“So why not tell your ma that?” Bryan asked, looking perplexed, Quinn wasn’t usually very secretive.
Quinn grimaced. “It’s kind of complicated.”
“How?”
“Well,” Quinn said, stubbing out her first cigarette and pulling out another one and lighting it, “I’m her bodyguard.”
“You think it’s a conflict of interest?”
“Exactly,” Quinn said, knowing her father would understand the concern.
“But she’s here with you,” Bryan said, his blue eyes narrowed slightly as he worked through the problem in his mind, “so something’s changed.”
Quinn chuckled, her father was always trying to solve puzzles, and this was just another one for him.
“Yes, something did change.”
“And what is that?” Bryan asked; it was obvious Quinn wasn’t going to elaborate without a push.
Quinn inhaled deeply on her cigarette as she tried to decide how much she wanted to tell her father. She normally wouldn’t hold information back from her parents, but she also didn’t want them thinking that Xandy was somehow unstable. She wanted, needed, her family to like Xandy. Her family was her entire life, and if they didn’t like the woman she was so deeply involved with, it wouldn’t bode well for the relationship. What her family thought was everything to Quinn, it always had been.
Bryan waited patiently for his daughter to decide what to tell him. He could easily see that she was conflicted, and he didn’t want to push her into closing up. Quinn had learned her patience and how to wait people out from her father; he was the very best at it, often waiting hours or even days to get an answer from someone when it was important.
“Recently,” Quinn said cautiously, which told Bryan he wasn’t about to hear the whole story, but a version of it, “my job got in the way of my relationship with her, and it had very serious consequences. I can’t let that happen again.”
Bryan looked back at his daughter, his eyes falling on the bandage on her hand, wondering if her injury had something to do with those consequences. He could see that Quinn had very deep feelings for this girl, and that she was having to adjust her very disciplined work ethic to maintain a relationship with her. It said a lot to Bryan about this girl Quinn had brought home; she must be very special indeed to have so thoroughly captured his wild daughter’s heart.
Bryan and Brann Kavanaugh had always known that Quinn was different from the other girls in the family. Quinn had never been interested in boys, other than as playmates. They’d been through the boy-crazy phase with their older daughter Fallon, who was four years older than Quinn. So when Quinn had gotten to that age, they expected her to suddenly see boys for more than just playmates. When that never happened, they talked for a long time about the possibility that Quinn just wasn’t made that way. Then there’d been her very definite interest in the O’Shay girl down the way and when that didn’t seem to fade quickly, they were sure that Quinn was gay.
It took Quinn until she was twenty to finally admit it to them, but since they already knew, it was no shock at all. They loved their daughter, and they fully accepted that she was still the same person they’d always known. It had actually hurt their hearts to see her struggle with telling them the truth, so they’d done their best to make it easy for her.
Looking at his daughter now, Bryan was once again grateful for the way that they’d handled Quinn’s sexuality. It meant that he got to see his daughter’s face the way it was at that moment, as she talked about this girl that meant so much to her. If he and Brann had handled it the way they knew other parents handled their children being gay, disowning them, shaming them, even physically attacking them, Quinn would have left home and never returned. That, to Bryan and Brann, was a fate worse than death.
As if she knew she was being talked about, Xandy wandered out onto the porch. She’d been looking for Quinn for a few minutes at that point.
“Hey…” Quinn said, smiling and moving to stand, as did Bryan.
Xandy smiled softly, then glanced at Bryan.
“Xandy, this is my father, Bryan Kavanaugh, head of clan Kavanaugh,” Quinn said, smiling. “Da, this is Xandy Blue Hayes.”
Bryan executed a half bow, inclining his head to Xandy.
“A pleasure, miss,” he said, his tone very proper.
“It’s very nice to meet you,” Xandy replied shyly.
Quinn held her arms out to Xandy, who walked over and into them. Quinn hugged her gently, leaning down to kiss the side of her head.
“Good morning,” she said softly to Xandy.
“Good morning,” Xandy replied glancing up at Quinn.
Quinn moved to sit, gesturing for Xandy to sit with her. As she did, she saw that Xandy was shivering, she was wearing short sleeves. Quinn unzipped her jacket and began to take it off.
“No,” Xandy said, holding her hand up to forestall Quinn’s movement, “I’m fine.”
Quinn shook her head, and took the jacket off, putting it around Xandy’s shoulders. Xandy smiled shyly. “Thank you.”
Bryan winked at Xandy. “Chivalrous one, isn’t she?”
Xandy nodded. “She always is.”
“That’s because she was raised proper,” Bryan said, grinning at his daughter.
“Oh yeah,” Quinn agreed, smiling at her father.
“Xan, did you want some coffee?” Quinn asked.
“I’m okay,” Xandy said, sliding her arms into Quinn’s jacket and pulling the sides close around her.
Quinn detected that Xandy was feeling very shy. She hoped her father would sense it too and not be his usual boisterous self. She glanced over at him, giving a friendly warning that he should go easy on Xandy. He gave a small, quick nod in response.
“So, Quinn, what are your plans while you’re here?” Bryan asked, directing his questions at Quinn, rather than Xandy so as not to scare the girl.
Quinn grinned, nodding at her father by way of a thank you.
“Well,” Quinn said, looking over at Xandy, “Xandy’s never been to Norn Iron, so today I was thinking we’d drive The Causeway.”
Bryan nodded enthusiastically. “A brilliant idea.”
“Norn Iron?” Xandy repeated, causing Quinn to grin, she’d known that the girl couldn’t resist asking for clarification, her insatiable curiosity overriding her bashfulness.
“It’s slang for Northern Ireland,” Bryan put in, his voice low.
“Oh,” Xandy said, nodding, looking a bit abashed, “I’m always driving Quinn crazy with my questions.”
Quinn smiled warmly. “No, you don’t drive me crazy, I like that you’re interested.”
“Quinn can definitely give you a lesson, she learned from the best,” Bryan said, winking at his daughter.
“That I have,” Quinn said nodding. “My da’s a professor of history at St. Mary’s College.”
“Oh,” Xandy said, “that’s why you know so much about it.”
“Oh yeah,” Quinn said.
“Quinn has been telling me a lot about her homeland,” Xandy told Bryan, now feeling more comfortable with him.
Bryan nodded, looking proud. “She does know her history. Our Quinn has always been a quick study. We’re very proud.”
Xandy nodded.
They were all quiet for a few minutes. Xandy breathed in deeply smiling as she did.
“It smells so good here!” she said to no one in particular.
Quinn and Bryan chuckled. “That is does,” Bryan said, agreeing.
A couple of hours later, Quinn and Xandy were back in the car.
“I thought we’d have some breakfast first,” Quinn said, glancing over at Xandy, “and then head over to Carrickfergus Castle. Sound good?”
“Sounds perfect.”
They ended up at Delacey’s, a bakery not too far from the castle. Xandy got her first taste of Irish hospitality. The waitress was very sweet, as were the patrons who smiled and nodded at the two.
Quinn let Xandy peruse the menu, while
she just sat back waiting, she’d already ordered coffee. The waitress had asked “Irish?”
“Yeah, but for the whiskey,” she said, with a grin.
“Not as fun that way,” the waitress said, winking at Quinn.
“Oh, I know,” Quinn said.
“You don’t need a menu?” Xandy asked.
“Nope, I already know what I’m getting.”
Xandy put her menu down, and said, “Okay, I’ll get what you get.”
“Alright,” Quinn said, grinning at her plucky little attitude.
Quinn nodded at the waitress who came over.
“What’ll ya have, love?” she asked Quinn, as she set her coffee down.
“Two Ulster Fries,” Quinn replied.
“Slim or soda?” the waitress asked.
“Slim,” Quinn said, glancing at Xandy and seeing that she was completely lost. “Do you want coffee or tea?” she asked Xandy.
“Um, tea,” Xandy said, surprised by the question.
“Got it, love,” the waitress said, smiling at both of them, then bustled away.
“Okay,” Xandy said, “what am I having for breakfast?”
Quinn chuckled. “Afraid you’re gonna end up with haggis or something?”
“Um, yeah?”
“Well, haggis is Scottish, so you’re safe.”
“Oh my God, brat!” Xandy said throwing her napkin at Quinn.
Quinn chuckled as she caught the napkin, and handed it back to Xandy. “Ulster fry is basically your standard breakfast: eggs, bacon, sausage and fried either soda bread or potato bread.”
“What’s slim?”
“It’s potato bread.”
“Oh. That sounds pretty good actually.”
“Well, we’ll see,” Quinn said, “when we head south the breakfasts change a bit.”
“South?” Xandy asked.
“Yeah, you know, to Dublin and all that,” Quinn said.
Xandy bit her lip, thrilled beyond words that Quinn was going to take her exploring.
“You did want to see more than my hometown, didn’t you?”
“Of course! I just didn’t know if that was going to be possible.”
“Why wouldn’t it?”
Xandy shrugged. “I guess I didn’t know if you were willing to drag me all over.”
“Drag you?” Quinn repeated. “Xan, I want to show you everything.”
Xandy smiled, Quinn always said the exact right thing that made her feel so special.
After breakfast they made their way over to the castle. Xandy couldn’t believe that she was actually standing in front of a castle that was over eight hundred years old. Xandy took in the towers and the embattlements on the top. Walking through the archway of the front gates, there were areas with canons pointed out to sea. There were statues that were standing on the overlooks of the walls, pointing rifles down toward would-be enemies attacking the castle. There was an area where prisoners were held. There was a statue of a man with a bandage over his hand with fingers missing and only his ring finger and pinky showing.
“That’s something interesting,” Quinn said, pointing at the statue. “Legend has it that back around the fourteenth century, when they’d capture long bowmen, the French would remove their index and middle fingers so that they could no longer operate their bows.”
“Yikes!” Xandy said, grimacing.
“Yeah, so the gesture that the uncaptured fighters would make would be to hold up their two fingers to the other soldiers and wiggle them.”
“So kind of like an FU to the soldiers.”
“Pretty much,” Quinn said.
“Wow, that’s wild.”
They spent a couple of hours wandering through the castle. Quinn told her more things about its history, and showed her where she’d played as a kid. Xandy was fascinated.
Their next stop was Ballycarry Cemetery, a cemetery that had been in existence for centuries. There were the ruins of a medieval church that was later the site of the first Presbyterian church in Ireland. The gravestones in the church were carved stone; some so old the carvings had been worn away by rain and the sea air. Walking through the cemetery Xandy found it hard to believe she was in a place so much older than anywhere in America.
The countryside they’d driven through was everything she’d ever heard about Ireland. It was lush and rich green. Standing at the edge of the cemetery, Xandy could see sheep in the field just below, one sheep in particular stood stock still and stared right back at her.
“Are you making eyes at that sheep?” Quinn asked her, coming up behind her.
Xandy laughed. “What makes you think he’s not making eyes at me?”
Quinn slid her arms around Xandy’s waist, leaning down to put her head on Xandy’s shoulder, staring at the same sheep for a long minute.
“I think you’re right, he’s making eyes at you. Feck away, you wooly bastard!” she called to the sheep.
Xandy laughed, shaking her head.
Their next stop was an area called the Giant’s Causeway. It was a series of interlocking columns that rose up out of the sea, and extended hundreds of feet in the air. The tops of the columns were flat, so they made up what seemed like stepping stones that went from the foot of the cliffs and disappeared into the sea.
“What are they?” Xandy asked Quinn as they walked along the shore, watching people climbing up and down the stones.
“Well, this set of stones actually extends under the sea and there’s another set of them over on the Scottish shore. They think they’re from an ancient volcanic eruption but there’s a much better legend about them,” she said with a twinkle in her eye.
“Tell me!” Xandy said.
Quinn led her over to some of the stones that were at a low level, and they sat on them. As Quinn told the story she gestured out to the sea.
“So the story goes that there are these two giants, one named Fionn, he’s Irish, and the other was Benandonner, he’s Scottish. Fionn challenges Benandonner to a fight and Benandonner accepts. So Fionn builds the Giant’s Causeway so they can meet in the middle to fight. As the story goes, Fionn ventures over the causeway to check out his opponent and sees that Benandonner is much bigger than him, so he goes back home. Well, when Benandonner shows up to fight, Fionn freaks, his fast thinking wife Oonagh disguises him as their baby, putting him in the cradle with a blanket, pacifier and bonnet.”
Xandy was laughing by this time at the picture Quinn was painting, Quinn was grinning as well.
“So, when Oonagh shows the giant that her husband isn’t home, only she and her baby, Benandonner takes a look at the baby. He sees that the baby is really large, and thinks if that’s the baby, how big is the father? So Benandonner decides to make a hasty retreat and he uses his massive club to break down the Causeway stones between Ireland and Scotland so that Fionn can’t come beat him up.”
“Oh my God!” Xandy said, clapping her hands together, “I definitely like that one better!”
Quinn chuckled. “I thought you might.”
When they left the Giant’s Causeway, the sun was starting to sink in the sky, so Quinn decided to save the rest for later. They were both fairly tired by that time. Driving back took a couple of hours. During that time Quinn had her iPod plugged in for music. When one song came on, she looked over at Xandy.
“You should listen to this song,” she said.
Xandy nodded, listening as the song began. She saw on stereo display that it was called “The Light” by Disturbed, a band Quinn seemed to really like. Xandy found she liked them too; the lead singer, David Draiman, had an incredible voice.
The words were so haunting, Xandy listened to every one of them. The chorus of the song resonated deeply in Xandy. It said that she should never think that everything wasn’t forsaken even when she thought it was. That sometimes being in such a dark place could show her the way.
When the song ended, Xandy looked over at Quinn. “So are you saying that you think some of the bad things that have ha
ppened in my life, have been for a reason?” she asked, wanting to understand.
Quinn looked over at her, not wanting to make light of the tragedies in her life, but feeling like she needed to help her get through them in whatever way she could.
“I think that there’s a reason you weren’t in Kansas when that tornado took your family,” Quinn said gently.
Xandy nodded, her face reflecting pain, but trying to understand what Quinn was saying.
“What do you think that reason was?” Xandy asked.
“I don’t know, I just think that everything in this life happens for a reason.”
Xandy considered that thought, then glanced at Quinn again. “Like you becoming my bodyguard?” she asked. “And being there when I almost succeeded in taking my own life?”
Quinn flinched at the last part, but nodded, glancing at Xandy again to see how she took that.
Xandy nodded, her look considering. “But what was the reason for my family? For Tommy?”
Quinn shrugged. “I don’t know, babe, but I think you need to let things happen so you can find out. And maybe Tommy was in your life to show you what you didn’t want from a relationship.”
“So I could appreciate the one with you?”
“Maybe, but you know that my being your bodyguard and being there when you… did what you did… maybe it’s not just that I was there to save you. Maybe you were there to save me too.”
Xandy looked over at Quinn, surprised by the statement. “Save you?” she asked, clearly confused. “How?”
Quinn shrugged. “From a life without love.”
Xandy bit her lip, tears springing to her eyes. “Oh Quinn…”
Quinn looked over at her, thinking she had probably just gotten through. It was a good day.
That night they had dinner with some of Quinn’s family. Ida and Maggie were there, as well as two of Quinn’s older brothers, Garran and Hagan. Xandy thoroughly enjoyed the family atmosphere in the Kavanaugh household. The siblings all seemed get along really well and there were lots of stories.
“No, it wasn’t Quinn, it was Liam that did that!” insisted Garran, his green eyes, much like Quinn’s, rolling in annoyance.
“It was Quinn!” Hagan insisted, looking to his younger sister, Hagan was five years Quinn’s senior. “It was you, wasn’t it?”
Break in the Storm (WeHo Book 2) Page 12
