Chapter 19

“I still think it would just be safer if you moved in with me,” Rory grumbled, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Rory. I’ve always been safe here.” Casey rolled her eyes at him before she squeezed Clare’s shoulder and took a seat on the couch next to her. Ace quickly joined the women, dropping down on top of their feet and falling asleep. It was a few days later and they were at Casey’s apartment, which was technically where Clare was living now, too.

“And I’ve requested double patrol on this street—every twenty minutes a squad car will drive by. Make sure you finish filling out that paperwork and take it down to the courts tomorrow. You need to file the restraining order as soon as possible,” Jimmy told them, still wearing his police uniform.

“I don’t want all of you going to all this trouble just for me,” Clare objected, but no one listened to her.

“I’ll take her on Monday to get it filed,” Rory confirmed.

“Does Seamus know about this?” Casey asked her brother.

“I told him. He has associates watching the train stations and checking Creighton’s credit card transactions to see if he comes near New York.”

Clare wondered what that meant. She wasn’t sure how people who owned a gym would have access to confidential financial records.

“I didn’t hear that.” Jimmy put his hands over his ears.

Clare tried again. “Guys, seriously, this is too much. I don’t want you putting yourselves out.”

“Babe, stop. It’s not too much,” Rory assured her.

Casey winked at her. “We do anything for family, Clare.”

“That’s true, and from the way Rory watches you, you’re definitely family.” Jimmy’s smirk made Clare blush.

“Jimmy, shut it.”

“What? It’s not like we don’t know you two are dating,” Jimmy teased them. Rory’s face softened as he sat next to Clare, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

“Anyway,” Rory tried to change the subject, “the point is, mhuirnín, you’re safe. That asshat Travis isn’t getting anywhere near you without us knowing about it.”

“Thank you, guys.” Clare smiled at him, but then turned to the rest of the room as well. She was fully aware of the group effort that was being made to watch out for her. For the first time in her entire life, she did actually feel safe. While she knew Travis might still show up at any moment, she actually had people on her side now.

People who would notice if something happened to her.

The concept was a novelty to her, the idea that people would actually care that much about her. Yet here were three of them in front of her, discussing exactly that. There were plenty of times she missed her family, but even she had to admit that they had never been as close-knit as the Kavanaghs were. Things had been done more from duty than from caring. Clare had never felt like a priority, or protected. She had just felt alone.

“Well, I’ve got to get back on the street. I’m still on duty,” Jimmy said as he left the apartment. “I’ll see you kids later.”

“Kids? He’s the youngest of us,” Rory jeered.

“Let him have it. He forgets all that when he puts on his badge.” Casey grinned before changing the subject. “How are you feeling, Rory?”

“Never better.” He winked at her, and Clare wondered how true that was.

“I hope so,” Casey said as she stood from the couch and made her way out of the living room. “I’m going to head to bed, guys. Early class tomorrow.”

“I feel like I never get a word in when I’m around your family,” Clare teased, turning to him.

“You gotta shout and throw punches—it’s the only way to make them listen.” Rory leaned back into the couch and put his feet up on the coffee table. Clare noticed him wince ever so slightly at the movement of his legs.

“You’re really lucky, you know that, right?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your family—they’re special. They love you so much, and each other.”

“It’s a regular Irish lovefest,” he agreed sarcastically.

“I’m serious, Rory.” Clare cut off his attempt to make light of the topic. “I really hope you understand how special they are and how lucky that makes you.”

He nodded. “You’re right. I don’t know what I would do without them.”

“I’m starting to wonder the same thing,”

“They do love you, you know?” He leaned over, gently kissing down her neck.

“How is your knee feeling?” She interrupted his movement, leaning away from him. “And don’t give me the same line you just told your cousin.”

“Don’t worry about me. I told you I’ll be fine.”

“I know, but being in pain and not taking medication—it can’t be easy.” She trailed off, nibbling on the corner of her lip. Gently, she pulled her feet out from under the sleeping dog and pressed her knees against her chest.

“I had stopped them a while ago, babe. I had one day of falling off the wagon, but I’m back. My body will get used to it soon, and until then, I’ll just have to find other things to raise my endorphins.” His eyes twinkled mischievously as he raised his brows at her.

“I can’t imagine what you mean,” she giggled, leaning in to him and letting him kiss her deeply.

Clare thought about the last few weeks as she stood outside the flower shop with Ace, waiting for Rory. Several weeks had rolled by since she’d moved in with Casey, and Clare found herself falling into a new routine. There hadn’t been any word from Travis since she’d filed the restraining order, which was quite the relief.

Now, she spent most weekday mornings first at Legends, working out with Rory, then going to the rescue shelter and volunteering for a few hours, then finally heading to O’Leary’s for an evening shift behind the bar. Kane was monopolizing most of his brother’s time during the day, so Clare and Rory saw each other only for early-morning training and then late at night.

Clare peeped through the window into the local flower shop, called Fiona’s Flowers, to see that Rory was finally at the front of the line and paying for his purchase. He was talking to a clerk of high school age, who didn’t seem to fully understand what she was doing. Rory had become even more endeared to Clare when she found out that he always bought lilies for his mother on his way to the weekly family dinner. Clare had joined him the last few Sundays, and it had quickly become one of the highlights of her week.

“Excuse me.” A tall brunette pointed toward the door of the flower shop, and Clare realized that she was directly blocking the entrance.

“Oops, I’m sorry.” She smiled bashfully, moving herself and Ace to the side to clear the path.

“No worries.” The pretty young woman cocked her head to the side and stared at Clare with mesmerizing blue eyes. “Everything okay? You look a little lost.”

Rory was still in the shop, and Clare smiled as she looked back at him. She nodded as she turned to the beautiful woman.

“Actually, I think for the first time in my life, I’m exactly where I should be.”

“Oh, yeah? This about that handsome giant in there?” The woman nodded in Rory’s direction, teasing.

“Is it that obvious?”

“When you own a flower shop, you tend to spot things like that.”

“Things like what?” Clare asked curiously.

“Love, of course.”

Clare blushed at the woman’s answer, wondering if it was that obvious to everyone else how she felt, and if maybe Rory could tell, too.

“I’m Fiona, by the way, Fiona Doherty.” The tall brunette reached out a hand and Clare graciously accepted it. When Fiona reached down and petted Ace gently, Clare was glad to see that the dog let her. She hadn’t seen him be friendly with many people before, outside of Rory, Casey, his parents, and herself. She couldn’t help but wonder what the dog’s criteria were.

“Clare Ivers, good to meet you.”

The women finished their introductions just as Rory came waltzing out of the store.

Rory put his arm out for Clare. “Ready to go?”

She smiled and slipped her hand around his, squeezing herself tightly against his side to warm herself up.

“It was great to meet you, Fiona,” Clare said.

“You, too, Clare! Have a wonderful week!” Fiona said before leaving them alone and heading into the store.

The duo began walking down in the direction of his parent’s house. Ace followed dutifully, staying a step off to Clare’s side.

“Oh, I almost forgot. This is for you.” Rory slid a single pink rose out of the batch of lilies.

“Babe, you didn’t have to do that.” Clare nearly swooned, accepting the flower from him and holding it up to her nose to smell.

“Mhuirnín, I’m going to do this every week for as long as I live. Every woman deserves flowers, as often as possible.” He kissed her temple.

Not much later, they arrived at his parents’ home and made themselves comfortable around the expansive wooden dining room table that had been built to fit the large number of attendees. The table itself was packed to the brim with warm, homemade dishes, leaving barely room enough for their plates. Underneath, waiting for fallen scraps, sat Ace.

“The match is this Friday, and it’s for charity, so why not?” Seamus was eyeing Kane as he helped himself to some mashed potatoes.

“What’s the charity for?” Jimmy spoke up.

“Cancer,” Rory answered him. Then, turning to Kane, “You should definitely do it.”

“Why? It doesn’t have any part in the championship circuit.” Kane grabbed a roll from the bread basket in front of Quinn.

“Because it’s for charity, Kane. I know I raised all of you kids to help others, don’t forget that.” Dee sounded aggravated, shaking her head as she spoke before shoveling another bite of food into her mouth.

“Not even that, it’s also just good practice. The more time in the cage, the better you’ll be for the regional fight a few months away,” Rory added.

“You’re coming to that, aren’t you, Clare?” Casey sounded hopeful.

“Sure, if you guys want me there.”

“Hell, yeah, I need some more estrogen around here!”

“Hey, what about me, Case?” Dee chimed in as she surreptitiously palmed a piece of meat under the table. Clare tried to hide her smile as she heard Ace’s lips smacking happily with his treat. The mystery of Ace’s criteria for liking someone was beginning to clear up.

“Do you still have estrogen if you went through menopause a decade ago?” Quinn nudged Kane to make cracks with him. Everyone around the table started laughing, but Dee used her free hand to reach behind Kane and smack Quinn hard on the back of his head.

“Wiseass,” she grumbled, as the spattering of laughter turned into an uproar and everyone at the table joined in.

“Leave your mother alone, boys,” Seamus commanded, albeit clearly trying to stifle a smile himself.

“I’ll definitely be there, Casey.” Clare leaned in to Rory’s side as she sat watching the family dynamics erupting around her. She had never had any siblings, let alone five of them, so this was everything she had ever dreamed about as an only child.

“Good, I’ll sign you up tomorrow then—it’s being hosted at Legends.” Seamus nodded toward her, before turning his attention to Kane.

Kane didn’t say anything; he simply continued to eat and didn’t seem to really care one way or the other.

“Clare, have winter classes started yet?” Dee asked.

“In two weeks. I can’t wait.”

“What are you taking?” Casey asked her.

“The first semester I’m just taking microbiology and animal anatomy,” she said, referring to her veterinary classes.

“Are you going to have to dissect anything? I did that in high school—I was the best in the class at it,” Quinn told Clare, as he was quickly met with a disgusted grimace from Casey.

“Eventually I will, but not in these beginner classes.”

“I know a vet here that maybe you could talk to, get some pointers from or something like that?” Dee suggested.

“That would be great,” Clare agreed, always eager to learn more in the veterinary field. “What’s his name?”

“Jay Prentiss,” Dee told her. “His ex-wife is our neighbor across the street. Quite the scandal—apparently he left her to date this woman who runs the local rescue shelter.”

“Dr. Prentiss is dating Patty? Patty Finley?” Clare’s jaw dropped, shocked at the juicy gossip she was hearing.

When she was growing up in California, nothing had gotten around that easily. Towns were so large, it was impossible to know everyone. Ever since she had gotten here, Clare had realized that Woodlawn was the exact opposite. Everyone knew one another, or knew of one another.

“Oh, you know them?”

“Yeah, I volunteer at the shelter with Rory,” Clare admitted.

“You volunteer?” Jimmy sounded surprised, and the rest of the family looked at Rory for confirmation.

“Sometimes.” Rory was clearly embarrassed.

“I would never have guessed that those two were dating,” Clare mused, trying to change the topic. She had forgotten that Rory didn’t like talking about his volunteer work much.

“Hon, there isn’t a thing that happens in Woodlawn that I don’t know about,” Dee said.

“There’s a few things,” Quinn teased.

“If you’re talking about the fact that you’ve been making googly eyes at the Finley daughter for the last few years, I definitely know about it,” Dee shot back, looking triumphant as Quinn blushed a deep shade of red.

“Oh, I want to hear about this!” Casey said and sneered.

“Isn’t that enough gossip for tonight?” Seamus rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, someone make Ma be quiet,” Quinn grumbled, still embarrassed as the rest of the table fell easily into conversation with one another.

Clare beamed over at Rory, feeling such a warmth spreading through her. Not the warmth she usually felt, which seemed to make a beeline to her core, but rather a fuzzy, happy feeling that hugged her entire being. The Kavanaghs treated her like she had always been part of the family, as if she had as much right to be there as those born into the group. She had never felt so present somewhere before, so much like she belonged, and she absolutely loved it.