by Kathi Daley
“Climb on in and get comfortable. It looks like you will be the only guests going into the village today.”
I was somewhat surprised we were the only guests heading into the village, but many of the wedding guests lived in the village, and I could understand why those guests wouldn’t be interested. Adam and Alyssa had expressed interest in the Christmas Market, but they were busy with wedding plans, while Adam’s parents, Harry and Gwen, said they preferred to stay in. I supposed I understood that as well. Tyson’s death had affected most everyone associated with the wedding in one way or another, so in a way, it surprised me that any of the planned events were attended.
“I understand that you’ve been to Ireland and Dunphy Castle before,” Cain said as we wound our way down the steep and twisty road from the castle to the village.
“Zak and I were here four years ago,” I answered, “but this is the first trip for Nona, Alex, and Catherine.”
“And how are you liking our little corner of the world?” Cain asked.
“I love it,” Alex gasped. “It’s really beautiful. I’m so grateful to Lord Dunphy for having us and to Adam for inviting us to his wedding.”
The man slowed a bit as he negotiated a sharp curve. “I’m sure Lord Dunphy is happy to provide lodging for your mother,” the man said. He turned slightly and looked at me. “I understand you are the chosen one. The prophesied one who found the jewels Lady Catherine had hidden before she died. You are the one who saved the castle and probably the village as we know it.”
I really wished this would stop coming up. “Yes. The last time I was here, Lord Dunphy and I tracked down the jewels. Do they have the Christmas Market every year?” I asked, hoping to change the subject.
“They do indeed. In fact, the tradition of the market has been around since before I was born. Be sure to visit all the booths. There are so many wonderful things to discover.”
Thankfully once the market had been brought up, Cain jumped onto that wagon train and forgot about the whole “chosen one” thing. I was happy I was able to help Lord Dunphy save the castle, and it did seem that Catherine’s ghost had led me right to the jewels even though people had been looking unsuccessfully for centuries, but I didn’t feel all that comfortable with the level of adoration my discovery seemed to have brought me.
Cain pulled to a stop and opened the door. “Enjoy the market. I’ll be waiting right here when you are ready to return to the castle.”
“Thank you so much for the ride,” I said. “We won’t be long. Maybe a couple of hours.”
I loaded Catherine into the backpack, and we set off down the street that was crowded with booths manned by local vendors, visitors shopping for handcrafted items, and enough holiday decorations to warm the hearts of everyone who visited. I had to admit the festive air of the open-air market made for a memorable experience.
“Wow, this is really pretty,” Alex said as she paused at a booth selling wool products.
“I really want to try some of the local food items that are offered,” Zak said. “I noticed a few folks walking around with bowls of stew. I’m not sure how it tastes, but it looks fabulous.”
“When we first arrived, I noticed a booth that was serving bangers and mash,” Nona added. “Oh, and the corned beef sandwiches look delicious as well.”
“And the pastries,” Alex headed over to a booth that was selling a selection of pies, cakes, and tarts.
The five of us continued to wander the street, sampling the food, and looking at the crafts. I’d made the decision to leave Charlie in the room since I wasn’t sure how crowded the street would be, but the reality was that it would probably have been fine to bring him. I knew our trip to the village was going to be a short one, and I suspected that he’d simply sleep the whole time, but I missed him all the same and decided to buy him a treat he could enjoy when we returned to the castle.
“Oh, look, it’s Daniel and Heidi,” I said as we passed one of the many pubs that lined the main street. I supposed the fact that Daniel was in the village answered my question as to whether or not he’d been detained or released after he was questioned.
“Are they a couple?” Nona asked.
“No,” I answered. “Heidi came to the dinner with Tyson, although I understand they are just friends, and Daniel came to the dinner with Hillary, although based on what I’ve heard, she ended up spending time with Tyson. They both live here in the village, so I’m not surprised they are friends.”
“They look like more than friends to me,” Nona chuckled.
Nona was right. The pair did seem to be involved in an intimate exchange that included handholding and a very intense conversation. The rumors I’d heard indicated that Daniel was in a relationship with Hillary, but I’d also heard that Hillary and Tyson had been messing around, so maybe he’d finally given up on her and turned his attention to Heidi. Again, I told myself that whatever was going on between Daniel and Heidi was none of my business, and I needed to redirect my attention to my family, and let the locals figure out their own love triangles.
“I think I’m going to buy one of these shields for Scooter,” Alex said as we passed a stand with a good display of authentic Irish souvenirs.
“Those are family crests,” Zak informed her.
“Do you think they have Sherwood?” Alex asked.
“I think Sherwood is English and not Irish,” Zak answered. He picked up a crest. “They do have Donovan.”
“I’m going to get one for my father and Pappy,” I said.
“Maybe Scooter would like this replica of an ancient sword,” Zak suggested.
“Can we bring that on the plane?” Alex asked.
“As long as we check it.”
“Are you sure we want Scooter to have a sword?” I asked.
“It has a covered tip and isn’t sharp,” Zak said. “We can make sure he knows it’s to hang on his wall and not to battle with.”
I really couldn’t see any scenario where Scooter would actually leave it on the wall and not try to stab someone or something with it, but I decided to stay out of it if Zak felt the sword was an appropriate gift.
After we purchased our gifts, we decided to stop for a beverage at a pub, which, coincidentally, was named Donovan’s. I had to admit that it was an odd experience to see my last name plastered on businesses and street signs.
“Can I help you?” the bartender asked.
“Two ales and two soft drinks,” Zak ordered.
“The name of the pub is Donovan’s,” I said. “Does someone named Donovan own the place?”
“That would be me,” the man said. He held out a hand. “Killian Donovan.”
I smiled and returned the handshake. “Zoe Donovan.”
“Ah. You must be one of the American Donovan’s here for the wedding.”
I nodded. “I am.” I turned toward the others. “This is my husband, Zak; daughter, Alex; daughter, Catherine; and grandmother by marriage, Nona.”
“Happy to meet you all,” Killian said. “I heard there has been a bit of excitement up at the castle.”
“I guess you heard about Tyson. I assume you knew him. Were you close?” I asked.
“Not at all. We were very distantly related, and we never really got along. Adam is a nice enough guy, but that brother of his was a trouble maker. I’m sorry he is dead, but I’m not at all surprised that someone finally did him in.”
“That seems to be a popular sentiment.” I furrowed my brows. “I don’t suppose you have any idea who might have stuck a knife in the man’s back?”
He shrugged. “I don’t want to speak out of turn, but yeah, I have a few ideas. I’m not, however, inclined to voice those ideas.” He pushed the ales across the bar and then went to the cooler to fetch two soft drinks. “The drinks are on the house. It is always good to meet a Donovan relation, even if they are from across the sea.”
“Thank you. And it was nice to meet you as well. Can you recommend anything that we definitely must see while
we’re in the village?”
“The old church. It was built as a place of worship for the villagers who supported the castle around the time the castle was built.”
“Wow. That is old. How do we get there?” I asked.
“Just follow the main road that goes through the village to the end. Take a left. You will see the church sitting up on a little knoll.”
“Is it far from here?”
“About a mile, but it’s an easy walk, and there are benches where you can rest along the way.”
I asked Nona if she felt up to it, but she admitted to being tired, so she opted to spend some time in the tea room we’d passed by earlier while the rest of us made the trek. I figured that Alex, Zak, Catherine, and I could make it to the church and back in less than an hour, and Nona assured us she would be fine.
Zak had Catherine in the pack on his back, which made for a quicker walk than if I’d been the one carrying her. We made it to the church in less than twenty minutes.
“Wow. This place is really awesome,” Alex said.
“I love the windows.” I reached a hand up to touch the stained glass. “They look old, but not as old as the church. I bet they were added after the church was built.”
The windows were beautiful stained glass that each told a story of sorts about the area. One featured the castle, one an open field with sheep and shepherds, and one a village street with open-air booths. The artistry was exquisite.
“Check out this mural,” Alex said as she walked toward the back of the church.
It really was stunning and took up the entire back wall.
I walked over to a glass showcase. An old bible that looked to have been written in Latin was inside the case. A parchment of some sort was next to the bible. The parchment looked like animal skin to me, and the text on the parchment was some sort of foreign language I didn’t recognize.
“Do you recognize the text on the parchment?” I asked Zak.
He looked at it and shook his head. “No. It isn’t familiar.”
“Cow,” Catherine said.
I smiled at my daughter. “I think the parchment might be made from cowhide, but I doubt that’s what you’re talking about. Do you see a cow?”
She pointed.
I looked closer. Some of the words on the parchment were nothing more than a series of geometric shapes, while others looked like chicken scratches. A few images looked like pictographs, although nothing looked like a cow.
“As interesting as this is, we should probably start back,” Zak suggested. “I don’t want to keep Nona waiting too long.”
Everyone agreed, so we took a few photos and started back toward the village. When we arrived, Nona was waiting for us in the tea shop as she indicated she would be. When we returned to the van that would take us back to the castle, I noticed the driver talking to a boy who looked to be about Alex’s age. The driver waved me over and introduced the boy as his nephew, Liam. Apparently, Liam planned to attend the ball that evening, and Cain thought it would be a good idea to introduce Alex and Liam since they were close to the same age. I could see that Alex was interested in Liam, and he in her, and was glad that Cain had taken the initiative. I figured that Alex would have a much better time if she had a friend close to her own age. Then I noticed the scowl on Zak’s face and knew that the tradeoff of introducing a seventeen-year-old boy to a sixteen-year-old girl was dealing with the sixteen-year-old girl’s very protective papa.
Everyone was tired by the time we returned to the castle, so we all decided to have a nap before it was time to get ready for the ball. I took Charlie out for a quick walk while Zak put Catherine down, and Nona and Alex returned to their suite. Nona planned to babysit Catherine that evening, so we made arrangements for her and Alex to come to our suite two hours before the ball was to begin. Zak had arranged for a quiet family dinner to be brought up to our suite rather than trying to juggle dinner with the group and getting Catherine ready for bed.
Having gotten up at the crack of dawn and still trying to adjust to a major case of jetlag, I knew I should be exhausted, but somehow I felt wound up. I supposed that having a murder investigation going on right under my nose and not being able to be involved was wearing on me. If there was a murder to solve back home in Ashton Falls, you could bet that I would be right there in the middle of it, but this wasn’t my home, and local law enforcement didn’t know me the way Sheriff Salinger did. Chances are if I tried to insert myself in the investigation, the locals who were in charge of investigating such things would not take kindly to it. Plus, I didn’t really have the background on the individuals involved the way I did at home. I was sure I was doing the right thing to take a step back, but that didn’t mean it was easy for me.
“This is going to be a quick walk,” I warned Charlie the minute we left the castle. The clear sunny skies we’d enjoyed earlier in the day had given way to overcast skies that looked as if they were going to unburden themselves of the moisture they held at any moment. I hoped the rain wouldn’t keep people in the village who planned to attend the ball from making the trip. It had been a fantasy of mine since I was a little girl to attend a formal ball in a castle. Who would have thought that particular dream was one that would come true?
I followed Charlie down the front steps toward the walkway that would eventually take me to the garden, which I assumed was beautiful in the spring through fall. I’d only been to Dunphy Castle in the winter, but based on the winding walkways, artfully placed arches, and dormant shrubs and trees, I could almost imagine how it would look in full bloom. Larson had said he tended to the grounds. I wondered if he tended the garden as well or if they brought in someone seasonally who specialized in such things.
I was walking along the pathways that wove through the dormant shrubs when a text came through from Jeremy, letting me know they’d found the mama cat the previous afternoon and that mama and babies had been reunited.
I glanced at Charlie. “Jeremy found the mama cat.”
He barked once as if to say he was as happy about that development as I was. I texted Jeremy back to let him know that I was thrilled to hear his news.
Charlie and I continued through the dormant garden until I noticed someone sitting on a bench. It was Bobby. I hadn’t met or spoken to the man, but with everything that was going on, I knew who he was.
“Hello,” I said as Charlie trotted over to say hi.
“You’re Adam’s cousin.”
I nodded as Bobby bent over to pet Charlie. “I seem to remember someone saying that your name was Bobby and that you worked part-time here at the castle.”
“Yes.” He sat up straight and looked in my direction. “I help with the serving and cleanup when there are guests.”
“I was sorry about what happened with Tyson. I guess if you live in the village, you must have known him.”
His smiled faded. “My whole life.”
“Were you close?” I asked, even though I knew the answer.
“We were once, but no, we haven’t been close for a while.” The man paused and looked me in the eye. “In fact, we’ve had quite the feud going on, him and I.” He took in a long slow breath. “But you know, in spite of how angry I’ve been, now that he is gone, it all seems sort of silly.”
“Silly?”
“Don’t get me wrong. The reason I was angry was not silly. My sister was killed in an auto accident, and I blamed Ty. I’ve been sitting here thinking about that for the past couple of hours, and I realized if I was honest with myself, there was no denying that I was just as responsible for her death as he was.”
I decided to sit down on the bench and see if I could get more of the story. “I understand that your sister was in an auto accident, but it doesn’t seem to me that an auto accident was Tyson’s or your fault.”
He picked up a twig and began to twirl it around in his hands. “Perhaps not directly, but the only reason my sister was in the car when it crashed was because Ty and I argued, which angered her, and s
he left the party we’d all been attending. In my mind, to this point, the argument was totally Ty’s fault. He’d lied, and I’d called him on it. But the reality was even if I had a good reason for being upset, I didn’t need to confront him at the party that night. I could have waited until the following day when the two of us could have discussed it rationally. If I had, my sister would still be alive.”
“Perhaps, but it is hard to know how things would have turned out if you had waited.”
“You’re being kind to let me off the hook, but until Ty died, I’d been totally unwilling to accept any part of the blame for what happened. But there are some events in life that demand that you pause and take stock of the truth. This is one of those events.” He wiped a tear from his eye. “I’m sorry I’ll never be able to make things right with him. At one time, we were as close as brothers in spite of our competitive natures.”
I placed my hand over his in an offer of comfort. “I think Tyson knows what is in your heart.”
He looked doubtful. “Tyson knows how angry I was. He knew that I blamed him for my sister’s death. When he died, we were enemies. The man doing the interviews thought I might have killed him. I’m sure others think that as well. And I understand that. Until I took the time to really think things through, I had enough hatred in my heart to have been the one to carry out the deed.” He paused and really looked at me. “I have no idea why I am telling you all of this.”
I shrugged. “People say I’m easy to talk to. And I do understand regret. I’ve had regret in my life, and I know how hard it can be to move on.”
He nodded and hung his head. I could see that he really didn’t want to talk about this any longer, so I decided to leave him with his thoughts. I said my goodbyes and continued down the path. By the time I came to the end, I found myself behind the castle, so I decided to go in through the back door. As I passed through the castle, I stopped to say hi to Bonnie.
“Did you enjoy the Christmas Market?” she asked.
