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changed. Not you.”
    “I changed, as well,” he said quietly.
    “Nevertheless,” Ioan said, “you have devoted a thousand years to them. A thousand years to your family and your faith. I’m only saying that if there was anyone who deserved to be happy—”
    “And who says I’m not?” Carwyn smiled. “Why is it that married people always think their friends can’t be happy unless they’re shackled as they are? Irritating children, you are. Both of you.”
    Ioan turned his face up to Deirdre. “Shackle me, my love.”
    Deirdre only rolled her eyes. “Oh, for heaven’s sake.”
    “Best torture in the world, to be shackled to a beautiful woman who drives you crazy,” he continued. “Sign me up again. Sign me up for another four hundred years, Father!”
    Carwyn cleared his throat. “Well, if the conversation has turned to shackles, I think that’s my cue to retire.”
    Ioan laughed, and Deirdre punched her husband’s arm. “Enough, both of you. And, Ioan, Carwyn will do whatever makes him happy. Besides, when has he ever taken our advice about anything?”
    “There was that time in the 1780s—”
    “Carwyn,” Deirdre interrupted with a laugh, “is your ship leaving out of Dublin or Waterford?”
    “Terry has a boat leaving Dublin, going to New York. O’Brian is storing my bike for me, so I’ll drive cross-country from there. I’ll ring you both when I’m in Los Angeles with B. She says she has a safe place for me to stay. Otherwise, I’ll work something out with Alvarez. He owes me, anyway. Why do you ask?”
    For once, Deirdre looked unsure. “I was wondering if you’d have time to check on Brigid Connor when you were in town. She’s staying at Parliament House this summer, and I just wanted—”
    “Deirdre.” Ioan’s voice was a quiet warning.
    “What?” Carwyn saw her temper spike. “Sinead says she thinks something seemed wrong the last time she talked to Brigid. And with her staying in Dublin all summer—”
    “She’s going for summer term. She’s very serious about her studies. You two worry too much.”
    “This is her first summer away from home.”
    Ioan huffed. “She’s a grown woman.”
    “She’s twenty!”
    Ioan’s eyebrows lifted. “Oh? I had no idea. May I point out, technically, so are you?”
    “It’s not the same, and you know it. All my sisters were married by the time they were sixteen. I was a grown woman at twenty when I turned.”
    “You’re right. And your childhood was blessedly uneventful. Brigid’s gone through far more than you ever did, Deirdre.”
    “Exactly. I have every right to be worried.”
    “But not every right to treat her like a child. Have some faith in—”
    Carwyn broke into the growing argument. “Why don’t I just meet her for a drink when I’m in town?” Ioan and Deirdre both stopped and looked at him. “I’ll meet her for a drink. No interrogation. I know I don’t know the girl all that well, but I’m happy to say hello and check if anything seems unusual.”
    Deirdre smiled. “Thanks. I appreciate it. Sinead and I—”
    “Worry too much,” Ioan muttered, but he nodded at Carwyn. “Still, good of you to meet her and it’s good to remind Murphy whose aegis she’s under, just in case he’s interested.”
    Carwyn chuckled. “Now who’s worrying?”
    Ioan said, “Are you joking? You know how much he’d like to form some kind of tie to Deirdre’s and my clan. I can’t blame him; it would be an excellent political move.”
    “We don’t have any single daughters,” Deirdre said. “But he knows that Brigid is family.”
    “You think Murphy might be interested in Brigid?” Carwyn shrugged. “Wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. As long as she liked him, I suppose.”
    It was Deirdre who smiled. “And what woman wants to be desired for her connections? You old men. She deserves to have someone who’s crazy for her. Mad in love. That’s what a woman wants.”
    Carwyn turned puppy dog eyes on