“I never meant to give Mary Kate any . . .”

“ ‘ncouragement’ might be the word you’re after. Your tongue’s tied today, boy, and that’s not the usual case, for you’ve a slick one. Here now, I’ve a cinnamon bun left from breakfast. I’ll warm it for you and you’ll tell me what’s the matter.”

“You make me miss my mother, Mrs. O’Toole.”

“I’ll stand in her stead, as she would in mine.” She bustled around the kitchen, knowing it would put him at ease. “Is Brenna giving you headaches, then?”

“I’m used to that—I don’t mind it so much. I think I give them back to her in fair measure. I, ah, I’m thinking Mr. O’Toole told you of our discussion a couple weeks back.”

She sent him a look designed to wither a man. “If you’re meaning on the day he came home drunk, that he didn’t. I gathered well enough he’d got the whiskey from you, as he hasn’t a world of choices where he could walk off, drink his belly full, and walk back again in so short a time.”

“He didn’t speak to you of it.”

“Closed up like a clam.”

“Well, you see, he was angry, and rightfully so, until I told him how things were.”

“And how are things, Shawn?” Mollie set down the pot, waited.

“I’m in love with Brenna, Mrs. O’Toole, and I want to marry her.”

She stood still a moment, then laid her cheek on top of his head. “Of course you are, and of course you do. Don’t mind me. I’ve got to sniffle a bit.”

“I’ll be good to her.”

“Oh, there’s no doubt in my mind of that.” Dabbing at her eyes, she turned to get out the warmed bun. “You’ll be good for her, too, and she for you.”

“The other part of it is, I’ve been working her around, so to speak, so she’d come to the idea herself. You know how she is when she’s got her teeth into a notion.”

“Clamps down until she gets what she’s after or it isn’t worth having anymore. I always said you were a bright lad, Shawn.”

“Thousands wouldn’t,” he said easily. “I thought I could wait, you see. I’m not one who needs to hurry as a rule. But it seems I can’t wait for this. I bought land today.”

She wasn’t half as surprised as he thought she was, and nearly twice as pleased. “Goodness, boy, you can move fast enough when you’ve a mind to.”

“She’ll have her house as she wants it. I’m not fussy about such matters.”

Mollie opened her mouth, closed it again. Men, she knew very well, always said such things and believed them as well. Then they drove a woman to distraction picking at the details. But that was for Shawn and Brenna to find out for themselves. “She’s always had a mind to build her own,” she said at length.

“I know it, and why shouldn’t she? She’s a talent for such things, and a liking for the work. Myself, I’ve no driving urge to pick up a hammer or saw. But I make a good living, and I’ll have a better one yet when the theater goes in. There won’t be a worry about putting a roof overhead, or keeping one there.”