Kieran forced his gaze away from Faith with some difficulty and took the opportunity to look around. The place didn’t look as bad as it had yesterday. Maybe it was because Faith had managed to uncover some of the beauty beneath the layers of dust and dirt. Or maybe it was just because she was here, and her presence made everything seem a little brighter.
Shane returned with a slim, soft-sided leather case and proceeded to extract a small stack of papers. He hummed slightly to himself as he searched for the one he was looking for.
“Ah, here’s the problem,” he said, managing to look sheepish. He held up what looked like one page, then separated it into two. “These pages must have been stuck together. I’m so sorry about that.”
Kieran narrowed his eyes. Shane was looking just a little too innocent, and Lacie made a point of looking away. His brother had a memory like a computer. He did not make mistakes like that. Suddenly, Kieran felt a new surge of appreciation for his brother. He must have reworked the papers and added in that clause after the fact.
*
Faith scanned the “missing” page he handed her, her eyes growing wider the more she read. When she finished, she looked up and blinked. According to the paper in her hand, Shane Callaghan was going to pay for everything needed to repair the home.
“I don’t know what to say,” she said, blinking away the tears that were filling her eyes. It was simply too good to be true. She’d fallen in love with the place from the very first pictures, but had known it would take a lot to fix it up. Years, in fact, given that their limited funds and current budget would require them to do so in small increments.
Lacie seemed to understand. She moved closer to Faith and touched her shoulder. “Tell them they can start playing with the power tools before they die from anticipation,” she whispered loudly.
“What do you say, Faith?” Kieran asked when several long moments passed and she still had said nothing.
He looked so eager that Faith couldn’t help but laugh through her stunned shock. “Well, apparently I already signed my permission. And we would really appreciate the help,” she answered finally. “Thank you.”
“Awesome.” Kieran’s smile could have lit the entire valley of Pine Ridge for a week. He turned to Matt. “Come on. I’ve got a portable laser miter in the truck...”
Faith wasn’t sure what a portable laser miter was, but given the grin on Matt’s face, it was something good. She watched as her son eagerly followed the two much larger men out of the house, grinning as if Christmas had just come early. Beside her, Lacie rolled up her sleeves, her eyes glittering.
“So where do we start?”
Chapter Four
The next few hours were a blur. The men made several trips out to their truck, carrying in various kinds of equipment, much of which looked more apt to be on a space shuttle than in a century-old stone cottage. For the most part, they stayed out of the kitchen where Faith and Lacie were hard at work, but she caught occasional glances as they moved past the doorway. The velvety rumble of their bass voices and deep-throated laughs were audible over her small, portable radio as the two brothers ribbed each other (and occasionally Matt) good-naturedly.
She couldn’t be certain, but there were several times she thought she felt Kieran’s eyes on her. It started as a tell-tale tingle running up and down the length of her spine, followed by a flare of awareness, but each time she turned around to check, he seemed otherwise occupied.
Matt was in his glory. Usually wary around others, he seemed to have taken to the Callaghan brothers immediately. Faith cringed when she saw Matt using some of the scarier looking tools. Lacie caught her worried glances and assured her that Shane and Kieran wouldn’t let anything happen to Matt.
It pulled at Faith’s heartstrings. Matt was the center of her world. She would do anything for him. The one thing she hadn’t been able to provide, however, was a positive male figure in his daily life. Matt’s father never recognized his son. Faith’s own family had disowned her when they found out she was pregnant at the very young age of fourteen.
Looking at him now, how he was soaking up their praise and attention like a dry sponge, Faith couldn’t help but feel that she had cheated him somehow.
“Matt seems like a great kid,” Lacie remarked, breaking in to Faith’s thoughts. “How old is he?”
“He’ll be fourteen at the end of the summer,” Faith answered hesitantly, bracing herself for the slew of uncomfortable exclamations and questions that usually followed – ‘Wow, you look so young!’ ‘How old were you when you had him?’ ‘Where’s his father?’