Her mother smiled. “You just want happy endings these days,” she teased.
“Well, of course I do,” Maggie said. “I’ve found mine.”
“And Ryan’s found his.”
“I’m part of it,” Maggie agreed. “But he needs his family.”
“You know, it wouldn’t be so awful if he didn’t locate them,” her mother said. “He has all of us now and Sean and the Mon-roes. And Rory and Father Francis. I’d say his life is full.”
“He says that, too,” Maggie said. “But I want more for him.”
“You want it, but does he?”
Maggie thought about it. “Yes, I think he does deep down. Finding Sean was a turning point. Before that, it might not have mattered as much to him, but he’s been a changed man since he located Sean.” Maggie smiled. “Of course, some of that is because Sean has a wicked sense of humor and a zest for living that can drag Ryan out of his dark moods. I wonder if it was always that way, if Ryan was the serious, responsible big brother and Sean the cutup or if they changed after their parents left.”
“You’ve never asked?” her mother said with a surprised expression.
“They don’t like talking about their childhood. Sometimes they’ll start, but it always leads back to that day they came home from school and no one was there.” Maggie sighed. “Enough sad talk or I’ll start crying and have to do my makeup all over again. Have you seen Ryan yet? Is he as handsome as I imagined in his tux?”
“Not as handsome as your father,” Nell said with a smile. “But he’ll definitely do.” She touched Maggie’s cheek. “Your father and I want nothing more than your happiness, but I must say I’m thrilled that you’ve found it here rather than in Maine. It’s going to be good having you nearby. We missed you.”
“Now I’ll be underfoot all the time,” Maggie said. “You’ll get tired of seeing me.”
“Never,” her mother said. “And I’m looking forward to all the grandchildren you’ll bring over, as well.”
Maggie laughed. “Let’s not rush things. Ryan’s still getting used to the marriage concept.”
Her mother glanced at her watch. “Then we’d better not keep him waiting. I’ll send your sisters in and then go into the church. Your father’s waiting for you in the foyer, probably wearing a hole in the carpet, as he did with your sisters. I love you, Mary Margaret O’Brien.”
“And I, you. No woman ever had a better mother.”
“And no woman will make a better wife and mother than you,” Nell said, tears welling up. “Here, I go again. Let me get out of here.”
Maggie’s sisters came in as her mother departed and offered her the traditional something old, something new—a lace-edged handkerchief carried by every O’Brien bride for three generations, a brand-new blue garter from Frannie and a pair of Colleen’s pearl earrings, loaned for the occasion.
“I think that’s it,” Colleen said, standing back to study her. “Mags, you’re even more beautiful than I was, dammit.”
“But not as gorgeous as I’ll be,” Katie insisted.
“What an ego, baby sister,” Frannie chided.
Maggie laughed. “Come on, guys, let’s go march down the aisle and show everyone just how beautiful all the O’Brien women are. We’ll make Mom and Dad proud.”
“They’re not proud of us because we’re pretty,” Colleen began.
“But because we’re smart,” the rest of them said in a chorus.
Maggie didn’t say it, but she thought she might be the smartest one of all, because she’d seen through Ryan’s brooding moods and tough demeanor to the wonderful man beneath. And today she was making him hers for the rest of their lives.
“Stop fidgeting,” Sean commanded Ryan, “or I will never get this tie on straight! The person who invented these things ought to be taken out and shot. Had to be a woman, since they’re the ones always anxious to get a noose around our necks.”
Ryan frowned at his brother. “A fine thing to be saying to me on my wedding day.”
“Well, it’s true. Your Maggie is a wonderful woman, the finest I’ve ever met, in fact, but making a commitment to her for the rest of your lives requires a kind of courage I can’t begin to imagine.”
“You’re a firefighter, for heaven’s sake!”
“I’d risk a burning building a thousand times before saying I do,” Sean said with feeling.
“We’ll see about that,” Ryan retorted. “If I could fall, so can you.”
“Never!” Sean insisted.
Ryan laughed. “As an Irishman, don’t you know better than to tempt fate that way? The gods are probably up there right this second laughing as they plan your downfall.”
Sean shot him a sour look. “Don’t go getting any ideas about helping them along.”
“Doubt I’ll have to,” Ryan replied. “Destiny does a pretty good job all on its own.”
“Tell that to all the people who meddled in your life to get you to this point.”
The door cracked open as if on cue, and Father Francis came in with Rory right behind him.
“Are you thinking of getting married today or next month?” Rory asked irritably, running a finger inside the tight collar of his tux. “I don’t know how much longer I can stand this thing.”
“Then by all means let’s not make you wait,” Ryan said, before turning to the priest. “Is Maggie ready?”
“Waiting in the foyer for the wedding march to begin,” he confirmed. “And looking like an angel.”
Ryan sighed. “Then by all means, let’s get this show on the road.”
They started from the room, but Ryan caught Sean’s arm. “I’m glad you’re here to be my best man,” he told him. “It makes today feel right.”
“From here on out, nothing’s ever going to keep us apart again,” Sean said, pulling him into a hug. “If the world tangles with one Devaney, it has to deal with both of us. We’re a team.”
Ryan fought back unexpected tears and forced a smile. “Moving words, but I’m still not sharing Maggie with you. She’s mine.”
Sean grinned. “No question about that. I’ve seen the look in her eyes when you’re in the room. You’ll never have any cause to question her love.”
Ryan sighed as a rare feeling of pure contentment stole through him. A ceremony wouldn’t change the truth of his brother’s words. Maggie O’Brien well and truly loved him.
And that made him the luckiest man on earth.
The ceremony was everything Maggie could have hoped for, though it passed in a bit of a blur. She had a feeling the wedding pictures were going to be disastrous, because one person or another was either bursting into tears or laughing. And the reception at Ryan’s Place was filled with music and laughter and dancing.
Through it all Maggie could think of nothing besides the wedding night ahead, which they were spending upstairs before going off on a honeymoon trip to Ireland first thing in the morning. By midnight she was trying to shoo everyone out of the pub.
“She seems a bit anxious for us to leave, don’t you think?” her brother Matt asked. “Why is that? It’s not as if this night is any different from the others the two of them have shared, now is it?”
“Don’t be telling me about that,” her father retorted. “Now come along. You didn’t find Maggie lingering with you on your wedding nights, did you?”
“Actually, I’m pretty sure she was the one involved in short-sheeting the bed in the hotel on my wedding night,” John replied.
“Not our saintly Maggie?” Colleen said, feigning shock.
Maggie frowned at the lot of them. “Ryan, as your first official duty as my husband, make them go away.”
He laughed. “Aren’t you the one who’s always telling me about the importance of family?”
She scowled at him. “And it is important, just not tonight.”
Her mother finally took pity on her. “Come along, you hooligans. Let’s leave the newlyweds alone.”
Even with that encouragement, it
took another half hour to get everyone out of the pub, the doors locked and the lights turned off. When it was all done, Maggie sighed and turned to Ryan.
“Now, then, Mr. Devaney, we are officially on our honeymoon.”
“Is there something special required of me?” he inquired, his expression innocent.
“First you have to carry me upstairs and across the threshold,” she instructed.
When he’d done that, she gazed into his eyes. “Now you have to get me out of this dress.”
He grinned. “With pleasure, though it’s a lovely dress. I could go on admiring it for hours.”
“No, you can’t,” she said. “It’s in the way.”
“In the way of what?”
She touched his cheek. “You making love to me for the first of a million times as my husband.”
“A million times, huh? Won’t I be too worn-out to do anything else?”
Maggie laughed. “Precisely. Which is why I’ll have to take over everything else around here.”
“Is this your devious plan to poke your nose into my accounting ledgers?”
She nodded. “Pretty clever, don’t you think?”
“Come here,” Ryan said, his gaze already heating. “Let’s see how tonight goes, and tomorrow and the day after that. We’ll talk again after the five-hundred-thousandth time.”
Maggie slipped into his arms. “I can live with that.”
“Must be your fine head for negotiating that recognizes a win-win compromise when it’s presented,” Ryan declared approvingly.
Maggie laughed. “I knew that MBA would be good for something one of these days.”
Ryan leveled a long, serious look into her eyes. “You do know I didn’t marry you for your MBA, don’t you?”
“Why did you marry me—aside from wild, passionate love, of course?”
He touched her face. “Because you’re the real family I’ve needed all my life.”
We hope you love RYAN’S PLACE so much that you share it with friends and family. If you do—or if you belong to a book club—there are questions on the next page that are intended to help you start a book club discussion. We hope these questions inspire you and help you get even more out of the book.
Ryan’s Place
by
SHERRYL WOODS
BOOK CLUB
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
* * *
1. While Sherryl Woods touches on a number of different issues in RYAN’S PLACE, what is the underlying theme throughout the book?
2. If you have read other books by Sherryl Woods, are there themes or values in RYAN’S PLACE that are consistent with her other work? What are they?
3. Was the book influenced at all by the Boston-Cambridge setting and the Irish background of many of the characters? How might it have been different if it had been set in another part of the country, for example a small town in the South?
4. Ryan’s hatred of holidays is one example of how his life has been shaped by his difficult childhood. Were there others? How has your own life been shaped by the things that happened to you as a child?
5. Although we don’t yet know why the Devaneys abandoned their three oldest sons to the foster care system while keeping the younger twins, can you think of any excuse that would justify their actions?
6. Do you blame Ryan for not wanting to find his parents or his siblings? Was it inconsistent for him to work so hard to find Lamar’s father when he’s refused to look for his own? And once he does begin to search for his family, did you understand his initial need to find an unemotional excuse for finally looking for them?
7. If Ryan eventually does find his parents, what do you think their reaction will be? How do you feel about adopted children searching for their biological parents? What are some of the emotional pitfalls they might face?
8. How difficult do you think it will be for the Devaney brothers to get along once they are eventually reunited? What sorts of issues might they have with each other?
9. When Father Francis reveals Ryan’s childhood trauma to Maggie—at that time a virtual stranger—do you feel that his actions were appropriate for a priest? What about his meddling and manipulations to try to bring Ryan and Maggie together? Does it matter that his motives were well-intentioned?
10. What role do you believe fate played in bringing a woman like Maggie into Ryan’s life? Do you believe in fate? Are there instances in your own life in which you believe fate had a hand?
11. How about love at first sight? Do you believe it’s possible?
12. Though she doesn’t call it love right away, almost from the very beginning Maggie clearly believes that Ryan is going to be an important man in her life. Do you think she was too forward in going after what she wanted from the relationship?
13. Did Maggie’s family make it easier or more difficult for her to develop a relationship with Ryan? Have you ever known a family like the O’Briens?
14. The story often talks about counting one’s blessings. Are the blessings that touch us always obvious? Can blessings sometimes come from negative events in our lives?
* * *
ISBN: 978-1-4268-5320-3
RYAN’S PLACE
Copyright © 2002 by Sherryl Woods
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Silhouette Books, 300 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017 U.S.A.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and TM are trademarks of Harlequin Books S.A., used under license. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
Visit Silhouette at www.eHarlequin.com
*Vows
*Vows
*Vows
*Vows
*Vows
*Vows
‡And Baby Makes Three
‡And Baby Makes Three
‡And Baby Makes Three
‡And Baby Makes Three
**The Bridal Path
**The Bridal Path
**The Bridal Path
††And Baby Makes Three: The Next Generation
††And Baby Makes Three: The Next Generation
††And Baby Makes Three: The Next Generation
††And Baby Makes Three: The Next Generation
††And Baby Makes Three: The Next Generation
††And Baby Makes Three: The Next Generation
††And Baby Makes Three: The Next Generation
◊And Baby Makes Three: The Delacourts of Texas
◊And Baby Makes Three: The Delacourts of Texas
◊And Baby Makes Three: The Delacourts of Texas
◊And Baby Makes Three: The Delacourts of Texas
◊And Baby Makes Three: The Delacourts of Texas
§The Calamity Janes
§The Calamity Janes
§The Calamity Janes
§The Calamity Janes
‡‡The Devaneys
††And Baby Makes Three: The Next Generation
§The Calamity Janes
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