Born in Fire Read Online Free Page B

speak how I choose.” Maeve’s hand clutched at the shawl she wore, drew it tight to her throat. It was wool, and she’d always wanted silk. “He gave me nothing but grief while he lived. Now he’s dead and has given me more.”
    “I see no tears in your eyes, Mother.”
    “And you won’t. I’ll neither live nor die a hypocrite, but speak God’s own truth. He’ll go to the devil for what’s he’s done to me this day.” Her eyes, bitter and blue, shifted from Maggie to Brianna. “And as God won’t forgive him, neither will I.”
    “Do you know God’s mind now?” Maggie demanded. “Has all your prayerbook reading and rosary clacking given you a line straight to the Lord?”
    “You’ll not blaspheme.” Maeve’s cheeks reddened with temper. “You’ll not blaspheme in this house.”
    “I’ll speak how I choose.” Maggie echoed her mother’s words with a tight smile. “I’ll tell you Tom Concannon needed none of your stingy forgiveness.”
    “Enough.” Though her insides were trembling, Brianna laid a steadying hand on Maggie’s shoulder. She took a long, careful breath to be certain her voice was calm. “I’ve told you, Mother, I’ll give the house to you. You’ve nothing to worry about.”
    “What’s this?” Maggie turned to her sister. “What about the house?”
    “You heard what it said at the will reading,” Brianna began, but Maggie shook her head.
    “I didn’t take any of it in. Lawyer’s talk. I wasn’t paying attention.”
    “He left it to her.” Still trembling, Maeve lifted a finger and jabbed it out as an accusation. “He left the house to her. All the years I suffered and sacrificed, and he takes even that from me.”
    “She’ll settle down right enough when she knows she has a sturdy roof over her head and no need to do anything to keep it,” Maggie said once her mother left the room.
    It was true enough. And Brianna thought she could maintain the peace. She’d had a lifetime of practice. “I’ll keep the house, and she’ll stay here. I can tend them both.”
    “Saint Brianna,” Maggie murmured, but there was no malice in it. “We’ll manage it between us.” The new furnace would have to wait, she decided. But as long as McGuinness kept buying, there would be enough to hold the two houses together.
    “I’ve thought about…Da and I talked about it a little while ago, and I’ve been thinking….” Brianna hesitated.
    Maggie pushed aside her own thoughts. “Just say it.”
    “It needs some fixing up, I know, and I’ve only a bit left of what Gran left me—and there’s the lien.”
    “I’ll be paying off the lien.”
    “No, that’s not right.”
    “It’s perfectly right.” Maggie got up to fetch the teapot. “He took it to send me to Venice, didn’t he? Mortgaged the house and weathered the gale Mother brought down on his head for doing it. I had three years of training thanks to him. And I’ll pay it back.”
    “The house is mine.” Brianna’s voice firmed. “And so’s the lien.”
    Her sister had a soft look about her, but Maggie knew Brianna could be mule stubborn when it suited her. “Well, we can argue that to death. We’ll both pay it off. If you won’t let me do it for you, Brie, let me do it for him. I’ve a need to.”
    “We’ll work it out.” Brianna took the cup of tea Maggie poured her.
    “Tell me what you’ve been thinking.”
    “All right.” It felt foolish. She could only hope it didn’t sound so. “I want to turn the house into a B-and-B.”
    “A hotel!” Stunned, Maggie could only stare. “You want to have paying guests nosing about the place? You’ll have no privacy at all, Brianna, and you’ll be working from morning till night.”
    “I like having people around,” Brianna said coolly. “Not everyone wants to be a hermit like you. And I’ve a knack for it, I think, for making people comfortable. It’s in the blood.” She stuck out her chin. “Granda ran a hotel, didn’t he, and Gran ran it