White around the lips, her eyes burning blue, Maeve shoved away from the table. “You’ve whored yourself.”

“I haven’t. I’ve given myself to a man I care for and admire. Given myself for the first time,” she said and was surprised that her hands remained steady. “Though you’ve told it differently.”

Maeve’s gaze cut to Maggie, full of bitterness and temper.

“No, I didn’t tell her,” Maggie said calmly enough. “I should have, but I didn’t.”

“It hardly matters how I found out.” Brianna folded her hands together. There was a coldness inside her, a horrible chill, but she would finish this. “You saw that I lost whatever happiness I might have had with Rory.”

“He was nothing,” Maeve shot back. “A farmer’s son who never would have made a man. You’d have had nothing with him but a houseful of crying children.”

“I wanted children.” An ache shot through the ice. “I wanted a family and a home, but we’ll never know if I would have found that with him. You saw to that and dragged a good, fine man into your lies. To keep me safe, Mother? I don’t think so. I wish I could think so. To keep me tied. Who would have tended to you and this house if I had married Rory? We’ll never know that, either.”

“I did what was best for you.”

“What was best for you.”

Because her legs felt weak, Maeve sat again. “So, this is the way you pay me back for it. By giving yourself in sin to the first man who strikes your fancy.”

“By giving myself in love to the first and only man who’s touched me.”

“And what will you do when he plants a baby in your belly and goes off whistling?”

“That’s my concern.”

“She’s talking like you now.” Enraged, Maeve turned on Maggie. “You’ve turned her against me.”

“You’ve done that yourself.”

“Don’t bring Maggie into this.” In a protective move Brianna laid a hand on her sister’s shoulder. “This is you and me, Mother.”

“Any chance of getting a . . .” High on an afternoon of successful writing, Gray breezed into the kitchen and trailed off as he spotted the company. Though he felt the weight of tension in the room, he tried a friendly smile. “Mrs. Concannon, Mrs. Sullivan, it’s good to have you back.”

Maeve’s hands curled into fists. “Bloody bastard, you’ll burn in hell with my daughter beside you.”

“Mind your tongue in my house.” Brianna’s sharp order shocked them all more than Maeve’s bitter prediction. “I beg your pardon, Gray, for my mother’s rudeness.”

“You’ll beg no one’s pardon on my account.”

“No,” Gray agreed, nodding at Maeve. “There’s no need. You can say what you like to me, Mrs. Concannon.”

“Did you promise her love and marriage, a lifetime of devotion to get her on her back? Do you think I don’t know what men say to have their way?”

“He promised me nothing,” Brianna began, but Gray cut her off with one sharp look.

“No, I didn’t make promises. Brianna’s not someone I would lie to. And she’s not someone I’d turn from if I was told something about her I didn’t like.”

“You’ve shared family business with him, too?” Maeve whirled on Brianna. “It’s not enough for you to condemn your soul to hell?”

“Will you forever be damning your children to hell?” Maggie fired up before Brianna could speak. “Because you couldn’t find happiness, must you try to keep us both from finding it? She loves him. If you could see through your own bitterness, you’d know that, and that’s what would matter to you. But she’s been at your beck and call all her life and you can’t stand the thought that she might find something, someone for herself.”

“Maggie, enough,” Brianna murmured.

“ ’Tisn’t enough. You won’t say it, never would. But she’ll hear it from me. She’s hated me from the moment I was born, and she’s used you. We’re not daughters to her, but by turns a penance and a crutch. Has she once, even once wished me happy with Rogan, or with the baby?”

“And why should I?” Maeve shot back, lips trembling. “And have my good wishes tossed back in my face. You’ve never given me the love that’s a mother’s right.”

“I would have.” Maggie’s breath began to hitch as she shoved back from the table. “God knows I’ve wanted to. And Brianna’s tried. Have you ever been grateful for all she put aside for your comfort? Instead you ruined whatever chance she had for the home and family she wanted. Well, you’ll not do it again, not this time. You won’t come into her house and speak to her or the man she loves this way.”

“I’ll speak as I choose to my own flesh and blood.”

“Stop it, the pair of you.” Brianna’s voice was sharp as a whiplash. She was pale, icily so, and the trembling she’d managed to fight back had grown to shudders. “Must you strike at each other this way, always? I won’t be the club you use to hurt each other. I’ve guests in the parlor,” she said, drawing an unsteady breath. “And I prefer they not be subjected to the misery of my family. Maggie, you sit down and calm yourself.”

“Fight your own battles, then,” Maggie said furiously. “I’ll leave." Even as she said it, the pain struck and had her gripping the back of the chair.

“Maggie.” Panicked, Brianna grabbed her. “What is it? Is it the baby?”

“Just a twinge.” But it built into a wave that stunned her.

“You’ve gone white. Sit down now. Sit, don’t argue with me.”

Lottie, a retired nurse, rose briskly. “How many twinges have you had, darling?”

“I don’t know. On and off all afternoon.” She let out a relieved breath when the pain passed. “It’s nothing, really. I’ve two weeks yet, or nearly that.”

“The doctor said any time now,” Brianna reminded her.

“What does a doctor know?”

“True, true.” Smiling easily, Lottie skirted the table and began to massage Maggie’s shoulders. “Anything else paining you, love?”