Chapter 2
two
THE O’FAOLAIN RESIDENCE—DUBLIN, IRELAND
BéBHINN
“Happy birthday, Brother-Uncle,” Bébhinn said softly before giving Bran a hug and kiss on the cheek. She loved her brothers, Bran and Patrick, who were married to her mother’s sisters. As family trees went, theirs tended to confuse the hell out of people. She avoided the explanation when she could.
Her dad’s cheeks and the tops of his ears used to turn pink when someone insisted on the whole story.
Mom’s two sisters married two O’Faolain brothers.
What caused most of them to have two familial designations was Bébhinn’s mom marrying the brothers’ dad.
Her mom became Bran and Patrick’s sister-in-law and stepmom.
The waters became muddier as the three couples had children.
Bran didn’t allow her to keep the embrace brief, which she had absolutely planned on doing. Too much love and tender moments brought an instant lump in her throat, but if Bran needed it, she would give it.
He cupped the back of her head and brought it to his chest. She felt, as well as heard, the thumping of his heart and the heavy breath of emotion he released ghost over the top of her head, and felt her eyes prick with tears.
Like she knew they would. Nope. Nope. Nope.
She wouldn’t cry and make the occasion any sadder than it already was.
She counted to ten before wiggling from his embrace.
Bran gave her a look that made her squirm. He knew she was hiding her feelings and didn’t like it. He relented, though, and with a small smile, said, “Thank you, Sister-Niece.”
She’d always been close to her brothers.
The passing of their father had brought another level of closeness.
She liked that the family had closed ranks, so to speak, keeping anyone but their closest friends out, but it also meant that the men in their family were getting too used to herding their women into protective bubbles.
Bébhinn’s nephew-cousin, Jonathan, groaned. “Jesus, Uncle Bran. Remember your promise never to speak of our convoluted family ties? I begged you and Dad both. It would ruin my chances with women. They’d run away screaming, thinking we’re all a pack of inbreds!”
Jon was shaking his head and chuckling. He was always good at reading a room and knew that everyone present was valiantly trying to keep their shit together. She smiled at Jon, acknowledging his attempt to lighten the mood.
“I don’t think it’s our family tree but your personality that would send them running, dumbass,” Daniel deadpanned.
Daniel, Bran’s son and Bébhinn’s other nephew-cousin, just leaned against the downstairs bar, shaking his head at his cousin’s theatrics.
Daniel, Jonathan, and she were as close as siblings, having grown up together.
Daniel had just turned twenty-two and was working on his MBA at Trinity.
He and his parents all shared February birthdays.
Jonathan was twenty-one. His birthday wasn’t until the fall.
Bébhinn would be twenty-one in a couple of months.
It always amused her to see Bran, Pat, Daniel, and Jon together. The four were striking but also freakishly similar. Their height and white-blond hair turned heads wherever they went.
She didn’t bother giving Daniel a birthday hug, since he was as good at sensing her moods as his father and probably wouldn’t let her go.
Instead, she smiled his way, hoping no one could see that the smile didn’t reach her eyes.
“Happy birthday to you, too, dickhead.” He smirked and flipped her off.
He smiled but his eyes remained serious.
Bébhinn glanced toward her mother, Rowan, standing just outside the family circle, to see if she found her nephew’s antics amusing.
She was pale and dabbing her eyes. Damnit…
She hated seeing her mom so…so brittle. Moments like this one sent a shock of panic flooding her system because it felt like she was losing her mother too.
She was a literal carbon copy of her mother. With Native American and Irish heritage, both women, and Bébhinn’s aunts, Raven and River, were pale-skinned, short, petite, hazel-eyed, and sported thick, long black hair.
The Byrne women married into a family that was as polar opposite as couples could manage.
The O’Faolains were all tall and muscular.
Her uncles’ white hair was a shocking complement to her aunts’ dark-headed loveliness.
Bébhinn’s father, Hugh, was—had been—a big, bold, dark-haired, Oklahoman oil tycoon and entrepreneur.
He loved his three children fiercely and loved his wife with an unapologetic intensity.
Mom had been his whole world. Do not go there, Bébhinn, she chided herself. Thoughts of her parents, and what had been, equaled leaking eyes and wobbly lips.
Turning to her Aunt Raven, Bébhinn gave her a kiss and a hug too.
“And happy birthday to you, as well, Auntie Rav.” Raven had recently cut her hair to just above her shoulders.
It was chic and lovely. Despite all the family upheaval, Bébhinn knew it was only a matter of weeks before her mother and Aunt River followed suit.
She and her cousins had always believed that the Byrne sisters, their mothers, shared a hive mind.
“Thank you, sweet girl. I’m glad you could make it,” Raven said while brushing her finger down her niece’s cheek.
Raven bit her lip and looked away for a brief moment. Long enough to control her emotions. It seemed that’s all this family managed anymore. Managing.
“Daniel told me that you plan on taking your spring break next month to hike your way across the Welsh mountains. Alone.” Raven was the oldest of the sisters and Bébhinn’s most protective aunt.
“Daniel has a giant mouth, as usual.” Bébhinn glanced around Raven and found her oldest cousin—technically her oldest nephew—lounging against the bar, sipping their family’s Three Wolves whiskey, his perma-smirk in place.
Asshole. Bastard must have been talking to Blair.
Those two were as thick as prison cellmates.
Nothing for it but to put on a show while reminding herself to tell Blair, a roommate and one of her best friends, that oversharing with a male O’Faolain was never a good idea. Bébhinn widened her smile. She noted that Daniel and Jonathan’s serious stares were drilling her. Ignore them.
“Yes! I’m so excited. My teachers are allowing me to be absent from classes for an extra five days if I complete my work before the break, which I will, of course.
That means I have two weeks to hike and explore.
Limited showers and intermittent phone service.
Just me and nature. Now that so many Welsh trails interconnect, the routes are limitless.
Though many of Wales’s hiking trails prohibit tent camping, Snowdonia has a few campsites, bunkhouses, and a sprinkling of villages with B&Bs if you stay on track. ”
Walking up, her Aunt River asked, “Where will you sleep then?”
“Oh, they’ve plenty of bunkhouses and B&Bs.
I’m choosing not to use the campsites, so I won’t have the weight of a tent to contend with.
I mapped out where I’ll end up each evening.
Mom insisted that she wants me to stay in the villages when possible.
Hardly a compromise since I like showers and beds. I have bookings in several.”
River and Raven looked in their sister’s direction until her mother eventually joined the group. The four men in the group pretended to be interested in the telly, understanding that it was a huge moment when her mother joined in a family conversation.
“I wouldn’t want to lug a tent on my back either, but aren’t bunkhouses open to anyone? Men and women?” Raven asked, her tone indicating she wasn’t pleased, but too kind to come out and say it outright.
“I think it’s total bullshit you’re allowing this, Row.
How will we know if Bébhinn is in trouble?
” River protested. At her mother’s rapidly blinking eyes, River quickly changed course.
“I’m being foolish, sis. Ignore me. Your daughter grew up roughing it in the woods.
She and Hugh loved living off the land. Eating animal turds, boiling water, and crapping behind bushes was a holiday. She’ll be fine.”
“Her dad taught her well. I should have remembered that,” Raven added softly.
Bébhinn wrapped her arm around her mother’s back, pulling her close when she noticed how near she was to tears. Thankfully, Patrick announced, “No one needs to worry, Bran and I ordered a badass sat phone. We’ll track her every move.”
She was about to bite her much older brother’s head off for overstepping, when Bran double-downed, adding, “We can call her all the time, and she can call us. She’ll be able to call you every night, Row.”
Jesus Christ. The look Bran gave her imparted a “don’t argue” vibe without words.
Noted, but ridiculous. He could send whatever tech he wanted, but that didn’t mean she had to lug it up a mountain.
“I appreciate the,” she paused before forcing herself to say, “gift, but I already have my Garmin SOS satellite communicator. I can be tracked, texted, and signaled in an emergency. Dad and I didn’t really want the distraction of calls. ”
“You’re still taking the phone, Bébhinn. We won’t call—” Patrick started before his brother interrupted.
“Much,” Bran finished.
“And I won’t call at all unless I don’t see a text from you,” Mom started, before softly finishing with, “because your dad was an excellent teacher.
“I only wish… No, never mind,” she flapped her hand before her face, brushing off the thought.
Bébhinn knew what it was. She wanted her only daughter to stay in Dublin and never leave her side. It was reasonable. Completely. But it was an ask that she couldn’t honor. If she hadn’t had the plan to leave Dublin and the memories of her father, just for a moment, she would have gone crazy.
Bébhinn wrapped her arm around her mother’s tiny waist. They’d both lost weight. “You know, Mom, you told me you’d consider letting me teach you about hiking. I think you’d love it. Dad always wanted you to go with us.”
Mom looked startled, her eyes rounding. “He did? I never wanted to interrupt your father-daughter time. It was something special for the two of you.”
“Well, yeah, it was, but you’re crazy if you ever thought it wouldn’t have been just as special with the three of us.” Mom dabbed her eyes. Her fists were never free of tissues. Her struggle to find her way as a widow was painful.
“I wish I—”
Bébhinn interrupted. “No, Mom. No more ‘what if’ wishes. We will start with small hikes and build up to the rest. You know Dad’s still stalking us from Heaven. He’d be pleased to see our special thing become our special thing.”
Bébhinn glanced at her aunts, who listened quietly while subtly blotting their eyes.
Their expressions were one hundred percent hopeful.
Hopeful that their sister would show some sign of life.
The men were all still at the bar, but no one was speaking.
Every ear was waiting to hear what Mom would say.
Mom nodded a few times before wrapping her arm around her daughter’s waist. “I think I would like to do that. With you.”
She leaned her head on her mom’s shoulder and whispered for her alone, “This will be good for us, Mom. We need this.”
“We do. Thank you, sweetheart. And…” Mom paused. “I’m sorry I’ve been so distant.”
“Never apologize for loving Dad. I understand.”
“No, you don’t,” Mom snapped back, showing more spark than Bébhinn had seen in six months. “Losing your dad almost killed me. If I lost you, it would have. I’m not saying there aren’t many tough days ahead for both of us, for all of us, but I promise to commit to living again.”
River and Raven wrapped their arms around the two of them, creating a circle of love and support.
“Thank God,” River gustily sighed. “Think of all the fun hiking gear we get to buy for you, Row.”
“She won’t need much in the beginning, Aunt River. Slow your roll.” Everyone chuckled at River’s enthusiasm. The men joined them, discussing whether Mom needed her own sat phone.
Overstepping O’Faolain business as usual.
It would look silly to outsiders that everyone was so excited that her mom agreed to start hiking. It could have been anything, like country and western dance classes. It was simply that since the loss of her father, their family had been suffering, especially her mom.
No one had admitted just how concerned they were that her mom wouldn’t or couldn’t snap out of her depression. Choosing to do a new activity was the best sign that she hadn’t given up on life yet.
“First things first,” Mom started, getting everyone’s attention. “I would like Raven to take me to cut my hair like hers. I love it, and I want something different too.”
“Well, I want to cut mine, then. You guys aren’t leaving me out,” River pouted.
Bébhinn could only smile. She’d called that one. And after this evening, maybe she wouldn’t have to worry about her brothers and cousins trying to run her life now that her mom was coming around… She was embracing bits of her feisty personality, which was a huge step in the right direction.
Daniel walked up behind her shoulder just as she let out a satisfied breath and said, “I still think it’s bullshit that you’re letting Bébhinn go on a solo hike.”
Clearly, she’d counted her blessings too fast.