Seeds of Tyrone Box Set Read online

  Contents

  Leaving Flowers

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  Chapter One: Flowers for Nadia

  Chapter Two: Stepping Stones

  Chapter Three: The Roses and the Hairbrush

  Chapter Four: A Casual Internment

  Chapter Five: More of the Same

  Chapter Six: Pea-Super

  Chapter Seven: A Friendship Date

  Chapter Eight: Feel the Rain

  Chapter Nine: Cruel Marks

  Chapter Ten: Wait of the World

  Chapter Eleven: Self- Control

  Chapter Twelve: Sugar is Sweet

  Chapter Thirteen: B&E

  Chapter Fourteen: Unpacking

  Chapter Fifteen: Improvising

  Chapter Sixteen: Rebuilding

  Chapter Seventeen: Talking With Jill

  Chapter Eighteen: Bleach

  Chapter Nineteen: Testing Day

  Chapter Twenty: First Time

  Chapter Twenty-One: Saving Bryan

  Chapter Twenty-Two: The Food of Love

  Chapter Twenty-Three: Dinner Guests and Unexpected Company

  Chapter Twenty-Four: Working It Out

  Chapter Twenty-Five: Their Birthday

  Chapter Twenty-Six: Birthday Craic

  Chapter Twenty-Seven: Finally, His Turn to Comfort

  Chapter Twenty-Eight: A Serious Matter

  Chapter Twenty-Nine: A Caravan

  Chapter Thirty: Leaving

  Chapter Thirty-One: Meeting Nadia at the Fun Boy

  Chapter Thirty-Two: Gifts of Love

  Chapter Thirty-Three: Seeing the Girls Happy

  Chapter Thirty-Four: Baking It

  Epilogue

  Where the Grass is Greener

  Dedication

  Chapter One: At the Bottom of a Glass

  Chapter Two: Damn Responsibilities

  Chapter Three: On the Homestead

  Chapter Four: Teenage Drama

  Chapter Five: Something

  Chapter Six: Work, Work on the Range

  Chapter Seven: Dog Days

  Chapter Eight: Their First Date…Or Not

  Chapter Nine: Be Counted

  Chapter Ten: Barrels and Gallons

  Chapter Eleven: Right Back At Ye

  Chapter Twelve: The Stampede

  Chapter Thirteen: Not Always Wiser

  Chapter Fourteen: To Everything an Interview

  Chapter Fifteen: Murphy’s Law

  Chapter Sixteen: Two-Step

  Chapter Seventeen: Bored and Lodging

  Chapter Eighteen: Comin’ Out Swinging

  Chapter Nineteen: Over the Pond

  Chapter Twenty: Marking Time

  Chapter Twenty-One: Kansas State Junior Rodeo

  Chapter Twenty-Two: The Storm Clouds in Her Eyes

  Chapter Twenty-Three: Slow Skies

  Chapter Twenty-Four: Coming in to Land

  Chapter Twenty-Five: Breathe, Damn it

  Chapter Twenty-Six: A Funny Thing Happened…

  Chapter Twenty-Seven: Rope ’im

  Chapter Twenty-Eight: Family Ties

  Chapter Twenty-Nine: Stags and Hens

  Chapter Thirty: You, and Tequila

  Chapter Thirty-One: What About Ireland?

  Chapter Thirty-Two: Never

  Chapter Thirty-Three: Her Own Curtain and Everything

  Chapter Thirty-Four: The Loneliest Hour

  Chapter Thirty-Five: And the Days Go By

  Chapter Thirty-Six: One Call to End Him

  Chapter Thirty-Seven: Parting Shot

  Chapter Thirty-Eight: And the Sky is Not Cloudy All Day

  Christmas Craic and Mistletoe

  Dedicated…

  Part I: Paulo & Harrison

  Chapter One: Are You Ready?

  Chapter Two: Mamãe and Papai

  Chapter Three: His Guest, Charlie

  Chapter Four: Paulo in Cloak and Mask

  Chapter Five: Pukeapalooza

  Chapter Six: Searching

  Chapter Seven: Lattes and Love

  Chapter Eight: Facing the Twin

  Chapter Nine: Green Christmas

  Chapter Ten: Walking Toward Him

  Interlude: Christmas Eve with The Williams Brothers

  Chapter Eleven: The Surprise

  Chapter Twelve: For the Love of His Ari

  Chapter Thirteen: Best Laid Plans

  Chapter Fourteen: The Midnight Hour

  Chapter Fifteen: Sneaking Under the Tree

  Chapter Sixteen: Absolutamente

  Moments

  A Moment with Chancey and Seamus

  A Moment with Patrick and Aidan

  Part II: Tom & Michael

  Chapter One: Cereal Thief!

  Chapter Two: Sprouting Horns

  Chapter Three: The Snoop and the Crisps

  Chapter Four: Accused

  Chapter Five: Blocking the Bullies

  Chapter Six: Sins of the Ignorant

  Chapter Seven: Surprise!

  Interlude: Christmas Eve with The Williams Brothers

  Chapter Eight: Michael’s Hero

  Chapter Nine: Afterburn

  Chapter Ten: In Motion

  Chapter Eleven: Losing Faith

  Chapter Twelve: Don’t Laugh

  Chapter Thirteen: The Road to Derry

  Chapter Fourteen: What’s in a Kiss?

  Chapter Fifteen: Safely Home?

  Chapter Sixteen: Thou Shalt Not…

  Chapter Seventeen: Alliance

  Chapter Eighteen: Unpacking Boxes

  Chapter Nineteen: Shenanigans

  Chapter Twenty: Temptation

  Chapter Twenty-One: Confirmation

  Chapter Twenty-Two: Prospects

  Chapter Twenty-Three: All Academic

  Chapter Twenty-Four: What are you doing…

  Chapter Twenty-Five: Interim

  About Raine O’Tierney

  About Debbie McGowan

  By Raine O’Tierney

  By Debbie McGowan

  Beaten Track Publishing

  Seeds of Tyrone

  Box Set

  Leaving Flowers

  Where the Grass is Greener

  Christmas Craic and Mistletoe

  by

  Debbie McGowan & Raine O’Tierney

  Beaten Track

  www.beatentrackpublishing.com

  Seeds of Tyrone Box Set

  First published 2017 by Beaten Track Publishing

  Copyright © 2015, 2017 Debbie McGowan and Raine O’Tierney

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent publisher.

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  ISBN: 978 1 78645 160 6

  www.beatentrackpublishing.com

  This box set contains books 1–3 of the Seeds of Tyrone series by Debbie McGowan and Raine O’Tierney - a series of M/M romances featuring characters from Kansas and Pennsylvania, USA, and Country Tyrone, in the North of Ireland.

  Each of the books is stand-alone, but they are best read in order. Stories include scenes of intimacy between consenting male adults.

  Book One: Leaving Flowers

  Shy and awkward since childhood, Aidan Degas is now a man lost. His twin Nadia died tragically young, leaving him nothing but his job and the flowers he lays upon her grave. Patrick loves being assistant
groundskeeper at the cemetery, but Aidan is so damaged that even with Patrick’s warm heart and Irish charm, it might not be enough to bring him back from the edge.

  Book Two: Where the Grass is Greener

  Mistakes were made, that’s for sure. But was it the night of passion? Or walking away afterward? That's the question Seamus Williams faces when he gets a late-night phone call from someone he never expects to hear from again—cowboy Chancey Bo Clearwater. But a world of problems now stand between Seamus and Chancey exploring what might have been, the least of which being the Atlantic Ocean.

  Book Three: Christmas Craic and Mistletoe

  Two couples, two unique stories of love at Christmastime… Harrison and Paulo were once passionate lovers—until tragedy tore them apart. Michael’s coming out didn’t go down well. But he has a guardian angel on his side—his unrequited long-term crush, Tom. Will the magic of Christmas in Ireland be enough to see these two couples through?

  Tags: gay, bisexual, love, romance, coming out, parenting, grief, recovery, emigration, Christmas, cowboy, Irish, farmer, reconciliation, HEA, HFN

  Warnings: grief, reference to rape and its psychological effects, homophobia, bullying

  Leaving Flowers

  Seeds of Tyrone Book One

  Shy and awkward since childhood, Aidan Degas is now a man lost. His twin—Aidan’s other half, Nadia—died tragically young, leaving him with nothing to get him through his days but his job at the prestigious Grand Heights Luxury Apartments and the flowers he lays upon her grave. When Aidan is assaulted on the job by a tenant, it’s the graveyard he turns to for strength and solace.

  Patrick loves being assistant groundskeeper at the sprawling cemetery where he tends graves and offers a bit of comfort to mourners. When he sees a sad young man lingering over an old grave, his curiosity is strangely piqued for reasons he doesn’t understand. He’s never done this—struck up a friendship with a mourner. But soon that friendship blossoms into romance.

  It’s not going to be easy for the pair. Aidan is so damaged, like petals crushed in an angry fist, and even with Patrick’s warm heart and Irish charm, it might not be enough to bring him back from the edge.

  Dedication

  For Infant Girl Johnston,

  on whose grave I always lay flowers in my heart.

  Acknowledgements

  I could write novel-length acknowledgements about Debbie McGowan saying, “Of course!” without hesitation when I asked if she wanted to collaborate. What I’ve found in Debbie is a unique and wonderful friend. She is the other half of my writing whole and a coffee-drinking buddy in the Collective Unconscious. My partner in a literary love affair, Debbie’s the rational one to my insanity, the editor to my interrobangs, and the sensible one to my “soppy” heart (as evidenced by these acknowledgements). Thanks, Debs for being amazing!

  A very special THANK YOU! to Evin who only got to read the story every other chapter as he proofed my side. Poor put upon guy… Thank you for being the most wonderful, cuddliest, amazing YOU. I love you so!

  ~ RO

  So…as the allegedly “rational” one… As if there could possibly have been any other answer. Do I want to collaborate?! With Raine O’Tierney?! “There aren’t enough ways to say yes, my love.” What you bring to this writing partnership is…invaluable, but your friendship was an unexpected and truly precious gift. These words are our words, luckily for me, because I’m all out. Right back atcha, pardner. :)

  ~ DM

  From both us, a huge thank you to the people in our lives who make our writing a reality. We couldn’t do this without you.

  Chapter One:

  Flowers for Nadia

  “I brought you flowers.”

  The words had become as familiar to Aidan Degas as a prayer. His shoes sank in the mucky ground as he approached, a palm turned helplessly outward, a bouquet of pink and red carnations in his other hand. He stopped about a foot away from the silent marble and then, with a small breath for courage—inhale, exhale—he touched the stone, smooth like silk and damp from the summer rain.

  “I hope you like them.”

  He could almost see her then. Nadia’s full lips would have spread into a goofy smile at the sight of the flowers he held. Any kind would do for her. Posies or lilies, roses or daisies. Store-bought or gathered from the meadow out behind her house. Even when they were children, Nadia had loved flowers and was happiest only with a bouquet in her arms. Every Sunday, she’d walk to town just to visit the little florist shop, where sometimes she bought sprigs of baby’s breath that she braided into her long dark hair. Eventually the shopkeepers simply gave her the sprigs for free.

  That’s how Aidan chose to remember her. Smiling, with her bouquets of spring flowers, hair pulled back under a handkerchief, cheeks flushed, swinging her basket. She was meant for a different season. She had a summer personality, all bright smiles and a singsong attitude. She was not meant for the ground. Nadia was the most beautiful person he’d ever met; the better twin, for certain.

  Gently, Aidan pulled loose the dead flowers from the secured vase opposite the weeping angel that paid eternal homage at her gravesite. He was as careful with them as he was with the fresh carnations he offered her. Gathering them up in the wrapper, he knelt beside the smooth stone that marked her final resting place, uncaring that the morning’s rains now soaked the fabric at his knees.

  “I miss you, Na-Na,” he whispered, not because he was afraid of being overheard—there was no one here now in this still, quiet cemetery to hear him except the far off caretakers—but because it didn’t feel right to disturb the peace of the atmosphere. He knew she was there, deep beneath the earth, but at the same time, he felt her elsewhere, and thank God for that.

  Nadia was in her kitchen, laughing at his terrible jokes, or volunteering at the library, or serving on the literacy committee. She was holding out the front of her dress, insisting that she couldn’t wait to swell up like a huge apple. If Nadia loved flowers, she loved babies even more. She wouldn’t have minded at all that it was her own baby that killed her, had the newborn survived.

  There was a tombstone in Babyland, but Aidan had never been. He didn’t know that he could ever go.

  “I heard a song on the radio,” he started, running his fingertips over the deeply etched letters and numbers that spelled out her name and the date of her death. “‘Gone Away.’ It reminded me of you. I know it’s been too long since I stopped by. I just…” Aidan’s throat suddenly clenched on him and he had to fight not to cry. “I’m messing this all up. And I didn’t really come to talk about the song.” Aidan sighed and rested his head against her tombstone, feeling guilty that he only ever visited his sister when something was bothering him.

  Maybe he’d wanted her headstone to be his confessor and that’s why he’d come to this place when he knew she wasn’t really here. It was something to listen to him, something that wouldn’t judge him aloud. A stoic marble priest, sworn to keep his secrets.

  “Ms. Ashmore stopped me in the hall and asked me up to her apartment again last night. And I got so sick, remembering it. Why couldn’t I have just said no that first time? ‘I’m sorry, Ms. Ashmore, the offer is very kind but…’” The tears he’d been fighting pricked, as images from the life-changing night three months earlier flashed in his mind. Ms. Ashmore in her thin nightgown, face painted up like that of a much younger woman, her hand on his thigh. He knew he shouldn’t be there, but she kept offering him wine and there was so much he couldn’t remember and— No. If anything, he’d take the responsibility.

  “It didn’t feel…right.”

  A queasy feeling took over Aidan then, as the images he’d held back all this time flashed in his mind. It had been all he could do to stay hard for her; the whole time he’d wished she would stop. If he’d just gone flaccid and run. But in that moment—in Ms. Ashmore’s canopy-top bed, with her scarf-donned lamps and her dresser covered in pearls and perfumes—he’d been so weak. Mentally. Physically. “It wa
sn’t right, Na-Na.”

  Ms. Ashmore had shown him to the door afterward, a smile on her swollen lips. She kissed his cheek and handed him fifty dollars. Then he was in the hall and the door was closed behind him, and Aidan Degas was no longer a virgin. He could remember sliding down the wall and waking up there later, well past midnight, when someone went into their apartment nearby.

  Three months.

  He hadn’t thought about it in three whole months.

  And then Ms. Ashmore had stopped him last night to ask him back.

  Above, the gray skies opened up once more and a new, warm rain began to fall. Aidan sighed, knowing it was time to leave, and yet he felt no more free of guilt than he had when he’d awkwardly agreed to go up to Ms. Ashmore’s apartment.

  He swiped at his face with wet hands and then he stood, his knees hopelessly soaked, and started back to his car, which he’d left parked on the gravel-packed road. He’d almost reached the black Honda when his cell phone began to buzz in his coat pocket. Even without looking, Aidan could guess who was calling him. She was the only one who called him these days.

  “Lily,” he greeted his sister-in-law as he pressed the connect button. Nadia had even married a flower, hadn’t she?

  “Hey, kid, how goes it?”

  “Great,” he lied, climbing into the front seat and starting up the car. Lily Minor was the tall, dark-eyed Jewish girl who came into their little duo and swept his sister off her tiny feet with a smile and a single, of all things, lily. Nadia was so smitten with Lily after their first date that she confided in Aidan that she knew they’d marry, if she had anything to do with it. Aidan had smiled and congratulated his sister and wished he hadn’t felt such a deep pang of jealousy.

  With nothing else to do, Aidan often tagged along with the girls; a painfully obvious third wheel on their movie dates. But when Nadia’s concern for his own love life began to grow, Aidan started taking out girls he had no interest in, just so Nadia would not furrow her brow in worry.