by Henry, Jane
“What is it?”
She shakes her head and doesn’t answer. She opens her mouth, then closes it twice before she finally nods. “Alright.”
It’s a concession, somehow. Why?
“I just...” Her voice trails off. I give her a moment. I don’t want to push too hard, but she’s frustrating me. Finally, I blow out a breath.
“What the hell, McKenna?”
She frowns, staring at the floor. “I just… listen, Tully, I… have you ever met my mum?”
I shake my head. I met her deceased stepfather, of course, but that was ages ago when he worked for the Clan. I was younger, then, but I knew who he was. Is there something about her mum she’s embarrassed about?
She worries her lip, and when I reach for her bag, she doesn’t even protest this time, which is unusual for her.
“My mum’s an… odd duck,” she says with a sigh. “Hard to take. I have to limit my time interacting with her, because she just…” her voice trails off. I don’t push, but give her space to finish. “Well, she can be a bit much.”
I see. I nod. “Lass, I was raised by a single dad who thought boys should know how to wield a gun after toilet training.” After my mum and sisters died when I was just a lad, my father raised me himself, so no question there’s a decided lack of feminine touch in my history.
She winces.
“Never had a proper birthday, never had a proper childhood, but I knew how to drink shots when I was twelve, and the first woman I ever bedded was on my fifteenth birthday, courtesy of my father.”
“Bloody hell,” she mumbles. “Seriously?”
I shrug. “Aye. So when it comes to dysfunctional families, I understand.”
It’s partly why I’m so close with the McCarthys. They’re more family than any blood relative I’ve ever had.
She smiles shyly, in that way that makes me crazy. “I suppose you do. Then why don’t we head over now?”
I take her hand, and together we go. I don’t bloody care what her mum’s like. Meeting someone’s parents isn’t a reflection on them. But I do think it’s time to meet her, so I can get to know a bit more about McKenna.
I drive her to her mum’s and park the car.
She’s visibly nervous, twisting her hands in her lap. She tugs on the collar of her blouse, then tugs her skirt down a bit. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen McKenna like this.
“What is it, lass? Are you alright?”
“Aye,” she says, but she’s looking off in the distance again.
I love when McKenna and I touch. I love when we spar and fight and get a rise out of each other. But it’s times like these… times when she actually shows momentary, brief vulnerability… that I know how much she means to me.
I wrap my arm around her shoulders and draw her near so I can kiss the top of her head. Her hair’s adorably mussed up, and she’s leaning her head on my shoulder.
“Now, lass, you let whatever’s troubling you go, now. If you had any bloody idea what I grew up with, you’d realize I don’t give a rat’s arse about your own history. People who really live, live many lives within one, don’t they?”
She nods, then looks up at me, framing my face in her hands. Her eyes are bright, her voice a little choked.
“That’s an interesting way to look at it. Thanks for that, Tully.”
I kiss her cheek. “Don’t thank me. You’ll pay up later.”
She grins and playfully smacks at me, but I easily deflect.
Her next sentence takes me by surprise, a rush of words as if she’s afraid to say it and has to force the truth out.
“She also said my ex-boyfriend was by recently.”
I clench my hand on the wheel. With all my talk about living in the present, I do not entertain the thought of any man breathing the same air as she does, much less—
Christ, I can’t even think it.
“Oh?” I try to sound nonchalant, but it comes out harsher than I intend. She cringes.
“He was terrible, Tully. I never should’ve been with him.”
I shrug, again failing miserably at nonchalance. “Alright, lass.”
“I’m telling you because he’s been by, and he’s not a good man is all. Let’s hope he stays in the past.”
My fingers tighten on the steering wheel. “Tell me a bit more about this ‘not a good man.’” Many would say I’m not a good man, nor any of the men of the Clan. We’re ruthless when it comes to our enemies, and enforcing the code we live by. But we put our women on pedestals and give them our undying love and devotion. It’s as much clan code as any other rule we have.
“Now, Tully,” she begins, shaking her head. “No need to dig up details. You won’t like it, and I don’t wish to talk of him again. We’re through, and that’s all that matters.”
I turn to look her square in the eye. She grips her thighs, her eyes a little wide with fear, but there’s a fire in them I’m familiar with.
“No, that’s not all that goddamn matters. What did he do? Why did you say he’s not a good man, McKenna?”
“He’s a user, for one. When we were together it was harmless enough, a smoke here and there. But he drank, too, and heavily. I broke up with him when he got abusive.”
My vision blurs with sudden rage. “Define abusive.”
She shakes her head. “No, Tully. That’s all I’ll tell you. I know who you are and I know exactly what you’ll do.”
It takes all my effort to keep my voice steady. “His name, McKenna.”
She holds my gaze. “No.”
I breathe through my nose to keep myself calm.
“Look at you,” she says, her voice gentling. “You’re already ready to hunt him down and kill him, I know you are.”
She isn’t wrong.
“And I can’t let you do that. He isn’t worth it, Tully. He isn’t.”
I blow out a breath as we get out of the car, I come around, and take her hand.
She takes my hand in hers, and she has a calming effect on me. My own voice is tremulous with the effort of keeping myself calm. “He may not be worth it, lass. But you are.”
She blinks, then swallows. “Thank you. Can we let it go for now? Please?”
“Aye. For now.”
“There it is,” she says quietly, pointing toward a pretty, dainty little yellow house on the edge of the street, with a little white fence and pretty, whimsical white flowers lining the walkway.
“Ah, it’s lovely. Looks like it could be a little fairy cottage, eh?”
She shakes her head and her face falls. “‘Tisn’t that one,” she says, pointing her finger at a house I can barely see from here, it’s that covered in weeds. “That one.”
I don’t say anything at first, since I’m not really sure how I’m supposed to respond. It’s nothing at all like what I expected, and I’m ashamed that a man of a Clan once owned this property.
The grass is overgrown, the bushes are in bad need of a trim, and the walkway leading up to the house is broken.
We head to the main door, and her hand easily slips into mine. It’s much smaller, and a little cold. I cup her cold hand with both of mine, and walk her up to the entrance.
“You promise you won’t judge,” McKenna says.
“Of course not.” I hold up a hand in salute, trying to show exactly how serious I am. “I might be bossy as fuck without a tender bone in my body. But I’d never judge someone for something they couldn’t control.”
She squeezes my hand back. “Thanks for that, Tully.”
I kiss her cheek.
She ducks her head. “Wouldn’t say you don’t have a tender bone in your body.”
* * *
Chapter 10
McKenna
It’s easy not to fall for a man who’s a chest-beating alpha, who’s uncompromising in his standards and doesn’t have a care in the world for anyone who contradicts him.
Arrogant! I tell myself.
Who needs a man like that?
But when
he shoves you to the floor and protects you with his very own body because he thinks you’re in danger, using his very flesh as a tent of protection over you…
When he watches you with eyes that sparkle and dance, nothing short of admiration in his gaze when you’re in your element, doing your thing, pursuing your passion…
Sigh. And when he holds your hand when you go back to your family home, assuring you there’s nothing he will judge and nothing he hasn’t seen…
It’s a lot harder not to love him then.
Oh, sure, I’ve no doubt some women easily allow themselves to fall for the sexy man who serenades and sweet talks. But Tully does neither.
He doesn’t even try to woo me or to win me over. There’s no preening of the feathers, so to speak. No.
His devotion’s more… raw.
Unadulterated.
Sincere, even.
“Needs a little yard work is all. Bit of a clean-up,” he mutters, as we push through literal brambles.
“More like a fucking machete to break through the jungle,” I mutter. “Ohh!”
I scream when something furry and warm brushes past my bare legs.
“McKenna?” he spins around so quickly, I’m afraid he’s ready to draw a weapon.
Again.
“Looks like Mum has… a pet?”
Or several? A few little kittens purr, walking around my legs, as we head to the front door. I inwardly stifle a groan. If the front of the house looks like this, what on earth does the interior look like?
God, a part of me wishes we hadn’t come, but at the very least I’m glad that we didn’t bring Mary. She doesn’t need to see this. And another part of me feels guilty I haven’t been by sooner.
Tully holds my hand as I press the doorbell.
“Who’s there?!”
“It’s me, Mum,” I say, as loud as I can so she hears me.
There’s a pause, then a clattering of locks and chains and the door opens. Mum’s peering at me through the little space between the door and the jam.
“McKenna?”
“Aye, Mum. Remember I told you I was coming today?”
My stomach twists in knots at the smell that’s coming from inside. This is far, far worse than I expected.
Her eyes quickly go to Tully. “And who’s this?”
“His name is Tully.”
She takes him in quickly, then opens the door. “Come in, then.”
I look at him before we go in. Is he sure about this? He gives me a nod. “Go on, then.”
I take in a deep breath. I can go in, with his hand on the small of my back just so. I step into the house that was once my own. I shut my eyes to the stack of mail near the door, the laundry basket just a few steps in, and the dust that covers everything.
What’s happened? When I lived here, I took care of things, I know I did. I blamed my mum’s depression over the loss of her husband. I cooked dinner and paid the bills, and I’ve lied to myself, thinking she’d taken care of things in my absence.
I was wrong.
“Come in,” she says. “Why didn’t you bring… Mary?” she asks, her eyes troubled. But before I can answer, she looks sharply at Tully. “No. You’re McCarthy Clan, aren’t you?”
It’s more of an accusation than an acknowledgment.
Tully smiles. “Aye, ma’am. Pleased to meet you. Name’s Tully.” He extends one of his large, rough hands, his eyes gentling. My heart does a little leap in my chest. I swoon so hard for him when he’s all the gentle giant.
Sigh.
“Tully, this is my mum, Alice Byrne.”
But she doesn’t take his hand. Instead, she lets her gaze rove over the ink on his biceps.
“I was once married to a man of the Clan, you know,” she says with a sniff.
“Aye.”
She tosses her head. Her hair’s longer than I’ve seen it in a while, her dye-job months old with gray showing at the roots. “He was a good man.”
He wasn’t. He was a fucking loser. But that’s not a debate we need to have today.
“Come, sit down,” she says, waving her hand to the living room. My cheeks flame with embarrassment to see the empty tins of food, soiled laundry, and paper plates all about the place. If I knew it was this bad, I never would’ve brought him here, no question.
Tully doesn’t even flinch, though, simply moves aside an old lacy skirt and sits on the loveseat as if he’s come to see the Queen. It makes it easier for me to do the same.
“Tea?” Mum asks.
I shake my head. “No, just come and visit. Tell us how you’ve been.”
She still eyes Tully apprehensively, but she comes for a chat.
I worry that she needs help. She repeats herself often, and she seems down on herself a lot more than I’ve ever noticed before.
“Are things going alright with you?”
“Of course! What do you mean?”
I squirm, not sure how to ask. “Are you having any issues paying your bills, or the like?” I ask quietly. I don’t want to embarrass her, but I need to know. My teacher’s salary is decent, for the McCarthy Clan takes care of their own.
At least, I thought they did.
Why don’t they take care of my mum?
She frowns, and tucks a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m doing alright,” she says, unwilling to offer anything else.
“Tell me about the kittens, then?”
“Kittens?” she asks.
“There were little kittens on your front walk…”
“Oh, those. They’re just neighborhood strays.”
An uncomfortable beat passes between us, when she finally swings her angry gaze to Tully.
“You shouldn’t have come here.”
His face registers mild surprise, but he takes it in stride.
“I’m sorry you feel that way. May I ask why?”
My heartbeat flutters again. God, he’s so handsome when he’s acting the part of the gentleman.
She scowls and shrugs. “I am not on friendly terms with the McCarthys. I don’t even like that my daughter teaches at your damn school.”
“Mum!”
Tully literally does not care.
“And why’s that?” he asks again, his eyes still dancing.
She turns her face away. “Because it was a McCarthy man who left me. And I was never the same.”
“Mum.” My voice is gentle. She nods, but doesn’t look my way. “He didn’t leave you, Mum.”
Her face clouds for a moment, before she finally nods. “Aye. That’s right, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Mum.”
Tully’s voice gentles. “Will you come back to the house with us? We’ve a Clan doctor I think you’d like.”
Her eyes flash at him, and she clutches her cardigan tighter around her body. “I don’t need a doctor.”
“Right, Mum, of course you don’t,” I say gently.
Tully looks slowly from me to her, then nods.
“The offer stands, ma’am.”
We talk for a while about what she’s been doing to keep herself busy. She tells us about her knitting and her reading, and how she watches the evening news with her tea. She’s been baking and cooking, as well.
As we chat, Tully and I do a little tidying up. I do the washing in the kitchen and he does the drying. He carries the dirty clothes to the washer upstairs, and we start some washing. He orders takeaway for dinner, and we eat in the newly-cleaned kitchen.
“Was awfully nice to see you,” Mum says, giving me a big hug at the door. I hug her back.
“And you, Mum,” I whisper in her ear. “I’ll be back soon.”
I’m quiet on the ride back to the McCarthy mansion. I’m grateful we took another car than Tiernan and Faidha, because I don’t feel like talking to anyone else right now. Thankfully, Tully seems to understand. He rests his hand on my knee and gives me a gentle squeeze, but doesn’t say anything more.
I was afraid I’d be embarrassed to have him over there, I trul
y was. But this time… I’m more worried about her than I am the state of her home, or anything like that.
I can’t bring Mary here, that’s for certain.
“Tully.”
“Mmm?”
He pulls into Ballyhock centre. I want to talk to him a bit before we get home.
Home. Why do I keep thinking that?
“Do you think we could bring my mum to the house to meet Mary?” If I can get her to go.
“Of course,” he says with conviction. “Maeve’ll burst her fucking buttons having your mum come. Not to mention the fact that you’ll have more space if you bring them there, and Mary will know a few people as well.”
I nod. “Good. Thank you.” I clear my throat. It isn’t as easy to talk about the next thing I want to talk about. “Do you think… Sebastian could take a look at her?”
Sebastian’s the Clan doctor, and he lives right there at the mansion.
Tully drops his voice, and gives me another gentle squeeze of the knee. “Aye, lass. Of course.”
Again, he doesn’t ask any more questions.
It’s past dinnertime, but there are voices in the dining room when we enter. Mary sits at the table with one of the staff, polishing the silver.
“Mary, you don’t have to do chores to earn your keep here,” Tully says, frowning.
She looks up with a smile. “Very nice of you, but I’m more comfortable doing something with my hands.”
I walk in and sit beside her. I lift a heavy silver spoon and soft cloth, and polish alongside them. “Saw Mum today.”
“Oh?” Mary’s eyes light up, but she continues to polish a fork.
“Aye. Tully thinks it’s a good idea if I invite her here for you to meet. I don’t want to rush right into things, since she’s older and a bit fragile.”
Mary nods. “I understand. And aye, McKenna, I’d love that!”
I smile at her. “Excellent. Then we’ll plan on it.”
Tully’s waiting in the doorway. The man’s been more than patient with me, but now I can see the weariness in his own eyes as he drags a hand across his brow.
“McKenna?”
I nod and get to my feet, but as I walk across the length of the room to meet him, Keenan comes around the corner.