Tess spent the next couple of days reading and wandering around. She found a few pretty spots where she could sit and write or sketch. One was in the woods behind her aunt and uncle's house where she sketched a fallen tree that had been overgrown. Another was on a bench by the river where she wrote in her journal and sketched the paddleboat that moved slowly down the water. She took plenty of pictures and organized them into online photo albums she shared with her family.

She was enjoying her solitude, but she was not a person who enjoyed a lot of alone time. She was too used to having brothers and sisters, her extended family, and even guards around. Tess needed people.

On her fourth day on Terra, Tess was sitting on the ground, her sketchbook in hand, recreating the image in front of her. An old fence had fallen, leaving just a few posts standing in random spots. The grass had grown high and one of the fence posts had a cluster of Queen Anne's lace growing around it. With a practiced hand, she had sketched the post and was now working on the flowers.

It was a beautiful, early summer day. Tess had her thick, dark hair pulled back into a ponytail as she bent over her sketch. Her chocolate brown eyes narrowed as she worked.

For a long time, when she was younger, Tess had wished she looked more like her sisters. Both Cady and Charlotte took more after their mother. They both had blonde hair and blue eyes. Tess's hair had been blonde when she was little, but it had darkened over time. Her eyes were just like her father's and she had his sharp features.

But over time she had grown comfortable in her own skin. She had grown up in the spotlight and had read both positive and negative things about her appearance, especially during her awkward teenage years. It never failed to amaze her how hurtful some people could be. She was more than just her appearance, more than just her title. It had made her more sensitive to how she treated people.

Tess set her pencil down and studied her sketch. She held it up in the sunlight, held it at arm's length, and then closer to her face. When she finally decided it was finished, she flipped the cover closed and set it on her lap.

She leaned back on her hands and tilted her face to the sun, closing her eyes. "I could get used to this," she muttered.

Her moment of quiet was interrupted by a loud growl. Glancing at her watch, Tess saw that it was almost 3:00 and she had forgotten to eat lunch.

She considered heading back to her aunt's house, but no one was there and Tess was in the mood for company. Since it was too late for lunch and too early for dinner, she thought it might be a good time to go to Flynn's and see if Griff had some time to talk to her about the Love Knot. She had poured over the books she had bought from Paige, but she still had no answers.

Aside from two elderly gentlemen sitting at a table in the corner playing chess and nursing beers, Flynn's was deserted.

"Is it too late to get something to eat?" Tess asked Kevin when she saw him.

"Nope, from 11:00am to midnight, the kitchen is open. Want a table?"

"That's okay, I'll sit at the bar." Tess looked around as she crossed the nearly empty restaurant, Griff was nowhere to be seen.

"Would you like a menu or do you just want to order a drink?" Jenna asked as she stood at the bar cutting lemons.

"I'd like a menu, please."

"Here you go, let me know when you're ready."

Tess studied the menu, trying to decide what she wanted when the door to the left of the bar slammed open, sounding like a gunshot in the quiet room.

Griff stood in the doorway, an angry look on his handsome face. "All right! Is there anyone in this feckin' bar that knows anything about feckin' computers?"

Jenna laughed. "Never should've let Mary take time off, huh, Boss?"

"Not in the mood, Jenna, I'm serious."

"Someone's Irish temper is showing," Jenna whispered.

"I, uh, I could take a look," Tess offered. "I know a few things about computers."

His irritation shifted as a smile bloomed beautifully across his face. "Ah, pretty Tess from Arus! My savior!"

She slid off her stool and followed him through the door. The office was cramped and cluttered, Tess was sure that the room had originally been a closet. The desk took up the entire right wall and held a large flat screen monitor. The rest of the desk was covered with papers and receipts.

"I need help." He admitted, closing the door behind them.

"I can tell."

"Mary, my head waitress does most of my computer work, computers and I don't get along well."

"Is she on vacation?"

"Maternity leave, she's off for eight weeks."

"Then I guess you can't just wait for her to come back?"

"No. I need to get the inventory entered and next week's schedule printed off."

"Okay, let's start with the inventory. Do you know where the file is?"

Griff pulled the desk chair out and gestured for her to have a seat. "Mary had a little, what's it called, picture thingy."

"An icon?" Tess asked as she sat down.

"Yeah, an icon on the desktop but I might have deleted it."

"You might have?"

"Okay, I did."

"That shouldn't be a problem, that was most likely just a shortcut, the file is probably still there. Do you remember what it was called?"

"June Inventory."

Tess minimized the windows he had open and opened the search box. Within a matter of moments, she had the Excel file open and a new shortcut saved on the desktop.

"Oh, you are a genius!" Griff exclaimed, tugging on her ponytail.

"What else did you need done?"

"I need to print out the schedule, but the damn printer isn't responding."

Tess maximized the window with the schedule and tried printing. An error message popped up. "Where's the printer?"

"Behind you."

She spun around and saw the printer on small stand in the corner. It was turned on and ready to print. "It looks like you somehow severed the wireless connection between the computer and the printer."

"How?"

She shrugged. "Don't know. But I can reconnect it."

Five minutes later, Griff held two copies of the schedule. "I don't know how to thank you."

"No problem, glad to help." Tess sat back in the chair and looked at the desk. "How do you get any work done in this mess?"

"It's not a mess, it's my personal filing system."

Tess picked up a napkin with the name 'Lizzie' and a phone number scrawled on it.

He snatched it from her hand and tossed it in the trash. "I'm still organizing."

"Organizing all this would be a full-time job."

"Are you looking for a job?"

"Are you offering?"

"If you want to take over computer work while Mary is off, I'll pay you a fair wage for part-time work."

Tess looked from the pile of papers in front of her to him. "Are you serious?"

"Absolutely."

"What do you consider a fair wage?" Tess's eyebrows rose at the number he quoted her. "For how many hours a week?"

"Whenever you can be here, just a couple hours for a couple days a week. I don't want to take away your vacation."

"I like keeping busy and I like a challenge."

He lifted an eyebrow and quirked the left corner of his mouth up into a flirtatious half smile. "Oh you do, do you?"

"It keeps life interesting."

Griff reached out and twirled the end of her ponytail around his finger. "And you'd get to spend more time with me."

"Well, then you're not offering enough money."

He chuckled. "We can negotiate over drinks. You are old enough to drink, aren't you?"

"Yes, I'm 21."

"Can I buy you a beer?"

She laid a hand over her stomach. "Only if you add some food to that offer, I haven't eaten lunch and if I have a beer on an empty stomach I'll become very giggly."

"Oh yeah? I'd like to meet giggly Tess."

Tess pushed back from the desk, standing. "Maybe some other time. I think we were discussing food?"

"Come with me." He led her out of the office, past the bar and into the kitchen.

Two young men stood at the counter cutting onions and tomatoes while an older woman with grey streaked brown hair stirred a pot on the stove.

"Smells wonderful, Iona, what is it?" Griff asked, leaning over the woman's shoulder.

"Tonight's soup du jour, Manhattan clam chowder. Why are you in my kitchen?"

"Tess is hungry."

Iona looked over her shoulder and saw the young woman standing by the doorway. "And who is Tess?"

Griff gestured for her to come closer. "Iona, this is pretty Tess from Arus. She's visiting her aunt and uncle for the summer and she just agreed to fill in for Mary on the computer."

"I haven't agreed to anything yet," Tess corrected.

Griff ignored her. "Tess, this is Iona Easton, the best cook in Pennsylvania."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Iona. I've eaten here twice now and the food has been wonderful."

"Oh, I like you. Thank you, what did you have?"

"Shepherd's pie and a bleu burger."

"The shepherd's pie is my mother's recipe, God rest her soul. Always was popular. What are you hungry for now?"

Tess looked around the clean kitchen as they prepared for the dinner crowd. She hated the thought of being a bother. "Oh, whatever's easiest."

"It's a fully stocked kitchen, Tess," Griff told her. "You can have whatever you want."

"Tell you what," Iona said, wiping her hands on a towel. "You go have a seat and I'll whip up something good for you, all right?"

"Sounds good, thank you."

Griff held the door open for her. "Let's get that beer and we'll discuss your employment. I will need you to fill out some paperwork, gotta keep it all above board."

A few minutes later, Tess was sitting at a table, across from Griff, filling in paperwork, a lager at her elbow and pulled brisket sandwich in front of her.

"I can't thank you enough," Griff said, collecting the papers. "I have been losing sleep trying to figure out how I was going to get by without Mary's help."

"No problem, this'll be fun."

"Inventory and spreedsheets? Fun?"

"I can be a bit of a nerd." Tess took a bite of her sandwich. "Oh, wow, this is fantastic."

"Iona braises the meat in Guinness and slow cooks it until it's so tender it shreds itself."

Tess picked up her beer and took a sip. The bar napkin caught her eye as she set the glass back down. "Can I ask you a question, Griff?"

"Fire away." He took a fry off her plate and dipped it in ketchup before popping it in his mouth.

"This knot here, where did it come from?"

"What do you mean?"

"Is there a meaning behind it? I know a lot of Celtic knots have meanings."

Griff leaned forward, picking up the napkin and playing with it. "Not that I know of. It's just a doodle I used to draw. Uncle Flynn liked it and decided he wanted to use it for the bar."

"You made it up? You've never seen it anywhere else?"

He shook his head. "Nope. I just covered school notebooks and test papers with it."

"Do you draw a lot?"

"I'm not an artist, just a doodler."

"I don't know about that, this is very artistic."

"Do you know a lot about art?"

"I studied it in college and I dabble in some art myself."

"You do?"

Tess nodded.

"I'd like to see your work sometime."

"Maybe I'll let you."

Griff slid his hand over her's. "Do you have many hidden talents, pretty Tess from Arus?"

She did nothing to discourage his touch. "Is that what you're going to call me from now on?"

"It suits you." He gently rubbed the back of her thumb with his thumb.

Tess felt as though she should remove her hand from his, she thought about what Paige had told her about his flirting. "But it's quite a mouthful."

He continued moving his hand slowly. "But it's a pleasing mouthful."

Tess's response was lost when his hand encircled her wrist and his thumb brushed across her watchband over her birthmark. They both jumped as what felt like an electric shock jolted them both.

Griff dropped her wrist and looked at his hand.

Tess felt her entire arm tingle pleasantly.

"Must have been a hell of a static shock," Griff muttered, still staring at his hand.

Tess nodded. "I, uh, I think I should go."

"Tess…"

She shook her head. "No really, thank you. Uh, I guess I'll start tomorrow? What time?"

He studied her a moment, trying to read her. "How about 2:00? The lunch crowd is dying down then and we can go over what needs to be done."

"Okay. 2:00. See you then." Tess grabbed her bag from the stool she had earlier vacated and hurried out of the pub, hoping he didn't see her shaking hand.

Declan spent hours scouring the internet. He decided it was time to propose, but he needed the perfect ring. He knew that if he went to any of the jewelry stores in town he would be recognized and word would spread that he was looking at rings. He wanted this to be a surprise.

"Hey, Dec, you in there?" Gideon called as he knocked on his door.

"Yeah, come on in."

"What are you doing?"

"A little online shopping. What's up?"

Gideon fell across his brother's bed. "Lynnai and I have decided to put a bid in on the house on 4th Avenue."

"That's great, it's a really nice place."

"Yeah, we want to be all settled in before the baby comes."

"When are you going to tell everyone?"

"We're having her parents come up to the castle for dinner on Thursday. We want to tell them about the baby and putting a bid in."

"Wow, dropping both bombs at once."

"Yup."

Declan spun his chair around. "It's going to be weird, you know, not living in the same place anymore."

"I'll be up here every day for training and I have a feeling you'll be at the house so often it'll never feel like we're not living together."

"I know. Gid?"

"What?"

"Where did you get Lynnai's ring?"

Gideon sat up. "Her engagement ring?"

"Yeah, didn't you order it online?"

"I ordered it from Bronner's in Alforia, I did it all online so I could do it as anonymously. I liked that I could design it on the site."

"I thought about doing that, but I don't think I know enough about jewelry to design something."

"No, but you know enough about Brina to know what she'd like."

"I like to think so."

Gideon watched as his brother turned back to his computer and called up the jewelry store's website. "Dec?"

"Hm?"

"I've been thinking about you."

"What?"

"I've been thinking about what you said, about being antsy and not knowing what you want. I think I know what your problem is."

Declan spun his chair back around to face his brother. "Please, tell me."

"You're a worrier and you can't help it. Your second sight allows you to see what could happen to those you're closest to and it had made you overprotective, which is not a criticism. I just…well, I think you're worrying too much about others and not thinking enough about yourself. Now that things are safer, you really have nothing to worry about with the girls and what you've seen coming for me and Lynnai and Sky and Erik are good things. Not having things to worry about is leaving you feeling less…useful, I guess is the word that comes to mind."

Declan looked down at the tip of his sneaker, running it over the beige carpet.

"Declan," Gideon said gently. "Your gift doesn't define you. Just because we are all safe doesn't mean you aren't important."