Selkie's Song (Fado Trilogy) Read Free

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    All had been peaceful when he left to pick up the mail fifteen minutes ago. Now, Jamie McFallon stood braced for a fight, face flushed, pan in one hand and a gesticulating spatula in the other. “Jaysus, Flannery, fer once in yer life be reasonable.”
    “Reasonable? Do you want reasonable, or do you want someone to listen to yer stupid jokes?” Flannery taunted.
    They were face to face and would have been toe to toe if not for a protruding belly the size of a soccer ball between them.
    Tynan took a seat at the bar and started to open his mail.
    Jamie let out a long sigh of resignation and pleaded with the man seated in the shadowed corner booth. “Cade, yer her husband. Can’t ya talk some sense into her?”
    “Jamie, I’ve learned over the last few months to choose very carefully what mountains I want to die on.” He lifted his coffee cup in a mock toast. “This isn’t one of them.”
    “Oh, an’ are ya callin’ me a mountain, like?” Flann spun around. “I’ll remind ya who got me into this situation.”
    “Now, Flann—”
    “Don’t ye be now-Flannin’ me. I told ye both, I did. I’ll keep workin’ my shifts and playin’ the sessions.” She headed for the kitchen. “All this foolishness is makin’ me hungry, and Kerry’s puttin’ on the tea.”
    Cade took his mug and started to follow her when he noticed Tynan. “Hey, bro, didn’t hear you come in, what with all the excitement.”
    Ty grinned. “Got your hands full, I see.”
    “I should go calm her down,” Cade said with a lack of conviction.
    “Ah, now, I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Tynan warned. “My baby sister is making a point here. You have to remember Irish women take a spell to cool down.” Possibly centuries.
    “Is that why you’re still single?”
    “I tried to warn you,” Ty reminded him, though in his heart he envied the man. “Yer a lucky bastard.” Ty smacked Cade on the shoulder. “I’d settle for a woman who could carry on an intelligent conversation.” And he didn’t add unlike the vapid groupies who hang around the pub with the goal of scoring with the lead man in the band.
    Tynan’s twin sister, Kerry, had pointed out to him the cold fact that, at the not so tender age of thirty-two, he had never been in love. Not that he hadn’t tried. He saw himself as a pretty decent catch: educated, funny, not bad looking…humble.
    He would always have his sisters, their husbands, their children. That was a joy to be sure. But Tynan simply could not see himself as the old bachelor brother and uncle, sitting by the fire, amusing a gaggle of nieces and nephews with his songs and stories. He wanted his own children on his knee, calling him Da. Not to ignore the essentials: a lover, a soul mate, a wife.
    It had occurred to him he might be too picky in his choices. Perhaps it should not have been so disturbing that most of them were all too eager to go to bed with him. What kind of man was he? The joy of sex without the commitment to verbiage was, reportedly, a dream date. Yet, he wanted a woman able to carry on an intelligent conversation before and after orgasm.
    Yes, he wanted it all.
    Now, he had a start, a goal and a grand plan to get him from A to Z. The first step: a clear shot at a pub of his own. He felt a bit naïve, having thought this would be easy.
    O’Fallon’s was up for sale for the first time in two centuries. Tynan wanted it. He was determined. Nothing need stand in his way.
    Nothing except the steep purchase price of the historic public house and the down payment which would take most of his earnings from Fadό’s first record and then some.
    Across the Waters had been a hit, a windfall. It launched Kerry’s solo album and Flann’s contract for a film soundtrack. But Tynan had spent a chunk of his revenue on two weddings. Flannery’s was a gala affair on a yacht in Boston Harbor. She married into one of the most influential families in the Northeast and Tynan was delighted to give