“Can I hold both together Kieran?” I ask him as I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand.
“Of course you can my darling.” Carefully Kieran places my beautiful baby girl in my other arm making sure they are secure and comfortable.
“So which one would you like to name first?” I ask him looking down at both of their angelic faces.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Kieran leans over the three of us. “This little darling has your eyes so I think she should be named Roisin because it means little rose. And this little beauty has dark hair, a little like me so I would like to name her after my mother.”
“Perfect names for perfect little girls,” I say softly, “Hello little Roisin, hello little Saoirse. Did you know Saoirse means freedom?” I ask while still smiling broadly at our girls.
“I did my sweetheart, it is very fitting don’t you think?” He says while planting a soft kiss on their noses in turn.
“It is a shame Sarah missed the whole birth but what a lovely surprise when she gets here.”
“I have something I want to give you.”
“Me? I couldn’t ask for anything more than what I have here with me right now.”
Kieran pulls out a small box from his back pocket and leans towards me while the girls are blissfully peaceful in my arms.
“Julia, I know I should be on my knees at this point, but I want to be close to you. I have a question I have wanted to ask for a very long time.” Taking a deep breath his hand starts to shake. Licking his bottom lip, Kieran gently pulls it in before he speaks again. “Would you…” he begins, his voice crackling a little. I have inkling what he is going to ask me and my heart starts pounding in my chest, waiting for him to finish. “Would you do me the honour of being my wife?” He asks, opening the red velvet box in his hand, quivering. The antique diamond cluster ring glares out from within, “it’s beautiful Kieran.” I manage to answer through my tear soaked eyes.
“It was my mother’s. I have been saving it for you.”
“Yes oh Kieran I would love to be your wife.”
Quietly, the nurses clap at the announcement then take the sleeping girls to place them into their cribs. As my fingers tremble Kieran slips his mothers ring onto my finger with ease. Leaning towards me, his kiss seals the proposal, holding my exhausted body close to him. Sitting back down on his chair, he holds my left hand admiring the ring that looks very at home on it.
“Could you pass me my bag Kieran, I need to get something out of it.” I ask him.
Retrieving my handbag he rests it beside me. Scrabbling around the inside I find the item I am looking for. Pulling out the small pink lock I bought over a year ago and a marker I had in my bag.
“I want you to do something for me tonight before you go home.”
“You know I don’t want to leave you here.”
“I know but you must, we need to sleep and you will have to take Sarah home after she meets her two goddaughters. I don’t think the nurses would be impressed if they found you in my bed in the morning either. Can you take this lock and place it where we stopped at to look out to sea, do you remember where that is?”
“I remember every footstep we have made together.” He answers as I write on the lock. Finishing I take his hand and turn it over, place the little lock into his palm and kiss his closed fist around it.
“Can you attach this on to the railing for me?”
“Do you not want to be there when I do?”
“No, I want to find it when I take the girls for a walk one day.”
Opening his hand, Kieran silently reads what I have just written and leaves a lingering kiss implanted on my lips.
“This is beautiful Jules.”
“I have been waiting for the right moment to use it and now I feel it is.”
Placing the lock into his pocket he holds my hands into his and slowly I drift off to sleep, content, exhausted and smiling.
~ Never lose faith ~
The O’Callaghan family 2015
The End
About the Author
Leaving the bright lights of London behind in the early 90's, Amelia J Hunter is an indie writer who lives in the Irish countryside with her family, a good coffee maker and plenty of fresh air.
Before You Leave is Amelia’s first romance novel
Website: https://www.ameliajhunter.blogspot.ie
Mail to: [email protected]
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ameliajhunter1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004854377260&ref=ts&fref=ts
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26277624-before-you-leave?ac=1
Before You Leave: A Romance Novel Page 20
