“I’m here to bring back our lass,” he said.
Her father Jack stood from the table and Errin knew what he was going for in the kitchen.
As Jack turned and walked back with the whiskey, Pops said, “Aye, that’s right. Let’s share some drinks, Jack. And then tell me what ye would say to me taking Errin back with me?”
She snuggled into his arms and pressed her cheek against his chest, breathing in the familiar scent of cigars as it enveloped her. She made no attempt to let this Mills man go. One had been bad enough.
“Aye, lass. Ye missed me, eh? Missed ye too,” he said as he patted her back.
“Now, let’s have a seat,” he said.
“You’re taking me with you to Austin?” she said, glancing up next to him.
He snorted. “I like the way ye think. But first I have to ask ye, are ye done with all this? Can’t have ye hurtin’ me boyo any more.”
She let her head fall down and stared at the oak tabletop. Pops lifted her chin with his calloused hand and said, “Ye looked so beautiful up there. It was a sight to behold. Ye definitely belonged there. Well, maybe not that exact podium, but definitely on a stage.”
“You were there? Did you see the show?” she asked.
“Aye. Was only lookin’ if I could see ye on stage. Why aren’t ye more on the stage?” he said with his eyes narrowed.
She smiled, “I only got an insignificant part, Pops.”
“That’s plain stupid. The others couldn’t dance for shite,” he said before taking a hefty shot.
“Pops…” she tried,but he patted her arm and looked up as her three brothers entered the kitchen.
“Did I miss the memo of a family meeting somehow?” Errin said.
“No.” Conner grinned. “Nobody told yer arse. What kind of intervention would that be, sis?”
She furrowed her brows and said, “Intervention?”
“Conner…” Her mother said, her voice stern.
“Yeah,” Conner said. “Welcome to the intervention of Errin Walsh. The girl we all love so dearly, but who is as stubborn as a donkey’s arse.”
He waved his arms around dramatically. “We all see her wither away before our eyes and this has got to stop, dammit.”
“Con. Take a seat, and for once, shut up,” her dad said. He poured whiskey for her brothers.
“He’s full of shite, sis,” her brother Evan said. “You’re not withering away. But you’re damn well unhappy, that’s for sure.”
The chocolate haired Walsh brother resembled her sister Kate the most. Well, by appearances only.
Evan was a beautiful man with his dark hair, chiseled jaw and eyes so strikingly blue, they almost seemed fluorescent. But he also had a forceful personality and always spoke his mind, unlike their sister Kate.
“Ev…” she glanced at her glass in front of her and gathered her thoughts. “It has nothing to do with you. I hope ya’ll know this.”
“Ya’ll?” Her oldest brother Calum snorted.
Ha, she’d never once said ya’ll in the entire time she’d lived in Texas. Where the hell did that sudden Southern drawl come from?
Errin looked up at the smiling faces around the table. Her mother coaxed her to continue talking by nodding her head, and as she looked over at her father, he smirked knowingly at her from behind his glass of whiskey.
Errin cleared her throat. “So you all knew—even before me, that this wouldn’t work out?”
“Sweetheart, you’ve been heartbroken since you’ve said goodbye to Brennan,” her mother said.