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PROLOGUE I

Nathan sat beside his grandfather, Rory Malone, on the crude front porch of the shack he lived in Nathan was only ten, but he knew exactly why Grandpop didn’t live with him and his parents Because Nathan’s father, Grant, was ashamed of him

“He’s too fucking Irish,” Grant would rage for hours after visiting with his father “He uses that brogue like it’s so to be proud of”

And God forbid that Nathan should let a hint of that brogue free, though he practiced it as often as he could away from his father

Nathan’s father didn’t like being Irish He didn’t like people knowing he was Irish If he could ship Grandpop off soht that his father would do it But Grant Malone couldn’tThe old man was as wise as the mountains and the cliffs around them, and just as stubborn

“Nathan, my boy, look at that sunset” Rory pointed out the majestic colors that washed over the mountains “Almost as pretty as Ireland, she is Alrandpop’s voice

“Why don’t you go back?” Nathan asked “Dad says you have enough money to live anywhere”

He looked at his grandfather’s weathered face The bright blue eyes, just like Nathan’s, brighter than Nathan’s father’s and without the hints of green his father’s had

Grandpop se, sad little smile

“Because raveyard

There, Nathan’s grandma, Erin Malone, was buried On one side of her were buried the two sons they lost in Vietnahter that had died of a fever, Nathan’s aunt Edan

“Grandrandma was dead, ould she care?

“Oh, now my Erin, she’d smile down on me no ain “But I’d be separated from her, and I’d feel that separation in my soul, you see?”

Nathan shook his head

Grandpop sighed “You have the Irish eyes, boy One of these days, you’ll see from eyes, not your own, feel with a heart outside your chest Wild Irish eyes, Nathan When you love, love well and love true, and take care, lad, because those Irish eyes are s into not just your own soul, but the soul of the one you love” Grandpop looked out at his Erin’s grave “And when you lose that heart, you can’t leave the places where your memories are the best And if I left her, I’d not be buried beside her”

Grandpop stared back at hiht of ever burying his grandpop in the hard, bleak soil

“Wild Irish eyes,” his grandpop ive you now, boy Don’t lose the one you love You lose a part of your soul when you do The legacy of those eyes will ensure it”