CHAPTER ONE
"Any idea what we're doing here?" Emma Callaway Harrison asked, as she ran into her cousin Ian Callaway on the sidewalk in front of her grandmother's house in San Francisco. "Has Grandma gotten worse?"
Ian shrugged, but there was a tightness to his jaw and worried dark shadows in his blue eyes. "I just got an email from Grandpa asking me to come over tonight. No explanation."
"Same here." She was about to ring the doorbell when she saw her oldest brother Burke get out of a car down the street. "Looks like Burke also got the email." Her stomach tightened, and she felt a little sick at what might be coming.
Her grandmother, Eleanor Callaway, had Alzheimer's. While she had good days and bad days, they'd been mostly good lately due to a new drug trial, and Emma hated to think she'd taken a turn for the worst. She knew that day was coming. Her grandmother was eighty-eight years old. But Emma wasn't ready to say good-bye yet.
"Hey," Burke said with a nod as he joined them.
Like most of the Callaway men, including Ian, her oldest brother Burke had dark hair and blue eyes, but today those eyes were weary and tense, and the grim set of his mouth as well as the cast on his left hand reminded her that Burke had had a rough couple of weeks. As a battalion chief, Burke didn't often get into the heart of a fire, but three weeks ago he'd gone into a burning structure after their cousin Dylan, one of the men on his squad. Burke had suffered a bad fall and a crush injury to his hand with possible nerve damage.
She was happy and thankful his injuries hadn't been worse, but she knew that Burke was worried about his future as a firefighter, and she couldn't blame him. There were some injuries that couldn't be rehabilitated; she hoped that wasn't the case with his hand, but only time would tell.
"How's the hand?" she asked.
"Fine," he said shortly.
She shouldn't have expected a longer answer. Burke would never admit to weakness; that was not in his DNA.
"Burke, I'm glad you're here," Ian said. "I haven't had a chance to thank you for going after Dylan. My brother says you saved his life."
"It's what we do for each other. Dylan would have done the same for me," Burke said, downplaying his sacrifice as usual. "Does anyone know why we're here?"
"I don't," she said.
"Let's find out," Ian said, heading to the house.
A moment later, Patrick Callaway answered the door. Her grandfather had white hair and a red, ruddy face, his skin weathered by age and stress. He'd always been a gruff, no-nonsense kind of man, who didn't suffer fools, but Emma knew that beneath all that bluster her grandfather had a big heart. That was never more obvious than when he was with her grandmother, the woman he'd loved for more than sixty years.
"You're all late," he said shortly.
"Is Grandma all right?" she asked, eager to get to the reason for their visit.
"Yes, she's doing well today," he confirmed.
"Thank goodness. You scared me a little, Grandpa," she chided him.
"I don't know why. I just asked you to come over."
She could have said that he never asked them to visit unless he had a reason, but he was already waving them into the house.
Her grandmother was sitting on a couch in the living room, sipping her usual afternoon cup of tea. Despite the warm weather of late summer, she had a sweater on over one of her favorite sundresses and a blanket to keep her legs warm. Her white-blonde hair was styled, and her blue eyes were bright and full of life today. Despite her illness and her age, Eleanor always made an effort to get dressed and look nice, especially when she wasn't lost in her illness.
"Emma, Burke, Ian," she said, opening her arms wide. Emma was the first to get a hug, then Burke and Ian followed.
They sat down on the couches in the living room.
"What's going on, Grandma?" Burke asked. As the oldest of her siblings, Burke was used to being the one to take charge.
Eleanor looked at her husband, a twinkle in her eye that Emma had missed during the past few years when her grandmother sometimes disappeared for weeks at a time. It was so wonderful when she was present and her old self.
"You can tell them, Ellie," Patrick said, taking a seat in his favorite brown leather armchair. "It's your idea."
"Okay, I will." Eleanor smiled. "So, you all know it's my birthday next month, and there's something I really want for my present."
"What's that, Grandma?" Emma asked. The fact that she and Burke, along with only one of her cousins, had been singled out for this visit made her very curious.
"I want to take the three of you to Ireland. None of you have been to the house where I was born, walked through the village where I grew up, met my old friends or our extended family members."
"Are you up to that kind of a trip?" Ian asked, doubt in his voice.
"No, she's not," Patrick put in firmly.
"Your grandfather doesn't think so," Eleanor admitted. "And he's probably right. I'm not always aware of time passing. I don't know how bad I can get." She paused. "So I had an idea. I want to send you three to Ireland. I'll give you a list of places to see and people to meet. You'll take photos and bring them back to me. And then I'll feel like each of you knows where I come from, who your ancestors were, how the past is part of our future. I would love to see pictures of you all in the place where I grew up."
Emma was taken aback by the unexpected request. She'd been unable to go on the last trip her grandmother had taken to Ireland with some of her siblings and cousins several years ago. But she had a full-time job as a fire investigator for the San Francisco Fire Department and going to Ireland would require at least a week off. Besides her work, she wasn't in the right mental or emotional space for a trip.
As she looked around the room, she could see hesitation in both Burke and Ian's expressions. She wished someone would jump in with an enthusiastic yes. She hated to disappoint her grandmother.
"What do you think?" Eleanor asked, her gaze growing a little worried as their silence went on too long. "I know it's a lot to ask, but it's very, very important to me."
"I would like to go, but I don't know if I can break away from work," Ian said, a regretful look in his eyes.
"You can break away, Ian," Patrick cut in. "There's always going to be work, and you've been working nonstop for a decade. Your father tells me you're a workaholic. That you barely have time to breathe."
"I wouldn't go that far," Ian said with a frown. "And I can't believe you're questioning me about working too hard."
"Not questioning. Just saying that a few days off for your grandmother shouldn't be that much to ask. Work is important, but family is always a priority." Patrick's gaze moved to Burke. "You're on medical disability, Burke. This is the perfect time for you to take a trip. You're benched. Might as well have a change of scenery while you're recuperating."
"I'm about to start rehab," Burke protested.
"Not for three weeks," Patrick said.
"You've done your homework," Burke muttered.
"I have," Patrick said, his gaze swinging to her. "Emma?"
Any thought she'd had of saying no quickly vanished under his steel gaze. "I would like to go," she said slowly. "If I can get time off work. I only have two weeks, and Max and I were thinking of going to Mexico in the fall."
"Mexico isn't going anywhere. Make this your big trip of the year," Patrick said.
"Patrick, stop bullying them," Eleanor gently scolded her husband. "I don't want to force anyone to go, but I do think you'll all really enjoy it. You should bring Max, Emma. And Burke, you should take Maddie as well. Ian, if there is anyone in your life…"
"There's not," Ian said shortly.
"Well, that might be just as well," Eleanor said. "I want you to meet a dear friend of mine, Ian. He's a professor of physics at the Waterford Institute of Technology," Eleanor said. "He's very impressed with your work; I told him all about you."
Ian's gaze narrowed in surprise. "You're not talking about Seamus Donelan, are you?"
"As a matter of fact, I am."
"He's a brilliant man. His work has changed the world," Ian said, a note of reverence in his voice.
Eleanor smiled. "I used to babysit him. I thought he was a mischievous little boy. I had no idea he would grow up to be such a successful scientist."
"Are you serious? You babysat for Seamus Donelan?"
"He lived around the corner. I watched him and his two sisters many times. I never mentioned that?"
"No, you didn't."
"Hmm, I guess I forgot. Now you'll have a chance to meet him. How's that for sweetening the pot?" Eleanor added, a sparkle in her eyes.
"You definitely made it sweeter," Ian said, conflict in his blue gaze. "It would be amazing to meet Professor Donelan."
Out of all her cousins who lived in San Francisco, Ian was the person Emma knew the least well. He was super smart, with an IQ that was off the charts, which sometimes isolated him from the rest of the family. Maybe this trip would be a good time to get to know him.
"Then you'll go," Patrick said, as if there was no longer a question.
"I guess I will," Ian said. "When is this trip taking place?"
"If you all agree, I'd like you to leave in two weeks," Eleanor continued.
"That fast?" Emma asked in surprise.
"It's my birthday present, and I can't change my birthday," Eleanor said simply. "With Patrick's help, I have everything planned out for you. All you have to do is get on the plane. I can't wait to hear your stories."
"Why the three of us?" Burke asked. "Just out of curiosity, Grandma."
Eleanor's gaze softened on Burke. "I thought long and hard about who should go. The three of you haven't been to Ireland, and I believe you all need this trip more than anyone."
"What does that mean exactly?" Burke asked, his gaze narrowing.
"It means you should say yes," Patrick interjected.
"You should say yes," Eleanor added softly, holding Burke's gaze for a long minute before turning to Ian and Emma. "All of you should say yes. I promise it won't be a wasted trip. Ireland is where our roots are. And there's so much magic there, so much inspiration. You won't be the same when you leave as when you arrive. So who will go?"
"I'm in," Emma said, realizing that there was no way she could say no to her grandmother. "I think Max will be in, too, but I'll have to ask him tonight."
"I'll go," Burke said with a nod.
"Me, too," Ian said.
"I'm so happy," Eleanor said, clapping her hands together in delight. "Now, that that's decided, I want to tell you a little of my story. We talk so much about the Callaway traditions, but once upon a time I was a Rafferty. My story began in one of the prettiest towns you'll ever see in your life—Kenmare, on the Ring of Kerry at the mouth of the River Sheen." Her voice softened. "I'll start the story, and you'll be the ones to finish it for me, to remind me of where I was, what I did, who I loved and who loved me. It began just before sunrise almost ninety years ago, in a stone cottage at the end of a pretty lane…"
