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around, and Mary K. and I immediately gulped down sips.
    “Are you going to buy a house together or rent?” Mom asked.
    “We’re looking to buy,” said Eileen. “We both have apartments now, but I want to get a dog, so we need a yard.”
    “And I need room for a garden,” said Paula.
    “A dog and a garden might be mutually exclusive,” said my dad, and they laughed. I smiled, too, but it all felt so unreal: as if I were watching someone else’s family on television.
    “I was hoping you could help us with the house hunting,” Eileen said to my mom.
    Mom smiled, for the first time since yesterday, I realized. “I was already running through possibilities in my head,” she admitted. “Can you come by the office soon, and we can set up some appointments?”
    “That would be great,” said Eileen. Paula reached over and squeezed her shoulder. They looked at each other as if no one else was in the room.
    “Moving is going to be insane,” said Paula. “I have stuff scattered everywhere: my mom’s, my dad’s, my sister’s. My apartment was just too small to hold everything.”
    “Fortunately, I have a niece who’s not only strong but has a huge car,” Aunt Eileen offered brightly, looking over at me.
    I stared at her. I wasn’t really her niece, though, was I? Even Eileen had been playing into this whole fantasy that was my life. Even she, my favorite aunt, had been lying and keeping secrets from me for sixteen years.
    “Aunt Eileen, do you know why Mom and Dad never told me I was adopted?” I just put it out there, and it was as if I had mentioned I had the bubonic plague.
    Everyone stared at me, except Mary K., who was staring at her plate miserably, and Paula, who was watching Aunt Eileen with a concerned expression.
    Aunt Eileen looked like she had swallowed a frog. Her eyes wide, she said, “What?” and shot quick glances at my mom and dad.
    “I mean, don’t you think somebody should have told me? Maybe just mentioned it? You could have said something. Or maybe you just didn’t think it was that important,” I pressed on. Part of me knew I wasn’t being fair. But somehow I couldn’t stop myself. “No one else seems to.After all, it’s just my life we’re talking about.”
    Mom said, “Morgan,” in a defeated tone of voice.
    “Uh . . . ,” said Aunt Eileen, for once at a loss for words.
    Everyone was as embarrassed as I was, and the festive air had gone out of dinner.
    “Never mind,” I said abruptly, standing up. “We can talk about it later.Why not? After sixteen years what’s a few days more?”
    “Morgan, I always felt your parents should be the ones to tell you—,” Aunt Eileen said, sounding distressed.
    “Yeah, right,” I said rudely. “When was that going to happen?”
    Mary K. gasped, and I pushed my chair back roughly. I couldn’t stand being here one more second. I couldn’t take their hypocrisy anymore. I would explode.
    This time I remembered to grab my jacket before I ran out to my car and peeled off into the darkness.

9
    Healing Light
    St. Patrick’s Day, 1981
    Oh, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, I’m so drunk, I can hardly write. Ballynigel just put on a St. Paddy’s party to end all parties. All the townspeople, everyone, gathered together to have a good time in the village. Human or witch, we all agree on St. Paddy’s Day, the wearing of the green.
    Pat O’Hearn dyed all his beer green, and it was sloshing into mugs, into pails, into shoes, anything. Old Towson gave some to his donkey, and that donkey has never been so tame or good-natured! I laughed until I had to hold my sides in.
    The Irish Cowboys played their music all afternoon right in the town green, and we all danced and pinched one another, and the kids were throwing cabbages and potatoes. We had a good day, and our dark time seems to be well and truly over.
    Now I’m home, and I lit three green candles to the Goddess for prosperity and happiness. There’s a full moon tonight, so I have to sober