It was tempting to wake him up, to talk. But that would make it real.
The next thing she knew, her face was being dotted with kisses. She must have gone back to sleep. Lemon-coloured light flooded the room and there was Liam, smiling down at her. All of her fear had evaporated and her relief was so great she was almost ecstatic. ‘Liam, I had a nightmare.’
‘You should have woken me, baby.’
‘It was like a waking nightmare. I thought we didn’t love each other any more.’
‘We totally love each other. But this is my fault.’ He looked sad. ‘Bumpy few days. I was such a dick about your museum.’
‘It’s okay. The fear is gone now.’
‘I’m so sorry. I guess we know each other a little better.’
‘I guess we do.’
‘Bunny.’ Jessie was at Ferdia’s door. ‘I need your Wi-Fi.’
He stepped back, giving her a clear path to the stairs that led up to his bedroom. ‘Work away.’
Her look was wary. She was still suspicious of the new nice him and he felt shitty about it.
‘I can just go on up?’ she asked.
‘Sure. You need privacy?’
‘Ah, no … I’m just FaceTiming with Paige to eat humble pie. I was interfering again.’
Ferdia remained downstairs on his laptop. Jessie connected to Paige and, after a flurry of hellos, she said, ‘Paige, I’m so sorry for sticking my oar in –’
Paige’s voice: ‘Jessie. Hold up. We need to talk about Italy. What did you mean about the dates not working?’
‘The girls have camp and couldn’t come.’
‘Come where?’
‘To Italy. The house in Tuscany. Where we are now.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Liam messaged you months ago. Inviting the girls. But the dates didn’t work.’
‘Liam didn’t message me one single thing about Italy.’
‘But …’ Jessie was struggling to keep up. If this were true, it was completely awful. How much could Ferdia hear of this? The bedroom didn’t have a door she could close.
‘Liam wouldn’t commit to dates for the girls to come to Ireland. Said his job is too busy.’
‘Paige … I don’t know what to say. I’m mortified. It was wrong for me to interfere, but we all love you.’
‘Liam doesn’t.’
‘The rest of us, though, we love you and the girls. But I don’t know where we should go from here?’
‘Okayyyy.’ Paige gave a long, heavy sigh. ‘Liam and I need to have a conversation. And I need to process. We’ll work it out. Thanks for caring. Love you, Jessie.’
‘Love you too, Paige.’
Jessie ended the connection and sat looking at her hands. She felt light-headed.
‘Mum, what the hell?’ Ferdia had run up the stairs.
‘You shouldn’t have listened.’
‘He never invited his kids?!’
‘No.’ Then, ‘D’you think Nell is in on it?’
‘Nell? She hasn’t a clue. She’s all about protecting Liam because his life is so tragic.’
Jessie’s head was awhirl. ‘I don’t know what to do,’ she said. ‘How to fix this.’
‘Mum.’ Ferdia’s tone was careful. ‘I don’t mean this in a bad way but it’s between Liam and Paige.’
‘But he’s lied to all of us.’ Jessie sighed. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have invited the girls. It’s just that the bunnies miss their cousins.’
‘Your heart was in the right place.’
‘Ferd.’ She was suddenly urgent. ‘You can’t tell anyone about this, okay? We shouldn’t know this. I won’t even tell Johnny, not till we’re home. It would cause an atmosphere here. Okay?’
‘I can keep my mouth shut.’
‘Look at you, all grown-up.’ She gave a sad little laugh.
‘Speaking of which, you want to know what happened with Barty?’
‘Well, aaaah, yeah.’
‘It’ll probably upset you. I’m sorry about that.’
‘Tell me anyway.’
He laid it out and she listened without comment.
When he’d finished, she said, ‘I messed up so badly with the Kinsellas. I’m sorry for how it’s hurting you.’
‘Ah, Mum, stop.’
‘I feel strange.’ Cara spoke into the phone. ‘In my head I know that I love people or that I should be happy but the feelings aren’t there. I sort of feel … nothing.’
‘You’re numb,’ Peggy said. ‘You’ve been playing fast and loose with your brain chemistry. Now it’s sorting itself out. Trust me, you won’t be numb for long.’
‘You’re not exactly reassuring me.’
Peggy laughed. ‘Fight today’s war today. Leave tomorrow’s war until tomorrow.’
Nell marvelled as cogs began spinning, moving every part of the apparatus. This was a flour mill, but also here were flying machines, a tank and a water pump. Da Vinci’s vision was incredible. He’d used techniques that, nearly six hundred years later, were still relevant to her work today.