Page 73 of The Past

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.”

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