Aislinn fought to keep a stunned expression off her face. Nora and Donald at the pub? Together? Oh shite, they do want to turn
Padraig's cottage into their second home. They want to become pail of our “quaint” community. She felt bad suspecting her sister of some kind of strategic plan, but she couldn't help it.
“I was planning to go down to the pub anyway.”
Nora looked shocked. “Alone?”
“Nora, I go alone all the time.”
“Well, tonight you'll go with Donald and me.”
“Fine,” Aislinn agreed, feeling like a cranky bitch in the face of Nora's cheerful insistence. “We'll have to drive separately, though, if Padraig wants to come.”
Nora was silent. Chances were Padraig would pass, given that he'd slept so little, but you never knew. She almost told Nora, “Don't worry, he won't sit with us,” but realized it was antagonistic thing to say.
“Donald looks good,” said Aislinn. steering off the topic of Padraig.
“Good but tired,” Nora agreed.
“He must be thrilled to see you.”
Nora was beaming. “He is. And I'm thrilled to see him, too. I guess distance really does make the heart grow fonder.”
“Mmm.” Aislinn took a dog treat out of her pocket and fed it to Deenie, who'd been nosing her in the butt.
“How old is Deenie now?” Nora asked
Aislinn had to think a minute. “Nine.” Now what, you 're going to act like you give a rat's arse about Deenie? Don't even.
“She seems younger.”
“I think it's because she's so active.”
“I'd like a dog, but Donald thinks it would tie us down too much. We like to travel.”
“Yeah, I remember that Venetian glass vase you sent Mum and Dad from Italy. Mum was quite taken by it.”
“I'm sure she would have preferred a grandchild,” Nora said dryly. It had always made their mother sad that Nora had chosen not to have kids.
“Of course she would have,” said Aislinn. surprised by Nora's bluntness. “But Connor and I planned -”
She stopped herself.
“How did it go with Liam last night?”
Aislinn looked down at the ground, suddenly feeling shy. “It went well.” “Meaning -?” Aislinn's face went hot. "You know...
“Oh my God!” Nora was wide-eyed. “You slept with him?”
“Yes, and what of it?” Aislinn asked, feeling defensive in the face of Nora's shocked tone and expression.
“I'm not judging you or questioning your judgment. I think it's great.”
“Why's that?”
“Because you make a great couple, that's why.”
“You've only seen us together a few times, and for a few minutes at that.”
“Yeah, and the chemistry is unbelievable.” “Really?”
“Yes, really.”
Aislinn smiled, pleased.
“So, is he good?” Nora prodded playfully.
“I don't kiss and tell.”
Nora playfully smacked her arm. “I'm your older sister! You have an obligation to tell me all!”
Aislinn laughed. “It was wonderful.” She felt as though she were going to burst out of her skin with pure joy. She paused. “He's wnderful.”
“You're falling in love with him.”
“I am, yes,” Aislinn admitted, “and it scares the hell out of me.”
“Why's that?”
“Because what if it doesn't work out?”
“Why are you writing the script?”
“Can't help it.”
“Okay: why are you writing a negative script rather than a positive one?”
“Perhaps because the only man I've ever loved before kicked me in the teeth?”
“Liam isn't Connor, Aislinn. Connor was lying to you. Liam isn't.”
“I know, I know. It's just Aislinn halted, sticking her hands in the pockets of her coat. ”I'm happy, but I hate being vulnerable. I always have."
“You can't love someone and not be vulnerable. Goes with the territory.”
“I know that, too. But that doesn't mean I have to like it.”
“True,” Nora stroked the top of Deenie's head, “Is he in love with you?”
“I don't know,” Aislinn answered honestly. “Obviously he's got feelings for me, but we've not said 'I love you' or anything like that. It's early days yet. I don't want to push anything or make assumptions.” I understand.
“Listen, Nora, would you keep all this under your hat? I don't want anyone else to know about it yet.”
Nora looked baffled. “Why not?”
“Honestly? Because I want to savor it, and because I want to be sure we're really going to be together. It'd kill me if he gave me the big brush-off, and I had to deal with half the town regarding me as some pitiful creature.”
Nora shrugged easily. “Okay. Can I at least tell Donald?”
“I suppose.” Since they were having a heart-to-heart, Aislinn decided to speak her mind. “Why were you and Donald inspecting Padraig's cottage, Nora?”
“I was just remembering the way it used to be, and it made me sad.”
“Mmm.”
“You sound suspicious.”
“Not suspicious, just curious. I mean, his cottage has needed some work for a while. But you never noticed it before. And your sudden interest in the health of Padraig is unusual, you have to admit.”
“I'm trying to make up for lost time. As you know, sometimes when people die - like parents - you start reassessing things.”
They'd reached the mudroom. 'Will you be having lunch with me?“ Aislinn asked. Nora checked her watch. Isn't it a bit early?”
“Not when your day starts at four thirty.”
"I hadn't thought about that. No, I'll wait for Donald. We'll probably go into Moneygall for lunch.
“Pick up some pesto for me, will you?” Aislinn teased. “Some caviar as well.”
“I think it's a very good sign that your sense of humor has returned,” said Nora.
“I think so, too.” I've returned Aislinn thought.
Finally.
Straight Up
Chapter Thirteen
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As Aislinn suspected. Padraig was too tired to go to the pub that night. She'd left him up at the house watching telly, knowing that by the time she got back, he'd be fast asleep on the couch, his snoring loud enough to rattle the windows. She'd do what she always did: cover him with a blanket and leave him be. She had to admit, sometimes it was nice when Padraig fell asleep in the house, because she'd wake the next morning to the lovely smell of bacon and eggs frying. He could do a good fry-up, could Padraig. He could also brew the perfect cuppa.
She, Nora, and Donald could have easily fit in the cab of her truck, but Donald was having none of it. It smells like wet sheep and hay, he sniffed. “Besides, Nora and I might want to leave earlier than you.”
“Suit yourself,” Aislinn told him with a diffident shrug. Truth be told, she enjoyed trundling into town by herself: she could blast the radio as loud as she pleased or enjoy the blessed silence of the country.
Unsurprisingly, since Donald drove like an eighty-year-old man. Aislinn beat them into Ballycraig and waited outside the Oak for them, so she and Nora could walk in together. Just like the last time Nora came to the pub, she was greeted warmly. But there was no mistaking everyone's bafflement when they laid eyes on Donald. Of course they're baffled. thought Aislinn. The man hasn't set foot in the Oak in ten years. He looked stiff and uncomfortable, completely out of his element. Which he was.
Aislinn could feel Liam zeroing in on her the minute she stepped over the threshold, but she refused to look at him, not wanting to give anything away, especially since the Holy Trinity were also giving her the hairy eyeball.
“Long time, no see, McCafferty,” said Teague with a smirk as Aislinn made her way to the bar. “Where you been hiding yourself?”
/>
“Some of us work for a living, you know. You might want to try it sometime.”
Nora tapped Aislinn on the shoulder. “We're going to order, and then I think I'll bring Donald round and re-introduce him to people.”
“Right,” said Aislinn. God, what she wouldn't give to be able to read their minds. First off, he was English - that was a big black mark right there in some people's books. Secondly, everyone in the room had a long memory, a particular affliction of the Irish. Aislinn was certain they were all aware Donald hadn't set foot in the pub since he and Nora had gotten together, and like her, they had to be wondering why he'd suddenly decided to grace them with his presence. Of course, they'd all be polite as pie to his face, but the minute he moved out of earshot, they'd be flapping their gums with speculation.
“Aislinn,” said Jack with his trademark warm smile. “Nice to see you.”
“You, too, Jack.”
“Where've you been?”
“Working the farm, as I told this lummox here,” she replied, jerking her thumb at Teague.
“Sure you must be doing something else besides minding the sheep.” he said slyly.
Aislinn narrowed her eyes, immediately suspicious. “And what would that be?” She'd kill Liam if he'd said anything to Jack. Truly she would.
“Spending time with your sister, I imagine.”
Aislinn relaxed. “Yes. I have been doing a bit of that.”
“Where's the old man?”
“Tucked up at the house. He's exhausted.”
Jack looked uncomfortable. “Aislinn, darlin', about Padraig.”
Aislinn stiffened. “Yes?”
“Grace Finnegan told me he came into her shop and forgot what he was there for.”
“I forgot to send him with a list. That's all.”
“But surely -”
“Can I have my whiskey, please?”She saw Jack exchange glances with the trio of arseholes. The poor McC'afferty is what they were probably thinking. Blind again. Can't see what's right in front of her lace.
“I'm on it, all right?” she assured Jack quietly while he poured her whiskey.
“Good girl,” said Jack.
“I'm glad about that,” said David. “If you weren't, he could go baaaa-listic.”
The threesome laughed. Sheep jokes. Aislinn rolled her eyes.
Jack put her whiskey down in front of her. “Here you go, love.”
“Thanks.”
“How's it going, Aislinn?”
It was Liam, sounding as friendly as could be. If she could, she'd shoot darts at him with her eyes. No, she was overreacting. He was a bartender. It was his job to be friendly.
“Fine,” she replied briskly, all business. “Yourself?”
“Pretty good.”
“I'm glad for you.” She put her money down on the bar. “I'm off now to join my sister -”
“And the imperialist swine,” Fergus finished for her.
“There he goes, getting his Irish up,” said Jack with a long-suffering sigh. “Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't your dad work in England for a good long time, doing construction, faithfully sending money back here to your mother?”
“He had to work there,” Fergus spat. "There were no feckin' jobs here.
“Well, it's not Nora's husband's fault, you twit,” Jack rejoined. “It's not 1916, you know. Let it go.”
“Oh, go soak your head,” Fergus muttered.
Aislinn picked up her whiskey. “Night,” she said to Jack.
“I assume you'll be back for a refill?”
“Of course.”
“See you,” Liam said.
“Night,” Aislinn said. She glared at the Trinity. "You three keep your lips buttoned. I'm in no mood for your chicanery.
" With that, she went to join Nora and Donald.
*****
Liam knew that the minute Aislinn. Nora, and Donald left the pub, Jack and the Trinity would be on him, and he was right.
“Go on,” Jack jeered. 'Tell us again how she's all hot and bothered over you now. The she-devil could give a rat's ass you're even breathing."
“It's an act,” Liam insisted. “She wants to keep things quiet.”
“Oh, that's a good one, it is,” David snorted. “Though I guess I could see that. If I were spreadin' my legs for a Yank, I'd want to keep it quiet, too.”
Liam reached across the bar and grabbed him by the collar. “Who the fuck do you think you are? Don't you ever, ever talk about her like that.” He released him with a shove.
“Christ on a splintered cross,” Fergus marveled, his mouth dropping open. “You've fallen for the hellcat, haven't you?”
“Don't call her that,” Liam said with a glare. “And yeah, maybe I have.”
“Fat lot of good it's gonna do you, by the look of it,” Teague chortled.
“Face it,. Liam: I'm not going to have to pay you for a year,“ Jack crowed. ”You've gotten nowhere with her." Wrong, said Liam, wiping down the bar.
“Why would she want to keep things quiet?” asked Fergus. “Doesn't make sense. Usually they want the whole world to know: 'Look who I've roped and tied!' Then they get pregnant and trap you for life.”
Liam frowned. “Nice attitude.”
“It's true,” Fergus insisted.
“How the hell would you know?” Teague challenged. “You've not had a woman look at you in ten years.”
“His woman is his left hand,” David added.
“Piss off, the lot of you,” said Fergus, storming out of the pub.
“Back to the McCafferty,” said Old Jack, pulling a Guinness for himself. “We've seen no evidence at all you're together, none at all. Until you walk through the door with her making goo-goo eyes at you, I'll not believe it.”
“Just you wait,” said Liam smugly.
*****
“I hear you wanted to call off the bet with Jack because you know you can't win.”
There was no mistaking the mischievous glint in Uncle Paul's eye as he refilled Liam's coffee mug. It was Sunday morning, and Liam was there for his weekly catching up with his relatives. As always, his cousin Erin was there, but his cousin Brian was, shockingly, in church with his new girlfriend and their quaintly devout family. “Must be love,” his aunt Bridget mused. “The last time that one was in church, Bono was still in short pants.” Liam regarded his uncle. "I wanted to call the bet off because the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was a cruel thing to do to someone.
“You're right,” Erin piped up. “I wouldn't want it done to me.”
“See?”
“Be that as it may,” said Uncle Paul, “you didn't call it off.”
“Jack called me a coward,” Liam said testily. “No one calls me a coward, okay?”
Aunt Bridget sighed. "Still quick to anger, I see. Your mother used to talk about it all the time. Got you into a world of trouble during your teen years, as I recall
“ Liam bristled. ”That was a long time ago. I've worked all that out."
“Still, Jack was able to get your goat in three seconds flat,” his uncle pointed out.
“He could get a dead man's goat in three seconds flat, the irksome old thing,” Erin said with a snort.
“Thank you,” Liam said, pleased that his cousin had come to his defense.
“So you're gonna continue with the bet,” said his uncle, helping himself to a healthy portion of bacon. He reminded Liam so much of his father it was amazing; they could both eat like horses. “All because Jack called you a coward.”
“No, because it'll be nice to have twice the wages. And because I'm not a coward. I don't back out of bets. Besides, I've already won.”
His uncle raised an eyebrow. “Have you now?”
Liam took a big gulp of coffee. “Yep.”
“Where's the evidence?”
“It's coming.”
“Believe it when I see it,” said Uncle Paul in a garbled voice, his mouth stuffed with food.
Erin looked confuse
d. “What about thinking it's a mean thing to do?”
“Well,” Liam said, leaning over to her confidingly, “as it happens, things are not going to end the way everyone thinks.”
Erin looked at him a second, then her face lit up. "You like her!
“ Yep. His uncle choked. ”You like her?
“Da, you know she's nice!” Erin chided. “She only got hard when Connor did her wrong! But before that, she was fine!”
“True, true,” Uncle Paul conceded. "Are you two a couple, then?
“ Liam grinned. ”Yep."
“What are you, John Wayne with all those yeps?” his aunt teased. “Come on, then! Spit it out!”
“Well, I started wooing her and soon realized that I really liked her. So, after we go public, we'll just stay together.”
"Oh, God, your parents are going to be thrilled. Thrilled.
“Do not say anything yet,” Liam warned. “You know them: they'll be on the next plane over here. I'll tell them when I'm good and ready.”
His aunt looked crestfallen. “If you say so.”
His uncle shook his head in wonderment. “You and the McCafferty - who'd have ever thought?”
No kidding, Liam thought, sharing his sense of amazement. The last thing he ever expected was to hide out in Ballycraig and fall for someone. He did feel a twinge of hypocrisy over not telling his family back home about her. How was that any different than her asking him to keep things mum for now? Well, he thought, to quote his mother, It will all come out in the wash. Soon, everyone would know. But before they did, he had a surprise for her.
Straight Up
Chapter Fourteen
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Aislinn was in one of the far meadows with Deenie, rotating the sheep into a new pasture. Deenie had done a superb job herding them, but as always, there were a few stragglers. Aislinn raised a hand, giving her the “look back” command. Deenie turned around and went back for the stray sheep, directing them where they needed to go.
Aislinn followed, reveling in the clear, cool morning. She'd left Padraig in the barn laying down some fresh straw and filling the water troughs before waiting for some weavers who'd rung to say they were coming by to buy some wool. Though Padraig knew the prices by heart, she'd carefully written them out for him just in case. He looked insulted, but Aislinn pretended not to notice.
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