Free The Mighty Quinns: Riley by Kate Hoffmann Page A

so bright, her face alive with happiness.
    As they continued their drive, Nan thought about her reasons for coming to Ireland. Was she chasing a ghost? The last two years of Laura Galvin’s life were spent in and out of hospitals and before that, Nan had only scant recollections of the lively and laughing woman.
    All she knew was that there was an empty spot inside of her, as if part of her identity was missing. She wasn’t sure who to be or how to be. And when it came to love, she had nothing but romantic movies and books to guide her.
    How many times had she wondered about love, about all the things that a mother told her daughter on the subject? No one had ever explained how it was supposed to feel. She’d never really seen it at home. Of all the questions she’d dreamed about asking her mother, that had been the most important. How would she know when she met the right man? How would it feel?
    â€œHere we are,” Riley said. He turned onto the edge of the road. “We’ll have to walk a bit, but it will be worth it.”
    Nan looked out the window, surprised by the change in the landscape and the weather. The powerful rugged beauty of the land took her breath away and she stared at the unearthly sight, made even more strange by the wispy fog that hung over it all. Everywhere she looked was a picture waiting to be snapped, a perfect postcard image of a countryside so stunning it made her heartache.
    Nan tucked the photo back into her pocket as she jumped out of the truck. From where she stood, she could look out at the valley below and the winding road that cut through it. Behind her, the mountains rose higher, huge craggy slabs of stone jutting into the gloomy sky.
    â€œIf we hike up a ways, there’s a better view,” Riley said. He took her hand and laced his fingers through hers. A flood of warmth rushed through her at his touch. Yesterday, she’d been all alone in the world. And today, she had this man who wanted to spend time with her, a man who enjoyed kissing and touching her. A man who wanted to spend the night in her bed.
    Nan leaned into his body and smiled. As she came around the truck, she noticed two sheep observing them from across the road. They jumped off the small ledge they were standing on and headed toward her.
    A tiny scream slipped from her throat and she held tight to Riley’s arm as they nudged her, sticking their noses beneath her jacket.
    â€œGet off, you tossers!” he said, pushing the sheep aside. “The tourists feed them and now they stand around waiting for something tastier than turf.”
    Nan laughed as one of the sheep butted her in the backside. She ran up the road and the determined sheep trotted after her. “I love Ireland,” she called to Riley, throwing her arms out to the sky.
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    T HEY HIKED UP to the top of the pass, stopping at the solitary house on the road, now turned into a shop thatsold souvenirs and ice cream. Riley bought a cone and they shared it as they continued on up to the grotto.
    The four white statues depicting Mary at the cross were set into the mountainside, a stark contrast to the gray surrounding them. Though he wasn’t a particularly religious man, after a lifetime spent in a land filled with Catholic monuments, he’d come to appreciate how much a part of him it all was.
    â€œAre you Catholic?” he asked.
    She shook her head. “My mother was before she was married. My mother’s parents were. But I was baptized Episcopalian.”
    Slowly, he was learning things about her, tiny facts that really didn’t change his feelings for her, but completed the picture. “We have a thing for the Virgin Mary here in Ireland.”
    â€œIt’s beautiful,” she said.
    They continued on up the pass, to its highest point. Though he drove through the pass almost weekly, he’d never stopped to really look at it through a stranger’s eyes. “They named this spot one