song played quietly from a record player in the corner.
When I stood in front of the sink and looked out of the window, my view was the same as Killian’s. Cash was unloading the groceries from the car. It didn’t seem like Killian wanted him to know, because when Cash started to make his way back to the farmhouse, Killian rolled his wheelchair back, faster than he’d moved the night before.
“Have mercy!” he said when he noticed me. “For a tall girl, you walk with no noise.”
“What do you expect me to do?” I lifted a brow at him. “Stomp like a horse in a wooden house?”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “Tell me what you’re doing with my brother, woman.”
There it was—if the twin thing didn’t give it away, the demanding attitude came shining through as family resemblance.
“I’m his wife,” I said. “That’s what I’m doing.”
Cash shoved the door open, setting the bags on the counter. I turned away from his brother, going through them, starting to put the groceries away.
“I’m going to shower.” Cash patted me on the hip. Then he looked between his brother and me. “Don’t fall in love with him.” He nodded toward Killian. “If I steal hearts, he fucking breaks them.”
A moment passed and something moved between them—the twin thing—and then Cash shook his head and went to take a shower.
I knew how Cash liked his oatmeal and started to make it. “You like your oatmeal the same way as your brother?” I asked Killian.
“If it’s the same way he took it over ten years ago.” He shrugged. “The same.”
I told him how Cash took it and he nodded. He became quiet after, watching as I worked around the kitchen. The cabinets were empty, but someone had filled the fridge with butter and milk. They looked farm fresh, probably from one of the places around here.
“You’re either the most powerful being in the world or the dumbest, woman.”
I stopped what I was doing and looked at him. “I have a name. Keely.”
“Keely Kelly.”
“It’s a nice start to a riddle, I think,” I said.
“Let’s starts the riddle with a question. Most powerful woman in the world or the dumbest?”
“The first,” I said, turning to stir the oatmeal.
“You know what he does.”
I nodded.
“You know he’s more animal than man.”
I nodded.
“I’m having a hard time believing the first, then, if you know him.”
“I don’t see him. I feel him—more than you do.” I stopped myself before I wiped my hands on my dress. I looked around the kitchen and found an apron and set it over my clothes. As I made my way back to the stove, I said, “My Mam taught me to stand by my man. Unless he hits me. Then she told me to kill him in his sleep.”
It took a second, but a slow smile stretched across Killian’s face. It rivaled sunrises in Ireland after dreary days.
“You are crazy, Keely Kelly. Maybe crazy enough to match his level of chaos.” He moved his wheelchair closer to me. “There's one thing I can't take away from the marauding bastard. He's got a head harder than stone. Once his mind is set, he'll either seize what he wants or wait until the end of time for it. He'll be faithful to you, if it's you he truly wants. Not even the threat of death will change his mind.”
My eyes met his and held. We were trying to read the other’s intentions toward the man we both loved. Even though Killian was fighting it, I could tell he loved Cash. Whatever had happened between them, both of them ended up wounded from it in different ways. Some scars come from internal battles, not always physical ones.
Cash cleared his throat, and it took a second, but Killian and I moved in opposite directions. Killian wheeled himself to the table. I started removing bowls and putting oatmeal in them. Then I made us each a mug of tea. When I turned around with two cups in hand, Cash was backing his brother away from the spot at the head of the table, moving him to the right.
Killian held on to the wood for a second before he decided not to fight. “You’re lucky I don’t have a gun on me,” he said, glaring at Cash. “Or I’d shoot you.”
“My spot,” Cash said, taking the head of the table, tapping the spot where he’d eaten me last night.
If I were easily embarrassed, my neck would’ve turned red, but that