darker of the two men she’d seen with McManus was there with him. Thankfully, there was no sign of Gary Benton.
Kieran froze, then slowly emerged from Declan’s embrace. Everyone in the place was looking at her and applauding.
“What, um, what...?” she muttered inarticulately.
“The television—check out the television,” Danny told her, hugging her tightly for a long moment.
Kevin, her twin, had emerged from behind the bar, too, and he also hugged her warmly, whispering, “I know you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but if you took chances... I came into this world with you, sis, and if you leave it before me, I won’t be able to cope.”
“I love you, too,” she murmured, then finally got a glance at the TV. A reporter was in the middle of explaining that a brave hostage had helped the FBI take down the thieves. And she was clearly visible in the shot behind him, which showed her seated in the back of the ambulance, a blanket around her shoulders and a cup of coffee in her hand, as an EMT spoke to her. The reporter was still going on about her courage under fire.
Except there had been no courage. There had been no choice.
She smiled weakly, waved a hand and managed a soft thank-you, then dodged behind the bar and ran to the offices in back.
Declan was right behind her, closing the door to the office behind them. She noticed that he’d brought a clean wet bar rag with him and looked at him questioningly.
“You’re still wearing a fair amount of dirt. You roll in an alley or something?” he asked.
He was watching her with his arms crossed over his chest again. Even so, she could tell that he was truly grateful to see her alive and well.
She could also tell that he knew there was more to the story.
“You were buying diamonds?” he asked her. “Instead of coming to work?”
She accepted the bar rag from him, sank into the chair behind the desk and studiously scrubbed at her face. “No, and I’m sorry. I didn’t think that the bar would be this busy. I—”
The door burst open. Danny rushed in and hurried over to her, dropping to his knees by the chair. “You’re really all right?”
She nodded. “I’m fine.”
“Oh, my God, when I saw...” Danny sounded sick and shaky.
She patted his red hair gently, reassuringly.
“Kieran, you went there to talk to Gary Benton, didn’t you?” Declan demanded.
She went very still, looking at Danny. “Yes,” she said.
“Kieran, we all love Julie. She’s been our friend since we were children. I don’t like Gary one bit myself, and the way he’s treating her is awful. He’s a total jerk, and we should all be looking forward to the day when Julie is finally rid of him. I should have expected... Well, he was in here this afternoon, right? You don’t need to answer. Bobby O’Leary told me he was. And then you got upset and went to tell him... Well, I don’t care what you thought you were going to tell him. It’s only by the grace of God that you’re alive and well. Kieran—let this be a lesson. Stand by Julie. Be there to listen to her, to hold her hand. Help her make the split final. But stay away from Gary Benton.”
“You’re right,” she said, still staring warningly into Danny’s eyes. He opened his mouth as if he was going to admit the truth. She shook her head and looked up at Declan. “You’re right. It’s just that... He had the nerve to come here!”
“And if he comes again, we have to let him in. And we won’t throw him out unless he starts causing trouble or gets in a fight or something—and there’s no spitting in his food or his drinks, either. All three of you—you and Danny and Kevin, too—are off pursuing careers, which is wonderful. But the bar is my livelihood—and it’s all our heritage and what you have to depend on, too, if life doesn’t work out for some reason. We will not discriminate against anyone, do you understand me?”
“It’s not illegal to discriminate against assholes,” Danny said.
Declan shook his head in aggravation. “Danny!”
“Sorry. All right, if the jerk comes in, we won’t show him the door,” Danny said.
“Kieran?” Declan said.
“Hey, I served him coffee without throwing it on him—or even accidentally spilling a single drop,” she said.
“Good. But in future, stay away from him, let someone else take his order. Please,” Declan told her.
She nodded grudgingly.
“Now go home, kid—you don’t need to be here. Mary Kathleen is on the floor with Danny, and I have the bar. We’re fine. Kevin’s been behind the bar with me, but as soon as things slow down I’ll send him home, since he has an audition tomorrow. So go home. And not to be rude, but I suggest you take a bath.”
The door opened again. It was Kevin this time.
“It’s slowed down. Maybe the crowd was just waiting to applaud Kieran and now they’ve all gone home to talk about her. I’ve got my car, so I can drive Kieran home on my way.”
“I can get home—” Kieran began.
“With me,” Kevin said.
“Declan said you have an audition in the morning. You need to go straight home and get your beauty rest,” she said, smiling. “Although you’re beautiful no matter what.”
Kevin winced. “Men aren’t beautiful!” he said.
“Ouch,” Danny said, laughing. “He’s a manly man, you know.”
“What about you? You have work tomorrow, too,” she reminded him. Danny was outgoing, and despite the problems he’d had in the past, he was a keen historian and the tour company he worked for loved him.
“I’m off tomorrow,” he said. “Sundays and Tuesdays, remember? I’ll help Declan until closing,” he assured her.
She looked away, still uncomfortable that they weren’t telling Declan and Kevin the truth but absolutely certain that she didn’t want to tell them more than what they already knew.
“Well, in my mind, Kevin, you are beautiful!” she said, returning to a safer topic. “And you’ll be great tomorrow. Break a leg.”
“Thanks. And I’m going to my car now, and you’re going with me,” Kevin said.
It would be worse to argue than to go along. She said, “Okay, thanks. I could walk it if I wanted to, and I know the subway like the back of my hand, but a ride from my twin will be nice.”
Kieran stood, hugged Danny and Declan, and then followed Kevin out of the office through the side door. He slipped an arm around her shoulders as they walked down the street.
“That must have been scary as hell,” he told her. “How the hell you didn’t lose it, I don’t know. I don’t think I would have coped as well.”
“Thanks—but I think you would have done everything exactly the way I did. We were brought up to do the right thing. Maybe kids remember even more when they’ve lost both parents,” she said.
“We’re not kids,” he said quietly.
He didn’t say anything more until the attendant had brought his car down from the garage nestled in the next block, and then it was only to thank the man and give him a tip. They were parked in front of her apartment before he finally said something else to her.
She moved to get out of the car, but he stopped her.
“Kieran, I don’t know what you told Declan, and I don’t intend to say another word. But I think there’s more to the story of why you were in that