Having Faith (2 page)

Kieran took full advantage of the opportunity and started backing away.  A riled Maggie was every bit as dangerous as a highly-trained operative.  Maybe more so, because there was usually some logic or rules of engagement for operatives. 

“You cannot see what is plain in front of your face, Michael Callaghan.”

Michael regarded her with a practiced calm Kieran envied.  He tossed the remains of the plate in the trash can and leaned against the counter, crossing his arms over his chest.  “Is that so?”

Maggie crossed her arms, too.  It was hard to determine which one was more stubborn.  “Aye.”

“You wouldn’t by any chance be referring to the fact that you are thirteen weeks pregnant, would you, Maggie?”

Maggie’s mouth dropped open.  Michael smirked.

“You knew?”  Astonishment turned to anger in the span of a few heartbeats.  Kieran didn’t miss her quick glance at the cast iron skillet in the drying rack.  Apparently neither did Michael, because he moved it smoothly out of her reach. 

Michael sighed heavily.  “I am a doctor, Maggie.  And your husband.”

“You
knew
?  And you didn’t say anything?”

“Neither did you,” he pointed out logically.  Maggie scowled.  Kieran wondered at the dynamics of the pair.  Maggie was Michael’s passion; he was her rock, always.  And he never let her get away with anything.

“By the way, you have a two o’clock with the OB.”  Michael checked his watch.  “That gives you about ten minutes to get ready.”

Her peeved expression turned quickly to one of fear.  Her eyes widened and her arms uncrossed.  “But I can’t,” she stammered.  “What about Ryan?”

“Kieran’s taking him back to the Pub.  Taryn’s waiting on him.”

Maggie shot Kieran a look of ultimate betrayal.  “Is that why you’re here?” she said in disbelief.  “All that shite about being the only one who hasn’t found his
croie
yet, that was just to distract me?”

He shrugged.  It was true enough that he was starting to feel restless, that he was ready to meet the right woman who would be the other half of his heart.  He hadn’t been lying about that.  Sure, he had
BodyWorks
, the fitness center he owned and operated.  That kept him busy.  As did his martial arts classes and the occasional art work he did for his cousin Stacey’s novel covers. 

But he was growing more than a little weary of the single life.  He’d give it all up in a second to have a woman look at him the way Maggie looked at his brother.  To have a little guy of his own to bounce on his shoulders and toss baseballs with and take fishing.

“Judas,” she mumbled, adding something in Irish that made his cheeks redden and actually made him feel bad. 

“Now go on then,” Michael said sternly, tapping her backside and giving her a gentle push toward the door.  “Ten minutes, then I’m tossing you over my shoulder and taking you whether you’re ready or not.”

Maggie’s green eyes turned dark, the swirls reminding Kieran of something akin to funnel clouds.  He swore the temperature in the room dropped about ten degrees, but she did what Michael said.

“And you,” Michael said, staring pointedly at Kieran as he grabbed an apple.  “Stop feeling guilty.  I can see it in your eyes.”

“She’s scared, Mick,” Kieran said, looking around the kitchen at all of the baked goods.  The aroma alone was enough to make him consider spending an extra hour on the weight bags tonight, let alone the three plates of apple pie and vanilla ice cream she’d placed in front of him.

“I know,” Michael said on an exhale, his voice softening.  He was arguably the most even-tempered and rational among all the Callaghan sons with the possible exception of Shane.  Only his wife had the ability to smash through his implacable façade with unerring precision.  “And the fact that she is terrifies me.  It’s why we have to do this.  She’ll worry herself sick.”

Kieran nodded.  He understood it, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.  He might never forget the way Maggie looked at him.  It actually hurt enough to have him absently rubbing at his chest.

“Don’t worry,” Michael said as if reading his thoughts.  “She still loves you.”

Kieran sighed.  “Yeah, I guess.  Forgive and forget, right?”

Michael laughed and clamped his younger brother on the shoulder.  “Don’t be an idiot.  Maggie doesn’t forget. 
Ever
.”

* * *

“H
ey, mom, look!”  Matt’s excited shout had Faith gripping the steering wheel hard and looking around for the source worthy of such an outcry.  Only a few minutes ago the boy had appeared sound asleep.  “The deer on the crossing signs!  They have red noses, like Rudoph!”

A wave of relief washed over Faith O’Connell as she realized the cause of his outburst was not life-threatening.  “You scared me half to death, Matt,” she chastised.  “What’s rule number one?”

“Don’t startle the driver,” he exhaled wearily.  “But mom – red noses!  Is that cool or what?  Hey, do they have reindeer in Pennsylvania?”

Faith smiled at her son’s barely contained excitement.  She’d worried how the move would affect him, but so far he seemed to be taking it all in stride, treating it like it was some huge adventure.  It did her heart good to see her mature, quiet, thirteen-almost-fourteen year old acting like a young boy again, even if she knew it was short lived. 

“I don’t think so,” she said, appearing to give the matter serious thought.  “But I do think they have great big deer that look just like them.”

“Cool,” Matt breathed, searching the acres of forested land on either side of the highway as if he expected to see one jump out at any moment.  “Holy shit, mom!” he exclaimed only a few short minutes later.  “You’re right!  Look!”

“What did I tell you about cursing?!” she scolded, but even she found it difficult to bite back a colorful expletive when she spotted the fourteen-point buck grazing on the rocky incline off to the right, not even fifty yards from the seventy-mile an hour traffic on the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.  At least three does were visible on either side of him.

“Mom!?” he yelled again, causing her to wrench her eyes back to the road and slam on the brakes when the flow of traffic slowed significantly in front of them.  What the hell?  When did the speed limit suddenly drop down to fifty-five?

“Oh, wow,” Matt said, his eyes widening as he looked to the front.  “It’s a tunnel!  Right through the mountains!  We’re going to drive through a
mountain
, mom!  How freaking awesome is that!”

“Pretty freaking awesome,” she agreed with only slightly less enthusiasm, removing her sunglasses as the warning signs commanded and turning on her headlights.  Faith gripped the steering wheel tighter, fighting against the instant claustrophobia of being in such an enclosed space.  The man-made arch loomed up over them, the yellow lights casting an eerie glow over everything as they made their way through and the song on the radio changed from an upbeat tune into a buzz of static.  She didn’t realize she was holding her breath until they came out on the other side a scant one mile later.

“Wow.”  Matt looked out the passenger side window down into the steep ravine, then up at the peaks that rose above them as they climbed steadily higher.  Far below, small towns that once housed the local coal miners and their families looked like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

“So you’re liking Pennsylvania, huh?” Faith smiled, finding Matt’s good mood infectious. 

“Oh yeah,” he grinned back.  “At least, so far.”

He was growing up so fast, she thought.  He’d be fourteen by the end of the summer, but no one would know that just by looking at him.  He already towered over his mother by a good eight inches, his gangly frame the only glaring evidence that he was still a few years from full manhood.  But it wasn’t just his size that made him appear older.  Matt was more mature than most boys his age, having to grow up faster than she would have liked.  He hadn’t had it easy. 

More than anything else, Faith was hoping this move would be good for him.  For both of them.  A fresh start in a new place; it was exactly what they needed.

All of their most prized possessions were in the back of the light blue Taurus, now pushing the two hundred thousand mile mark and showing its age.  It wouldn’t win any beauty contests, but with a little help and a lot of luck it ran well enough.  It had gotten them this far, and for that she was grateful.

As if mocking her, the radiator light started blinking on the dash, informing her that their current ascent up the mountain was pushing its limits.  At the next widened area she’d pull over and refill the overflow tank with the gallon of water she always kept in the back along with an impressive supply of paper clips, rubber bands, bungee cords, and, her personal fix-it tool of choice - duct tape.  She patted the console appreciatively, murmuring a few encouraging words.  As if responding to her heartfelt plea, the light blinked off again. 

“Tell me again about the house,” Matt asked for the hundredth time, all traces of sleepiness gone.  Faith didn’t mind.  She was every bit as excited about the prospect of having their own place as he was.  And after nearly fifteen hours of driving, she welcomed the topic.

“Well, it’s going to need a lot of work,” she cautioned, just as she had every other time he’d asked.

“Yeah, but we’re good at that kind of stuff,” Matt said with the arrogance of a young teen.

“Yes, we are.  It’s a small place, little more than a cottage, really.  Made of stone.  Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, living room, kitchen.”

“And a basement, right?  Rooms actually under the house?”

“Yep,” she grinned.  Most of Matt’s young life had been spent in areas of the south barely above sea level, where few homes actually had basements.  And they’d never come across such a thing in the trailer parks they’d lived in over the past ten years.

“And a porch?  And a yard?”

“Yep.  Even a detached garage and a shed.” 

“Sweet.”  He settled back again, eyes wide as he took in the unfamiliar landscape, no doubt imagining all the wonders of their new home.  In the back of her mind, so was she.

“K
ier, can you head over to the property on Sycamore later?” Shane asked as he lifted Ryan from his car seat so that he could run around a little.  The boy was a true Callaghan – always moving, always looking for something to get into. 

Kieran grabbed the box of baked goodies provided by Maggie and followed his brother into the massive home owned by the family of Shane’s fiancé, Lacie.  Shane managed the assortment of properties owned by the Callaghan Corporation, as well as handled all the legal dealings of the clan.

“Sure.  What’s up?”

“The new owner’s due to arrive sometime this week.  With everything going on it completely slipped my mind.  The place has been empty for years, and I haven’t had a chance to make sure the electric and plumbing are safe and operational.”

Kieran frowned.  “Wait.  You mean that ratty old cottage?  Someone actually bought that?”

“Yep.”

“I hope he’s a real do-it-yourself type.  That place needs a major overhaul.”

“Not ‘he’, ‘she’,” Shane corrected.  “Single mom.”

Kieran’s frown deepened.  “You’re kidding, right?”

“Nope.”

“We’ve got to have a better property available,” Kieran said, shaking his head at the thought of a woman living in such a place.  It went against every male instinct he had.  “Something more suitable for a single mom.”

“We do,” Shane confirmed.  “But the buyer was very specific about what she was looking for.”   

Kieran couldn’t help the frown that creased his brow as he wondered what kind of woman would buy that type of property.  Maybe she was one of these people who professionally “flipped’ houses – bought old ones in poor shape for a song, fixed them up, then sold them for a profit.  That had been one of Shane’s reasonings for buying the old place originally. 

Kieran was as surprised by the fact that he was selling it in its current condition as he was with the buyer.  Then again, the past couple of months had been pretty rough on Shane.  Several months ago he’d discovered his
croie
, only to have her kidnapped at the hands of a psychotic family friend.  Factor in the tricky extraction of her brother from Afghanistan after being missing and presumed dead for nearly three years, and Kieran could definitely understand Shane’s lack of attention to some things, however uncharacteristic of his highly-organized brother.

“What do you know about her?” Kieran asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

“The buyer?  Not much.  Single mom, like I said.  Relocating from down South.  Works for the Goddess.”

When the newest location of the Celtic Goddess first opened its doors in the northeast a few years previously, owner/partner Aidan Harrison brought in staff from their other successful locations in Georgia and Chicago, as well as hiring quite a few locals.  The Goddess was doing so well, surpassing so many expectations, that Aidan was currently adding on an entire new series of luxury suites as well.  The remote mountain location and the panoramic view it afforded made it a natural progression, as well as a lucrative endeavor.

Something about the whole situation bothered him. Kieran rubbed absently at a spot on his chest, unaware that he was even doing so.  The motion did not escape Shane’s attention, though. 

“Something on your mind, little brother?” he asked. 

“Yes.  No.  Maybe.”  Kieran shook his head, not at all surprised that Shane had picked up on it.  He was used to his brother’s uncanny senses. 

“Feeling anxious, huh?” Shane prompted knowingly.

“Yeah,” Kieran admitted.  “A little.”  He exhaled and relayed all that had happened at Michael’s earlier. 

Shane looked thoughtful.  “That might explain it,” he said carefully, but his eyes watched Kieran, unconvinced.

“Yeah.”  Kieran wasn’t convinced either.  He was worried about Maggie, and the fact that she was unhappy with him at the moment didn’t sit well, but he couldn’t help feeling that there was something more to this strange apprehension he was feeling.