Sloane and Maeve Breen were arm in arm with their son Finley Breen by their side and just ahead of them were two young witches, giggling as they devoured the sweets that had just been bought for them.
Maeve glanced up at her son. "I can't believe what these poor girls have gone through." She said quietly, holding back tears. Sloane patted her hand gently, comforting his wife.
Finn gave his mother a tight smile. "I know, ma, but they're strong. They'll make it through this." He sighed heavily. "They'll be changed for it though." The thought weighed heavily in his heart, day and night, thinking of how these two innocent girls would never be the same.
Darcy Mint had lost her friend and then been next to disowned by her family. Alastriona Breen had lost one of her best friends that night and Finn could see the difference in her every single day, there was an emptiness in her that haunted him.
Alastriona chuckled as Darcy gave her a nudge, it was a surprisingly warm day in Lothbeg, located in the Scottish Highlands, and the family had decided to make the most of it by going to the local market.
Sloane, Alastriona's grandfather, snuck up behind the two girls and reached over, grabbing a large handful of the hard lollies from their bag and running away, cackling maniacally.
"Hey!" Darcy shouted and took off after him.
"So rude!" Alastriona seconded and raced after him as well.
Finn laughed at their antics. He was grateful to his parents for accepting Darcy into their summer holiday once more, it was typically just spent with himself and Alastriona however his parents now held a special fondness for the dark haired witch.
Maeve smiled fondly at her husband, who was now holding the entire bag of lollies just out of reach of the girls. "It was good of ye take Darcy in, son." She'd been surprised at the news but in all of Alastriona's previous letters over the years Darcy had been mentioned in all of them so she always knew they were close but wasn't aware of how much she stayed with Finley and Alastriona.
Finn's expression turned serious, it still made him frustrated every time he thought of what Darcy's family had done to her. "She's been a part of this family since the very beginning." He said, "It was only right for me to take her in, it was an easy choice, and a genuine pleasure."
"Alastriona has always wanted a sister." Maeve agreed. She cleared her throat and threw subtlety out the window, "I always thought she'd have one after ye settled down with someone."
Finn chuckled at his mothers tact. "Ma, I'm happy. I have you, dad, Alastriona and now Darcy. I don't need anything else."
Maeve sighed in resignation. Finn hadn't been lying. He was happy. Although he'd always been happy regardless if he had a partner or not, those kinds of relationships, he decided many years ago, weren't something for him. But being the father figure in Alastriona's life? He always felt like he was made for that. And now he was the role model for young Darcy as well and despite the horrible circumstances a part of him was truly satisfied with life right now.
"I suppose I can be happy with just one grandchild." Maeve said with a grin, watching Sloane concede to the girls and give back the large bag of lollies.
"Two grandchildren." Finn corrected her without hesitation.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
