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‘That’s the west of Ireland for you.’

‘Glad I live in the midlands, then.’

‘You’re always giving out about the weather there too.’ He stopped walking and smiled at her. ‘Let’s just enjoy the few days’ break. Grace would want us to do that.’

‘Sure. Once I warm up.’

‘Here, you can have my jacket.’ He began to take it off.

‘And have you complaining?’ She laughed. ‘No, I’ll be fine. Thanks.’

Grace and Bryan’s house was located on a hillside, sea in the distance, fields all around, long reeds and worn wooden fences stuck into gaps in dry-stone walls. Lottie stood at one of those walls, features of the western landscape, and watched the bog cotton blow in the breeze. The sea was rough and green, and the waves turned over quickly and crashed onto the rocky expanse of an inclined shoreline. She smelled seaweed and freshness. It was beginning to permeate her brain, lightening it, slowing herpulse, and she felt calmer than she had in months. Months of debating where they should live and how they would finance a house move to benefit both their families.

‘What do you make of Bryan?’ She tightened her arms about her in an attempt to ward off the cool air.

‘First impressions? He’s lovely. But he seems a little withdrawn, don’t you think?’

‘At his age, I suppose he’s seen it all. He can’t really be sixty-four, can he?’

‘He’s actually in his fifties. Grace got his age wrong, either intentionally to rile me, or unintentionally because she didn’t know for sure.’

‘She isn’t underhand, so I’d go for the latter,’ Lottie said with a grin. ‘I’m surprised she’s having a civil ceremony wedding and she doesn’t seem too excited about it.’

‘Her lack of enthusiasm is Grace just being her usual self. She loves him in her own way.’

‘She never gets excited about anything, does she?’

‘Grace is Grace. One of a kind. A rare person.’ Boyd buried his hands in his jeans pockets. ‘Neither Bryan nor anyone else will change her. That’s the beauty of my sister. She is her own woman.’

A soft mist gathered across the fields, blowing up from the sea, and Lottie wished again that she’d worn a jacket rather than the light quilted gilet she had on.

‘I got an odd vibe from him,’ she said. ‘Like he was keeping something from her.’

‘He kept staring at you when Grace was dishing up lunch earlier.’

‘What do you mean?’ She scowled in the face of the rising wind and turned to him.

‘It was like he was waiting for an opportunity to get you on your own. To talk to you.’

‘I didn’t notice.’ She had, but didn’t like to say so.

‘My observation skills must surpass yours then.’ Boyd sat on the wall, and a small stone dislodged and rolled down to his feet. ‘At least they’ve started to build their new house, not that I see much wrong with Bryan’s old one. They’ve had more progress in the last four months than we’ve had.’

‘Don’t start that argument, Mark. I’m saving for a trip to see Leo in New York about finance, and until that is done, we have to park it.’ Her half-brother was playing silly buggers again, and she did not want to think about all that while having a rare week off work.

‘While your whole family develops asthma from the damp in that creaking old house. Why don’t we take Grace up on the offer of Bryan buying a house in Ragmullin and us renting it? She said he has the money and wants to invest in property.’

‘What did I say about not starting an argument?’

‘Okay.’ He smirked, and she caught the mischievous gleam in his eye.

‘We’re here for your sister’s wedding and we are going to enjoy it.’

‘Sure thing. You’re the boss.’

‘I am.’ She grinned and grabbed his hand, and they made their way towards the edge of the field to take in the magnificence of the Atlantic Ocean.

With Tess, his Border collie, racing ahead of him, Bryan O’Shaughnessy walked his land counting his flock. He rubbed his furrowed brow with one finger and wondered if he had made the right decision. He couldn’t dislodge the nagging feeling that he was a fraud. The sensation woke him in the middle of thenight and scratched away at the anxiety spots that flared the closer he got to the wedding.