He said nothing for a moment, just watched the mists take on the light. “Then I’m all the more sorry I can’t be there, and go with you.”
She heard the regret in his voice, and it touched her. That sneaky kindness of his always would.
“No, it’s something I need to do, myself, then it’s done.”
“You’ll use the portal I made into your apartment. Meabh will leave it for that time.”
“It’s not necessary. I booked us into a hotel for the night, and we’ll take the train into New York the next morning.”
“Still, she’ll leave it for you. You can use the portal in New York to come back.”
“What? Wait. There’s a portal in New York?”
He turned to stare at her. “It’s an important city in that world. When you’re ready to come back, Sedric will guide you. This is his gift, and he can bring you back through the Welcoming Tree. How do you not know this?”
“Maybe because no one told me.”
He huffed out a breath, drank the rest of the coffee. “Sure I’m explaining now, aren’t I? He’ll come to guide you when you’re ready.”
“Great. I can cancel the train tickets from New York to Philadelphia.”
“I’m after making the portal to Philadelphia a permanent sort of thing, so you can go when you need. I have to take it up with the council, and bugger that.”
There it was again, she thought. That sneaky kindness. Now she turned, embraced him. “That’s very considerate, thank you.”
“It’s efficient.” But he wrapped around her in turn. “I have to go, the morning’s wasting.”
“Brian?”
“He has the day, as he starts night duty tonight. Breen.” He cupped her face. “You’ll speak to Marg and Sedric, as my time is crowded.”
“Yes, I’ll speak to them both today, tell them all we know.”
“Good. You don’t have to add the business about my ancestor and Dorcas.”
Now she smiled, even batted her lashes. “Maybe I don’t have to, but I will because it’s excellent spilled tea.”
“Bugger it.” He kissed her anyway. Then strode off into the woods and toward Talamh without another word.
That, she thought, might be why she’d fallen so hard for him. He was, very simply, who he was. Light against the dark, right against the wrong.
She held the empty mug he’d thrust at her, finished off her own coffee.
And with Bollocks now at her side, watched the new day dawn bright.
With the workday done, Breen moved from bright to bright with Marco and Bollocks. The sky in Talamh was bluebonnet blue and nearly cloudless as the sun beamed on the fields.
“Now, this looks like a day and a half.” Pleased, Marco put on his sunglasses. “It’s almost warm on top of it. And there’s a sight you don’t see every day, unless you’re us.”
Morena, on the wing, sowed seeds in a freshly plowed field while Harken tamped them in. In another, young plants, greenhouse started, rose out of the brown toward the blue.
“They’ve had a busy morning.”
“Maybe I’ll give them a hand while you’re at Nan’s. Give me a lesson on what we’re doing in our own patch. Still smells pretty strong,” he added. “I guess you get used to it.”
In the distance, Aisling and her boys worked their kitchen garden with the baby in a sling on her back.
“I’d say Aisling could use a hand more. Those two seem to have a rhythm going.”