before I shared the news of her with them. However, fate intervened, and the best I would ever be able to do was tell them that we had a sister. But, I decided to keep everything to myself until I had more information to share—preferably a DNA test confirming her relationship to us, though I had no idea how I was going to get one of those.
“No one’s,” I mumbled against his chest. “I came home as soon as I realized the research I was doing turned out to be a waste of time. I’m just tired and frustrated,” I told him—none of which was completely a lie, or the truth for that matter.
“You wouldn’t be lying to me, would you, Sloaney Bologna?”
I pulled back and slapped his chest, lightly giggling through my tears. “I hate when you call me that.”
“Judging by that laugh, it doesn’t sound like you hate it all that much,” he laughed.
“What’re you doing here anyway?” I asked. Even though it was technically half Tiernan’s, he wasn’t there most of the time. However, he usually let me know when he was coming since I was the only one living there full time. My oldest two brothers, Kian and Declan, never lived with us at Mom’s house. They were both adults and living on their own when Mom moved into her own place.
I had a closer relationship with Tiernan than I did my other two brothers—partially because he was only two years older than me and partially because our personalities meshed well together. He usually spent his time traveling, though I wasn’t one-hundred-percent sure exactly what he did. Growing up as an O’Shea, I knew not to ask questions about information that wasn’t readily offered. In other words, if Tiernan hadn’t told me what he was doing on his frequent travels, it was none of my business, and I was better off not knowing anything about his activities.
“Sorry about not giving you a call this time. I had an unexpected business meeting pop up,” he said and paused as an excited smile appeared upon his face. “If the meeting goes well, I’ll be in town a lot more over the next few months. Is it going to be a problem for you if I stay here?”
I rolled my eyes at my brother’s ridiculous question. “You own half of the property and have your own wing, Tiernan. As long as you don’t have a massive party or diddle your dates in the main dining room, I doubt I’ll even know you’re here, especially when I’m deep in the throes of writing another masterpiece,” I returned with a wink.
He reached out and ruffled the hair on top of my head. “Have I told you how damn proud I am of you lately? Saying fuck you to the world and going after your dreams. Not only going after them but achieving your dreams like a boss.”
I felt my cheeks heat in embarrassment. I was nothing if not modest about my career. “Oh, stop. You act like writing a couple of stories is a big deal.”
“It is a big deal, Sloane,” he said in exasperation, gearing up for the same argument we’d had on more than one occasion. “You didn’t just write a couple of stories. You wrote a book. A book. Published it all by yourself—without telling anyone—and made it onto a best-seller list.”
“I’m not doing this again with you,” I said firmly. “We’re going to have to agree to disagree and leave it at that.”
He huffed and shook his head. “For now,” he replied and turned to leave the room. “You sure you’re okay?” At my nod, he added, “You know you can talk to me about anything, right?”
I smiled softly. “I do, Turnip,” I replied, using the nickname I gave him when I first started talking and couldn’t pronounce Tiernan correctly. “Love you.”
He grinned. “Mean it.”
With that, he left the room, leaving me alone to finally look through the contents of the box and photo albums. I was so excited I could barely contain myself. Hopping onto my bed and crossing my legs underneath me, I opened the flaps to the box and looked inside.
The box was filled with a variety of random items, perhaps ones that were collected during a final walk-through of the house—hair accessories, makeup, a set of keys, a small wooden jewelry box, a few pieces of mail, and a number of other things that were irrelevant as best I could tell.