Chapter 25
CHAPTER 25
Tommy
I pressed the phone tighter against my ear, my free hand gripping the back of the chair as I listened to my dad’s steady voice.
The kitchen in Rory’s cottage was quiet except for the occasional clink of silverware against plates as Fiona and Kathleen finished dinner at the table, but I knew they were both listening.
“So, who’s running things now?” my dad asked.
I sighed, rubbing a hand over my forehead.
“That’s the thing—no one really knows. Rory’s foreman has the training going, and the horses are being cared for, but past that? It’s a mess. The staff is still showing up, still working, but there’s no real leadership. No one’s stepping up to make decisions because no one knows who has the right to.”
“What about Rory’s brother?”
I glanced back at Fiona, focused on her plate.
I didn’t want to say anything about him or the things he had said to her after the funeral three days ago.
I merely said, “He hasn’t been around.”
And I had no idea if that meant he had given up on pulling Fiona back in and had auctioned off Siobhan, or if he was merely giving Fiona time to come to the right conclusion.
I hoped to fucking God it was to marry me, but I had no control over this.
Fiona had to do what was best for her and her conscience, and the unknown of it was killing me.
Dad exhaled through the phone, the crackle of a radio in the background.
He must’ve still been at the barn.
“And what about you? What are you planning?”
I glanced again at Fiona and didn’t bother to sugarcoat things.
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
“But I asked Fiona to marry me.”
Fiona’s head shot up, wide eyes landing on me, and I shot her a wink.
To my relief, she smiled back.
Dad went silent for a beat, but I didn’t detect any censure in his tone.
“You don’t waste time, do you?”
“No, sir. And she said yes.”
Another pause, longer this time.
“Son… she’s seventeen.”
“I know,” I said quickly.
“And that’s the problem. We can’t legally marry without her parents’ permission, and her father is never gonna give it. And now he’s telling her she has to come home, and she doesn’t know what to do.”
Dad exhaled quietly.
“You need to be careful. If he’s got the kind of pull you’re saying he does, he could make your life hell. And I hate to say it, but you also need to be careful for yourself. She’s still a minor, Tommy. Even if you’re doing everything right, someone like her father could twist things to make it look bad.”
My stomach tightened.
“I’d never hurt her.”
“I know that,” he said firmly.
“But you’ve gotta think about how this looks to other people. If this gets messy, you could get in trouble. You’ve got a future ahead of you, and I don’t want you making choices that could ruin it.”
I closed my eyes.
“What are you saying? You think I should come home?”
Dad was quiet for a second.
“I think you need to consider it.”
I shook my head.
“I’m not leaving Fiona.”
Another pause.
Then finally, Dad sighed.
“All right. Then you need a plan. And you need to be smart. You understand me?”
“I understand.”
We finished the call and I hung up, staring at the phone for a long moment before turning toward Fiona.
“Come take a walk with me?”
She nodded, pushing back from the table, and laid a hand on Kathleen’s shoulder.
“I’ll be back soon. Let me handle the dishes.”
Kathleen offered a small smile that was still mostly filled with sadness and patted Fiona’s hand.
“Take yer time.”
Fiona and I walked hand in hand as we stepped outside into the cool evening air.
We made our way through one of the barns, the scent of hay and horses a balm to both of us.
Horses were in our blood and the soft nickers and shifting of hooves in the stalls filled the silence between us.
“I don’t care about defying my father,” Fiona said after a long stretch of quiet.
“I’m just scared for Siobhan.”
“I know,” I replied gently.
I squeezed her hand in reassurance.
“I don’t want anything bad to happen to Siobhan either.”
It’s all I could say.
I couldn’t tell her what to do.
I also couldn’t tell her that I’d support any decision to go back, because I wouldn’t.
That was the selfish part of me.
I stopped walking and turned to face her.
“Fi, listen to me. There’s no imminent threat. He’s not going to marry off your sister tomorrow. He has to set things up with the Kavanaghs first. There has to be a courtship, and that takes time.”
She bit her lip, considering that.
“So we have time.”
I nodded.
“Exactly. I don’t think we should worry about things yet. Your dad might not even follow through on these threats. Brian Kavanagh might not be interested in Siobhan. There are so many things that could go wrong for your dad, so please don’t rush to any firm decisions just yet.”
She chewed on her lip and nodded.
“We just have to wait until you turn eighteen. Once that happens, you’re legal to leave the country. You can come to the States.”
“Ye’ll be back in Kentucky by then,” she said softly.
I hated it, but I had to return for the start of my sophomore year at the University of Kentucky.
“I have to start school, yeah. But I’ll leave you the money for the trip. As soon as you’re eighteen, you get on that plane and I’ll be waiting for you.”
She exhaled, her shoulders loosening.
“That sounds like the best plan.”
I smiled, burying my hand in her curls.
“Then that’s what we’ll do.”
She rose onto her toes, pressing a soft kiss to my lips, and I pulled her closer, holding her like I could keep time from slipping through my fingers.
But that wasn’t to be, for up ahead, Seamus’s car was parked in front of the cottage.
Fiona stiffened beside me.
“No.”
My gut tightened.
“Stay behind me.”
We pushed through the door to find Fiona’s father standing in the middle of the kitchen, his presence sucking the warmth from the room.
Kathleen sat stiffly in her chair, her hands clenched on top of the table and an icy glare on her face.
“Ah, there ye are,” Seamus said smoothly.
He glanced at Fiona.
“It’s time to come home.”
Fiona lifted her chin.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Seamus chuckled low and menacing.
“Ye don’t have a choice. I am yer legal guardian and ye must obey me.”
“She’s not going with you,” I said, pushing Fiona even farther behind me.
I didn’t know if her dad was crazy enough to make a grab for her.
He looked completely unbothered by my protectiveness.
He merely looked pointedly at Fiona.
“If ye don’t come willingly, I’ll involve the police. I’ll have them come here, and they’ll drag ye home.”
Kathleen gasped.
“Seamus, ye wouldn’t—”
“I will,” he said coldly.
Fiona’s fingers dug into mine.
“Ye can’t do this.”
Seamus’s glare narrowed.
“I’m yer father. I can do whatever I want.”
I’d heard enough, took a step toward him, but he smiled at me.
It was so chilling, I halted.
“And ye.” His voice dripped with disdain.
“Ye’ve had yer fun, but now it’s time for ye to get off my property.”
My spine went rigid.
“I work here. Rory hired me.”
“Rory is dead,” Seamus snapped, and Fiona made a tiny, distressed sound but I didn’t dare look away from him.
“I run Glenhaven now. And ye’re fired.”
“I’m not leaving,” I said, my voice firm.
“Ye’re leaving or I’ll have the Garda drag ye out of here. I’m sure some time in an Irish jail cell would do wonders for ye, and I bet yer own da wouldn’t appreciate having to come bail ye out.”
“You think that will scare me,” I replied hotly, but Fiona laid a restraining hand on my arm, silently begging me for silence.
Seamus saw it and smirked.
“I suggest ye let Fiona talk some sense into ye. I expect her home in an hour or I’ll return with the Garda.”
With that, he turned and walked out, leaving a trail of silence in his wake.
Fiona trembled beside me, her grip on my hand tightening to the point of pain.
“I have to go.”
My stomach dropped.
“Fi—”
She shook her head.
“I have to protect Siobhan. And now ye. If I stay, he’ll have ye thrown in jail. Ye have to leave.”
“No.”
She looked up at me, pleading.
“Promise me, Tommy. I can’t worry about ye and Siobhan.”
I clenched my jaw.
“I can’t.”
“Ye have to.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.
“Because if ye don’t, I won’t be able to go on.”
I swallowed hard, my heart fracturing.
“Fi…”
She gave me a sad smile.
“Who knows what the future holds? But for now… we have to be done.”
I knew what she was saying.
I understood it.
And I hated it.
Right now, we couldn’t be together.
Maybe there was the hope that one day things would work out for us.
I wished I believed that, but somehow, deep in my gut, I knew I was leaving Ireland without Fiona and there was nothing I could do to fix this mess.