“Except for those of us who got pushed down the stairs,” Siobhan said, “and had their arms broken.”

“Sprained.”

“But still . . .”

Andy grinned at her.

“Okay,” she said. “It was pretty amazing. Scary, but amazing.” She looked across the table to Lizzie. “Who knew that all those old fairy tales of Pappy’s were true?”

“Pappy?” Con asked.

“My grandfather,” Lizzie and Siobhan said at the same time, then laughed.

He nodded. “I keep forgetting you guys are cousins.”

“Wait’ll we introduce him to Timony,” Lizzie said.

The doonie had gone back to the Aisling’s Wood, but had promised to visit as soon as everything had settled down.

“Pappy probably already knows hundreds of fairy folk,” Siobhan said. “I mean, just think about the way he told those stories.”

“I just hope the ones he knows are all nice ones like Timony.”

“No kidding,” Con said. “Man, if you could have seen these buffalo guys. There were millions of them and talk about your heavy-looking dudes.”

Andy nodded. “They made gangsta rappers look like boy scouts.”

“I could do without ever meeting any of those heavy ones again,” Siobhan said.

And then off the conversation went as they all traded stories about the various wonders they’d been witness to. At one point, Andy got up and fetched them all another round and while Lizzie knew the smart thing would be to not have another whiskey and beer chaser, what the hell? She’d earned it.

She knew she should be tired, but she’d never felt more wide-awake in her life.

While the talk went on, she noticed that Con had moved closer to her again. When he rubbed his leg up against hers, she turned around sharply.

“Okay,” he said. “I get the message.”

He started to scoot back along the bench, but she grabbed him by the shirt, pulled him close, and then kissed him. Seriously kissed him. Hard and long, like that fairy woman had done with Geordie on the mesa.

“What was that for?” Con asked when they came up for air.

Lizzie glanced at her cousin and Andy across the table. Andy looked surprised, but Siobhan had a smile in her eyes. Lizzie turned back to Con.

“You’re always flirting with me,” she said. “What do you think it was for?”

“But you’re always saying the one rule you have is you won’t date anybody you play with.”

“So, maybe it was a stupid rule.”

He shook his head. “No, it was a good rule.”

“Are you turning me down?”

He grinned. “Hell, no. I like to break the rules.”

Siobhan turned to Andy. “Looks like we’re sharing a room, but I’ll warn you right now. No funny stuff.”

He gave her a look as though she’d just suggested he sleep with his sister.

“Oh, for God’s sake,” Lizzie said. “We’re not going to . . .”