The Gallaghers of Ardmore Trilogy

ghosts and faeries till now.”
    “You talked with Gwen?” The amusement died out of Carrick’s eyes, turning the bright blue dark and with an edge. He gripped Trevor’s arm with a hand that transferred a jolt of heat and energy. “What did she say to you?”
    “I thought you knew or could find out.”
    Abruptly, Carrick released him and turned away. He began to pace through the grass, around the stones in quick, almost jerky movements. The air around him sizzled with a visible color and spark. “She’s the only thing that matters, and the only thing I can’t see clear. Can you know, Magee, what it is to want one person with all your heart, with all that you have in you, and for her to be just out of your reach?”
    “No.”
    “I blundered with her. Now that’s a deep score to the pride, make no mistake. Not that it was only my fault. She blundered as well. It hardly matters who holds the heaviest weight of the blame at this point.”
    He stopped, turned back. The air grew still again. “Will you tell me what she said to you?”
    “She spoke of you and regrets, of passions that flash and burn, and love that lasts. She misses you.”
    Emotions swirled in Carrick’s eyes. “If she—should you speak with her again, would you tell her I’m waiting, and I’ve loved no other since last we met?”
    For some reason it no longer seemed odd to be asked to deliver a message to a ghost. “I’ll tell her.”
    “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”
    “Yes, very.”
    “A man can forget to look past beauty and into the heart. I did, and it’s cost me dear. You won’t make that mistake. It’s why you’re here.”
    “I’m here to build a theater, and to acquaint myself with my roots.”
    His humor restored, Carrick strolled back to Trevor. “You’ll do both, and more. Your ancestor here was a fine young man, a bit of a dreamer, with a heart too soft for soldiering and what war makes men do to men. But he went out of duty and left his love behind.”
    “You knew him?”
    “Aye, both of them, though only Maude knew me. She gave him a charm before he marched off, for protection.”
    He snapped his fingers and from them dangled a chain with a little silver disk. “I expect she’d want you to have it now.”
    Too curious for caution, Trevor reached out and took the object. The silver was warm, as if it had been worn against flesh, and on it the carving was faint.
    “What does it say?”
    “It’s in old Irish, and says simply ‘Forever Love.’ She gave it to him, and he wore it faithful. But war was stronger than the charm in the end, if not stronger than the love. He wanted a simple life, unlike his brother, who went off to America. Your father’s father wanted something more, and he worked for it and brought it to be. That’s an admirable thing. What do you want, Trevor Magee?”
    “To build.”
    “That’s an admirable thing as well. What will you call your theater?”
    “I haven’t thought of it. Why?”
    “I have an idea you’ll choose correctly because you’re a man who chooses carefully. That’s why you’re still living alone.”
    Trevor’s fingers curled around the disk. “I like living alone.”
    “That may be, but it’s making mistakes you dislike most of all.”
    “True enough. I have to go now. I have a meeting.”
    “I’ll walk with you a ways. ’Tis a fine summer we have in store. You’ll hear the cuckoo call if you listen. It’s a good omen of things to come. I’m wishing you luck on your meeting, and with Darcy.”
    “Thanks, but I know how to handle both.”
    “Oh, well, now, I believe you do, or I wouldn’t be in so cheerful a mood. She’ll be handling you as well. It helps the last of this waiting, if you don’t mind me saying, to be entertained by the pair of you.”
    “I’m not part of your plan.”
    “It’s not a matter of planning. It’s a matter of what is, and what will be. You’ve more say in it than I, and you’ve little enough.”
    Carrick stopped. He could see the cottage now, the creamy walls, the sunny thatched roof, the rainbow spread of flowers. “Once she would have come out to meet me, her heart pounding, her eyes bright. Fear and love so mixed together neither of us could untangle them. And me so sure I could dazzle her with gifts and promises that I never held out to her the single thing that mattered.”
    “No second chance?”
    A wry smile twisted Carrick’s lips. “There might have been, had I not waited so long to take it.