Free A Song Across the Sea by Shana McGuinn Page A

arms around her and pulled her close. She buried her face in the heavy fabric of his jacket and leaned against his solid chest, giving herself over to the sensation of being cared for. Dominic’s broad back shielded her from the buffeting winds.
    Tara felt a rising excitement deep inside her…a tingle of anticipation, a hunger she couldn’t name. Dominic felt it, too; she could sense him trembling. She lifted her face to his. Their lips met in a kiss that began gently, as they reveled in the strange, new, wonderful connection that rippled like a current between them. She felt so grown up! This was what it meant to feel like a woman! Their arms were wrapped around each other in a way that felt so utterly natural, so comforting and yet so exciting at the same time. The kiss turned urgent. A small, shrill voice within her warned her to stop, but she pushed it to the back of her mind. It was Dominic who finally pulled away and held her at arm’s length.
    “We go inside now. It is too cold for you out here.”
    Bereft of the arms that had encircled her, of the lips that had incited such passion in her own, Tara nonetheless knew that he was right. She followed him silently below deck.
    A lively party was taking place in the steerage common room. Young men and women danced zestfully to accordion music while their elders watched in amusement. Pints of ale were lifted in hearty toasts. Conversations grew loud and lively in order to compete with the music. The rich scent of pipe tobacco drifted toward the ceiling in an aromatic haze.
    “Tara! Tara!” The high-pitched voice that assaulted her ears belonged to Danny Flaherty’s mother. A petite, nervous woman, she seemed agitated.
    “Have you seen me Danny, Tara? He’s not in his bunk. Is he with Paddy, do you think?”
    “No, Mrs. Flaherty. Padraig is asleep in his own bunk.” Where he belongs, she might have added.
    “Oh, dear! Whatever has happened to Danny, then? I warned him to behave. What if he’s fallen over the rail? The poor lad could scream and we’d never even hear him, with all this dreadful noise.” She looked at the accordion player resentfully.
    Tara tried to calm the woman. Danny’s nocturnal escapades were well known to the ship’s crew by now. Doubtless he would be returned safely to his mother after being discovered hiding in some shadowy hold.
    “Where is your husband, Mrs. Flaherty?”
    “He’s out huntin’ for Danny.”
    “I’m sure he will find him,” Tara said firmly. “The lad can’t have gone—”
    She was interrupted by a dull thump on the hull of the ship, followed by a nerve-rattling scraping sound that seemed to go on forever.
    “What the divil—?”
    The ship lurched, making Tara nearly lose her footing. Dominic grabbed her firmly by the arm and held her steady. The accordion fell silent. The dancers stopped and looked around uneasily. All conversation ceased.
    “Oh, dear.” Mrs. Flaherty was, predictably, the first to find her voice. “What could that have been?”
    Tara wasn’t all that concerned. After all, a ship this size would hardly run into trouble it couldn’t handle. Even if the thump meant a collision with another ship, the other ship would surely get the worst of it.
    Nonetheless, Tara, Dominic, Mrs. Flaherty and dozens of other steerage passengers swarmed up on deck. An amazing sight greeted them: gleaming, irregular blocks of ice that loomed high over the starboard well deck, opposite the foremast. There must have been several tons of it.
    “D’ya see? We’ve struck an iceberg!” someone said.
    Dominic looked worried, but his concerns were evidently not shared by too many others on the deck. The discovery of the ice restored the passengers to high spirits. The mystery was solved. It was a startling thing, to be sure, and it would make a fine story to be told to the relations when the ship docked in America, but it was no cause for alarm.
    One young lad reached down and helped himself to a fist-sized chunk