LITMIR.BIZ

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      For Michelle. Never stop believing.

      It can happen for you, too!

       Prologue

      DROPLETS OF RAIN spattered against the wavy glass in the manor-house windows. Aileen Quinn stared out into the lush green of her garden, her gaze fixed on a niche in the tall stone wall. A small statue of an angel was nestled into the ivy, the rain dripping off the outspread wings as if it wept.

      “Are you certain?” she asked.

      “I know this is a lot to handle, Miss Quinn. Perhaps we should continue later?”

      She gripped the head of her cane and turned back to the genealogist. “No,” she said. “I’m ninety-six years old. There will be no more secrets in my life. That’s why I chose to write my autobiography. I want it all out there so I can leave this world in peace.”

      “You realize the chances that your older siblings are still alive are virtually zero.”

      Aileen moved to a wing chair near the fireplace and sat down, turning toward the warmth. “Of course. But I would like to know if they had children and grandchildren. I have a family and I’d like to know at least a little bit about them before I die.”

      She stared into the flickering flames, her thoughts carrying her back to her childhood. She only had the thinnest of details, facts that the nuns at the orphanage had relinquished after years of persistent questions. Her father had died in the Easter Rising of 1916, shot through the heart by a British soldier. Her mother, left pregnant and desperate to provide for her newborn daughter, grew sick with consumption and brought Aileen to the orphanage a few weeks before she died.

      The story had been told so many times in the media, the rags-to-riches tale of an Irish orphan girl who became one of the world’s most popular novelists. Aileen’s stories had been a reflection of her life, tales of struggle and triumph, of heartache and great happiness, and all set in the land of her birth, her beautiful Ireland.

      “Tell me again,” she said. “Their names. What were my brothers’ names?”

      “The eldest was Diarmuid. He was twelve when he was sent off to work as an apprentice to a shipbuilder in Belfast in 1917. Then there was Conal. He was nine and Lochlan was six when you were born. And Tomas was five. There were three other children who didn’t survive. A baby girl between Diarmuid and Conal who died at birth. And a daughter named Mary and a son named Orin between Tomas and you. They both died of scarlet fever the year before you were born.”

      “So there were seven, not four.”

      The young man nodded. “Yes.”

      “I need to know where they went,” Aileen said, leaning forward in her chair. “How they lived. You need to find everything you can about them.”

      “Yes, ma’am,” he said. He riffled through his papers. “I was able to learn that the youngest, Tomas, was sent to Australia. He traveled with a missionary and his wife on a ship called the Cambria, which sailed from Cork and landed in Sydney in December of 1916.”

      “Then that’s where you’ll begin,” Aileen said. “In Australia. I don’t care how many people you need to hire to help you or how much it costs. I’m giving you unlimited funds to do whatever is needed, Mr. Stephens. And I want a weekly report of any progress you’ve made, no matter how inconsequential.”

      “Yes, Miss Quinn.”

      “That’s all for now,” she said.

      He nodded and walked out of the solarium, his research tucked under his arm. Aileen watched him leave, then drew a deep breath. She’d spent her whole life believing she was alone in the world, a victim of circumstances beyond her control. But now, in a single instant, she had a family, siblings who had once held her and kissed her…and loved her.

      The housekeeper walked into the room, her footsteps silent on the ornate rug. Sally set the tray down on the tea table. “I’ve baked some lovely scones,” she said. “Will you not have one?”

      Aileen shook her head. “Just the tea, Sally.”

      “Did your Mr. Stephens have anything interesting to share?”

      “Not at the present,” she replied. The news about her family was so startling that she wanted to keep it a secret just a bit longer. It wasn’t a good

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