“Where is your bottle of Jameson?”

He lifted his head from the couch and stared at his mother head-on. She met his gaze with her stern teacher’s glare. “It’s upstairs.”

“Grand place for it to be,” she said stiffly. “It’s like seeing your father wake up in the morning.”

“You have no idea,” he muttered. His mind flashed back to Antonia and what she said about his father. As soon as he got back into town, he’d gone to the same pub that he used to get over Lisa. After he walked home, he’d raided the cabinets for any spare alcohol to get to sleep. He closed his eyes. I’ve got to walk to the pub for my car.

“You’re a bit too young to depend on a bottle to get you through a rough patch.”

“Antonia already gave me a dressing down,” he said annoyed. “I don’t need it from you too.”

“What was your fight about?”

He paused, unsure of how much to tell his mother. “I didn’t fight enough,” he said. “That was the problem.”

Clare narrowed her eyes. “I’m not sure I’m following you, dear.”

Aiden leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Mam, the long and short of it is that I acted like a coward and I left her at Tully Cross.”

His mother leaned back in her seat. “Drinking yourself to death over a woman does seem like your style, but I have a feeling you’re leaving something out. I think you’d better get to the long of it.”

He rubbed the back of his neck and looked from his mother to his niece. He didn’t want to spring the news on either of them. Part of him believed that even speaking to his father was a betrayal to his mother. “A couple days ago, while we were in Clifden, we ran into Liam.”

Clare’s silver brows knitted in confusion. “What business does Liam have in Clifden?” she asked. “Were Mary Catherine and the boys with him?”

Aiden shook his head. “We ran into Da.”

He couldn’t read the expression on his mother’s face. Her head tilted to the side as she thoughtfully stared down at the coffee table separating them. Clare’s eyes slowly closed as she let out a sigh. “How is my husband?” she asked with a sad smile.

“Bit of the same.”

She nodded. “I see. And how are you?”

Aiden couldn’t answer her question without holding his head in his hands and focusing on the rug beneath his feet. “Not good, Mam.”

“Nana’s husband?” Soircha asked, baffled by the conversation taking place over her head.

“Yes,” Clare said with pursed lips. “Your da’s father, your grandfather.”

“What’s he like?” she asked excitedly. “I’ve never met him.”

“And there’s good reason for that, m’dear,” Clare replied in a dry tone. “No one can ever find him. Goodness, I can’t imagine how upsetting it was for Antonia to be in the middle of that chance meeting. Is that why she’s not talking to you?”