“I know. I’m sorry, this is Marco, as dear a friend as I’ve ever had.”
“And sure we’ve heard all about Marco.” Sinead pulled him into a hug. “And I see Finola had the right of it as usual. Handsome as they come. Come, come, meet the family. You may not remember my boys, Breen, and you’ve never met their wives. Here’s our Seamus, named for Flynn’s da, and our Phelin, named for my own, and—”
“I set the frogs on you,” Breen said to Phelin. “You— Morena and I were having a tea party in the garden, and you made it rain on us, and we were so mad. I called the frogs and toads, and they chased you away.”
“Wouldn’t she remember that of all things?” A near carbon copy of his father from the photo, he laughed as he hugged Breen. “And here’s my wife, Noreen.”
“Don’t get up,” Breen said to the pretty and very pregnant woman with a crown of sunny braids. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“And you, and I hope for more stories on my man’s disreputable youth.”
“It’s coming back to me. I remember you,” she said to Seamus. “You had a cat named Maeve, and she had a litter of kittens. You promised me one when they were weaned. But … we left before they were.”
“We kept one, and named her for you, and a fierce mouser she was. A thousand welcomes.”
He had his mother’s eyes, his father’s build, and bent to kiss her. “And here’s my Maura.”
“We named our youngest for your father,” she told Breen. “He was a great man, and a good one. My parents both fought beside him. I train others to fight beside our taoiseach.”
Bold green eyes gleamed against her dark skin. A warrior’s braid fell beyond Maura’s shoulder while she wore the rest of her hair short and sleek.
“He’d thank you for the honor, and wish bright blessings on your son.”
“I know you have much to say to each other,” Minga said. “But I see the taoiseach has come, and I need to take Breen and Marco to the table, or we’ll all starve.”
“I’ll come back,” Breen promised, and took Sinead’s hands. “I didn’t know how much I missed you until now.”
“My sweet girl.” Sinead moved in for another hug, murmured in Breen’s ear, “I loved you like my own, and do still.”
“I know. I’ll come back.”
“And well done,” Minga said as she led Breen and Marco away. “What you said to Maura was just the right thing. And you lifted Sinead’s heart.”
So many more had come in since she’d stopped by that table, Breen saw. So many more voices. And she hadn’t noticed because the memories had all come so fast and strong. And with them the feelings.
She’d loved them, loved them all, as only a child could love. Absolutely and purely.
She cried for them when she’d gone away.
Now there was Keegan standing with his mother at the head table. Him in black with a dull silver waistcoat, Tarryn in a dress of white flowers over blue.
“You’ll sit on Keegan’s left,” Minga told Breen, “and Marco beside you. Don’t sit until he does. There’ll be a goblet of wine, but don’t lift it until after he speaks.”
“Okay.” Nerves jittered straight up from her toes. “Am I supposed to say something? Please say no!”
“Only if you wish. Tonight is for welcome and joy.”
“I haven’t seen Brian,” Marco began.
“He’ll come soon, I’m sure, and as Keegan thought you would wish it, he sits beside you tonight.”
She led them around the table to their places, then took hers on Tarryn’s other side. A man with dark blond hair and quiet blue eyes stood on Minga’s other side, and took Minga’s hand to kiss it.
Og, Breen thought, who’d traveled to a world of gold sands and blue seas to find love.
“These are your people,” Keegan whispered to Breen. “You’ve no reason to fear them.”
“I don’t.” Exactly, she thought.
He waited a moment as the voices turned to mutters, and the mutters died away.
“We have known battle and blood, joy and sorrow, and we will know more as nights pass and days dawn. And we will know peace, as we vowed, as those before us vowed, a thousand years and more to take it, keep it, hold it. What each knows, so all know. We are one. We are Talamh.”
They cheered him; he waited.
“This night, we are here, in this place. We are in the hills and the valleys, the forests and the fields. We are in the caves, the cliffs, the shore, and the sea. We are one. We are Talamh. And as one we welcome Breen Siobhan O’Ceallaigh, granddaughter of Mairghread, daughter of Eian, child of the Fey, of men, of gods.”