"I understand that you are hurt. Of course you are hurt. But, you also have to see it from his side. He views this as a betrayal. You have this whole other life that you didn't tell him about. And, no, you should never be ashamed of what you are. I'm not suggesting you apologize to him for that. I suggest you apologize for not sharing your whole self with him."
"Hmpf. Like I'll even get to see him anytime soon," Keelin said morosely.
"Don't give him a choice. Go to the cove. Don't forget that you met Grace. Which, by the way, I plan to pick your head about later. Go to the cove, Keelin. You need to finish this one way or the other." Fiona got up and handed her a pen and paper. "Tie a note to Ronan's collar. He'll know what to do."
Keelin stared at the small notepad for a moment. She wasn't entirely sure what to say. What would be convincing enough to have him meet her there?
"It is said that when a person saves another's life – that they are forever indebted to that person. I ask of you a favor. Meet me at the cove. I will wait until sundown."
Keelin tied the note up and wrapped it around Ronan's collar. Fiona packed her a bag of food and wine and gave her a long hug. Keelin leaned into her and smelled her neck, which smelled faintly of lavender and moss. Warmth surrounded them as they hugged.
"Thank you for my life. I will love you always," Keelin whispered to her. Fiona nodded against her and held her tight.
"You are my blood." Fiona reached up and slipped Grace's amulet around Keelin's neck. "You forgot this."
"Thank you, I thought it was gone!" Keelin looked down at the stone nestled on her chest.
"No, you still had it on when Flynn carried you here. It was covered in his blood," Fiona said meaningfully, and ushered her out the door.
Keelin's stomach felt like it was tied in knots. She glanced down at Ronan and then up to the hills. Flynn's dog sat up on the ridge.
"Ronan, go to Flynn." She whistled and Teagan ran down to collect Ronan. "Go home, go on now." She waited as she watched the two dogs race up the hill and out of sight. Taking a deep breath, Keelin turned to the cove, her future at its shores.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
At the base of the path to the cove, Keelin stopped. Here was where she would traditionally say a small prayer and give an offering. Bending over, she unstrapped her sandals and kicked them aside. Keelin walked briskly to the edge of the water and let the waves lap over her feet. Reaching into her pack, she pulled out a small knife. Without hesitation, she used the sharp blade to slice a small cut into her palm. Clenching her fist, she held her hand over the water. A small rivulet of blood squeezed from the cut in her hand. She watched, hypnotized, as the blood hit the water in small drops of red, quickly dissipating.
"Yesterday, I almost gave my life because I refused to fully accept myself. I come here today to step into my birthright. I offer my blood to the cove, as a descendent of Grace O'Malley, as a promise to both myself and to her. I promise to protect the cove and I promise to never stand ashamed of what I am." Keelin squeezed extra hard and a long rivulet of blood dripped into the cove. A crack like a lightening bolt hit the water and for an instant it glowed a bright white. Keelin felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She knew Flynn was behind her.
Slowly, she turned, her hand still bloody.
Flynn stood at the end of the path, his hands tucked loosely into his pants pockets. A chambray shirt hung loose on him and dark circles marred his eyes. His shoulders were hunched. He eyed her, clearly on guard.
Keelin felt her heart clench. She slowly walked to him, her bleeding hand in front of her.
"Jesus, Keelin. What did you do?" Flynn automatically stepped forward to take her hand. She stepped back quickly and evaded his reach.
"No. Watch." Flynn eyed her warily as she opened her palm to reveal the long slice across her skin. She heard his small intake of breath as he realized that she had done this to herself. Keelin met his eyes. She looked down at her bloody hand and covered it with her other. She closed her eyes briefly and focused on the pain and sent her light down to heal it. The amulet warmed against her chest. Feeling the light gather, she sent the ball of pain into a small bush nearby. Slowly, Keelin opened her eyes to look at Flynn. She held both palms open, her pretty skin free of cuts. Flynn took a step back, anger on his face.
"I won't deal with witches, Keelin. I'm sorry, but I just won't," Flynn said angrily. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, a storm of emotions in his eyes.
"This is me, Flynn. This is all of me. I can heal people with my hands. I'm not a witch. I'm a descendent of Grace O'Malley." Keelin spoke quietly but proudly. The amulet at her neck began to grow warmer.
"I don't understand. I mean, I know that Fiona heals people with herbs and whatnot, but this? This hand stuff? It's crazy." Flynn dragged a hand through his hair.
"It is crazy. I wish that I could explain it to you any more than I can understand it myself. I don't know how it works, I just know that I can do it. I've run from this gift my entire life and it wasn't until I came here that I realized running was futile. This is me. All of me." Keelin stared at him as her stomach turned. "I'm…I'm sorry that I didn't tell you. I am just getting used to it myself. And, I was scared you would hate me. Which you do anyway," she said morosely as she put her hands down by her sides.
"I don't…I don't hate you. But, Jesus, Keelin. I was dying. I felt it! Blood was everywhere! And I sat there and watched you knit my bone back together. You put my artery back together! I could walk. It was terrifying! I didn't even know who you were at that point or what was happening. And then all of a sudden, you're dying on me!" Flynn was shouting at this point and pacing the beach. His shouts echoed off the rocky walls of the cove. Anger flashed through Keelin. Vaguely, Keelin registered a small rumble and saw the waves beginning to pick up.
"Well, I'm just so sorry. Was I supposed to leave you there to die? I'm sorry that you can't handle this but maybe you could, oh I don’t know, thank me for saving your stubborn life? Had you not been so damn angry at me I would have been able to complete the healing and send the energy elsewhere. Instead I took it into me because you…you broke my heart." On a sob, Keelin turned and ran from Flynn. She was stupid to come here with him. He would never accept her for what she was.
Keelin let out a whoosh of breath as she was tackled from behind and flipped over. "Ooof!" she shrieked out as she landed on top of Flynn. He had turned to cushion her from the fall. Quickly, he rolled and pinned her underneath him.
"What do you mean that I broke your heart?" Flynn demanded.
"Nothing. I meant nothing. You are just a big jerk and I don't need someone like that in my life." Keelin avoided his eyes and stuck her chin out. Small fissures of heat curled through her where their bodies touched and she tried not to squirm under him. Keelin gasped as a huge wave crashed over them and shocked their bodies. Flynn sputtered out salt water and stared, aghast, at the beach. The shoreline was too far for a wave to have hit them.
"What the heck was that?" Flynn demanded. "Did you do that?"
"Of course I didn't do that, you punk. I told you that I'm not a witch. The cove is mad at me is all. Probably you too. You should go," Keelin said spitefully. Another wave slammed into them both and they rolled from the impact. "Damn it. Fine!" Keelin shouted as she found herself pinned under Flynn again, soaking wet, her body wide awake.
"You broke my heart because I love you. I have no idea how or when but I do. And when you stared at me like…like I was some kind of monster I froze and forgot to heal the way that I was taught by Fiona. No big deal. It's fine. I can get over this. But I refuse to apologize for what I am. If there is anything that I have learned from this it is that you have to love me for me or not at all," Keelin spit out, and then stuck her chin in the air. Her heart was pounding against her chest and she shivered at the heat that was building in her most sensitive of spots.
"Damn it, Keelin. You died. I watched you die. I just, it was too much. I couldn't wrap my head aroun
d what happened and then you just…you died. I was terrified." Flynn brought his forehead to hers. Keelin's heart hiccupped. Hope slid into her stomach.
"You left me. I came to and you just left," Keelin whispered. She felt tears prick her eyes. "You hurt me," she whispered.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have left. I didn't sleep at all last night. I planned to come today to apologize. It doesn't matter what you are, Keelin. You're heart is pure as gold. So is Fiona's. I could never look at what the both of you are and hate you. I love you. All of you. Every last stubborn bit." Flynn raised his eyes to hers as Keelin felt her whole body flare with a flash of heat.
"You do? You really do?" Keelin felt the heat rush over her in a wave and she began to cry thick, fat tears, and wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders.
"Yes, you difficult, strong, beautiful woman. I fell for you the moment that I saw you. I want you as much as I want my next breath." Flynn captured her mouth with his and swallowed Keelin's sobs. Her body shuddered with emotion as her heart sang. She heard a loud crack and pulled back to stare at the cove. It glowed a brilliant blue and a small flash of white light beamed from a cave far out in the rocky wall of the cove. Almost indecipherable from the other rocks, Keelin would never have seen the small tunnel.
"Flynn! Look!" He turned and she felt his body go rigid at the image of the gently pulsing light that emanated from the cove and the cave.
"What…what is it?" Flynn said warily. He shifted to protect her.
"No, it's okay. It's said that the cove glows in the presence of true love. And, that tunnel must be where the chalice is. The cove is showing us her secrets. It trusts us." Keelin smiled at the cove and silently thanked Grace for the gift. She would be sure to honor it.
Flynn shook his head ruefully as the glow in the water subsided. He smiled a crooked smile down at her and Keelin's eyes pricked at how close she had come to losing this man.
"So, are our kids going be witches too?"
Keelin laughed at him and smacked him on the arm before capturing his mouth in a kiss. Slowly, they lost themselves in each other. Excited barks broke through the fog around them and they were bombarded with puppy licks. Keelin giggled and Flynn helped her to her feet. Together, they pet their dogs and wrapped their arms around each other as they began the hike up out of the cove. Keelin glanced back to see the sun dipping on the horizon and a pale sliver of moon beginning to shine in the sky. She nodded silently at the cove and grasped her amulet as it pulsed gently against her heart.
It seemed that she got to live after all.
Epilogue
Keelin grasped the phone tightly in her hands and stared out across the fields towards the cove.
"Keelin, is that you?" Margaret's voice sounded tiny across the airwaves.
"It is, I'm here, Mom," Keelin said, and reached down to scratch Ronan's head.
"I haven't heard from you in almost two weeks. I was about to send out the guards," Margaret said stiffly.
"I know, I'm so sorry that I worried you, Mom. A lot has been going on." Keelin wondered where to begin. It wouldn't be right to attack her mother about Colin and Aislinn and she wasn't sure just how much she wanted to get into her newfound healing powers. She already knew how Margaret felt about those. With a sigh, she focused on the blue waters of the cove.
"You're staying, aren't you?" Margaret said. Keelin held the phone away from her face and stared at it in awe.
"Yes, I am. I…I need to be here, Mom."
Silence greeted her for a moment. Keelin heard her mother sigh.
"How's Fiona?"
"She's good, she needs me though. She's all alone here," Keelin said.
"But what about me? I'll be all alone here," Margaret said plaintively.
"No you won't. You have more friends than I do. You can always come back, you know," Keelin said.
"No, I don't suppose that I can," Margaret said definitively.
"Well, I hope that you will soon," Keelin said as she grinned down at the sparkling ring on her finger. Glancing up, she saw her new life walking over the fields to her, the dogs yipping at his feet. "I've met someone."
"Well, a summer fling certainly isn't worthy of me flying across the pond to Ireland, Keelin Grainne," Margaret said.
"Mom. He's it. He's everything," Keelin whispered.
Silence greeted her again and Keelin felt her heart drop in her chest. Maybe she was asking too much of her mother.
"Well, then, of course I will come. No man will ever live up to my daughter, but I will have to at least meet this man before you marry him. Now, tell me everything," Margaret said briskly, and Keelin felt a smile break over her face.
Flynn reached her and brought her hand with the ring to his lips. Her eyes shining, Keelin said, "You'll love him, Mom. He owns fifteen restaurants up and down the coast." Laughing, she leaned in to kiss Flynn and settled happily into her future.
******
An excerpt from Wild Irish Eyes: Book 2 in the Mystic Cove Series
featuring Cait Gallagher:
Chapter 1
Cait Gallagher hummed along to the traditional Irish music that played softly through the speakers hidden deep in the corners of the pub that she owned in Grace's Cove, a small village set on the shores of Southern Ireland. Cait admired the gleam of the dark wood that accented all of her whimsical Irish décor as she wiped down a table. Content, and happy that the rehearsal dinner for Keelin and Flynn had gone so beautifully, Cait let her guard down and set her mind to wander.
"I bet she's good in bed. She's so tiny that I could throw her over my shoulder and drag her out of here."
Cait straightened as Patrick's voice shot through her mind. Forcing herself to keep all emotion from her face, she bent to wipe the table once more before turning towards the bar where Patrick, her new bartender, cleaned glasses in the new glass cleaner she had just purchased. Even if she couldn’t read minds, the hunger she saw in young Patrick's eyes was unmistakable. He blushed when Cait glanced his way and, dipping his head, he focused on the task at hand. Cait blew out a small breath and ran a hand through her short, curly mop of hair. At just over five feet tall, Cait was indeed tiny. A slim frame, short hair, and greenish-gold eyes completed the package and often had her being mistaken for a little girl. Those who knew her never made that mistake. As a pub owner, Cait had a commanding presence, a rigid backbone, and a healthy dose of risk-taking. She'd been known to break up more than her fair share of brawls. Typically though, it took little more than her raised voice to stop an argument in its tracks.
Cait kept an eye on Patrick as she moved around the pub. A recent hire, he was just eighteen years old and full of testosterone and angst. With his dark hair and gray eyes, Cait imagined that he had already cajoled more than one girl into his bed. Smiling, she shook her head at the urgency of youth and reminded herself to keep her mental shields up, as she would probably hear more than she needed to from Patrick if she wasn't careful. Cait shot him a friendly smile as she ducked under the pass-through behind the long wood bar that framed rows of glass shelves hung in front of a gilded mirror. Liquor bottles of all shapes and sizes clustered the shelves. Cait prided herself on stocking more than just the average fare and enjoyed offering a variety of alcohol choices. She bent to tuck her cleaning supplies beneath the counter. Turning, she slammed into Patrick's chest and stepped back involuntarily as he caged her with his arms.
Cait took a deep breath as her pulse picked up its pace. Blowing out her breath, she met Patrick's eyes.
"I think about you. A lot." Patrick's words sent an involuntary shudder through Cait and she realized that maybe she should have listened a little more closely to Patrick's thoughts. Allowing her shields to drop, Cait did a quick scan of Patrick's mind. She breathed a sigh of relief as she found a healthy dose of lust but no intent to harm. Cait reached up and patted Patrick's arm.
"Patrick, I'm almost ten years older than you. While I'm flattered, you need to find a woman your own age to da
te." Cait smiled gently at him. She gasped as he wrapped his arms around her and pressed a passionate kiss to her lips. Cait let out a soft squeak before she contemplated how to break the kiss without bruising his fragile ego.
"What's going on here?"
A voice sliced across the pub and Cait tried not to groan as Patrick stepped hurriedly back from her. Cait knew that voice. Its owner had starred in more than one of her most decadent fantasies.
"Have I interrupted something?" Shane MacAuliffe stepped up to the bar and leaned casually against the railing as his brown eyes coolly assessed the situation. His lanky frame belied a whipcord strength that Cait had seen exhibited on several occasions.
"No, you haven't. Right, Patrick?" Cait turned and crossed her arms, staring down the young man. Patrick's cheeks turned pink and he ducked his head, nodding at the floor.
"Why don't you take the kitchen bin out and finish cleaning up in there?" Cait suggested, and Patrick nodded, not meeting her eyes. He ducked quickly beneath the pass-through and all but ran for the kitchen, the door swinging wildly behind him. Cait huffed out a sigh and turned to face Shane. She was dying to read his thoughts but her own code of honor prevented her from doing so. She'd have to deal with this like a regular person.
Cait allowed her eyes to scan Shane. His casually proper attire was something that she knew he took time with, just as she knew that he drove into Dublin for his haircuts. His blond hair and stubborn jaw made him an attractive, if not an interesting man to look at. The unofficial mayor of Grace's Cove, Shane owned more than half of the commercial real estate buildings, including the one that housed her pub. Still, that didn't mean it was okay for him be here after hours, Cait thought. Deciding to take the offensive, she glared at him.
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