Night Winds Read Online Free

mother shook her head so hard, her simple chignon unwound itself . Tears gleamed on the ends of her red-blond lashes. “No, child. Your eyes, they’re touched by faeries. You truly see it, Shae. This is home . Killarney.”
    The way she’d said it, home , had given Shae her first inkling of how badly her mother still missed Ireland. But Shae had never dreamed she might go back. Not without her. Not without goodbye.
    Now a wave of painful longing swelled inside Shae’s chest . She wiped her eyes with a stained sleeve of pink silk and wondered why Father’s anger forever made her think of Mother. Why should his bitterness always feed her guilt? She was not the one who’d run away, taking only her jewelry and their love. It was Mother, only Mother, who had hurt them both.
    As she used the banister to pull herself to the second floor landing, a stiff breeze made the lace curtains stand out in the hallway . She paused to close the window. Past it, a flickering street lamp lit the quiet avenue. Tiredly, Shae limped toward her room.
    The door stood open, though she rarely left it so . Aunt Alberta harassed her so much about her jumble of brushes and supplies that it was easier to keep the whole mess out of sight.
    Shae felt her face grow warm . If Aunt Alberta had put everything away again, she’d never remember how she’d mixed the right soft green for the dune grass. But when she stepped inside the room to survey the damage, the dim light of the open veranda door illuminated a far more distressing scene.
    Her easel lay on its side across the floor, pointing like an arrow to the fallen painting. Forgetting her sore foot, Shae dropped to her knees to check for damage . The canvas had fallen facedown on the hardwood floor. Though she lifted it carefully, the wet oil paints had smeared beyond redemption, leaving a blurry whorl upon the floor. Her low moan built in strength as she thought of all the hours lost, then spied the deep crack in the easel’s leg.
    How on earth could the easel fall ? Though it stood fairly close to the doorway, it was solid, too heavy to have blown.
    A thought chilled her to the core . Had Father come in here to find her when she’d run? Could he have done this? Though his cruel words often bruised her soul, he had never laid a hand on her or any of her things. Had her flight swept aside his last, thin vestige of control? Shae sank beside the easel, her limbs unstrung by the thought.
    Surely not . Father loved her paintings, didn’t he? How often had he stood behind her, whispering praise at her captured images? Or had that happened before Mother left, in the days when he had painted, when he’d yet been himself? Still, hadn’t he bought her the easel and supplies? Father truly loved her, no matter what mistakes she made, no matter how awful his temper had become.
    It was then she looked up and noticed that her birds had disappeared.
    Her finches! A jolt of fear lifted her to her feet, then onto the gallery. She stuck her head over its railing and looked down but could see nothing in the darkness. Heedless of her bandaged foot, she ran out of the room, terror propelling every step. Had he taken them somewhere? Or could the cage have somehow fallen? No, it couldn’t have! But neither could the easel!
    Blades of pain stabbed through her cut foot with each step as she ran downstairs and then past the kitchen doorway . From the corner of her eye, she saw her aunt set down the teapot.
    “Mary Shae,” Aunt Alberta exclaimed, “what is it?”
    “My birds!” she cried. The front door slammed against the wall as she flung it open.
    *
    The stars gave little light as Phillip came upon her, where she knelt on the walk beside the lawn. Silhouetted by the dim glow from the front windows, her features were invisible. Still, he knew something was very wrong. He knew it by her rocking, by the unnatural stiffness of her back and shoulders.
    He hesitated and then heard her quiet whimpers . His black gelding,