“We’ll invite her over for the wedding,” Liam said.
EXACTLY TWO MONTHS LATER they stood in the back garden of Liam’s stone cottage outside Galway. Hannah, shivering in a cream linen dress that skirted her knees, carried a bouquet of pink roses, just a shade darker than Faith’s bridesmaid’s dress. Margaret wore yellow silk, Helen and Deb were in blue and Rose made her own statement in a red velvet pantsuit with leopard trim. Brid, accompanied by Pearse on the tin whistle, sang as Hannah walked down the pathway to meet Liam, who stood waiting under a vine-covered arbor.
After the ceremony, they all crowded into the tiny kitchen to drink champagne as they stood around the stove watching Helen, a navy apron tied around her waist, whisk a hollandaise sauce for the eggs Benedict keeping warm in the oven.
“Happy?” Liam had his arm around Hannah’s shoulder.
“Very.” She squeezed his waist. “Faith looks pretty happy, too.” Through the kitchen window, she could see their daughter tearing across a stretch of brilliant emerald-green grass after Raisin and a large black dog she had named George. “I think she’s going to do just fine.”
“So, Liam,” Margaret said. “Let’s talk nuts and bolts. As soon as you get back from your honeymoon, you’re going to start building the mother-in-law cottage?”
“Actually, I thought I’d get the hammer and pop outside as soon as I’ve finished this glass of champagne,” he said.
“Now, Margaret…” Helen gave her sister a look. “Don’t pressure him. He and Hannah need some time alone together.”
“Speaking of being alone together,” Rose said. “I just checked out the bedroom. Looks pretty cozy.”
Liam winked at Hannah.
Hannah shook her head, trying hard not to smile. “What do I have to do to get away from them? I move to another continent and they’re still poking their noses into my business.”
“Ah well,” Liam said. “That’s the way it is with families, isn’t it? The thing is they mean well.”
“We do,” Margaret, Rose and Helen said in unison.
Liam laughed aloud, and Hannah’s heart swelled at the genuine happiness she heard in the sound. I loved you when we were first married, she thought. But that didn’t come close to how much I love you now.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-3641-7
KEEPING FAITH
Copyright © 2003 by Janice Macdonald.
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Keeping Faith Page 26
