The Clour boys made it to the clearing and broke away from one another. They must have been holding each other up before that because they all went sprawling and rolling when they let go and kicking their feet in the air.
Women clucked their tongues or giggled. Some of the Chaun boys laughed and greeted the Clour, helping them to their feet while the older men harrumphed with disapproval.
Cassidy’s eyes were bright. I knew she was dying to give Rock the happy news. “I’m just gonna go say hi,” Cassidy said to our parents. Mom pursed her lips together.
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Dad told her.
I knew she would go no matter what, and I didn’t want a scene.
“I’ll go with her,” I said, taking her hand. “We’ll come right back.”
Dad glared in Rock’s direction, and I could see why.
Rock could barely stand. His ankles kept bending under his weight. Cassidy and I stood and moved closer, watching as Keefe, the soccer guy, greeted Rock, pulling back his hand and flapping it in front of his nose.
“Och, Rock! Ye stink of Farmer Teague’s wife, ye do! Was she boiling another batch of her death-by-roses perfume, then?”
You’ve got to be kidding me.
Laughter ensued, and Rock half-grinned. Other guys leaned in to take whiffs and make faces. Cassidy’s steps faltered and her clammy hand tightened on mine. I felt her eyes stray to me but I couldn’t take mine off Rock. We were close to them now. I prayed the guys were only joking. But as we pulled up to the edge of the group an unmistakable, strong flowered perfume scented the air.
My blood pressure rose.
“Bloody fool,” one of the Chaun boys said, slugging Rock in the arm and nearly knocking him over. “Ye’ll never learn.”
Rock spotted Cassidy and I through bleary, half-closed eyes. “Cassie-lassiiieeee!” He shoved through the other guys and draped his arms around her, bumping me away.
“Ronan, stop,” Cass said, wiggling out of his grasp and staring at him with wide eyes. Her next words were hissed in a dangerously low whisper that only the three of us could hear. “Did you just sleep with some woman? Someone’s wife?” Her eyes begged him to deny it. He could feed her a lie right then, and she would eat it up.
“Tell her the truth,” I warned him. He stank; there was no denying that.
Rock looked at me through a mop of long curls. He stood a touch taller at that moment and looked as serious as I’d ever seen him. There was a message for me in his eyes. I didn’t like it, but I understood it. Rock was about to sever ties with my sister. He looked back at Cassidy, who’d wrapped her arms around herself.
Before Rock could say anything, Blackie came up and clapped him on the back, giving us a devilishly handsome wink.
“Old man Teague should know better than to leave ‘is young bride so long while he tends to trade matters, ‘eh? Somebody has to take care of business at home!” He slapped Rock’s back again, running off and leaving us to digest his words.
Cassidy closed her eyes and pressed her fingertips to her pink lips.
“No,” she whispered through her fingers. “Tell me it’s not true.”
“Cassie…,” Rock said, tilting to the side and then righting himself.
The regret in his tone was evident, but it wasn’t enough.
“Don’t call me that,” she snapped. “I can’t believe you would do that to me. I love you!”
Her words seemed to punch breath from his lungs. Rock’s sorrowful eyes were haunting as he stepped back, distancing himself.
“This is no place for the likes of ye, Cassie.” He still used her nickname, defiant. “And I’ll no’ be tied down to a lass. Ever.”
“Why are you doing this?” She sucked in a shuddering breath and her eyes filled with tears. I watched her face turn hard as her words turned spiteful. “Whatever. I just came over here to tell you I’m not pregnant. Not that you cared. Not that you were worried about me. I can’t believe I was so stupid.”
She tried to leave but he grabbed her upper arm.
“I ne’er meant to hurt ye,” he said.
“Then why did you?” she whispered.
Beyond Rock’s shoulder I saw a shift in the crowd as people moved out of someone’s way. Someone big.
“Go,” I told Rock. “Our dad’s coming. You need to get out of here, now.”
Cassidy and Rock both looked to see I was telling the truth. My parents and Brogan were making a straight line for us.
Rock gave Cass one last heart-shattering look of apology before staggering three steps backward. The other Clour must have been keeping an eye out for Rock, because they all followed his lead back into the grass, pushing and shoving one another as they hurried away. They’d come with a purpose, and it had been achieved.
Cassidy cried silent tears now, one hand over her mouth. I looked for my parents. Dad’s eyes were on the field where Rock had disappeared. Mom’s eyes, of course, were on Cassidy, no doubt reading the heartbreak there. She began moving through the crowd toward us with Dad behind her. Mom wore the same fierce expression she had when she caught us watching Cinderella as kids—she hated anything that depicted Faeries in a positive light, fictional or not.
As they got closer, Dad scrutinized Cassidy’s tear-stained face. He stopped, hesitating only a moment before stalking toward the field, slow at first, then breaking into a sprint. The three of us girls watched him, astonished. I’d never seen him move so fast.