I can’t help it, though.
I missed him. I missed being with him, I miss the attention he gives me and how I feel when I'm with him. Hell, I even missed fighting with him.
When he's done doctoring up my foot, he kisses the bandaged place and gently puts my foot back on the ground. “Now, lass, we need to chat,” he says. “Mary came to us today. She’s come to Ballyhock, specifically to the McCarthy Clan, because she has it on good authority that she’ll find her mother here.” He smiles. “And I bet you can help her find her mother, too, I’d wager?”
I stare at her for long minutes, and finally she speaks. “Are you my sister?”
“I'd be shocked if I wasn't. I don't know how else to explain our similarities.” I'm filled with apprehension, and excitement, and if I’m honest, a sort of desperate longing.
I've never had a sister. I've never had a brother. Could this woman really be related to me?
“How old are you?” I ask, sizing her up as best I can while I sit on the sofa, my foot propped up. Tully has the nerve to pick up my foot and nestle it onto his lap. I glare at him, but he doesn't even flinch. Naturally.
"I'm thirty-one years old."
“I’m twenty-nine.”
She nods. "That corroborates what I heard.” She smiles at me. "You certainly do look like you could be my sister.”
Hope fills my heart at this. I give her a smile. “Aye, does look like it, doesn't it? What made you think to come here?"
“I work for the Cowens in the north. I mentioned I was looking for my birth mum. I’d given it up after a while, but decided I couldn’t rest anymore until I knew who she was. Until I met her. And Leith Cowen told me he knew me mum married a McCarthy.”
I nod. It’s all so fascinating and wondrous and a little scary.
She swallows hard. “Is our… mum still alive?”
I nod and smile. “Very much so. I think I’d like to give her fair warning before we visit, though.”
“Aye, absolutely.”
We drink our tea, and Tully listens attentively. He doesn't ask many questions. He massages the bottom of my foot, careful not to touch the injured spot. It feels nice, and I almost wish he wouldn’t do it. I need to focus, and I like the feel of his firm, warm grasp. His hands are rough, and powerful. Just like him.
She asks me about my mother, about Ballyhock, about my job as a teacher. But she doesn't tell me much about herself. I know that she works in the north, but she doesn't tell me much about what she does, or who she is. I wonder if she's a private person, or if she has something she’s hiding. But if she works for the Scottish mob, I suppose her evasiveness is somewhat understandable.
“Let me call Mum,” I say, taking my empty teacup to the kitchen. I hobble on the heels of my feet, and Tully comes up behind me.
“Sit down,” he growls. “You’re injured.”
I exhale and roll my eyes so he doesn’t see. “Here we go again.”
“Here we go again, indeed,” he says, and when I hazard a glance over my shoulder at him, I’m taken aback. I didn’t know he was quite so angry, but it’s written in his features, clear as day, with his thick brows drawn, his dark eyes flashing, his body wound tight like a bowstring.
"Do you have any idea how much danger you’re in?”
I blink. “Well, no. Keenan gave me a guard. Has something else happened while I’ve been gone?’
“Oh, aye. Besides your sister coming, you mean? She swears up and down the Scots aren’t to blame, and she’s come to speak on their behalf, but I don’t believe for a minute it’s the truth.”
I blink in surprise. “Is that right?”
He grunts. “Aye. You need to come back with me, McKenna.”
“And what?” I ask, hissing under my breath. “Become one of the women of the Clan, Tully? What if I don’t want that?”
His voice lowers as he draws nearer to me, his mouth at my ear. “And what if it’s already too late?”
A chill comes over me then, and I don’t know how to respond at first. What does he mean?
“Are you threatening me?” He wouldn’t.
Would he?
He shrugs, but he shakes his head. “Now why would I do a thing like that?”
My jaw drops. “You are. You’re threatening me.”
He sighs and shakes his head. “I did nothing of the sort, lass, so relax. I will say that your pigheadedness puts the Clan at risk.”
I laugh in disbelief. “My pigheadedness! Are you for real? You’re stubborn as an old mule!”
His jaw clenches. “For half a pence, I’d take you over my knee and show you respect, I would.”
And in utter shock, I stick my tongue out at him. I can’t believe I did that.