Reunited Read Online Free

father."
    "He was always a handsome devil," the old woman said. "A favorite of all the girls in the village. But he only had eyes for your mother, and though her parents didn't approve of the match, there was nothing that could stop them. I expect he still is quite dashing, though that black hair has surely turned to gray."
    Keely's heart lurched and she felt the blood slowly drain from her brain. Her father was dead. Didn't this woman know? He'd been gone for so many years, since just after she was born. Her mother had to have sent the news in a letter or at least made a phone call. Or maybe Maeve had simply forgotten her relatives so far away. Though the woman didn't appear to be feebleminded, Keely decided to forgo the revelation about her father's death. The last thing she wanted was her new cousin to collapse from a heart attack at learning the sad fate of Seamus McClain.
    Instead, Keely continued to stare at the only image she'd ever seen of her father. He was handsome, with his dark hair and fine features. Had she passed him on the street in New York she would have turned for a second look. Now she had an image to fix in her mind, a face to put with her father's name. "He is handsome," Keely murmured.
    "All the Quinn men were," Maeve said. "And I do believe they knew it, too."
    "Here's another photo taken that same day. I believe it was the day they left for America. Taken with the boys. I remember trying to get them all to stand still for a photo was nearly impossible."
    "The boys?" Keely asked, following Maeve's finger to the next page of the album.
    "And here they are again," Maeve said, pointing to another photo.
    Keely glanced down at the picture, the color images washed out by time. This time Fiona and Seamus were surrounded by five young boys of various ages and sizes. "Are these your children?" Keely asked.
    Maeve laughed as she pulled the photo from the album. "Then you don't recognize them? Why, these would be your brothers. Let me see if I remember correctly. The eldest was Conor. And then there was Brendan and Dylan, though I can't remember which of those two comes first. I suppose they're all grown and married now, with families of their own. And the twins. Now what were their names?" She turned the photo over. "I do believe your mother was pregnant." She pointed to the swell beneath Fiona's windblown dress. "That was probably you."
    Keely quickly pushed to her feet. This couldn't be right. This wasn't her family. This wasn't her story. She didn't have brothers. She was an only child! "I really should go," she murmured. "I've already taken too much of your time."
    "But you haven't touched your tea. Please stay and visit with me."
    "Perhaps I'll come again tomorrow," Keely said, desperate to find a moment to herself, a moment to think about what Maeve had told her.
    "Well, here, then. Take this with you." She handed Keely the photo, who reluctantly took it and tucked it in her purse before she hurried to the door.
    "Tomorrow," she said as she stepped outside into the soft rain that had begun to fall.
    By the time she reached the car, her mind was spinning with confusion. She wanted to believe Maeve Quinn was a crazy old lady who couldn't keep her facts straight. But every instinct told her that Maeve was in full possession of her faculties and she was the one who didn't have the story right.
    Keely numbly started the car and steered it down the road. But her head pounded and her stomach roiled. A wave of nausea overtook her and she slammed on the brakes and stumbled out of the car. Bracing her hands on the front bumper, she retched, her emotions overtaking her body. When her stomach finally settled, she took a ragged breath and pressed her palm to her forehead.
    Damn it, why did this always happen to her! This was what she got for acting so impulsively. Yet she couldn't be sorry she'd come. Ireland had revealed a past she'd never known, a past her mother had hidden from her for years. And if this wasn't the