“Shannon.” Brianna gripped her hands together. “I never introduced you to Lottie. Lottie Sullivan, Shannon Bodine.”

The woman with the round face and beleaguered expression continued the process of climbing out from the driver’s side.

“I’m pleased to meet you,” she said with a quick, apologetic smile. “And welcome.”

“Get in the car, Lottie,” Maeve snapped. “We’re not staying.”

“Drive yourself off then,” Maggie snapped right back. “Lottie’s welcome here.”

“And I’m not?”

“It’s you who’s made that choice.” Maggie folded her arms. “Make yourself miserable if you like, but you won’t do this to Brie.”

“Mrs. Concannon.” Shannon nudged Maggie aside. “I’d like to speak with you.”

“I’ve nothing to say to you.”

“Fine. Then you can listen.” Out of the corner of her eye, Shannon caught Lottie’s nod of approval and hoped to earn it. “We have a connection, you and I, whether we like it or not. Your daughters link us, and I don’t want to be the cause of friction between you.”

“No one’s causing friction but herself,” Maggie said hotly.

“Be quiet, Maggie.” Shannon ignored her sister’s hiss of temper and continued. “You have a right to be angry, Mrs. Concannon. And to be hurt, whether it’s your pride that’s suffering or your heart, it doesn’t matter. Still, the fact is you can’t change what happened, or the result of it any more than I can.”

Though Maeve said nothing, only continued to stare fiercely straight ahead, Shannon was determined to finish.

“My part in this whole thing is rather indirect, a result rather than a cause. Whether or not you were part of the cause doesn’t really matter.”

That brought Maeve’s head around, and the venom spewing. “You’d dare to say that I caused your mother to commit adultery with my husband.”

“No. I wasn’t there. My mother blamed no one, certainly not you, for her actions. And what I’m saying is it doesn’t matter what part you played. Some might say that since you didn’t love him, you shouldn’t care that he found someone else. I don’t agree with that. You have all the right in the world to care. What they did was wrong.”

Maggie’s next protest was cut off by a cold look from Shannon. “It was wrong,” she said again, satisfied that no one interrupted. “Whether you look at it morally, religiously, or intellectually. You were his wife, and no matter how dissatisfied either of you were in the marriage, that should have been respected. Honored. It wasn’t, and to find out it wasn’t after all these years doesn’t diminish the anger or the betrayal.”

She took a quiet breath, aware that Maeve’s attention was centered fully on her. “I can’t go back and not be born, Mrs. Concannon. Nothing either of us can do will break the connection, so we’re going to have to live with it.”

She paused again. Maeve was watching her now, and intrigued, her eyes narrowed. “My mother died with my hard words between us. I can’t fix that, either, and I’ll regret it all my life. Don’t let something you can’t change ruin what you have now. I’ll be gone soon. Maggie and Brie and your grandchildren are right here.”