The next few days passed with no word from Kate or Nora, and this put Iseult in a foul mood. She didn't trust the silence from her enemies, and, a week after the disastrous cafe meeting, the last person she'd expected to darken her door turned up in a battered Ford Escort. "Saraid?" Patrick exclaimed, stunned as he joined his wife at the front door. Neither of them had seen Saraid after a disastrous house party many years ago that had left her pregnant and forced into marriage with her rapist. It didn't help her husband was Quinn and Kate's older brother Conor. Saraid hadn't been heard of after being forced to marry Conor, and Patrick wondered just what the hell his former mother-in-law was getting at as his sister stepped out of the car.
"Long time no see," she called, giving an airy wave as if she hadn't been absent for well over twenty years. Her smile was too bright, her eyes glittering too sharply, and Patrick felt ill inside as he and Iseult went down the stairs to greet her. He told himself not to be an eejit. Saraid was still his sister, and surely some kernel of good remained in her after over twenty years of being a plaything for the Ryans.
"What brings you here?" he asked, once the three of them were seated on the front porch. Iseult's arthritis was giving her the devil of a time, judging by the tightness around her eyes, but she refused to go inside where it was warm, opting instead to snuggle up next to her husband. Patrick didn't mind in the slightest, but he noticed a calculating glint in his sister's eyes at the walking stick propped up against Iseult's good hip. "I thought you'd fallen off the face of the earth."
"Near enough," Saraid said, a dazzling smile on her face again. But that calculating glint was still in her eyes. "I've just been so busy raising a daughter who seems to have caught the eye of every man over sixteen and under sixty, and I swear she'd be pregnant a half dozen times over without me to watch over her!"
Patrick felt a chill go down his spine, and he shared a knowing look with Iseult. "Are you looking to get her into the countryside?" the latter asked carefully.
"That was what I was thinking," Saraid said. "Niamh needs to spend a bit of time away from the hustle and bustle of Belfast, so I was thinking she might have a grand time with her own aunt, uncle, and cousins. It should settle her down and make her less likely to get herself knocked up by the first fella-me-lad she crooks a finger at."96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgOXFpHk3IF
"We're not exactly out in the country," Patrick said tactfully.
Saraid raised an eyebrow. "Is it that you're denying your niece the chance to spend some time with her cousins?" she asked. "I can't believe you'd say no to me."
"We're not saying no," Iseult said, shooting her husband a look that simultaneously blessed him for his tact and cursed him for his loud mouth. Patrick gave her a lopsided grin in response, knowing he'd be in for an earful behind closed doors. "But we're just not sure if we're 'rural' enough to tame your daughter's, ah, proclivities."
"Your house is just out of the way enough to be rural," Saraid said, waving a dismissive hand. "And Dublin's not as rowdy as Belfast. "I think it's a good idea, don't you?"
Patrick and Iseult shared a glance full of worry. On the one hand, Saraid was probably showing the effects of being in a family of slick talkers and glib liars, and there was a good chance there was still a bit of the bright-hearted girl she'd been before her pregnancy. On the other hand, Saraid had spent over twenty years of her life in a family of slick talkers and glib liars, so there was every chance she was no longer the girl she'd been before her pregnancy. Patrick didn't want to say no and then find out Saraid was making an entirely innocent offer, but on the other hand, he didn't want to say yes and then find out Saraid had been sent by her mother-in-law. He was about to defer his decision when Iseult abruptly stood, took her walking stick in one hand and Saraid's hand in the other. "We need tea," she said firmly, and Patrick, trained to his wife's ways after a month of marriage, took the hint.
"Good idea," he said, standing and kissing his wife and sister on the lips and forehead respectively. "I need to go into town and sort out the storm damage. The boys'll be down there already, I've no doubt; will I need to be fishing my oldest from the bottom of the harbour again?"
"Probably," Iseult said, giggling as she returned her husband's kiss. "Take all the time you need; Saraid and I will be a good few hours at the max, if not more."
Patrick nodded, giving both the women a smile. "I'll order us some fish and chips for dinner," he said.
Saraid tossed him her car keys. "Save your feet," she told him. "It's muddy as all out there, and I don't think your wife wants you to muddy her carpets." The bright, glittering air was still about her, but Patrick sensed a crack in the facade, and he felt a shiver go over him as he bade the women farewell. Something was going on, but as he got the Escort started, he thanked the fates for Iseult's perception. Saraid, it seemed, was innocent of whatever mischief her mother-in-law was planning, and perhaps her daughter was not bait for a trap. That was the hope, at any rate, and Patrick prayed he was right. If he wasn't... the thought didn't bear completing.
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96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCp8gxUSILR
