Connor tricking Michael at confession still jabbed at Tom’s heart and made him mad. Even now, thinking back, he could feel the anger growing—if Connor walked in right now, Tom would hit him again, and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to stop.
He took a deep breath to quell his rage, and continued. “Michael was at confession, and Connor pretended to be Father O’Neill.”
“I see. And have you ever seen Connor or his friends physically assault Michael?”
“No, sir.”
“Have they ever physically assaulted you?”
Tom shook his head. “No, sir.”
“Or damaged your property?”
He knows about the car. “Yes, sir. I think it was them, anyway.”
“But you didn’t see them?”
“No.”
The police officer smiled at him. “It’s a difficult one, this, Tom. But we are going to have a chat with Connor.”
“You can’t prosecute?”
“We’ve got a printout of the Facebook conversation and the CCTV recording from your church. We’ll make it very clear to Connor that he’s treading a fine line. But you need to tell us if anything else happens.”
“Yes, sir.”
The police officer got up from his chair, indicated for Tom to do likewise, and then escorted him out of the station. “Thanks for coming in, Tom. You take care now.”
Tom nodded tightly and walked across to his car, aware of the police officer watching him all the way. He got in and closed the door; the police officer raised his hand in acknowledgement and went back inside the station.
When he finally stopped shaking, Tom pushed the key into the ignition and drove straight over to old Barry’s farm.
<<<>>>
“All right, Tom? How’re you doin’?”
“I’m OK, thanks, Seamus. Yourself?”
“I’m grand, Tom. Just grand. Come on in.”
Tom stepped into the warm kitchen that was becoming almost as familiar to him as his own.
“Would you like a cup of tea?” Seamus offered. “I’ve just put the kettle on.
“God, I’d love one, thanks. I’m parched.” He’d have told Seamus why, but he was determined not to let the bad start to his day ruin the rest of it.
“It is still white one sugar for you, isn’t it?”
“You remember that?” It was over a year since they’d worked together, gone to the café together on bitterly cold winter mornings for a life-saving cup of tea and a bacon roll.
“I remember what yous all liked. I cared a lot for yous. I was sad to leave, but these things happen, if you know what I mean.”
“I do, Seamus.”
“Now then, I think Mike’s out in the lambing shed. Or he might be upstairs with Dee. They’re joined at the hip this morning. I take it you are here to see Michael?”
“I am, but I wanted to talk to you as well. I’m out of a job.”
“I thought you might be.”
“I’ll be all right for a while. I’m taking the car to the dealership later, see what they’ll give me for it.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
“Needs must, Seamus. I’m after going to uni, but I need to go to college first, and I was wondering… I know there’s not much to do this time of year, but while I’m not working, if you need me…”
“Ha, fancy that!” Seamus gave Tom a broad grin. “I was only saying to Chance this morning, if he and Dee are getting this rodeo up and running, I’ll need someone else. We’ve bought more land, and Mike’s smashing with the livestock, but he’s a feckin’ liability with the equipment. Poor Carla’s been run ragged.”
“Carla?”
“Me pickup. He took her into town, came back three hours later—said he’d got two punctures. How in God’s name do you get two punctures? And he drove her into the side of the stables.”
“Did he? No!” Tom hoped hamming it up would disguise that he already knew about the pickup’s misadventures.
“Aye, he did. There wasn’t much damage, but still.”
“Actually, that was me.”
Tom and Seamus both turned to stare at Dee, who was standing in the doorway. Michael’s messy curls were just visible behind her, although he had his head down so no one could see his face.
“Could you repeat that for me, Deidra?” Seamus asked.
“I crashed the pickup into the stables. I’m sorry, Shay.”
“What were you doing driving it in the first place?”
“I…persuaded Michael to give me the keys.”
Seamus grimaced.
“Please don’t tell Dad. I’ll do anything you want. Please, Shay?”
“Dee, you know I’ve got to tell him.”
She stomped across the kitchen and flopped down onto a chair. “He’ll kill me.”
“I doubt he’ll go quite that far, but you probably won’t get to leave the farm much before you turn twenty-one.”
“I might as well be dead!”
Seamus raised an eyebrow. “At least you owned up. He might give you time off for good behaviour.”
Dee groaned and buried her head in her arms. “My life is over.”
Seamus chuckled and finished making the tea—four cups now—while Tom continued watching Michael. He was all pink and smiley this morning. Every so often, his eyes flitted Tom’s way, and Tom smiled back. Seamus set a cup down in front of him, and Tom forced himself out of his trance. “Thanks, Shay.”
“Welcome. So—” he motioned with his finger between Tom and Michael “—what’s happening here, then?”
Michael tugged his sleeves down over his hands and turned away.
Seamus narrowed his eyes. “Is it official now?”
Tom’s stomach flipped, and he tried to answer, but his throat had seized. Without taking his eyes off Michael, he nodded slowly.
“Well, Christ. That’s… That’s the best news this Christmas!” Seamus slurped his tea noisily. “When did that happen?”
“Yesterday?” Tom was waiting on Michael to stop hiding in the dark of the doorway—he’d even checked to make sure he wasn’t missing another mistletoe moment. But no. Michael was just being shy.
“Right, I’m gonna leave yous to it for a while,” Seamus said. “We’ll have a chat later about work, Tom, OK?”
“That’s grand, Seamus.”
“Well, it’s worked out all round, so it has. Come on, Deidra, let’s go and…not tell your dad what you did.”
Dee’s head shot up, and she blinked at Seamus. “You’re not gonna tell him?”
“No. You are. But not today. He got an email from your mom first thing.”
Dee rolled her eyes.
“I know. It’ll be something or nothing. Come and show me what we need to do with these here stables.”
Tom watched Dee traipse after Seamus, out of the cottage, and followed their progress through the window. They had their arms around each other, and seeing their mutual love and respect made Tom smile. He turned back and startled slightly. Michael was standing in front of him. “Good morning!” Tom reached out and took Michael’s hand.
“Morning,” he replied. “I’m so tired today.”
Tom laughed. “Aye. Me too. Maybe we could go for a lie down later.”
“Together?” Michael’s eyes became impossibly wide.
“Yes,” Tom confirmed. “We’ll keep our clothes on.” He saw Michael’s Adam’s apple bob with a hard swallow. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply we were going to do…anything…”
Michael tugged at Tom’s hand and smiled behind his hair. “That, um…sounds good.”
“I thought so.” With or without clothes…
In one swift motion, Tom was on his feet, his palms cupping Michael’s jaw and neck, homing in on his mouth and feeling such relief as their lips came together in that already familiar way. The smack as they coupled and decoupled, the panted breaths, every sound, every touch, sent shivers of desire chasing through Tom’s body, and he pressed against Michael
, desperate to get as much of him as he could, the suggestion that they go and take that lie down right now teetering on the tip of his tongue.
They moved apart again, and Tom exhaled slowly. He still wanted more than kisses, and his brain was conspiring with all kinds of naughty suggestions that there was no such thing as sex before marriage if they couldn’t ever be ‘married’. With a great deal of effort, he pushed all of that aside to get to what he wanted to say. “Are you going to tell Peter you’ve changed you mind?”
Michael nodded. “I already did.”
“What did he say?”
“He’s disappointed.” Michael lowered his eyes. “And lots of other horrible things that just aren’t true, but… I’ll get over it.”
“What about your mum?”
“She wants to meet you.”
“You told her, too?”
“I told her first. She’s me mum!”
“Right.” Talk about throw him a curve ball. “Does that mean we can tell everyone else now?”
“Like your mum and dad, you mean?”
“Well, them, and…everyone.”
“You don’t mind them knowing?”
Tom brushed Michael’s cheek with his palm. “I want them to know. You’ve changed my life, Mike. For real. Witnessing your courage and refusal to let the bullies beat you…it gave me the courage to do what I always wanted to. I’m going to university, and it’s down to you. So I want everyone to know that I’m with Michael McFerran. I am brave, because of you. You want me to prove it?”
Without waiting for an answer, Tom reached into his pocket, took out the notebook Michael had given him for Christmas and placed it in Michael’s hands, nodding his consent.
Michael opened the book at the first page—the only page so far that had anything on it. Tom watched his mouth make the shapes of the words as he read them:
A halo of curls
dark as storm waves
and as plentiful,
gradually unfurls
reveals the face
of my angel.
“This…is about me?” Michael was blushing a furious crimson.
“Yes. It’s about you. I’m falling in love with you, Michael. I hope that’s all right, because there’s not a damn thing I can do to stop it.”
Michael ran his tongue along his bottom lip in thought, which had the added effect of renewing Tom’s arousal. “Are you sure?”
“A hundred percent on everything I just said.”
Michael handed the notebook back. “That poem is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever read.”
“You think so?” Tom was sure his heart was skipping beats all over the place, and his face had heated to about a thousand degrees. Overwhelmed by his feelings, and shaking with nerves and the after-effects of their kisses, it took a couple of clumsy tries to put his notebook back in his pocket and exchange it for his phone.
“I love it, Tom. Thank you for sharing it with me.”
“Thank you for reading it. Now, you’ve got—” he unlocked his phone and clicked the Facebook icon “—about ten seconds—” he went to his profile and typed “—to change your mind.” He glanced up at Michael one last time to check.
Michael nodded solemnly. “Let’s tell everyone.”
Tom hit ‘save changes’ and within a second, Michael’s phone beeped. With a smile, he unlocked the screen, clicked once and waited. Tom’s phone beeped in response.
“Can I see?” Michael asked but was immediately distracted by his phone beeping again—twice in quick succession. “Wow! Two likes already. Dee and…” He started laughing and showed Tom the screen.
Michael McFerran is in a relationship with Tom Donnan.
Dee Clearwater and Father McDowell like this.
Tom shook his head. “Oh, dear me. Father O’Neill will have his guts for garters.”
“If he ever finds out. I joined that group, by the way.”
“Did you? Here’s my status, look.” Tom showed Michael his phone screen.
Tom Donnan is in a relationship with Michael McFerran.
Sean Buchanan likes this.
“Who’s Sean Buchanan?” Michael asked.
“My next door neighbour. He’s a lovely lad. Only fifteen, and desperate for a girlfriend.”
“Is he good-looking?”
“Well, he’s no eyesore, but I’ve never really taken any notice, to be honest. Though now I think on, he looks like I imagine Chancey did when he was younger.”
“Is that right?” Michael smiled and kissed him. “You are amazing.”
“Aye. I’ve heard it said.” Tom laughed and then, in puzzlement, watched Michael stride over to the door, open it, cup his hands around his mouth and yell Dee’s name. “What are you doing?”
Michael closed the door and came back. “What I said I’d do. Find Dee a boyfriend.”
“You mean Sean?”
“Yep.”
“God, I said you had courage, didn’t I? Chancey’s going to strangle ye.”
“Have you seen me run? He’s got to catch me first. And besides, weren’t you going to teach me self-defence?”
“That’s right, I was. When do you want to start?”
Michael put his arms around Tom, and Tom reciprocated. “Any time, but ideally, before we move to Belfast.”
Before we move— Tom’s mouth fell open. “No way! Is that a yes?”
“I’ve even found us a church—St. Malachy’s.”
“We’re really going to Belfast?”
“We’re really going to Belfast.”
Tom kissed Michael again, barely making contact because he was smiling so much. “Amazing,” he said.
~críoch
About Raine O’Tierney
RAINE O’TIERNEY, a passionate believer in what she calls The Sweetness, writes positive stories about first loves, first times, fidelity, forever-endings, and… friskiness? When she’s not writing, Raine can be found fighting the good fight for intellectual freedom at her library day job.
Raine believes the best thing we can do in life is be kind to one another, and she enjoys encouraging fellow writers. She changes subgenres to suit her mood and believes all good stories end sweetly. Raine lives outside of Kansas City with her husband, fellow Dreamspinner Press author and sometimes writing partner, Siôn O’Tierney.
Contact her if you’re interested in talking about point-and-click adventure games or about adopting elderly and special needs dachshunds!
Social Media
Website: raineotierney.com
LGBT Author Interviews: raineotierneyhatparty.blogspot.com
Facebook Fan Page: www.facebook.com/RaineOTierneyAuthor
Twitter: @RaineOTierney
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/7770350.Raine_O_Tierney
About Debbie McGowan
Debbie McGowan is an author and publisher based in a semi-rural corner of Lancashire, England. She writes character-driven, realist fiction, celebrating life, love and relationships. A working class girl, she ‘ran away’ to London at seventeen, was homeless, unemployed and then homeless again, interspersed with animal rights activism (all legal, honest ;)) and volunteer work as a mental health advocate. At twenty-five, she went back to college to study social science—tough with two toddlers, but they had a ‘stay at home’ dad, so it worked itself out. These days, the toddlers are young women (much to their chagrin), and Debbie teaches undergraduate students, writes novels and runs an independent publishing company, occasionally grabbing an hour of sleep where she can.
Social Media Links
Website: debbiemcgowan.co.uk
Newsletter Signup: eepurl.com/b8emHL
Blog: deb248211.blogspot.com
Facebook: facebook.com/DebbieMcGowanAuthor and facebook.com/beatentrackpublishing
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LinkedIn: uk.linkedin.com/in/writerdebmcg
Goodreads: goodreads.com/DebbieMcGowan
By Raine O’Tierney
Under the Table and Into His Heart
Alchemy Ever After
~ co-written with Siôn O’Tierney
Most Beautiful Words
I’ll Always Miss You
All That Shimmers
Piece Us Back Together (Multi-author Anthology)
Somebody Nice!
Xmas Cake: A Modern Fairy Tale
Sing Me Your Love Song
That Eighteenth Summer
Sound of Silence
~ co-written with Mia Kerrick – Q1 2018
The Avona Tales
Bowl Full of Cherries
The 12 Days of Hipster
Seeds of Tyrone Series
~ co-written with Debbie McGowan
Leaving Flowers (Book One)
Where the Grass is Greener (Book Two)
Christmas Craic and Mistletoe (Book Three)
Available via RaineOTierney.com
By Debbie McGowan
Checking Him Out Series
Checking Him Out (Book One)
Checking Him Out For the Holidays (Novella)
Hiding Out (Novella – Noah and Matty – HBTC Crossover)
Taking Him On (Book Two – Noah and Matty)
Checking In (Book Three)
The Making of Us (Book Four – Jesse and Leigh)
Checking Him Out At Home (Novella – Sol and Adam – expected 2017)
No Filter (Novella – Matty, Noah, Jess and Leigh – HBTC Crossover – expected 2017)
Seeds of Tyrone Series
~ co-written with Raine O’Tierney
Leaving Flowers (Book One)
Where the Grass is Greener (Book Two)
Christmas Craic and Mistletoe (Book Three)
Hiding Behind The Couch Series
Seeds of Tyrone Box Set Page 83
