Today, clean-shaven, hair slicked back from his roguish face, wearing tan trousers and a crisp white shirt open at the neck, Tiernan not only fit the groomed grounds but made Ella’s pulse rush a little faster. She rarely spent time in the company of such an attractive man. Not that they were on a date—Tiernan had made it clear that their being together was strictly for her safety—but she couldn’t help smiling.
Tiernan’s relatives were gathered on the back patio. The smells that wafted from the big, brick barbeque made her stomach curl in anticipation. And the tables loaded with side dishes and desserts were equally enticing.
The Farrells and McKennas made a big noisy group, everyone talking and laughing at the same time. Tables were set up for the party—two big picnic tables with benches and a couple smaller round tables with chairs. Several kids ran together, their hair different shades of red. Ella spotted three small girls who had to be triplets, barely school age. The other little kids were toddlers.
“There you are, Tiernan, lad,” said a woman with fading and grayed red hair. She turned her shining smile on Ella. “And you must be Ella. I’m Rose.”
“Thank you for having me.”
“Ah, no problem at all. I’m just glad my youngest son is finally going to settle down in this area—a real cause for celebration,” Rose said, a slight hint of Ireland in her speech. “The more the merrier, as I always say.”
Tiernan nodded. “Rose took me in never having met me before.”
“Family is family, and there’s always room for another McKenna.” She pinched Tiernan’s cheek and gave Ella a wink. “Good to meet you. Tiernan, make the girl feel at home, if you would.”
“I shall do my best.”
Rose went off to greet more arriving guests.
Ella said, “She’s very nice.”
“That she is. I could use something to drink.”
Which meant Ella met more of Tiernan’s cousins since Kate’s brother, Neil, was playing bartender and his wife, Annabeth, was assisting. Neil was a buttoned-up kind of guy, but Annabeth seemed earthy, especially when her toddler son, Jeremy, ran up and threw his little arms around her legs. Annabeth picked him up and smothered him with kisses. Then, to Ella’s surprise, Neil put his arms around them and kissed them both.
“You need to get yourself a wife and kids,” Neil told Tiernan. “Your life will change forever.”
“What I’m afraid of,” Tiernan said, and though his tone was light, Ella got the distinct feeling that he wasn’t joking.
“Forget all that McKenna prophecy stuff,” Neil said, then added, “Kate told me, asked me what I thought, and—”
“Another time.” Tiernan said stiffly.
As they moved on to the food line and loaded plates with potato and bean salads and corn on the cob and fresh fruits, and a chunk of corn bread, Ella found herself covertly peering at Tiernan, trying to figure out what was going on with him.
What kind of prophecy had Neil been talking about?
Before she could analyze what she was feeling, she met cousins from Chicago, who Tiernan didn’t know—Skelly and his wife, Roz, parents to the triplets. The sea of faces began blending together in her mind by the time they got to the brick grill where chicken and ribs and small steaks were cooking.
Just as she was about to reach for ribs that had been put off to the side but close enough to the coals to keep them warm, a flume of fire roared up from the grill and Ella dropped her plate.
“Hey, are you okay?” Tiernan asked.
Ella nodded. “The fire scared me, is all.” Her pulse was still whacked out, the blood rushing through her so fast she could feel it throughout her body. Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself down. “I’m afraid I made a mess.”
“Here, I’ll take care of it. Take this,” he said, handing her his plate, “and go sit down. It’ll just take me a few minutes to load up another.”
Normally she would have insisted on helping, but the area was crowded with family members who were all giving her curious looks. Crushing her left arm into her side, she hurried to a small empty table with a big red-and-green umbrella at the edge of the crowd.
She looked over to see Tiernan trash what she’d spilled. Then he wiped his hands, picked up another plate and started piling it with more food. He filled another with barbequed chicken and ribs, then joined her.
“Oh, Lord, can we really eat all that?” she said with a breathy laugh.
Her embarrassment eased when he grinned at her and said, “We can but try.”
When he sat, she picked up a tempting rib—the meat practically fell off the bone. “You don’t even know how lucky you are to have such a big family. I’m a little overwhelmed and a little jealous, too. Mother’s parents are dead and she has one sister who never married.” Taking a bite, she said, “I have the grandparents on the rez, of course.”
“And your cousin, Nathan.” he reminded her.
“And Nathan,” she agreed. “Though, I honestly don’t know how to feel about him.”
Tiernan set a stripped rib bone on his plate and picked up another. “You do know Nathan was at the casino last night, do you not?”
“I didn’t know until this morning. I never saw Nathan in the casino, but he saw me with Leonard and warned me off the man.”
“He might have a point,” Tiernan said. “If he is not the one stirring up trouble. I saw him at a poker table when we were walking to Leonard’s office. By the time we came out, he was gone.”
“Giving him enough time to slash the tires…” Ella sighed.
As they ate, Ella quickly recapped her early-morning conversation with her cousin and the fact that his truck had been mysteriously returned. Gradually, Tiernan relaxed and was more of himself.
“Nathan seemed sincere,” she said, “worrying about me getting sucked in by Leonard. So, do I believe him or not?”
“I can understand your difficulty—a truck being returned several hours after it was supposedly stolen is a bit of a stretch. But possibly it’s true.”
“Did Leonard really have enough time to slash the refuge truck’s tires and then steal Nathan’s truck between the time he left us and we left the casino? I’m still thinking Jimmy is a more likely suspect. He could have seen us arrive—he had enough time to do both before coming inside.”
“Or it could have been Nathan.”
“I don’t know what to believe or who to trust,” Ella said truthfully. “And I don’t know how we’re going to figure out anything more. I tried talking to Nathan about the past and either he didn’t know anything or he didn’t want to go there. I got nothing from him.”
“Perhaps ’tis time to call on your sixth sense.”
“I don’t know that it’ll ever be time for that.”
Thinking about forcing herself to go to the scary place in her mind knotted her stomach. Suddenly losing her appetite, Ella dropped her fork, cleaned her sticky fingers with a wet wipe and sat back in her chair.
Tiernan ate in silence for a few minutes, then, his plate nearly empty, sat back himself. “I guess whether or not you call on your powers all depends on how important it is for you to know the truth.”