The Last Bride in Ballymuir Read Online Free

God and all the world to see when
she’s not known you for more than a few hours. I don’t like this,
Michael, not at all.”
    Prepared to launch into an abject apology for
soiling the reputation of Kylie O’Shea, Michael stammered to a stop
when Vi went on. “There’s something afoot with that girl,” she said
with a stern frown. “You’d best be staying away from her.”
    She’d knocked him wordless
with that. He neither wanted nor deserved his sister’s protection.
And while Vi had never been the delicate
flower for which she was named, he didn’t
recall her being this intractable, either.
Michael wasn’t certain what to say.
    Vi stood and walked to the peg rack by the
front door. She pulled down a ridiculous looking orange-and-green
braided leash and snapped it to Roger’s collar.
    “ Be a love, and take Rog for
a walk. He needs his fresh air. I’ll have soup on the table by the
time you get back.”
    Soup. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, what was it with women and their
soup? He’d sell the family relics— if they had any other than
Mam—for even a tough cut of mutton.
    Vi shoved the loop end of the leash into his hand. “Off with
you.” She shooed them out the door and shut it smartly behind
them.
    Michael scowled down at the little creature
on the other end of the tether. It regarded him with a Zen like
calm. “Come on, then,” he muttered. “This must be my day for making
a bloody fool of myself.”
    Roger looked especially pleased at that
thought. After sniffing the air, the dog trotted down the sidewalk
and veered toward town center.
    Resigned to his fate, Michael followed
behind. He kept his head down and pretended invisibility, no simple
task at his size. But it was far easier to be concerned about
walking this joke of a dog than to be thinking about what had
happened with Kylie O’Shea.
    It was just a kiss; he knew that. From what
he’d read in newspapers and witnessed firsthand in the Dublin pubs,
his act was no great sin. And there was no shame in wanting a bit
of fun after too many years filled with loneliness and wanting. But
much as he wanted her to be, Kylie was no bit of fun.
    “ A few laughs, that’s all,”
he muttered, then realized that he looked exactly like one of those
crazy bastards three steps short of a jig who spent the day talking
to his dog. At that, Roger stopped and stared up at him.
    “ I’m not looking for an
answer from you” Michael said.
    Female laughter echoed from a shop doorway.
“And he’ll not be giving you one.”
    She stepped out onto the
walk. There was no mistaking this one for a child. The young woman
was short with lush curves that were enticing enough now, but
sooner or later would thicken to those of a cantilevered matron. Clearly not Kylie’s fate, Michael thought, then pushed her from his mind.
    “ I’ve seen the dog before,
but you—you’re new.” She eyed him much the same way Michael would a
tenderloin roasted to perfection. “A friend of Vi Kilbride, are
you?”
    “ Her brother.”
    The woman smiled, and with a
practiced flirtatious move brushed long
auburn hair over her shoulders. Trouble and
a blatant promise shone in her dark eyes. “Better yet.” She stepped closer. “My name’s Evie
Nolan.”
    His first impulse was to laugh at the
coincidence of meeting Evie on the heels of Vi’s words. Then he
recalled the dozens of incidents from childhood on when Vi saw or
knew things before their time. A safety net or noose, Vi was,
depending on what one did with her bits of sight.
    Looking at the female in
front of him, though, Michael thought it
would be no hard thing at all to be “latched onto” by Evie Nolan. Then Vi’s image
super imposed itself over Evie’s sharp
features. Decidedly no hard thing, Evie Nolan, but no wise thing,
either. He didn’t offer his name, but she didn’t slow a
beat
    “ I was just closing up my
da’s shop and about to head down to O’Connor’s Pub. Been there
yet?”
    “ No, but I don’t