Page 60 of Faithless Vows

“Leave it,” Declan cuts in. “This isn’t your business.”

Róisín rounds on him. “She deserves to know.”

Declan runs a hand through his hair. “Keep out of it,” he mutters to Róisín. “And how did you know, anyway?”

“I heard the men talking,” she shoots back. “They weren’t exactly quiet.”

I’ve seen Róisín and Declan row before, but never like this. My eyes move between them as the argument snaps back and forth until they catch on Declan’s hands, clenched at his sides, the skin across his knuckles split and bruised. He sees where I’m looking. “Shit,” he mutters, tucking them behind his back.

“What is it?” I ask quietly. Neither of them answers. I look from one to the other. “What’s happened?” I ask, louder this time.

Róisín steps toward me just as Declan reaches out to stop her. “Your husband is here.”

I just stare at her, certain I’ve heard her wrong. “What?”

“Ronin Byrne,” she says. “He came across from Boston.”

The room tilts around me. “No. No, that’s not—”

“He’s been here three days,” Róisín cuts me off.

Three days.

I turn to Declan, waiting for him to deny it, to tell me she’s wrong. Instead, he just shakes his head, not looking at me.

“You’re mistaken,” I say, my voice barely above a whisper. “Ronin’s in Boston.”

“No,” Róisín says quietly, her expression softening into something like pity. “He isn’t.”

My stomach turns. “I don’t understand,” I whisper. “Then where is he?”

Róisín opens her mouth to answer, but Declan speaks first. “In the shed.”

My knees go weak, and Catríona catches me by the elbow. “The shed?” I breathe.

“Declan!” Róisín screams.

“What?” he bites out. “You were about to tell her anyway.”

“I wasn’t about to throw it at her like that.” Róisín flings the words back at him, then turns to me, her voice gentler. “Lannie, all I know is that he’s here and Grandda has him in the shed. Truly. That’s all.”

“That’s more than enough,” Declan mutters under his breath.

Róisín whips around and gets right in his face. “For you, maybe.”

“You had no right to tell her!” he shouts back.

“She had a right to know!”

“And what good is it doing her now?”

Catríona lets go of my arm and pushes between them, turning on Declan too. The argument erupts again, all three of them yelling at each other while I stand there staring, their words blurring together until I can’t follow any of it. Ronin is here. Ronin is in Ireland. Ronin is in my grandda’s shed. The words keep turning over and over in my head until they hardly sound like words at all. Then I hear myself say, “I think... I think I’ll go upstairs.”

Róisín turns back to me at once. “Alannah—”

“I’m all right,” I say softly, but it doesn’t sound convincing, even to me. “I just need a little time to myself.” No one tries to stop me. I leave them in the hall and go upstairs, closing my bedroom door behind me.

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