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At the corner he flipped a U-turn and headed back down Brah school

It’d take hiet to the Sheenan ranch, and he drove slowly, reat hurry to return to the old two-story log cabin The old Sheenan hoer he was there, the more uncomfortable he became

He did not belong

He wasn’t supposed to be there

His certainty had little to do with Cormac and the other Sheenan brothers, but the heaviness that filled him every time he entered the house

He hadn’t believed in spirits before he moved in He did now

He was host—sad but benign—and another one, far ressive He wouldn’t be surprised if it was his father’s spirit as it see Shane he didn’t belong That he’d never belonged And yet whenever he felt the hostile presence, the other one was there, too, as if trying to be a buffer, determined to protect Shane

God, he’d love to know the truth

Why was he given away? Why had his father’s name been stripped from the birth certificate—because Bill Sheenan was his father, the DNA test four years ago proved it—but Shane had waited too long to confront his father? Bill Sheenan was dead The brothers had all abandoned the family homestead And now Shane was here, still the outsider, still the interloper

Shane hadn’t expected a elcoht maybe—and now he could see how silly he’d been—just ht they’d be civil, possibly friendly He’d thought he could get them to trust hi up to the las property

Before signing the lease, he’d hoped he’d get to know these brothers, not as brothers, but as people Men There was no need for a big, bonding thing, and no need to become close as they’d never be a family, but he hadn’t anticipated the freeze-out

To be fair, Dillon had been friendly enough when Shane had talked to hi the house He’d enjoyed their lunch at the Graff Dillon had been souarded and Shane hadn’t known if that was just Dillon’s personality or a fa

There was nothing soft about the Sheenans They’d obviously been raised with a firht from birth what it meant to be a Sheenan, and a man

More than once Shane had tried to i up in that house, as a Sheenan In terms of the lineup, he would have been near the end, sandwiched between Cormac and Dillon

His birth date was less than a year after Cormac He and Cormac were Irish twins, with Cormac’s birthday on April fifth, while Shane’s was fast approaching, February twenty-seventh Cormac would have been just a couple ain

Shane had wondered if that ht have been part of the problem, if there had just been toosome kind of financial difficulty or histhe need for her mother to step in and help take care of the new baby

So odd to think of how itorder—Brock, Troy, Trey, Cormac, Shane, and then Dillon

For the first teeks of his life, he’d been a Sheenan, and then mid-March the birth certificate was amended and he became a Swan

Bill Sheenan was not crazy He was a tough hbor Hawksley Carrigan

Why would he remove his name from the birth certificate?

For him to do that, he had to be sure that Shane wasn’t his

Except Bill Sheenan rong The private investigator Shane had hired four years ago had been able to run a DNA test off a Starbucks coffee cup that Troy discarded after a ator—and Troy was a ninety-nine percent , which meant Shane was as much a Sheenan as Trey and Troy, since they were identical twins

Arriving at the ranch, Shane parked in the gravel area between the house and barn and headed for the two-story log cabin

He discovered a white envelope tacked to the wooden front door

Cor

Shane removed the envelope, unlocked the door and stepped inside to read the paper He’d been right Thirty-day notice In writing

For athis for awhile but, now that it had come, he was numb

These past nine months hadn’t been easy or co in his parents’ house would heal so in his brother’s bed would knit that gaping hole in his heart?

Irritated and frustrated, he walked through the house, flipping switches until the entire downstairs blazed with light But it wasn’t enough The house see, and Shane synced his phone with his Bluetooth speakers, filling the house with Aerosurines in the dining rooood, old 1973 classic to wake the house up And the ghosts…if they were sleeping

Did ghosts sleep?