He gave her a gentle push into Erin’s old room. “Get some sleep, smart mouth. When I get you alone again, you’ll need to be well rested. Very well rested.”

Clare shivered with anticipation. Despite the fears that still gnawed at her, she couldn’t wait.

After a full day with the O’Malleys, Clare felt like she’d known them forever. She was halfway in love with Aidan’s father, who made her laugh until she cried as he plotted his escape from the hospital. When she sneaked him a Snicker’s bar from the hallway vending machine, she earned a permanent place in his fragile heart.

Colin and Declan were friendly and courteous in the short amount of time she spent with them, and Erin was frazzled as she dashed in and out of the hospital whenever she could find someone to stay with her children. Brandon disappeared for much of the day, and Clare heard rumblings that led her to believe he had a problem with alcohol. The family was anxious about where he had gone.

Colleen took Clare under her wing, sending the message to the rest of her boisterous family that Clare had been accepted by the only one who mattered. As Aidan predicted, Clare won Colleen over forever by insisting on separate bedrooms. The two women sat up talking long after Aidan went to bed.

“I almost had a heart attack myself when Aidan walked in holding your hand,” Colleen confessed. “I’ve been waiting for years to see that again.”

“It might’ve never happened if Dennis hadn’t gotten sick.”

“Oh, I think you’re wrong. I see the way my boy looks at you. He’d have brought you here before much longer.”

Clare smiled. “Maybe.”

“He’s fragile, you know. Life hasn’t been kind to him.”

“I wouldn’t describe him as fragile. At least I wouldn’t want him to hear us using that word.”

“I wouldn’t be his mother if I didn’t ask you to be good to him.”

“I love him, Colleen. You don’t have to ask me to be good to him. He makes it easy.”

Colleen blinked back tears. “Thank you for saying exactly what I needed to hear,” she said in her lilting Irish brogue. “Let me ask you, has he sung for you?”

“He sings?” Clare asked with amazement.

“Beautifully, but not since everything happened with Sarah and the baby. It’s something else in him that seemed to die along with them. He used to play the piano, too. You’ve seen the piano in his house?”

“Yes, but I never thought to ask him about it.”