CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Happily ever afters are not quite like the stories. In mine, I didn't wind up studying creative writing in Ireland, actually, I was taken away from Ireland in the end because I couldn't defy my parents - especially so publically.
So, I went back to America. It wasn't anywhere near as bad as I had thought it would be. I got on the plane at Dublin airport after Daddy drove me there. Both he and Sammy were standing at the departures gate waving me goodbye.
That was a sad day for everyone, a day none of us wanted to bear, because neither of them knew whether they would see me again.
Daddy had taken a big risk in declaring his relationship with me to his boss, and now I was leaving him. Sammy and I had formed a very strong bond and now I was flying back to the states to complete my education.
Getting home was weird. I felt resentful towards my parents, even as they were so happy to see me again. I felt so angry at them and wanted them to know all about it. My mother and I fought, she told me it was as if she couldn't do anything right.
In the end, I was in my final semester of university - after having spent the previous semester angry and in tears - when my father told me he wanted to talk to me about something.
I went into my parent's office and they broke the news to me, I would be going back to Ireland.
"You can go back there, if it's really what you want." My father told me, defeated.
"But only for a year. If this is the man for you, he can marry you and you can work there. But if you don't get married, then we want you back here in law school." Her voice was stern, but she was telling me exactly what I needed to hear.
I was so overwhelmed after spending all that time away from him that I would get to see him again so soon that I cried. I cried and cried and hugged my parents hard.
My parents were happy and both hugged me tightly before my mother told me, "We mean it though. You guys don't work out, then I want you to come back here and finish your schooling. If you do get married, I still expect you to be a lawyer. Ireland, I understand it, has some very famous and prized lawyers." She told me.
I had learned about Ireland's revolutionaries when I was studying Irish History and one in particular had caught my heart enough that I had told my mother his story, as it turns out, my parents were thinking of him when they loosened the reigns enough to let me go live there full-time. They loved me dearly. I could see that.
Daniel O'Connell had been admitted as a barrister before taking up a career in politics. He managed to use his knowledge and skills for the betterment of the Irish people. By working within the system, he managed to change the system and was referred to as 'the liberator'. When I first heard his story, I was excited about a legal career for the very first time. Of course that excitement didn't last long, but it did last long enough for me to tell my mother the story.
My father was especially happy to deliver the news that I could return to Ireland. He had been complaining about my moping around the house since I got home and now that I wouldn't be doing that and would be getting back to my happy self, he was a very happy man.
I told David about my return and he was so happy and surprised. I could heard it on the phone when he sounded super choked up, "They really do love you, baby girl." He told me.
David wanted to meet my parents himself, and he had for some time. He arranged a flight to the US so he could come over, meet my parents and get everything together with me to move back to Ireland a little more prominently this time.
David would arrive in time to see me graduate and then we'd start making arrangements for the big move together.
Knowing that things were going to work out in the end meant I could focus more on my studies, without all the crying in my room and being depressed over this sense of loss I had been carrying with me.
When my graduation rolled around, I was standing up on stage with my classmates. Some of whom knew what they wanted to do with their whole lives. Like mine, there were a number of pre-law students whose parents were keen for them to get the education they needed to pursue their law careers. Those kids had their lives planned out for them.
My life had taken an unexpected turn, but I couldn't see it working any other way. I couldn't see myself being happy with a life determined by others. I had to forge my own path.
What's that saying about burning your own path for others to follow? Maybe that would be me in the future. But if it had a chance to be me, I had to go off on my own. I had to live the kind of life I wanted. If I couldn't pursue my dreams now, I would never be able to pursue them and have any career success - in any field.
It was now or never.
After the ceremony, I walked up to David, who was standing with my parents and gave him a giant hug.
"We're going to make this work." I whispered in his ear so no-one else could hear me, "because all I want right now is to be with you. And I can't imagine it any other way."
David took a deep breath, I'm sure he was inhaling the scent of my hair, "I know baby girl." He told me, "We are going to make it work. There's nothing for you to worry about."