Larkin glanced at the man and smiled. “Don’t tell Francesca, but I still prefer the original.”
“Do you really?”
For some reason, he seemed ridiculously pleased by the comment. He looked directly at her then and she froze, riveted. He was far shorter than Rafe, maybe five foot six or seven and somewhere in his late forties. Eyes the color of aquamarines twinkled behind a pair of wire-rimmed glasses. And though his wheat-white hair was cut short, there was no disguising the wayward curls that were next to impossible to subdue. His nose was different from hers, stubbier, but they shared the same pointed chin and wide mouth. And she knew without even spending a minute of time with him that he used that mouth to laugh. A lot. Best of all, he made her think of leprechauns and rainbows and pots of gold. And he made her think of magic and the possibility of dreams coming true.
“I must confess,” he said, “the old girl looks quite grand with all those fancy stones attached to her.”
Larkin continued to stare at him, unable to look away. “Old girl?” she repeated faintly.
“The bracelet. She belonged to your great-great-great-grandmother.”
“You’re—”
“Rory Finnegan. I’m your father, Larkin.”
She never remembered moving. One minute she was standing next to the table and the next she was in his arms. “Dad?”
“You have no idea how long I’ve been looking for you.” He whispered the words into her ear and they flowed straight to her heart.
The next few hours flashed by. At some point, Larkin realized that Rafe had slipped away, giving her and her father some much-needed privacy. Coffee would periodically appear at their elbow, along with sandwiches. But she never noticed who brought them, though it didn’t take much guesswork to know that Rafe was behind that, too.
During the time she spent with her father, she discovered that her mother had called him shortly before her death. “She was horribly sick. Almost incoherent,” he explained. “She just kept telling me I had a daughter but couldn’t give me a name or location. By the time I tracked her down, she was gone and that bastard of a husband claimed he had no idea what I was talking about.”
Larkin also learned that her name belonged to the same woman whose bracelet she’d been given. And she discovered that she had a family as extensive as the Dantes, and every bit as lovingly nosy. “You won’t be able to get rid of us,” Rory warned. “Not now that I’ve found you. I’d have brought a whole herd of the troublemakers with me, but I didn’t want to overwhelm you.”
When the time finally came for him to leave, they were both teary eyed. Standing by the front door, he snatched her close for a tight hug. “You’ll come by this weekend. We’ll throw a big welcome home party. And bring your man with you. Your grandmother Finnegan will want to look him over before okaying the wedding date.”
“Oh, but—”
“We’ll be there,” Rafe informed him as he joined them.
The instant the door closed behind her father, Larkin turned to confront Rafe. “I don’t know what to say,” she confessed, fighting back tears. “Thank you seems so inadequate.”
“You’re welcome.” He held out his hand. “I have something else I want to show you.”
“Okay.” She dared to slip her hand into his, closing her eyes when The Inferno throbbed in joyous welcome. “But then I’d really like to see Kiko.”
“That’s what I wanted to show you.”
He pulled her toward the back of the house to the guest suite where she’d spent so many blissful days and nights. The door was shut and on the wooden surface someone had screwed a glistening gold placard. “Official Den of Tukiko and Youko” it read.
“You told me that was Kiko’s full name. I looked up the meaning.” He slanted her a flashing smile. “Moon child?”
Larkin shrugged. “It seemed fitting.” She frowned at the sign. “But who is Youko?”
“Ah, you mean our sun child.”
He shoved open the door. Where once had stood a regular bed, now there were two huge dog beds. The door to the backyard stood ajar and he ushered her in that direction. She gaped at the changes. In the time she’d been gone, someone had come through and transformed the yard into a giant doggy playpen. Rope pulls and exercise rings, doghouses and toys were scattered throughout the area. He’d even had a section of lawn dug up and a giant square of loosely packed dirt put in its place.