“Did so. According to legend, the fire in her green eyes brought young O’Malley to his knees, and with a wistful look at the lads, he said, ‘Why, you, love. Of course I choose you.’ She had him in front of the parish priest less than two weeks later. Right after the wedding—and much to Da’s dismay—she moved them to Chatham. Da was devastated. ‘All my friends are in Boston,’ he lamented.”

“She was no fool.”

“That’s right. Mum said, ‘Exactly. Now find a way to make a living here, Dennis O’Malley, because there’re going to be babies. Lots of them.’ So Da did as he was told, using the only marketable skill he had to build a construction business. O’Malley Construction was slow to catch on, and I remember a childhood long on love but short on frivolous extras.”

“Tell me you were born right after their wedding, and you’ll be forty very soon.”

“Ten months to the day after their wedding. I’ll be forty in February. Is that soon enough?”

“I guess it’ll have to do.”

“My brother Brandon was born a year after me. Two years later came Colin followed by Declan the next year. Brandon, Colin, and I were named for Mum’s older brothers, who broke her heart by staying behind in Ireland when she and her parents moved to America. We grew up fascinated by her stories about the uncles, and for years she begged Da to fly her brothers over. The business had finally begun to make some decent money when he gave in and brought the ‘boys’ over for a three-week visit. Well, the boys had grown into men in the twenty or so years since she’d last seen them.” Aidan smiled at the memory. “They tore through Chatham like a tornado the summer I was eleven. They brawled their way through every bar in town, and after they left, at least five local girls claimed they’d fathered their babies. They left a big impression on us, and suffice it to say, Mum never mentioned a return visit.”

Clare roared with laughter. “You’re making this up!”

“I am not! Oh, I forgot to mention I was nine when my sister Erin was born. Mum thanked God for finally giving her a girl. Ironically enough, though, it was Erin who turned out to be the hellion. We boys lived in such mortal fear of Mum—something we’ve never entirely outgrown—that we didn’t dare cross her. Erin, however, made a blood sport out of defying her. From the time she uttered her first words, her battles with Mum were legendary. They went on until Erin turned twenty-one and met poor Tommy Maloney.”

“Let me guess, history repeated itself?”