I’m sure that’s a trick you pull with all the ladies,” Margaret grumbled, but she couldn’t help but run her hands over Baron’s shaggy fur. “You’re quite the mismatched pup, aren’t you, Baron?”
Baron swiped his tongue over her hand and Margaret smiled again.
“He is really charming,” she said finally, looking up to Sean’s eyes.
“Us old guys still have some charm left, you know,” Sean said.
“I’ve yet to see it,” Margaret said and then pressed her lips together to keep from laughing out loud at the look on Sean’s face.
“If it’s charm you want, it’s charm you’ll get,” Sean said, tugging lightly on the leash to encourage Baron to jump down from Margaret’s lap. Holding his hand out to Margaret, he waited until she tentatively placed her palm in his, then pulled her gently from the car.
“Your bags, madam?” Sean said drolly and Margaret found herself stifling a giggle.
“The trunk,” Margaret said, though she wasn’t entirely sure that she wanted Sean to take her bag from the trunk. That would imply she was staying with him. Margaret didn't want to send any mixed messages.
And what kind of message was she giving him by driving from Grace’s Cove to sit in front of his house, she wondered.
“Maybe we leave the bag,” Margaret suggested but Sean was already pulling it out.
“Harder for you to escape this way,” Sean said lightly, stopping to push the gate to his driveway open and letting Baron off the leash. The dog bounced across the yard, showing a surprising agility for his old age. Margaret tried to push down the nervousness that Sean’s words raised in her as she moved into the yard, jolting at the clang of the gate closing behind her.
“Cute,” Margaret said, then looked down at Baron when he bounded back to her with a slimy green ball in his mouth.
“He doesn’t think I’m actually going to pick that up, does he?”
In response, Baron spit the ball out onto her foot and wagged his stump of a tail at Margaret. She couldn’t resist the hopeful look in his eyes and, bending over, she gingerly picked up the soggy ball with her fingertips. She tossed it across the yard, helpless not to laugh as Baron went scrambling after it.
Margaret looked down at her slimy hand.
“Got a towel?”
“Sure, come on in,” Sean said, moving towards his front door and unlocking it. Margaret walked past him as he ushered her into the house, unsure of what to expect.
A slate-tiled entryway led into an open living room that fed into a large kitchen area on one end. The design itself was a departure from the typical Irish house where the sitting room, dining room, and kitchen were all walled off. Tall windows ranged one side of the living room letting in the sunlight that shone onto a lone couch and table that sat across from a television. The walls were bare and the kitchen counter had nothing on it.
“I’m just going to put your bag in your room,” Sean called cheerfully, and Margaret felt her shoulders stiffen.
“You most certainly will not,” she ordered, steel lacing her voice.
“I won’t?” Sean asked, slowly taking his hand off of her bag and crossing his arms over his chest.
“I don’t even know what I’m doing here. It’s a bit presumptuous to assume that I’ll be spending the night,” Margaret sniffed and lifted her chin at him.
“Well, I think we both know what you’re doing here,” Sean said evenly.
“Is that so?” Margaret said, her heart pounding against her chest.
“You missed me and couldn’t stay away from me,” Sean said, striding across the room until just inches separated them. Margaret was forced to look up from his chest to meet his eyes. Her mouth went dry for
a second as her brain scrambled for thought.
“Still full of yourself, I see,” Margaret said lightly, and a devastatingly sexy smile cracked Sean’s face.
“Still stubborn, I see,” Sean said, leaning in until his lips hovered close to hers.
A swarm of emotions battered at Margaret’s mind, from lust to laughter to deeply buried bitterness. The force of it almost swallowed her and she knew that it was the combination of both their feelings. Putting a hand to his chest, she pushed back from him, taking a deep breath when he let her go.
The room spun a bit and she closed her eyes, breathing through her nose to steady herself.
“Are you okay?” Sean said, all playfulness gone as he reached up a hand to stroke her arm.
“Can I have a glass of water?” Margaret asked, needing a moment to compose herself.
“Sure,” Sean said as he hurried across the room.
Margaret dropped to the couch, leaning back on the cushions and automatically reaching out to pet Baron when he jumped up next to her to snuggle at her side.
Sure, it was fun to banter with Sean a bit. But in all reality they had a tough history; Margaret was fooling herself if she thought they’d get past it.
“Here,” Sean said, coming to stand by her side with a cobalt blue glass in his hands.
“Thank you,” Margaret said, taking a sip of the cool liquid before leaning over to put the glass on the table in front of her. Sean sat down on the couch and leaned back into the cushions, his eyes shuttered.
“Sean,” Margaret began and stopped when he raised his hand.
“Don’t, Maggie. I don’t think that I can take it,” Sean said softly, and Margaret felt sadness wash through her.
She hesitated.
“I just think there’s too much anger. Too much history. How would we get past that?” Margaret asked, pleading with Sean to understand her.
“You just do. We all have choices, Maggie. You can hold on to years of anger over something that you can no longer change, or you can choose to be free from the chains of it,” Sean said, meeting her eyes, his words ringing with a truth that she couldn’t deny.
Margaret took in a deep breath and leaned back against the cushions, staring out at the garden in his back yard. Could it be so simple? Could she just let it go and start fresh?
“I don’t know if I’m the type of person who can just let something like that go,” Margaret admitted, “Being angry with you – hating our familial gift – it’s so deep-rooted in me that it became the foundation of what I’d built my new life upon.”
Margaret shuddered out a breath as she realized what she spoke was the truth. Her new life in Boston had been fueled by pure rage and fear – and a determination to never return to Ireland again. What would happen to her if that foundation crumbled?
“And how’s that worked out for you?”
Sean probably didn’t mean to sound sarcastic, but it came across as such, causing Margaret to bristle a bit.
“I don’t know, Sean, does running the most successful woman-owned real estate company in Boston seem like it worked out okay?” Margaret asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I don’t doubt you would have been able to accomplish that either way,” Sean said soothingly, and his words had a ring of truth to them.
“I don’t know,” Margaret said, tugging at a crease in her pants. “I may have needed that anger to fuel my determination.”
“No, you always had it. Don’t you remember how you were sneaking real estate books into your bed at night? That’s someone who is determined. Anger or not.”
Margaret tried to look back at her nineteen-year-old self with clearer eyes.
“I suppose I was determined. But, Sean, there’s just so much anger and unhappiness from that time in my life. How am I supposed to just forget that and jump into bed with you?”
Sean choked and coughed, covering his mouth with his hand before shaking his head ruefully at her.
“Why don’t we start with dinner?”
“Dinner?” Margaret asked, tilting her head at him in question.
“Yes, Maggie. Dinner. Let me take you out to dinner. Why don’t we start there? Nobody is saying you have to jump into bed with me – though I sure wouldn’t turn you away if you offered. But,” he raised his hand to shush her, “why don’t we take it a step at a time.”
“But –" Margaret said, confusion swirling in her mind.
“When does your plane leave?”
“Two days. Tuesday around noon.”
“Well, okay. That’s not a lot of time. But I can do my best to make you think twice about stepping on that plane.”
Margaret felt heat rush over her at his words, and she looked down at her hands, clenched tightly in her lap. Would it be so bad to loosen up and have a little fun for once?
Remember what happened the last time you loosened up with this man, her conscience scolded her. Margaret fought an internal debate before taking a deep breath and turning to meet Sean’s eyes.
“Friends. Let’s do this as friends,” she said.
“Aw, Maggie, we’ve always been friends,” he said, reaching out to squeeze her hand.
“Have we? Because I feel like we were lovers and then you were my ex-boyfriend non-existent father of my child,” Margaret said icily – and was surprised to see Sean laugh again.
“See? There you go. Let it all out,” he said soothingly.
“Don’t placate me!” Margaret said, surprised to find her temper revving from zero to sixty again.
“I’m not placating you. Listen, let’s lay it on the table. Again,” Sean said and Margaret slammed back into the cushions, crossing her arms over her chest as her foot kicked in circles.
“One, I was a total fool for allowing the cove to freak me out. I never should have run,” Sean said, holding up his hand to stop Margaret when she began to agree with him. “Two, I should have never taken your word for it that you didn’t want me to come to Boston. I should have come after you.”
Margaret was surprised to feel tears building up and she swallowed quickly, trying to blink them from her eyes. She had honestly never thought she’d hear those words from Sean.
“Three, you should have had the decency to tell me to my face about Keelin,” Sean said and Margaret’s mouth dropped open.
He was right.
She shouldn’t have run off without telling Sean about her situation, about their baby. No matter what the situation was, she didn’t have the right to take that from him.
“I…” Margaret almost stomped her foot when he silenced her again.
“Four, I shouldn’t have blindly tumbled into the next relationship without coming for you. I didn’t handle being alone well. I’m better at it now,” Sean said evenly.
Margaret nodded vehemently at that one. Damn right he shouldn’t have married the next trollop that came along, she thought to herself.
“Five, you should have had faith in us that we would have figured it out,” Sean said, and at that Margaret turned and almost spat at him.
“I should have?” she all but shrieked.
“We should have,” Sean amended, his gaze steady.
Margaret looked at Sean – really looked at him – for the first time since she had arrived in Ireland. His eyes held pain but an undercurrent of hope ran through them too; she could read it from a mile away.
“You’re right,” Margaret found herself saying, unsure why she was so drawn to this man. “We should have.”
“So let’s try this again. Margaret O’Brien, can I take you to dinner?” Sean said, standing up and holding out his hand.
“I…I’d like that,” Margaret said shyly, slipping her palm into his.
She felt like she was nineteen years old all over again.
Chapter 27
Margaret changed in the spare bedroom, where she had ended up allowing Sean to take her suitcase after all. It wasn’t like anything had to happen between them. They were both adults and the past they shared
was eons away.
Fiddling with her hair in the mirror, Margaret tried to tamp down on the nerves that raced through her stomach. It seemed like all she’d done since she’d come to Ireland was feel waves of emotion wash through her. It was as though she’d been living in black and white in Boston and all she could do was see in color here. Margaret knew that it had a lot to do with her gift, the gift she so furiously controlled at home seemingly coming to life now that she was back in Ireland.
It made her nervous. She was struggling more with keeping her shields up and in doing so, her old resentment about her gift was beginning to burn in her chest.
“Ready?” Sean called and Margaret smoothed her hands over the red silk blouse she wore tucked into a white pencil skirt. Clasping a statement necklace around her neck – one of Aislinn’s that Keelin had given her – Margaret took one last look in the mirror and straightened her shoulders.
“Yes,” she said, opening the door from the sparsely furnished spare bedroom to walk down the plain white hallway to where Sean stood in the entryway, Baron sitting at his feet.
Lord, the man was still gorgeous, Margaret thought as she took in his crisp khaki pants, white button down, and plaid driving cap on his dark hair. He looked elegant, at ease with himself, and more handsome than he’d been all those years ago. Margaret swallowed against the sudden lump at her throat and found herself giggling when he let out a low whistle when she walked towards him.
“Sure and my eyes must be deceiving me…the prettiest woman in Dublin as my date? How did I get so lucky?” Sean asked, directing his question down to Baron who wiggled at his feet eagerly.
“Oh, stop,” Margaret said, blushing.
“Sure and you’re a sight for sore eyes, Maggie,” Sean said, offering her his arm.
“Thank you. You look very nice yourself,” she said primly as she slid her arm into his and stepped out the front door.
“No parties while we’re gone,” Sean ordered Baron, causing Margaret to chuckle again.
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