Fiona turned away and dangled her fingers in the cool water of the fountain, watching the dappled sunlight sparkle across the newest shiny coins in the depths.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I wish I could make up for hurting you.” He crouched and put her jar back in its hiding place, then pushed his own in beside it under the shade of the bench.
He rose and stepped closer, twining their fingers together, then lowered his head and brushed his lips over hers. The addictive melting sensation curled in her belly at the brief touch.
“I made a mistake. If I could go back in time and undo it, I would. But the best I can do is promise I won’t make the same mistake again.”
Fiona pressed her face against his neck and his arms closed around her, his hand caressing her back. She trembled inside at the thought of laying her heart on the line again, but she had no choice. It was pointless denying the truth. “I love you,” she whispered.
“I love you too, kitten.”
He held her close, caressed the bare skin of her shoulder, and rained kisses on her face and neck.
“I don’t want you to go away again.” She knew it was a stupid thing to say. Aaron was still in the Garda, and he’d have to go back to Dublin to deal with the case he was involved in.
His breath rushed out on a frustrated sigh. “I don’t want to go either, but I’m gonna have to. That call earlier was my boss. He wants me in Dublin tomorrow.”
Fiona jerked back in his arms and stared at his face. “You have to go now?”
He nodded, regret in his eyes. “I have no choice, sweetheart. I have a job to do, and it’s important.”
“I know it’s important.” But she still didn’t want him to go.
She didn’t know whether to push him away or cling to him and bury her face against his chest. In the end she clung, curling her fingers in the fabric of his T-shirt.
“I promise that this time I will come back to you,” he said softly in her ear.
She wanted so desperately to believe him, but she’d heard this before, and his voice had been just as sincere and full of regret to be leaving. Even though he now had a stake in her business and things were different, pegging her hopes on him coming back had caused her so much pain. She wasn’t sure she could do that to herself again.
Chapter Nine
Early morning mist hung over Lough Glass, shrouding the countryside in an air of mystery as Aaron stepped out the front door of Ballyglass Castle with Fiona. Although it was early, the pale blue cloudless sky promised another hot, sunny day. Aaron almost wished it would rain. That would suit his dismal mood.
He dumped his bag in the back of his car. Fiona wrapped her arms around her ribs, holding her silky robe in place. She blinked sleepily, her ruffled hair and makeup-free face making her look younger than her age. It was almost as if he’d gone back ten years to the first time he left her. He didn’t want to dwell on that now, not when he was leaving her again. Yet the memory wouldn’t go away.
“Come here, kitten.” He enclosed her in his embrace, and she felt small and fragile in his arms. She rested the side of her head against his chest, keeping her arms curled around her ribs, as if protecting herself from him.
“I promise I’ll come back.” This time hung unspoken at the end of the sentence. “I’m going to be caught up in all sorts of stuff for a while, so I’ll be away months rather than weeks.”
“It’s all right. You don’t need to make promises.” Her voice sounded thin and sad.
“Sweetheart, you do believe me, don’t you?” He lifted her chin so he could see her eyes. They seemed so big and blue in her pale face, haunted and desolate with tears shimmering there. He didn’t need her to speak to know her answer was no. She thought he would let her down again, and he didn’t blame her.
“I will come back to you. I have to keep an eye on my investment.” His attempt at levity fell flat when she didn’t smile.
“Oh, Fiona.” He hugged her tightly, wishing things were different. She’d been so happy yesterday evening on the wishing trail when they kissed—before he told her he had to leave.
He stroked her hair and ran his hands down her back, memorizing the feel of her against him to keep him warm during the cold nights ahead. He had a lot to cope with over the next few months, but knowing she was here waiting for him would pull him through.
“Drive carefully and stay safe,” she said, stepping back.
His heart ached to know she didn’t trust him.
“I love you,” he said, catching her hands and kissing her.
She nodded and stroked a palm over his stubbly cheek. “I love you too.”
The alarm on his phone buzzed. He needed to leave if he was to make it back to Dublin in time. Reluctantly, he released her hands and walked backwards, not wanting to tear his gaze away from her. He paused with a hand on his door, then faced the inevitable and climbed in. It was time to go. He lowered the window and started the engine.
As he pulled away, he raised a hand and she waved. He kept her in view in his mirror while he drove along the drive. His last glimpse of her was as he turned onto the road. She still stood outside the castle, a small forlorn figure in the dim light.
He banged his palms on the steering wheel and cursed in frustration. Life was like a conveyor belt, and he couldn’t get off and do what he wanted. But it was his own fault for making the wrong choice years ago.
Edgy and restless, he drove for twenty miles along familiar roads, his mind replaying everything he’d said and done over the last few weeks. He hadn’t come here planning to fall in love with Fiona again, but it had been inevitable from the first moment he saw her because he’d never fallen out of love with her.
If only there was a way to reassure her that he was serious this time, a way to prove he really would return to Ballyglass. He crawled in slow-moving traffic, then diverted through a small town after a car wreck on the main road. A jewelry shop caught his eye, and in a flash of inspiration, he knew what he had to do.
*
Fiona scraped cat food out of a foil tray into Merlin’s dish and set it on the mat in the corner of the mud room for him. With a mew, he trotted up and started eating. She’d finished cooking and serving breakfasts for her guests and loaded the dishwasher, all done on autopilot, her mind a daze of sorrow.
How had she fallen back in love with Aaron so deeply so quickly? Especially after she’d promised herself she wouldn’t. He’d only been here three weeks, and for most of the first week she’d been annoyed with him.
The guest bell rang in the hall, and she went through and took payment from an American couple who was leaving. Then she wandered back across the kitchen and stood outside the back door. Although she stared at the sunny garden, in her mind’s eye she saw Aaron’s car drive away in the dawn light.
She’d been so numb and upset that she’d barely taken in their parting. Now the realization that he’d left hit her like a brick. The familiar sick emptiness flooded through her, a feeling she’d worked so hard to forget.
Jamie wandered around the corner of the castle, his boots crunching on the path.
“Hey, Fi. Did you save me some breakfast?”
She nodded. “It’s in the warming oven.”
He moved to pass her to go inside, then stopped, his large hand cupping her shoulder. “Don’t look so sad. Aaron will come back this time.”
The gentle concern in his voice brought tears to her eyes. She pressed her lips together to hold back the tears. She’d been fighting the urge to cry all the while she cooked, madly blinking and trying to think of other things so she didn’t collapse in a useless heap.
Jamie put his arms around her, and she sank against her big brother’s chest, her tears wetting the front of his shirt. He’d always been there for her, always been supportive even when he didn’t quite understand what she was upset about. When she finished crying, she pulled away and grabbed a paper towel to dry her eyes.
“I didn’t think you knew Aaron and I got t
ogether again. It only happened a couple of days ago.”
Jamie laughed wryly. “I could see this coming a mile off.”
“I didn’t learn my lesson, did I?”
“It’ll be different this time. You wait and see.”
Jamie went inside to eat his breakfast, and Fiona wandered towards the wishing trail, her hope bolstered by her brother’s confidence. Maybe she was letting her past with Aaron color her expectations. He’d learned from his past experience too. Or at least she hoped he had.
She stepped through the stone archway onto the cobbled path of the wishing trail and inhaled the heavenly fragrance of the roses and the flowers in the borders.
As she meandered along the winding trail, she mentally relived every step she’d walked with Aaron the previous day, every comment he’d made, the way he’d held her hand, and the way he’d kissed her.
Merlin trotted up behind her, mewing. She picked him up and stroked him as he relaxed in her arms, purring, his eyes narrowed with pleasure. When she reached the wishing fountain at the end of the trail, she sat on the stone bench, acutely aware of Aaron’s wishing jar tucked beside hers in the mossy shadow beneath.
She set Merlin on the bench at her side and reached down to pull out Aaron’s jar. Her heart leaped with an almost painful clench at the sight of her hair tie inside the blue glass jar among the stones and nails. These were his wishes for the future, and she was breathless with relief and pleasure to be included.
Although what the stones and nails meant, she had no idea. Like a lovesick teen, she held the jar against her heart and focused her thoughts, trying to send Aaron love through the ether to make him remember her and keep him safe.
The crunch of hurried male footsteps approaching on the cobbles sent her scrabbling to put the jar back before she was discovered. Jamie wouldn’t really care, but she didn’t want him to catch her hugging Aaron’s jar.
She glanced at the bend in the path, wondering what Jamie needed that was so urgent he’d rush. But it wasn’t Jamie who dashed around the corner. She stared at Aaron, amazed and disbelieving. Did she want him here so much she was hallucinating?
“Hello, kitten.”
The deep timbre of his voice sent a shiver of awareness through her. No illusion. Aaron was very real. Heart thudding, she struggled to breathe normally.
“Did you forget something?”
“Yes.”
He rested a hand on the fountain bowl and went down on one knee. “I forgot to give you this.”
He opened his fist to reveal a ring resting on his palm. For a moment, she stared at it, seeing the ring but not understanding.
Aaron should be nearly back in Dublin by now. Yet he was here, kneeling in front of her with a ring in his hand, and she couldn’t make it add up.
All at once the implication hit her. Emotion tore through her body, leaving her trembling inside with excitement.
“Is it…?”
“Fiona Flannigan, will you marry me?”
“I…yes. Of course. Yes.” A high-pitched girly squeal burst from her lips, a sound she hadn’t made in years.
She threw her arms around Aaron’s neck and smothered him in kisses. A few minutes later when they came up for air, he took her left hand and slipped the ring on the third finger, a beautiful opal full of rainbows surrounded by diamonds and emeralds sparkling in the sun.
“It’s amazing. I love it.”
“I thought it looked like the most magical stone in the shop. Seeing you like magic and wishes and things, it seemed right.”
The ache inside her was soothed with joy and relief. Finally she believed he really would come back this time.
“Do you have a wedding date in mind?”
“As soon as I can resign from the Garda and come back. That’ll probably be in the autumn. Or it might even be nearer Christmas. I have to see out this case I’ve been working on. But I will come back and visit whenever I get the chance.”
Aaron sat on the bench and pulled her onto his lap, giving her long, luscious kisses that curled her toes.
Now she had everything she wanted. The wonderful man she’d loved since she was a child was not only her business partner, he was finally going to be her husband after years of dreaming. The magic of the wishing jars really did work.
Epilogue
Everyone in the old medieval church was silent as Fiona held out her left hand to Aaron and stared into the depths of his brown eyes. Her heart leaped as he pushed a gold band studded with diamonds on her finger beside her engagement ring.
“I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and faithfulness,” he said. “In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
Then Aaron held out his left hand, and Fiona slid a thick gold band on his finger and repeated the vow he’d spoken.
He squeezed her fingers, his eyes sparkling with emotion, and love and joy overflowed inside her. Most of her life she’d dreamed of this day, wished for it and hoped for it, but feared it would never come. Yet he had come back to her and finally kept his promise, and here they were in Saint Patrick’s Church beside Ballyglass Castle, with the people they loved watching them make their promises to each other.
Her heart fluttered and tripped, her voice breathy with nerves and excitement as they exchanged symbolic tokens of their commitment to each other. Fiona gave Aaron a special wishing jar full of memories of the past and hopes for their future, photos from their engagement party, a pink baby bootee and a blue baby bootee as symbols of the girl and boy she hoped they would have, along with many other little things to remind Aaron of past happy times and promise him a wonderful future.
Aaron gave her a silk bag containing a gold coin, a traditional gift for a groom to give his bride as a token of all he possessed.
Next they lit a candle together, and everyone said a prayer for them. When the service was over, they signed the marriage registration form and finally her dream was reality—she was Mrs. O’Malley.
Flushed and warm in her white faux-fur bolero jacket that she’d worn over her wedding dress, Fiona fell into Aaron’s arms and they kissed.
“Congratulations, kitten. I love you,” he whispered.
“I love you too. I’m so happy. I want to run outside and dance around.”
Aaron tucked her hand through his arm with a smile. “Best wait until the guests have gone before you do that.”
They walked down the aisle, past their smiling family and friends, past the pew ends decorated with wishing jars trailing gold and green ribbons and silk flowers, into the crisp, cool autumn afternoon.
In the shade, a sparkling fringe of white frost still trimmed the orange, gold, and red autumn leaves, and Fiona was pleased to have her jacket now that she was outside.
“Congratulations.” Jamie was the first out behind them. He shook hands with Aaron, then the two friends embraced before Jamie hugged her, lifting her off her feet and twirling her around. “You’re a beautiful bride, Fi.”
“Thank you for everything.” Her big brother had been a rock the last couple of months, helping with the wedding arrangements and the new business venture. She wouldn’t have managed without him. She wished he could find the happiness she had, but Jamie had no interest in settling down with one woman. He seemed to be allergic to the idea of commitment and marriage.
Aaron had been tied up with work until three days before the wedding. For a while it had been touch and go if he’d make it. He would have to return to Dublin to give evidence in a couple of court cases connected with his undercover work, but apart from that he was free from the Garda and ready to start a new career as a director of Ballyglass Wishes.
Ewan congratulated them, and she touched cheeks with Aaron’s father, Chief Superintendent O’Malley, and Mrs. O’Malley. Then Fiona’s mother opened her arms and hugged her. “You always were sweet on Aaron. I wondered if the two of you would end up together.”
Fiona hugged her mother back, her chest tight with a mix of happiness and sorrow.
She was so pleased she’d come to the wedding, but she hardly saw her mother these days. England was only a short flight away, but somehow she never got over there, and it took a miracle to tempt her mother out of London.
The members of the wedding party threaded their way along the narrow path between the old lichen-covered headstones in the graveyard and crossed the stone bridge over the River Glass where she, Aaron, and her brothers used to play.
Once they reached castle grounds, the path was lit by a trail of wishing jars full of tiny fairy lights that Jamie had hung.
“You’ll get cold if we have photos taken outside. Let’s go in for that.” Aaron tried to lead Fiona towards the castle, but she had other ideas.
She pulled him onto the new path that led to her pride and joy. The recently completed stone barn had a slate tile roof, and Fiona loved it. When it was quiet in the evening just before bed, she would stand outside the kitchen door and stare across the garden at her new wishing jar workshop and sigh with pleasure.
Already they had taken on twelve local women to make wishing jars to meet the Christmas demand. A few ads on Facebook and Twitter, and business had taken off straight away.
Aaron smiled down at her as she snuggled against his side and rested her palm on the front of his dark suit jacket while they posed by the barn door for the photographer. It was only right the wishing barn should be in the wedding photos. After all, it had helped bring them together.
“I think my wife loves this barn more than she loves me,” Aaron said in mock outrage, and everyone laughed.
His wife. The words tingled through Fiona. “Not likely.”
She cast him a suggestive sideways glance. He was the best thing that had ever happened to her, and she couldn’t wait until later when they could go upstairs and she could show him how much she loved him. But they had a reception dinner to get through first.
They had a few more photos taken by the barn with all the family, then some more under the arch at the start of the wishing trail. Instead of fragrant roses, the stone arch was now trimmed with wishing jars full of multicolored lights that made it look like Christmas.
