Kieran was obviously missing from the table, as was another brother, who was working, and the mood was dampened because of it.
“Why do we need livening up?” Rory asked. “We should be used to dinners without him by now.”
“Rory,” Clare scolded him, her eyes piercing through him with a stern look.
“We might be used to it, but it doesn’t make us feel any better,” Dee reminded him.
Fiona wished she could dissolve into the table. She was the odd ball out, both Shea and her, in fact. She was just a reminder that Kieran was missing. She decided she needed to say something, needed to let them know that what Dee and Seamus were doing for her meant so much. “Thank you for letting us stay here, despite everything that’s happening.”
“Don’t even mention it, sweetie.” Dee waved her off with a smile. “We love having you.”
“My wife’s right. None of this is your fault,” Seamus chimed in from the end of the table.
Fiona smiled as everyone at the table nodded and added their agreement. “Well, I still want you all to know how grateful we are, and how much we love being here. Right, Shea?”
Shea stared down at her lap, not saying anything. Fiona leaned over to see she’d snuck her e-reader to the table and was reading it on her lap, while Ace was fast asleep on top of her feet. Fiona reached over and turned off the e-reader, causing Shea to look up and lift the earmuffs away from one ear. “Shea, I’m talking to you. I was just telling everyone how much we like it here.” Fiona blushed at the rest of the table as all eyes were on them, even though no one looked upset.
“I like my room. I haven’t had my own room before,” Shea said simply, not making direct eye contact with anyone as she pushed the chicken nuggets on her plate into two straight lines.
“That used to be my room when I was your age, kiddo,” Quinn told her, but she didn’t respond.
“I think we’ve all stayed in that room at some point. This many kids, you tend to shuffle around periodically,” Casey said, but by then Shea had already put her earmuffs back on.
Fiona glanced at Shea, checking her earmuffs were firmly in place, before making eye contact with each person at the table. “You’ve been so wonderful to Shea and me. No matter what happens or where we wind up, please know that I am forever grateful.”
“Oh, you’re so sweet,” Dee said. “But I do hope you won’t go anywhere.”
“You ladies are welcome to stay as long as you need to,” Seamus spoke, his voice kind and soft as he looked pointedly at her in response.
“I second that,” Dee agreed. “Don’t worry about Kieran. He’s made his own choices, but you and Shea are both family now.”
“Keep my room as long as you want,” Quinn added. No ulterior motives, this was a pure-hearted family who were genuinely good and caring. Certainly a novelty in this world today but, even more so, a novelty in her life. Fiona had never gotten to be a child, or taken care of.
And that’s what Kieran had been doing since they met. Now she could see why—that’s what he’d grown up around.
“Where the hell is Jimmy? Is he ever going to come back to these things?” Kane asked suddenly, looking up from his plate, which was stacked high with food.
“He tries, but he’s scheduled weekends. It’s a really tough time for police in New York right now. You all should be praying for him,” Seamus said from the head of the table, causing everyone to still. He wasn’t very talkative, but when he did speak, everyone listened.
“Who wants to come to mass with me next week? Father John has been asking about all of you,” Dee volunteered, always trying to convince them to attend services.
Crickets could be heard with the silence Dee’s question brought forward.
“I can tell a joke to liven things up,” Quinn offered, causing several groans around the table.
“Anyone else?” Dee teased, pretending not to hear Quinn.
Quinn huffed. “It’s not a dirty one! I promise.”
Dee eyed him suspiciously but finally relented. “All right, fine, but keep in mind there’s a child present. What’s the joke?”
“Knock knock,” Quinn started.
Rory took the bait. “Who’s there?”
“Little Boy Blue.” Quinn grinned, and Fiona knew from his face that this was definitely not going to be a clean joke. She looked over at Shea and saw that she was absorbed in her e-reader again, which Fiona didn’t mind at this point.
“Nope. Nope. Nope.” Dee crossed her hands like a giant stop sign. “You are not finishing that sentence if the word blow is in it.”