Chapter 2
There was a collective gasp around the table, and they all started talking at once. But Mick just raised his hand and everyone quieted back down.
Aidan continued. “‘The real claddagh ring, the one blessed by a priest in Galway before the hunger took half of Ireland, is hidden. I’ve left it somewhere on this land, along with clues to find it. Why? Because nothing worth having comes easy, and love least of all.
“‘You want to know the secret of the O’Haras? It’s not charm or looks or the gift of the gab. It’s knowing how to work for something. How to earn it. Your grandmother made me prove myself seven times before she’d be my wife.
“‘So here’s your first clue—Where iron horses once ran free, / before the mountain came to be, / Where settlers first put down their claim, / before O’Hara was our name.
“‘Find the ring, boy. But more than that, find someone worth giving it to. Someone who’ll make you want to stop dancing and finally learn to stand still.
“‘With love and a gentle push, Patrick Michael O’Hara.
“‘PS. Don’t let your brothers help. They mean well, but this is your adventure. Find someone clever, with brains and heart. And for the love of all that’s holy, find someone who can’t be charmed by that smile of yours.’”
The room erupted in overlapping voices, but Aidan’s mind had already gone to one person.
Dylan. She could solve any puzzle, had a mind that worked in ways that constantly surprised him, and she was absolutely, completely immune to his charm.
If anything, she seemed to find him vaguely annoying most days.
“Iron horses—that’s trains,” Raven was saying.
“The old railroad bed runs through the property,” Wyatt added.
But Aidan was thinking about Dylan, about the way she’d looked that morning working on the Barracuda, completely absorbed in bringing something beautiful back to life.
About how she’d promised to come to book club Thursday but probably wouldn’t.
About how some businessman from Seattle was trying to steal her away when Aidan had only just realized—
Realized what? That he’d been watching her for years without really seeing her? That her careful distance had become a challenge he wanted to overcome? That the thought of her leaving Laurel Valley made his chest tight with something that felt dangerously close to panic?
“You know who’s clever,” Sophie said with studied innocence. “Dylan Flanagan. She’s got the kind of mind that could solve your grandfather’s riddles.”
“If she’s not too busy considering job offers from Seattle,” Raven added, and Aidan didn’t miss the look that passed between his sisters-in-law.
“Job offers?” Aidan’s voice was sharper than intended.
“That’s what Shannon thought,” Sophie said. “All those documents he was showing her? Looked very official. Very lucrative. The kind of opportunity that could change someone’s life.”
The thought made something fierce and possessive rise in Aidan’s chest—a feeling he’d never experienced before, not with any of the women he’d dated over the years. Those relationships had been easy, comfortable, ultimately disposable. But Dylan…
Dylan was different. Had always been different. He just hadn’t let himself see it until now.
“I’ll figure out the clues myself,” he said, pocketing the letter.
“Sure you will,” Duncan said with elder-brother skepticism. “Just like you figured out how to do your own taxes.”
“That was different—”
“Or how to bake a cake for Mom’s birthday—”
“Okay, okay.” Aidan held up his hands in surrender. “Maybe I could use some help. Someone who thinks differently than me.”
“Someone clever,” Sophie said, her smile innocent as spring rain.
“Someone who can’t be charmed,” Raven added.
“Someone who might already be making plans to leave town if you don’t move fast,” Anne said quietly, and her words carried the weight of maternal wisdom that couldn’t be ignored.
Aidan looked around the table at his family—his brothers who’d all found their perfect matches, his parents who’d been together forty years, the children who represented the next generation of O’Haras who would call Laurel Valley home.
Then he thought about Dylan, alone in her apartment above the antique shop, probably reading one of those mysteries Sophie saved for her, definitely not thinking about him at all.
“I’ll ask her,” he said finally. “Tomorrow. If she hasn’t already decided to take whatever that suit was selling.”