Five months later…
SUNDAY DINNERS AT the O’Reilly Pub were anything but boring. Especially this Sunday as they were together celebrating Declan and Lydia. The newlyweds.
They spent the beautiful spring day in the lovely Pittock Mansion, a savvy Portland landmark, saying their I dos, surrounded by their friends and family in the vibrant rose garden the place was known for. Immediately following was a reception, held inside the grand historic mansion’s ballroom that overlooked the grounds and city below them. The day was perfect, and there wasn’t a single murderous psychopath in the place.
The O’Reilly family their closest friends moved the party to the Pub where they celebrated with an expensive Irish whiskey and Bulmer’s Cider, brought in from Ireland for this very occasion. There was food, plenty of drink, and a good time had by all.
All these months later, and the brothers were still working to take down every threat Eva helped them find, but this day, they didn’t work. They celebrated. The deep wounds of that day still resided, healing slowly but surely. Eva wearing most of them.
As expected, she fell under Brother’s Keeper protection, and was living in Watermark with a new identity. Wylie had taken a liking to her until he found out who she really was. He was the most easygoing brother, most forgiving, but for some reason, he couldn’t forgive her.
Their interactions were few, and at that, awkward and business only. With her guard up high, Lydia let her continue to have a relationship with Jax, though they told him very little about who she really was. That day would come, and they would deal with it when they had to. Until then, Eva lived in Watermark and helped Lydia open her second location of Outside In the waterfront district, near Watermark.
It gave both women something to do and a way to work on their trust for one another, while keeping Eva close by and easy to watch over. Watching the kids play, the women got lost in conversation. There was something about weddings and Irish whiskey that made people confess their most sentimental inner thoughts.
“I really do love that little boy. My father, even in death, put you through so much, both of you. Jax deserves better, and he has it now. I can’t tell you how much relief that brings me. I understand if he never knows who I really am, in fact…it may be better if he doesn’t,” Eva shrugged, not sure what would be right. Time would tell. “Know that I do love him, though, and I will always be here should either of you need me.”
With tears in her eyes and a wobble to her alcohol induced tears, Lydia hugged the woman. “You’re a good person, Eva. I don’t doubt that for a moment, and I hope one day you can forgive yourself because I certainly have. I did the very moment I knew he was safe…because of you.”
Wylie had been sitting only feet away, well into his share of booze, listening to the women pour their hearts out. “Pfffft. Whatever. What a crock of shit.”
He stood up and moved to the other end of the pub, shaking his head. He landed on a seat near his brothers, never taking his angry eyes of Eva.
“He’ll come around, honey,” Lydia said, to which Eva nodded.
City sat down with the girls, having heard and seen the whole thing. “I don’t know; those O’Reilly men are stubborn! I have no idea how you trained Declan as well as you did.”
Lydia snorted, “Trained? Oh, that boy is far from trained. He did seem to go a little sweet on me though.”
The ladies giggled when Declan looked over and smiled as he caught Lydia looking at him.
“Look at them down there. What do you want to bet they are all giving Declan tons of crap right now?” City joked. “He’s the only happy one in the bunch.”
“Let’s see,” Eva started, “Wylie is pissed at me…still. Liam…well, he’s always pissed at you, City. Luke is pissed at the world for…well, being the world. Then there’s Dace. Actually, I have no idea what he’s pissed at. What’s the story with these boys, City? You’re their keeper…you know better than anyone.”
“Wylie and Eva, well we know what happened there. Dace disappears a lot, chases leads on something. I haven’t figured it out entirely, but it’s about a woman. Don’t buy into those tattoos and the bad boy Harley thing. Luke’s just trying to find himself in civilian life – forced early retirement was like a prison sentence for him. Then there’s Liam.”
City stopped on Liam and just stared. When he felt her looking at him from across the room, he locked onto her gaze, neither giving anything away. Though they always seemed at odds, there was something more there – everyone saw it, but nobody understood it. The love-hate, or love to hate thing they had going was as obnoxious as it was…sweet. Eventually, one of them would give in, and it was only a matter of time before one did. The mourning widower or the tortured beauty that hid behind her dark framed glasses and cardigans – time would tell.
“Liam…he’s just…Liam,” she said in a half daze.
When the family patriarch, Magnus O’Reilly’s, booming voice commanded the crowd to congratulate his eldest son and new daughter’s-in-law nuptials, he had the attention of all but two. Liam and City. They sat, locked in each other’s stare, from across the room lost in a place that was all their own.