“It is, yes.”

“A lot of house for one man. And all those other buildings.”

“A farm needs a barn or two, and cabins and such. If you’ll walk over one day, I’ll show you about.”

“Maybe I will.” She glanced back toward the house at the first shout. Shannon doubted it would be the last one.

“Maeve’s come then,” Murphy murmured. “Mrs. Concannon.”

“She’s here.” A sudden thought had her looking back at Murphy, studying his face. “And so are you. Just happening by?”

“I wouldn’t say that. Maggie called to tell me things would be brewing.”

The resentment came as quickly as the unexpected protective instinct. “She should be here herself, and not leave this whole mess up to Brie.”

“She’s there. That’s her you hear shouting.” In an easy gesture, one more sheltering than it seemed, he took Shannon’s hand and led her farther from the house. “Maggie and her mother will go at each other like terriers. Maggie’ll see that she does, to keep Maeve from striking out too close to Brianna.”

“Why should the woman fight with them?” Shannon demanded. “They had nothing to do with it.”

Murphy said nothing a moment, moving off a little ways to examine the blossoms on a blackthorn. “Did your parents love you, Shannon?”

“Of course they did.”

“And never did you have any cause to doubt it, or to take the love aside and examine it for flaws?”

Impatient now, for the house had grown ominously silent, she shook her head. “No. We loved each other.”

“I had the same.” As if time were only there to be spent, he drew her down on the grass, then leaned back on his elbows. “You didn’t think about being lucky, because it just was. Every cuff or caress my mother ever gave me had love in it. One the same as the other.”

Idly he picked up Shannon’s hand, toyed with her fingers. “I don’t know as I’d have thought about it overmuch. But there was Maggie and Brie nearby, and I could see that they didn’t have the same. With Tom they did.” Murphy’s eyes lighted with the memory. “His girls were his greatest joy. Maeve didn’t have that kind of giving in her. And I’m thinking, the more he loved them, the more she was determined not to. To punish them all, herself included.”

“She sounds like a horrible woman.”

“She’s an unhappy one.” He lifted her hand, brushing his lips over the knuckles in an absent gesture of long intimacy. “You’ve been unhappy, Shannon. But you’re strong and smart enough to let the sadness pass into memories.”

“I don’t know if I am.”

“I know.” He rose then, holding out a hand. “I’ll go in with you. It’s been quiet long enough, so it’s time.”

She let him pull her to her feet, but no further. “This isn’t my affair, Murphy. It seems to me everyone would be better off if I stayed out of it.”

His eyes stayed on hers, dark and level and tough. “Stand with your sisters, Shannon. Don’t disappoint me, or yourself.”