“I’m sorry for it.” Brenna set her hands on the table, folded them, and prepared to hold her ground.

“Mary Kate? What have you to say for yourself?”

“That if she lives under this roof I no longer care to.”

“That would be your choice,” Mollie said coldly now. “As all of my children are welcome here as long as they like.”

“Even whores?”

“Mind your tongue, girl.” Mick stepped forward. “You want to slap and wrestle, that’s one thing. But you’ll speak with respect to your mother, and you won’t use language like that about your sister.”

“Let her deny it.”

“Mary Kate.” Brenna’s voice was little more than a whisper, and more plea than warning.

Though Mary Kate’s lips trembled, she couldn’t fight off the rage. “Let her deny she spent the night in Shawn Gallagher’s bed.”

The teacup cracked as Mick fumbled and knocked it on the edge of the counter. All Brenna could do was close her eyes as shame and sorrow washed through her.

“I won’t deny it. I won’t deny I’ve been there before, and that every time I have, I went freely. I’m sorry that it hurt you.” She got shakily to her feet. “But it doesn’t make me a whore to care for him. And you know if you make me choose between you, I’ll let him go.”

It took all the courage she had left to turn and face her parents. The understanding in her mother’s eyes might have been a balm if not for the shock in her father’s. “I’m sorry for this, all of this. I’m sorry I haven’t been honest with you. I can’t talk about it anymore now. I just can’t.”

She hurried out, would have rushed right past her sisters, but Patty reached out. “It’s all right, darling.” She murmured it, giving Brenna a hard hug.

That broke her, set free the tears that were burning in her throat and the back of her eyes. Blinded by them, she rushed upstairs.

In the kitchen, Mollie kept her eyes on her younger daughter. Her heart was aching for both her girls, but comfort and discipline would have to be meted out separately.

The only sound now was Mary Kate’s ragged breathing. Holding the silence a moment longer, Mollie slipped into the chair Brenna had deserted.

No one noticed when Mick walked out the back door.

“I know what it is to have feelings for someone,” Mollie began quietly. “To see them as the brightest light, as the one who’ll answer all the questions and fill all the holes, whether you’re twenty or forty. I’m not doubting what you have in your heart, Katie.”

“I love him.” Defiance, still her only shield, edged her voice, but a single tear spilled over and slid down her cheek. “She knew.”

“It’s a hard thing to have those feelings for someone who doesn’t have them for you.”

“He might have, but she threw herself at him.”

“Katie, darling.”

There were many things she could have said. The man’s too old for you, this was infatuation and would pass, you’ll fall in love half a dozen times before it matters and takes a firm hold inside you. Instead, she took Mary Kate’s hand.