Dad exhaled and rubbed his face. “I’m sorry about that, Brogan.”
“’Tis fine, sir. I cannot blame ye fer going after the bugger. We’ll see to it they don’t come back.”
“Thank you.”
Brogan looked hard at McKale. “I’m takin’ back the invitation I extended to ‘em for the binding ceremony. Understand?”
“Aye, Father.”
We walked back up to the field in silence, and McKale never let go of my hand. People dispersed into the clearing, whispering amongst themselves.
“I think I’ll call it an early night,” Dad said.
“I’ll be along,” Mom said. “I’m going to check on Cass first.”
He nodded. “Tell her… tell her I love her and I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lose my temper, but I think there’s more to this story. Stuff I don’t even want to know.”
I dropped my gaze to the ground as Dad walked away. My heart thudded when Mom turned to face McKale and me.
“Robyn, what have your sister and that boy been up to?”
McKale looked away. I swallowed and whispered, “I…” I dropped my eyes.
She pressed fingertips to her temples, appearing even more anguished than she’d been when she broke the news to me about McKale’s heritage. “Never mind. I don’t need to hear it.”
“Oh, Cassidy Renee,” she whispered into the air. Her eyes watered. “Why must you learn everything the hard way?”
I squeezed McKale’s hand and released it. “You can go. I’ll see you in the morning.”
He left us.
I walked to my room with Mom at my side. Stress reverberated off her. Cassidy’s sobs were audible long before we got there. I was scared about what Mom planned to do. Would she yell at her and lecture her? Would she tell her what a foolish girl she was and how disappointed she was?
Nope. My parents were full of surprises tonight. Mom climbed straight into my sister’s bed and curled around Cassidy’s balled form. She whispered and smoothed her hair back from her face. Over and over she did this until Cass quieted, hiccupping for air every minute or so. I climbed into my own bed, but couldn’t relax as the minutes ticked by. Mom didn’t return to her own room until Cassidy was hard asleep.
I woke the next morning to the gentle shake of a hand on my shoulder.
“Robyn,” Cass whispered.
I sat straight up, slurring, “What’s wrong?”
“I woke up early and I can’t fall back asleep. I feel like I need to talk to Ronan about last night—”
“Cass!” I felt much more awake now. “Don’t you remember what he did?”
“Well, yeah.” She frowned. “But I think he was just trying to push me away because he knows I have to leave. I think he’s scared.”
I looked at the ceiling, gathering my thoughts. “Maybe he is, chickadee, but then again maybe he’s just a big, selfish jerk.”
“I don’t think so,” she said quietly. “He was drunk last night. I need to talk to him while he’s sober.”
The bad thing about romantics was they put themselves out there for heartbreak. I wished she’d guard her heart better, but it was hard to fault her trusting, loving nature.
“I’ll have McKale get a message to Rock today, okay? After last night I think it’d be bad for you to go after him.”
She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth. “Okay. But you have to find out from McKale exactly what Rock says and tell me.”
I let out another deep sigh. “Alright.”
She smiled and hopped up, digging through her bag for the day’s outfit as if yesterday hadn’t been the worst day of her life—as if Dad hadn’t gone ballistic on the guy she loved.
“Mom was really worried about you last night,” I said.
“Oh… yeah.” That stole a little of the hop from her step. “Do you think I’m in trouble?”
“No. I think now Mom’s stressed for both you and me.”
“I’ll go talk to her.” She bit her lip. “Maybe I can help you with the animals first?”
I admired her procrastination technique. “Sure.”
MCKALE HELD MY HAND as we walked down the path toward the waterfall that evening. The clan was still partying it up, but the Masons had been a subdued bunch all day. I accepted with gratitude when McKale asked me on an early evening “date.”
When we reached the gurgling stream the first thing I did was look around for mini-men. I’d come prepared with a bathing suit, but I wasn’t opposed to breaking out a few more wrestling skills if someone dared to mess with us today.
We walked up the mossy, damp bank to where the stream thickened at the base of the falls. As we stopped and looked at each other, a shyness overcame us and we laughed.
“I guess you don’t own any swim trunks, huh?” I asked him. I motioned to my shorts.
“Nay. The lads and I swim without clothing.”
“Oh.” Heat prickled my skin and I cleared my throat.
“I’ll wear me pants today.”
I nodded, looking down at a spongy patch of earth that my toes were squishing around in.
“Okay. I have a swimsuit on under this. It was made for swimming. In case you couldn’t tell from the name.”