take me down and out without breaking a sweat, but I’d still come for you if you hurt her.”
Keegan kept his eyes on Marco’s as he sampled the Guinness. “A true friend, one who’ll stand for you no matter, is a treasure. I’m not after bringing harm to her.”
“She bruises easy. In here.” Marco tapped his heart.
“I met a woman of strength and will, and a fierce determination. And still I’m not after bruising her heart, or having her treasure of a friend come for me.”
“And who do we have here?” Sally, in snug, spangly black with over-the-knee boots and a platinum wig, sidled up beside Keegan.
“Breen’s . . . friend from Ireland,” Marco told him. “Sorry, she never said your name.”
“Keegan Byrne.”
“Oooh, accents do it every time.” Though Sally trailed a flirtatious finger down Keegan’s arm, his eyes stayed steady and assessing. “Aren’t you the surprise package? I’m Sally.”
“Sally? The mother of Breen’s heart.”
The assessing eyes softened. “That’s a sweet way to put it.”
“How she spoke of you made it clear enough. I like your place here very much. It’s good craic, and the performers have fine voices.”
“Wait until you see Sally’s Gaga,” Marco commented as he filled another order.
“You perform as well?”
“Honey, I was born for the stage, but I’ve got a little time before I blow the roof off. Marco, still water. Keegan, let’s you and I get ourselves a table, have a little talk.
“Hettie’ll bring the drinks,” Sally added as he hooked his arm with Keegan’s to steer him to a table in the back of the room.
“Would you be planning to come for me as well?” As, man or not, Sally was dressed as a female, Keegan held out his chair.
Lips twitching, Sally sat. “Should I?”
“I’ve the warning from Marco on it, and expect the same from you. You’re her family after all. Thanks,” he added when the waitress set down their drinks. “My friend, another brother to me, had his eye on my sister, and she on him. And though my sister’s more than a year older than I am, and Mahon as true a man as I know, I said much the same to him.”
“And how did that work out?”
Keegan lifted his beer. “Well now, it didn’t come to blows, which is fortunate for both of us, as Aisling would have kicked our arses for it. And they’re expecting their third child.”
“To happy endings.” Sally lifted his water. “And is that what you’re looking for with Breen? A happy ending, children?”
“What?”
The sincere shock had Sally’s lips twitching again.
“An example only of my understanding of family. It’s a conversation I’m planning, no more, in hopes she’ll come back with me. She’s family there as well. And . . . there’s a need for her there. A place for her.”
“You speak for her grandmother? Someone she didn’t know existed until last summer.”
Diplomacy, Keegan reminded himself.
“Marg kept her silence, which cost her dearly, out of respect for Breen’s mother, and to give Breen herself time to make her own choices when the moment came. It’s not my story to tell you, so I’ll say only when Eian brought Breen here, at her mother’s demand, he did his best to keep his family safe and whole, and to keep the family he left behind the same.
“No one will speak ill of Mairghread or Eian Kelly in my hearing.”
“Fair enough. Though I will say I wish her grandmother had made herself known sooner, and given Jennifer less time to do a number on Breen.”
“I’m aware of your meaning, and the truth of it. But the time of choices comes when it comes. And she had you, didn’t she then? And Marco, and this place.”
He looked around again as applause followed the trio offstage.
“It’s a good place, as I said. One of love and shelter, beyond the fun of it.”
With a huff, Sally sat back. “How am I supposed to grill you like a fish when you say something like that?”
He smiled. “It’s what I see and feel for myself now I’m here, and what was easy enough to glean from how Breen spoke of you, of Marco, of here, of . . . it’s Derrick, isn’t it?”
“Yes. The love of my life.”
“So a fine man he must be, as you’ve no reason to settle for less.”
“Shit. Charm, looks, and the accent.” Sally tossed his platinum locks. “What’s a mother supposed to do?”
“Let her go back with me, if she chooses.”
“I couldn’t stop her, and wouldn’t try to stand