Chapter 8

Niamh got her business done the next morning. They were only gone an hour or so; if she had been meeting a paramour it must have been a real quickie. She did look a lot more relaxed but it seemed to me to be more of a relieved relaxed than a got-your-tubes-cleaned kind of relaxed. I nodded to Faolain and he just gave me a small shrug in return.

Leanne made a beeline for her cousin right after they got out of the car and I just barely caught her in time. I threatened her with a bare assed whipping in public if she bothered Niamh about this and got her grudging agreement. No, I don't think I scared her one little bit.

The night before had been interesting. Near bedtime Seamas announced they'd had a room made up for me, the boys were farmed out to a couple of the other houses, when Leanne voiced her dissent, loudly.

"Martin will be sleeping with me," she announced in a very firm and no-nonsense tone.

"Now that's just not right, Lea," Seamas replied. "Think of what the others will say..."

"My room, his room or a room in town," she stated flatly. "He's my fella and where he goes, ah go."

"Lea," Seamas growled warily. Right then Betty put her had on his arm and his mouth snapped shut like a trap.

"She's a grown woman, Seamas," she said softly. Betty spoke softly but there was steel under that velvet. There was no doubt where Leanne had gotten her determination. I don't think I could ever see Betty yelling or screaming but there was no compromise in her voice, no room for negotiation, none. Betty didn't talk just to hear the sound of her own voice but when she did it might as well have been etched in marble.

"Leanne is an adult now," she continued. "She has the right to determine where and with whom she will sleep. While this will always be her home, she is no longer a child." She looked at Leanne, "However we can hope she will demonstrate some ... discretion in the matter."

"Of course, Ma," Leanne nodded with a sly smile. "Ah'll be the soul of tact and prudence."

"If you do it will be the first time," Betty snorted. "However we'll leave that up to your judgment. Am I to assume this is not an unusual arrangement? Should I also assume this is known to your cousins?"

"It is not our first time, Mother," Leanne giggled. "And aye, ya might say it is well known throughout the troupe."

"As I thought," Betty nodded. "Very well, do try and remember to keep it down though; your father has to get up early in the morning."

The day went relatively smoothly other than I was continuously worried that Leanne was going to explode with curiosity. I will say Niamh didn't help matters one little bit. She hung around us with a smug little smile on her face and I just knew she was daring Leanne to ask her about her morning. I was seriously considering threatening her with a bare bottom spanking if she got any worse.

That evening was when all hell broke loose. It started when Eimile went out to the stable to visit her horse ... Let me start again and I'll try to lay it out just as it was given to me later on.

It was after diner and most if not all the families were hanging around while some of the girls told them about the tour so far. Eimile went out to the stables to visit her horse. Eimile loves horses and she hadn't seen hers for more than a month other than for a few minutes during the day. I didn't see her leave but someone else did.

She was talking to her mare, feeding her carrots or something like that when Sean, Aileen's older brother, stepped up behind her.

"Hello, Em," he said as she gasped and turned. "Been a long time." Sean had been away at school and had come back just a short while before the band had started gearing up for their tour.

"Sean," she mumbled turning away.

"Now, is that any way to be fer yer favorite cousin," he chuckled evilly and grabbed her arm pulling her back around to face him.

"Leave me alone!" she sobbed trying to shake his arm off. "Go away and leave me alone."

"Ah think not," he smirked. "True, 'tis been awhile but ya seemed to enjoy it the last time and I'm thinking with us being alone here maybe we can try it again."

"Leave me alone!" she screamed this time.

"Ach, they can't hear ya girl," he said pulling her close.

"Yer wrong," she said calmly. "Martin, help me!"

I had been sipping on a glass of very good, thick brown beer when the "Martin, help me!" flashed in through my implant. I was halfway to the door when that glass hit the floor, I never did find out if it broke. My AI was giving me range and bearing to the distress call as I was running flat out with my pistol in my hand. The stable door didn't have a lock and I'd just barely lifted the latch as I slammed into and through it. The two of them were standing in front of me; Sean looking surprised and Eimile relieved.

"Let go of her," I said breathing hard.

"Or what you'll be doing? Shooting me?" he sneered.

I'll admit to being tempted and I'll also admit to later regretting the fact that I didn't shoot him but I blame it on the fact I didn't know then what I know now. Maybe what happened was even better than shooting the fucker though. Well, regrets are good I've been told, it means you're alive to have them.

"Not this time," I said slowly. "Now. Let. Her. Go."

"And you'll be making me little man?" he chuckled. Yah, he was a big boy just like all the other Geallaigh men but that meant even less to me than his crack about "little man."

"Yes, I will," I said evenly. Eimile said I smiled right then but it wasn't a nice smile. More like a smile a wolf makes right before it rips the throat out of its prey. She said she wouldn't have liked to have that smile directed at her but at that particular time it made her giddy.

Eyes locked with his I quickly closed and grabbed the wrist of the hand that was holding Em. Thumb to the pressure point, a twist until she was free and then I slammed the elbow back into his sternum, hard, pushing him back and knocking the breath out of him.

"Are you all right, Eimile?" I asked. I barely noticed that the stable was filling up. Everyone must have raced after me when I'd run out. Mac and Faolain had their pistols out, thankfully pointed at the ceiling, and were cutting our other four charges out of the herd and pushing them back against one of the walls. All four of them looked like they wanted to run over to us but luckily by now they knew enough to stay when the boys told them to stay.

She looked up at me with those huge violet eyes sparkling with tears and nodded. I felt movement behind me and heard someone who had to be Shauna saying, "Stupid fucker."

I wasn't so peaceable this time. Sean's fist grazed my back as I turned into him and I'm pretty sure the only other parts of his body that touched me were his knee, shoulder, ribs and face. Oh yeah, I did knee his groin to get his face down to where I could put a couple of forearms across it. That boy was a bloody mess when I'd finished. I think the knee was dislocated; it bent at kind of a funny angle. I knew the shoulder was. The nose ― well maybe a surgeon could put it back together but right then it was kind of mashed all over his face. The crowd was absolute silent; you could have heard the proverbial pin drop, as he toppled over and landed on his back. It didn't stay quiet for long.

About two seconds after he hit the ground Eimile, sweet little Eimile, meek little Eimile, was around me and kicking the dog shit out of him.

"Ya fucking bastard!" she screamed and sobbed at the same time. "Ah'm no little girl ya can rape this time!" She punctuated this with kicks of her hard, pointy boots to his ribs, thighs and stomach. "Ah've got a man to protect me, ya fucking shit!" Kick! Kick!

That's going to leave a mark, I remember thinking but you know right after hearing the word "rape" I didn't really give a crap if she kicked him to death. If she did I'd have sworn in court he'd got trampled by a horse. Others weren't of the same mind.

"Eimile!" Liam, Sean's dad, shouted and took a step forward followed by the crowd. There's something about the discharge of a 5mm handgun that tends to make people freeze in their tracks. Liam stared down at the plume of dust between his feet where the round from my pistol hit the hard packed dirt floor and then he looked up into the business end of my barrel.

"You done?" I asked Eimile casually. She grunted and gave him one more vicious kick in the ribs.

"Aye, ah am now," she snorted and flung her hair back over her shoulder. She walked over to me, the side without the gun, and flung her arms around me.

"Thank ya, Martin," she said pressing her head against my shoulder.

"My pleasure," I gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Remind me never to get you pissed off at me."

"Ah don't think that'll be a problem," she grinned up at me. "But ma toes hurt. This kicking is a hard thing."

"Comes with the job," I shrugged. I was suddenly hit on my other side by a body and just barely got my gun up and out of the way. Shauna had her arms wrapped around both me and Eimile and was blubbering. I gently peeled her away and reholstered the pistol.

"Eimile!" came a woman's hard, angry voice. I looked; it was Caitlin, Eimile's mom. "Did ya say this boy raped you?"

"Aye, ah did," she said flatly. "When ah was fourteen the bastard caught me in this selfsame stable, dragged me up to the loft and had his way with me."

"Why did ya not tell us, child?" she gasped.

"Ah told him," she sneered and pointed with her chin towards her father. "He slapped me and called me a lying slut. Ah learned to keep ma mouth shut."

"Is this true, Bran?" Caitlin rounded and scowled at her husband.

"Now, Caitlin," he said putting his hands out to soothe her. "Ah had no reason to believe 'er. It would have been 'is word against 'ers."

"And so ya didn't believe yer own daughter?" Ice could have formed on those words.

"Enough!" another voice interrupted. It was Mary, Rachael and Niamh's mother, taking a step forward. "Eimile, we women would like to talk to you, if ya will."

"Aye, ah will," Eimile took her arm from around me and stood up straight. "But ah have another thing to say first." Reaching over she grabbed Shauna and pulling her in tightly gave her a passionate kiss right there in front of everyone. Releasing the shocked girl she faced the crowd again. "Shauna and me have been lovers fer years and will continue to be." There was a general gasp from the crowd. "If ya cannot accept us, then we will leave and not come back."

"Ah suppose this is also something we should talk about," Mary said raising her eyebrows.

"Ah have something to say too," Leanne said as she walked over to me. "Martin and me are to be married. As soon after the tour as can be arranged."

"Hmm, well," Seamas muttered until Betty stuck her elbow in his side.

"Ah have something to say also," Niamh walked out in front of everyone proudly. "Ah have just today filed for divorce from Tom Callahan." There were more gasps from the crowd. What I didn't know then was there hadn't been a divorce in all their families for over three generations. That actually caused more of a stir than Leanne announcing she was going to marry a Yank stranger.

"And now ah suppose ah should have me say since everyone else seems to," Rachael smiled and planted herself between Mac and Faolain. I noticed they both still had their pistols out so I gave them the palm down signal and they both slipped them back into their holsters.

"These two gorgeous lads are my lovers," she smiled brightly as she took an arm of each in hers. "Ah missed them in me bed last night but ah don't intend to again." More mutterings than gasps this time.