Lilac Lane (Chesapeake Shores #14)(61)

“But, Moira, you brought your mother to Chesapeake Shores. It’s because of you that these possibilities for her future exist at all,” Mick said. “If your thought is for your mother’s future, what does it matter who else helps her to reach that end?”

Luke glanced at his uncle. “You say it as if it’s a rational thing,” he said.

“Which it’s not,” Moira admitted. “Her happiness is what matters. Of course it is. If Nell’s scheme works, God bless her for it. I just hope it doesn’t backfire in the short run and make things around here unbearable. We don’t dare fire either one of them.”

Just then the door to the kitchen slammed open and Kiera stepped into view.

“Out of my kitchen!” Bryan’s shout echoed throughout the pub, drawing suddenly fascinated glances and a flurry of whispers. “I won’t have you in here trying to steal my recipes.”

“Stealing, is it? There’s not a one worth having. The ones locked in my head are far superior.”

“Get out!” he repeated.

“My pleasure,” Kiera retorted. “I’ve no need to be around your temper.”

The door snapped closed.

Luke sighed. “Too late,” he commented. “Moira? Which one will you be trying to calm?”

“I’ll talk to my mother,” she said, sounding resigned. “You tackle Bryan and see what it might take to improve his mood. I’m thinking it might require more than a pint of ale and a sounding board to calm him tonight.”

Mick laughed at the evidence of the turmoil his mother had stirred up. “I’ll leave you to it. I don’t have any wish to be caught in the cross fire.”

“If you happen to cross paths with Gram tonight, give her my thanks for this,” Luke said.

“I think she’d probably tell you that it indicates that her mission is on its way toward success,” Mick said, walking away to leave Moira and Luke to deal with the latest fallout from one of his mother’s clever plans.

*

“First of all, the competition wasn’t Nell’s idea. It was Bree’s,” Kiera told Moira, when her daughter practically pushed her onto a stool at the end of the bar and demanded to know how she’d allowed herself to be drawn into the whole festival cooking battle.

“If you think Nell wasn’t right in the thick of it, you’re delusional,” Moira said impatiently. “Things in the O’Brien family tend to go exactly the way she wants them to because she knows how to set them into motion. Nell’s a clever one, and most people underestimate her. They think she’s far too honorable to be so sneaky.”

“That’s a terrible thing to say about a woman who’s been nothing but kind to you and your grandfather,” Kiera scolded.

“You’re taking her side, when I’m trying to point out that she’s set you up?” Moira asked indignantly.

“Assuming you’re right, I’m not sure I see that it matters. This whole thing came about to benefit the fall festival.”

“Again, you’re missing the big picture,” Moira insisted. “What happened just now with you and Bryan, that’s the real goal. She wants the fireworks between you to be so loud and so noisy that the entire town and most of the surrounding counties will show up for the cooking competition at the fall festival to watch you compete with your Irish stew. All the other participants are pure window dressing. You two are the main event. It’s not a position I thought you’d care for.”

“It’s all to benefit the festival,” Kiera repeated, stubbornly refusing to concede her daughter’s point.

“Fireworks,” Moira repeated, then explained patiently, “Between you and Bryan. Fireworks leading to romance. That’s the end result Nell is going for.”

As her daughter’s words sank in, Kiera felt her heart lurch. Wasn’t that exactly the opposite of what she’d thought to achieve when she’d agreed to this competition? She’d wanted the distance back, the safety of having the man barely speaking to her.

She thought back to what had happened in the kitchen just moments ago. It hadn’t felt all that safe, if she were being totally honest about it. It had felt exhilarating. The sparks hadn’t pushed them apart. Instead, they had drawn her toward the flame...exactly as Moira seemed to believe Nell had intended.

“Oh dear,” she murmured, recognizing the trap at last.

Her daughter gave a nod of satisfaction. “You’re getting it now?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“And you’ll be on your guard?”

Kiera nodded. She’d be on her guard, alright. Unfortunately at the moment she was having a little difficulty deciding exactly whom the enemy might be.

*

Preparations for the town’s Fourth of July celebration were in full swing all over Chesapeake Shores. Storefronts had been draped with red, white and blue bunting. Small flags had been added to all the planters along Main Street and Shore Drive, and the flowers had been changed out to a selection of red, white and blue blooms, all contributed by Bree from her Flowers on Main shop and her husband Jake’s nursery.

In keeping with the color scheme, Sally’s was offering raspberry and blueberry croissants. Ethel’s Emporium had been stocked with flags of every size and holiday-themed T-shirts. Even her selection of penny candy had an abundance of red cherry, blueberry and coconut coloring. Snow cones were similarly swirled with the appropriate colors and flavors.