9781618857613SacredWaterMichaels

  “Well, no man’s ever going to own my soul,” Sheilagh announced.

  Kate overrode Sheilagh’s statement, “Then why did she come here with him?”

  His mother sighed. “Braydon invited her. They may not be soul mates, but they’re friends. If your brother wants to bring a friend back from school with him he’s more than welcome to. Let them work things out on their own. He doesn’t need you cautioning him now, ya hear, Katie? I know you don’t want to see your brother get hurt, but sometimes a touch of wounded pride can go a long way. It’s high time Braydon learned the world is bigger than our little corner of the mountain. If he doesn’t want a woman from Center County then he’s going to have to put in a bit more effort. Not every woman’s waiting around for a handsome golden haired boy from a small town to smile prettily at her.”

  The back door opened and Braydon heard his brother Luke, “Morning, Mum.”

  “Luke, we’ve a house guest with us. Go put on a shirt.” Braydon took the distraction to slip past the kitchen and out the front door.

  * * * *

  As Sam softly stepped into the foyer she took a moment to gather her courage. It sounded as if over twenty voices collided from within the large open kitchen. She wished Braydon had waited upstairs for her or at least woke her up when he journeyed down with the rest of the family.

  Taking a solidifying breath she drew back her shoulders and took a step into the kitchen then froze.

  Over all of the voices she could only make out a few distinct words. Someone yelled to pass the poundies, whatever they were, and a shirtless man yelled across the table, “I heard Kelly was wasting time with Ashlynn Fisher last night.”

  “I was not and you know it. I cannot help it if she likes to spend her free evenings staring at me. I hardly even looked back.”

  “Ah, well, little brother, I’m not sure if anyone told you, but you can enjoy a woman with your eyes closed,” said another man Sam hadn’t seen before. Braydon was nowhere to be found in the kitchen.

  “Enough of that talk at the table,” Maureen scolded as she hefted a large plate of flapjacks onto the center of the table. “Ashlynn Fisher’s no mutt. If you cannot keep your eyes open for her you don’t deserve her. I better not hear tales of you misleading that sweet girl, Kelly.”

  “Wouldn’t ride her if she had pedals, Mum.”

  “And why not? She’s quite pretty. Don’t you think she’s pretty, Luke?”

  “Pretty enough,” the shirtless man agreed without giving the question much thought. As he lifted his fork to his mouth Sam noticed he had a large Celtic cross tattooed on the side of his muscled rib cage.

  A toddler with strawberry blonde pigtails began to cry and the boy and girl Sam had seen earlier were listening raptly to something their Uncle Kelly was whispering in their ears.

  A young woman with fiery red hair Sam guessed was Sheilagh announced, “Kelly doesn’t want to diddle Ashlynn because she scares the shite out of him.”

  She smiled proudly when Kelly looked up then she shoved a large bite of potatoes in her mouth with smug pleasure.

  “You shut it, whelp.”

  “It’s true.”

  “Now why would you be afraid of a good girl like Ashlynn Fisher, Kelly?” Maureen asked, finally taking a seat at the head of the table.

  “I know why,” Sheilagh proclaimed.

  Kelly seemed very interested in his plate.

  Maureen turned to Luke. “Do you know why?”

  Luke looked equally as interested in his plate.

  She turned to another son, “Finnegan?” When he didn’t answer she complained, “Well, someone better tell me what’s so wrong with Ashlynn Fisher.”

  “I’ll tell you,” Sheilagh smiled, clearly baiting her brother.

  She was quite a beautiful girl. Amazing that someone could have such red hair and not a single freckle marring her face.

  “Let it go, lassie,” an older man with black hair peppered with silver around his face grumbled.

  “Yeah, whelp, drop it,” Kelly warned. It was the first time Sam actually detected a note of seriousness in Braydon’s younger brother.

  “Why should I?”

  “Because if you go spreading around Ashlynn’s personal business I’ll explain exactly why the same dilemma does not apply to you.”

  “It better apply to you,” the older man whom Sam now assumed was Mr. McCullough growled.

  Sheilagh glared at Kelly with hardened lips.

  Maureen threw up her hands in frustration and complained; “I just don’t understand why it has to be a secret from me if everyone at this table already knows.”

  Another red headed woman feeding the no longer crying toddler tossed down a baby spoon in exasperation and cried, “For the love of Mike, Mother. The girl is a virgin!”

  Maureen made a small “o” with her mouth then picked up her fork and mumbled, “At twenty-two? Well…There’s nothing wrong with waiting in this day and age I suppose. A little temperance never hurt anyone.”

  “Happy now?” Kelly asked Sheilagh.

  The talk moved on to other subjects. It was absolute mayhem. How anyone followed a single word of it was beyond Sam’s comprehension. She was already getting a neck ache like one would at a tennis match from simply trying to follow the thread of the Ashlynn Fisher conversation as comments volleyed back and forth.

  There seemed to always be four or more topics being discussed at once. The family spoke loudly, cursed freely, and parried verbal jousts with clever and witty quips. It was very overwhelming.

  Sam wondered if she could slip outside without being noticed. Perhaps she should go look for Braydon. Rather than play the coward, she stiffened her shoulders and stepped into the melee.

  “Good morning.”

  Like a record scratching, all mouths stopped moving and the sound of silverware and dishes clattering was silenced. Approximately twenty eyes turned toward her.

  With wide eyes she slowly raised her hand and finger-waved. “Hi. I’m Sam.”

  Everyone said his or her own version of hello at once. Sam didn’t catch a single name that was thrown at her. Maureen stood and bustled over to the cabinets. Kelly slid down and offered her a seat at the long bench they all shared. The redheaded woman Sam assumed was Katherine lifted the toddler off her lap and told the three children to go play.

  Sam sat next to Kelly and watched as he loaded enough food to feed a village on the plate Maureen placed in front of her. Realizing Braydon’s brother wasn’t going to cease until the food spilled over the edge, she stilled his hand and whispered to him that was enough. Everyone at the table smiled at her and she fought the impulse to check that nothing was in her hair or on her face.

  She cleared her throat. “Has anyone seen Braydon?”

  “He took a ride out to check a fence for me. Should be back soon,” the older man said. He had to have been Mr. McCullough. He looked just like Braydon’s brothers. They all shared the same blue eyes and strong jaw. Although the twins had a lighter brown hair compared to Mr. McCulloughs and Kelly’s black, it was clear they were all related. It was interesting that Braydon was the only member of the family with golden hair and fairer features.

  “I’m sorry I interrupted all of you. I’ll just eat and get out of your way.”

  “Don’t be silly, dear. You’re our guest for the next two weeks and we won’t have you hiding away from us. Best you get comfortable with us as quickly as possible. That way when someone upsets you, you’ll have no problem setting them straight. We’ve got a tough lot here and best you show them you’re no shying violet from the start.”

  Sheilagh stood and carried her plate to the sink. “You’re gonna scare her, Mum.”

  “No, Samantha’s tough. I’ve faith in her. She can handle herself. Can’t you, dear?”

  Clueless of what a proper reply would be, Sam smiled and took a sip of her juice. If she hadn't immediately liked the McCulloughs so much she’d probably label them all crazy. She focused on eating he
r breakfast while each family member took their turn introducing themselves.

  Katherine was indeed the other redhead. Older than the rest, but still beautiful and vibrant. Sam was quickly realizing all McCulloughs were. She had red hair to her shoulders and bangs that covered her forehead yet always seemed to part in the center. She was the type of woman that pulled off natural as if it were an art. Wearing no makeup that Sam could detect, her ears didn’t appear pierced, and the only jewelry she wore was a gold Claddagh wedding band. She also was very pregnant.

  The twins seemed the most reserved of the bunch, but perhaps that was because it was still early and they weren’t quite awake yet. Finn left the kitchen soon after Sam sat down so she hadn’t gotten an opportunity to analyze him yet. Braydon was right. They were identical. What he failed to mention was that they were both off the charts gorgeous.

  Luke appeared respectful yet careless. There was something guarded about his posture and the set of his eyes. All through breakfast he wore a short brimmed hat that reminded Sam of a paperboy from the turn of the century. It made his ethnicity all the more apparent and he kept the hat pulled low over his eyes. This brother was the one Braydon said lost his chance at being a professional athlete. He definitely had the body of an athlete. Yet there was something mysterious about him she couldn’t quite figure out. Other than a short hello, he said nothing to Sam and very little to anyone else.

  Mr. McCullough, who insisted Sam call him Frank, was polite and quiet. Sam supposed being married to a woman like Maureen, didn’t leave much to be said at the end of the day.

  He wore a red flannel, blue jeans, and faded yellow work boots. Realizing she had imagined what Frank McCullough looked like, he fit the acceptable logger image her mind subconsciously preordained.

  And then there was Sheilagh. No wonder she had a reputation of being somewhat of a wild child. Even sitting next to her was intimidating. She was so beautiful it almost defied what Sam thought acceptable for normal people who weren’t airbrushed supermodels. Sam fought the urge to keep staring at her in search of at least one flaw. In her glances she found none.

  Sheilagh had bright green eyes, the same color of Maureen and Katherine’s. Her lips looked naturally made up, as if she was eating berries and the juice permanently stained them. The youngest McCullough was like a thistle flower, beautiful and tempting, but impossible to hold without being cut.

  The sound of a car pulling up the gravelly drive followed by a car door slamming filtered into the kitchen. A dog barked and Katherine went to the door.

  “It’s about time!” She smiled as she pushed open the screen door at the back of the kitchen, her belly filling most of the entrance.

  Braydon stepped in and Sam silently sighed with mild relief at his return.

  “Beautiful Kate. How are you?”

  He hugged his sister with unguarded affection and she whispered something in his ear that made him flush and smile. When the siblings separated Braydon placed a hand on his sister’s belly.

  “Another boy, eh?”

  Katherine smiled and cradled her protruding belly. “I’m fighting to get you a namesake, but Ant says Braydon Marcelli just sounds ethnically wrong.”

  “Well, that’s what you get for marrying an Italian.”

  A dog scratched at the screen and Katherine leaned past Braydon to let it inside the house. It was a mangy looking beast with gray brown wiry hair. Sam tried not to react outwardly when she noticed it only had three legs.

  “Here you are, Rufus,” Maureen called as she dropped scraps into a metal bowl on the floor. The dog hobbled over and gratefully nibbled at the trimmings.

  Braydon kissed his mother on her rosy cheek than moved over to Sam and did the same before sitting next to her on the bench.

  Leaning close he whispered to Sam, “How are you this morning?”

  “Good. Where’d you go? I would’ve gone with you.”

  “I had to go check something at the end of the property for my dad. If you want to go out later to see the land I’ll take you.”

  He began to eat as the rest of the family returned to the table with mugs of coffee. Frank was perusing the local paper. Kelly drifted back upstairs, and Luke disappeared shortly after Braydon returned. The children played across the foyer in what Sam assumed was the den. Katherine questioned Braydon about his recently completed semester at school and he quizzed her on his nieces and nephew’s recent achievements.

  “Are we having a game today?” Braydon asked to no one in particular.

  “Aye. We’re meeting at two. Colleen and Rosemarie have already each called this morning to see if you got in okay.”

  Braydon smiled and turned to Sam. “They’re my aunts. You’ll meet them today and the rest of my cousins. We always start the summer with an opening game of baseball.”

  A ball game. That’d be fun to watch. Sam tried not to get overwhelmed at the idea of more family. These were busy people, lots of offspring. Sam thought it charming the way the family pronounced Colleen as C’leen and Rosemarie as Ross-mer-ree.

  The conversation lazed in and out of topics from which wooded areas Frank’s company was recently clearing to the family’s overall opinion on Finn’s recent breakup. Through it all Maureen steadily set the kitchen back to rights and finally joined the others at the table to relax. The small toddler, Hannah, returned to Katherine’s lap and napped in her mother’s arms using her soon-to-arrive little brother as a pillow.

  When the screen door opened again Sam almost choked on the coffee slipping down her throat. It was the man from the bathroom with the sapphire eyes flecked with jade. He greeted Braydon first and then turned directly to her.

  “Hello, I’m Colin.”

  She took his hand. “Sam.”

  “Samantha’s Braydon’s friend from college. She’ll be staying with us for the next three weeks,” Maureen informed.

  “Wonderful,” Colin remarked as he gave her hand a slight squeeze.

  She didn’t understand her disappointment at the loss of contact. Obviously she was the immature one, for where Colin kindly decided to forget her humiliating blunder this morning and be a gentleman to his brother’s friend, she could not help imagining him naked. When he shook her hand it was formal and without emotion beyond appropriate politeness. The way it should be. Yet for some reason this irritated her.

  He moved to the counter and poured himself a cup of coffee then took a seat next to Katherine. Running an affectionate hand down Hannah’s sleeping head, he smiled.

  What was it Sam noticed in his expression? Not quite longing, but perhaps some sort of resigned acceptance. There was definitely love in the gesture, but something more. This man, for some reason, stood apart from the rest.

  “How was Mass?” Frank asked as he dumped the remainder of his coffee down the drain and stashed his newspaper in a wooden crate of old papers.

  “It was fine. I spoke to Father Newsham about moving the later Sunday Mass back an hour since they dropped the Saturday Mass. I don’t think he was fond of the idea until I pointed out that a later crowd could possibly bring younger parishioners.”

  “Lord knows Kelly hasn’t been to Mass since they moved it to nine a.m.”

  Colin chuckled. “Well, Kelly’s a proud heathen. I was thinking more about the kids Sheilagh’s age.”

  “I’ll remind you I am now a legal adult,” Sheilagh told Colin pointedly. “And I never miss Sunday service. However, I’d appreciate being able to sleep in a little longer.”

  As they spoke Sam couldn’t resist watching the oldest McCullough brother. He had a soft yet strong voice. His teeth were perfectly white and straight and now that his hair was combed he displayed a level of refinement the rest of the family lacked. He was devastatingly handsome in a classic way, a cross between a sexy Clark Kent or Gable. He seemed a distinguished gentleman, sure and confident.

  “Is you’re family Catholic?” Maureen asked Samantha drawing her back into the conversation.

  “Um, I have
all my sacraments, but we haven’t practiced in quite a few years.”

  Maureen and the others accepted her honesty without judgment. She turned back to watch Colin some more when Maureen proudly announced, “Colin is finishing his Transitional Diaconate this summer. In August he’s becoming a priest.”

  Chapter Three

  After an afternoon of driving around the McCullough property with Braydon, Samantha was completely in love with the land. They parked and explored a trail that led to a natural spring and she was stunned when Braydon took a metal cup tied to a post in the ground and scooped out a sample and swallowed it. The watering hole was edged in moss and freezing cold. When he kindly bullied her into tasting it she was amazed at how refreshing the spring water was on her tongue.

  They passed a corral by the edge of the five hundred acre property where horses grazed. Braydon informed her that most McCulloughs learned how to ride before they properly mastered the art of walking. Samantha had never ridden a horse before, but was determined to try before she returned home.

  There was a cleared piece of land high up on a mountain that had a windmill. She’d always known the contraptions were big, but compared to what she imagined they were colossal. Because windmills were government owned in Center County, this was another source of income for the McCulloughs. All they had to do was sign the papers agreeing that the county could use their property and they were sent a check quarterly for their civic duty.

  Growing up in the more affluent suburbs of Pennsylvania and the Jersey areas across the Delaware River where people struggled to obtain even an acre of land, Sam was blown away by how much property the McCulloughs owned. It was too enormous to completely explore in one afternoon alone. It made her sad for the ruthless commercialization that no doubt would someday rob the secret place of its beauty. Hopefully the McCulloughs would never let their land go.