Building From Ashes
Page 25

She wrote back. ‘To remind us of our grave sins amidst the worldly revelry.’
‘God loves revelry. He told me.’
Brigid snorted again, and Deirdre turned around, reaching back to snatch the program from them. Carwyn crossed his arms and glared at her as the priest finished the mass. And he may have snuck a few more glances at the intriguing Brigid Connor.
Christmas Eve dinner in Wicklow consisted of a turkey and all the traditional foods Sinead prepared to go along with it. It was the first Christmas Carwyn had spent in Wicklow in over twenty years. He usually went somewhere warmer for the holidays, but Ioan and Deirdre had been pleased to welcome him. Sinead, who had always enjoyed joking with him, was thrilled as well. Several of Ioan and Deirdre’s own children had also come with their mates, so the family party included over thirty people.
Ioan caught his eye over the turkey and nodded toward the door. Carwyn nodded back. They would go hunting for something more appetizing after the humans were asleep.
After dinner, they gathered around the fireplace in the family room to open a few gifts, and Carwyn was immediately handed a present from Sinead.
“This is from Brigid and me, Father. I’ve been wanting to give this to you for years.”
Ioan snickered from across the room, and Carwyn tried not to cringe. “Oh, Sinead. That fills me with a grave fear, I cannot lie.”
Sinead went back to her seat laughing, and Carwyn looked for Brigid. She was smiling, but she hadn’t really laughed all night. He wracked his brain, but he couldn’t think of a single time he’d heard the woman laugh. Really laugh. Well, that was just like a challenge, wasn’t it?
Carwyn shoved the thought from his mind and focused on opening his present. As he lifted away the tissue paper, he roared in laughter. “Sinead! Where did you find it?”
“Brigid had to order it on the internet for me. All the way from Hawaii.” The older woman was laughing, tears streaming from her eyes. “I’d say she picked out the best one.”
Carwyn held up the shirt for the room to see; it was met with many an agonized groan. In the history of Hawaiian shirts, it was possibly the ugliest he had ever beheld. Florescent green hibiscus flowers dotted bright orange fabric. And along the bottom edge of the shirt, the ugliest hula girls in history danced.
He looked across the room at Brigid. “These are the ugliest hula girls ever. I’m impressed.”
Her voice barely carried across the room. “More like hula men, I think.”
“I think you may be right.” He pulled Sinead into a hug and kissed her cheek. “You brilliant women, it’s the crown of my collection.”
Deirdre said, “Pack it away, Carwyn. It’s blinding me.”
“Absolutely not. I’m wearing it.” He stood and all the humans and vampires around him groaned again. Carwyn glanced at Brigid as he pulled off the very proper Oxford shirt he’d donned for dinner. She still wasn’t laughing, but he caught her glancing at his bare chest and had to smother a grin.
She was blushing.
“Put your shirt on, Father,” Deirdre cried. “No one wants to see your hairy chest.”
He winked at Brigid, who was still stealing glances. Her neck was bright red. “I have it on good authority that Sinead has always been fond of my chest hair, Deirdre.”
Carwyn buttoned up the truly hideous Hawaiian shirt and pulled Brigid’s aunt into another hug.
“You’re a bad, bad man, Father.” The older woman was blushing as well.
Ioan lifted a glass of whiskey in a toast. “But an excellent vampire, we can all agree.”
“Hear, hear.” He almost missed it, but Brigid’s quiet voice made it to his ears over the din of the party. Carwyn looked over to her, and her beautiful amber eyes met his. For a moment, he saw a hint of the mischief he remembered when she was a girl, and his heart gave a sudden, and completely unexpected, thump. He blinked and looked away, suddenly distracted by Deirdre as she opened a gift from one of her daughters. When he looked back over to the chair where Brigid had been sitting, she was gone.
“What’s going on with you and Brigid?”
Ioan’s question caught him by surprise as they walked through the woods, scenting for deer. Carwyn blinked and almost stumbled over a log.
“What are you talking about?”
Ioan narrowed his eyes and smiled, just a little. “You kept looking at her during dinner. Then afterward, as well.”
“I wasn’t. Really. Not really. I mean, she’s looking well. I’ve worried. Of course. I know how concerned you and Deirdre were over the girl, and she’s…” He paused and cleared his throat. “She’s looking well, isn’t she? It’s nice to see, that’s all.”
Ioan nodded, but Carwyn caught the subtle smirk on his son’s face and had to fight back the urge to hit him.
“She is. Security work is a good fit for her. Dublin is having increasing drug problems, and she’s quite passionate about it, as I’m sure you can imagine.”
“What kind?”
“Heroin, for the most part. Rumors of others, of course. It’s bad, and it’s becoming more pervasive. Ireland has four times the usage as the rest of Europe now. Murphy’s been pleased to have a human on staff who’s more in touch with the current environment, and Brigid seems very happy with Murphy.”
“With Murphy?” The thought brought him up short, and his heart gave another quick beat. He felt his fangs in his mouth. They were partly descended; he must have smelled deer. He kept walking behind Ioan.