“I know. Let’s move over here and talk so that I can explain what’s happened to you. It will give Eoin and Blaire a chance to get reacquainted.”
As the two women moved toward the bar, I dinna miss the apologetic look Bri shot in Eoin’s direction, presumably for leaving him alone with me. Without doubt, me relationship with Eoin had always been slightly contentious but only because I dinna want to marry him. If I’d known him under any under circumstance, I suspected we would’ve gotten along just fine. I found meself a little embarrassed to know that Bri had heard of my terrible behavior toward him.
“Eoin.” I nodded once and stood quietly, determined to let him initiate conversation. Always the gentlemen, he moved to pick up me hand and kiss it lightly before stepping away once more.
“Blaire, ye look well. Do ye enjoy being here in this time, lass? It’s verra different from our own. Are ye happy?”
His question surprised me, and I couldna help but wonder if perhaps I wasn’t doing as good a job at looking happy as I was trying to do. Truth was, I was lonely. And while I loved the independence women enjoyed in this time, I missed me home. But I knew it was most likely impossible for me to return and, even if I could, I dinna think I could stand the heartache that would come with being near Arran and knowing I was unwanted.
It took me a moment too long to answer Eoin, and I knew he could read the untruth behind me words. “Aye. O’course I’m happy. Why wouldna I be? Why are ye here, Eoin? I’m verra surprised to see ye.”
Eoin chuckled. “Aye, I suppose that ye are. I’m surprised to find meself here as well. Bri wished to come to take care of some things that were left unfinished from her life here. I wouldna let her go alone. If something happened, I doona think I could go back to a life without her.”
“I’m glad that ye are happy, Eoin. Is all well with yer family? Have ye heard from me father?” I didn’t mention Arran, but something in Eoin’s eyes made me wonder if he knew it was Arran I was asking about. Was it possible that Eoin knew about what had occurred between his brother and me? If so, perhaps Arran had not closed his heart so completely to me. The thought gave way for a small trickle of hope to rise within me, one which I quickly pushed away while I waited for Eoin’s response.
He waved me to a table in the corner of the room. “It looks as if they may be a while. Let us sit, and I’ll tell ye all that has happened while ye have been away.”
I nodded and followed, glancing quickly at the two women visiting at the bar. As I watched them, I remembered the shocked expression on Bri’s face when she realized the woman Eoin was holding back was Mitsy. Bri hadn’t known her friend would be here. Eoin had lied. They had not come to the pub so that Bri could give Mitsy an explanation, they’d come here looking for me.
*
“Did you tell her why we came here?” Bri led the way to their hotel room as Eoin slowly made his way down the hallway, stopping every so often to stare at something new that fascinated him. Several hours after arriving at the pub, they’d all left together, first dropping Blaire off at her apartment and next securing two hotel rooms for the three of them just across the street from Blaire’s place of residence. With Mitsy shut away in her room for the evening, Bri and Eoin were finally able to discuss what had occurred over the last few hours.
“I dinna tell her all of why we came here. I told her that ye needed to see to some things ye’d left unfinished, but I dinna tell her that we’d come to see if she would return home.”
Bri stopped in front of their room and pulled the plastic key card from her pocket. Smiling, she extended it Eoin’s direction. “Here. You see that slot above the handle? Stick this card in there and then slowly pull it out. It will unlock the door.”
It took him three tries but Bri remained patient, enjoying the look of awe that radiated from her husband’s face. Once inside, she decided to tell him the news she’d dreaded sharing with him since they’d left the pub.
“Well, I suppose it’s fine that you haven’t told her the other reason we came here, just yet. You’ll have plenty of time to do that.”
She heard her husband stop playing with the toilet in the bathroom, and she knew she’d caught his attention. “What do ye mean by that, lass? Now, that ye have spoken with yer friend, we should be able to return home in only a few days, aye?”
Bri shook her head and turned a guilty face on her husband. “No. I’m afraid not. You and Blaire are going to have the next week all to yourselves. I made a promise over a year ago that I would be Mitsy’s maid of honor. I’m leaving with her tomorrow to go back to the States for her wedding.”
Chapter 10
Conall Castle
1646