Chapter Twenty-Seven
Connor
Since Sean had been kicked out of his place, again, he was staying at the old flat, and Leah was staying in our guest room. This left nowhere for me to get alone time with my soon-to-be-wife.
The wife who had a new skittish beat to her. Which, I thought, was pre-wedding jitters like I was having.
No way in hell did I have cold feet, but I was starting to have second thoughts whether this was the right way to do everything. We had a year for the inheritance clause to run out. Why not stay engaged for a while? There wasn’t a rush now that the board knew we were engaged, and they weren’t questioning anything. But now all the members of the board were on their way to the chapel to watch Fallon and I stand in front of Patrick and say our vows.
“Your hands are shaking, brother. Sure you aren’t getting cold feet?” Sean asked, passing a bottle of whiskey to Jack over the pew.
This was it. It was finally our wedding day.
The boys and I were already at the church in our charcoal tuxes and green ties. We sat in the back pew to have some quiet time before the guests arrived. And there was one set of guests I was mainly worried about.
“Wow, this is what an Irish church looks like? Almost like the VFW hall in Galena,” a thick Midwestern-American accent called.
Jack, Sean, and I turned to face the front doors where a middle-aged woman with white-blond curls and a blue dress held the arm of a haggard man with an unkempt beard and shaved head.
Fallon hadn’t told me much at all about her parents, but I could have picked the outcast Americans out of any crowd. Especially when they were pushing the wheelchair of an old woman in a bright green dress with an even more radiant smile on her worn face.
I stood up, buttoning my suit coat before walking over to the couple with my hand out. “You must be Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Nana. I’m Connor Murphy, Fallon’s fiancé.”
The blond-haired woman’s blue eyes narrowed as she looked me over. “So you’re the famous Irish fella that Fallon’s gonna marry.”
“Ah, that I am, ma’am,” I said, shaking her hand then turning to Fallon’s da.
“Thank you for helping us out. We really appreciate being able to get here for the wedding. Though I will say, we did expect a big ol’ cathedral or something,” he said with a laugh, revealing his tobacco stained teeth.
“Hush, Son,” Nana hissed, smacking him in the stomach before she set her gaze on me. “Pay him no mind. Obviously, his father never taught him manners, which I hope is something you’ll teach to my great-grandbabies.”
Gulping, I forced a smile and leaned over to hug Nana and kiss her cheek. “I don’t think we’ll be talking about great-grandbabies anytime soon, Nana.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that those great-grandbabies wouldn’t come from me, if ever. A twinge of guilt knotted in my stomach. Fallon’s family was here to see their daughter marry a man they thought was going to be with her forever. Instead, they got the gobshite Connor Murphy who was marrying her to get his company.
Fallon’s mom put her rough hand on mine as I stood back up. “We do appreciate you helping us. I know Fallon’s probably told you what fuck-ups we’ve been as parents, but we really can’t wait to see our baby girl again.”
“Neither can I,” I said with a curt nod then extended my hand. “Shall I show you to a seat?”
…
Soon the rest of the guests filtered into the church. There were a few of colleagues, and my aunts and their families, but enough of the people there who mattered.
Jack and Sean stood to my left, with Patrick in the middle, holding an open bible, the worn leather a stark contrast to his white robe.
Before I could think any more on this arrangement that got Fallon and me here in the first place, the doors opened. All eyes turned to the bright sunlight and Leah in a green dress with daisies in her hair. She smiled at everyone, walking down the aisle to meet Jack and Sean in the middle. They each gave her an arm to hold and walked to my other side.
Fallon wasn’t anywhere to be seen, and my hands started to shake.
Maybe she wasn’t just getting cold feet, but already had them and had gotten the hell out of town. Maybe she flew back to America instead of staying at the hotel I booked with Leah so we wouldn’t see each other before the wedding. Maybe she got wind that her family was coming and decided to break it all off.
Before I could even take a breath, the driver of the black sedan Leah just emerged from opened the back door. Out came a pair of green heels, followed by a flowing white skirt.
I looked all the way up the dress and those sun-kissed shoulders to the smiling face of my bride as she walked up the cement stairs and into the church.
The band from our first dance and proposal started up Pachelbel’s Canon in D. The crowd stood and watched Fallon as she slowly walked down the aisle.
I could have watched her smile forever. But it slowly faded as she approached the pew her parents were sitting in. Then she blinked hard when she looked down and saw Nana.
Instead of saying anything, both parents kissed her cheek. Nana pulled her in for a hug, whispering something I couldn’t hear but garnered a flush that crept across Fallon’s cheeks.
She shook her head and gave Nana’s hand one last squeeze before she finally smiled again, and I met her at the bottom of the altar.
“Did you fly them all here on a private plane?” she whispered.
I laughed softly. “That’s reserved for the honeymoon.”
“We’re taking a honeymoon?”
I took her hand, intertwining our fingers. “Ah, now, I have to cross some more off that bucket list of yours.”
She squeezed my hand, then we both turned to the smiling Patrick as his booming voice called over the crowd. “Welcome Fallon and Connor, my dear friends who are here to stand before God and their friends and family to profess their love to one another.”
I looked at Fallon out of the corner of my eye. This may have all started out for show, but glancing at this beautiful woman with her lovely smile, and her long blond hair swept into some sort of fancy updo, I was starting to have different thoughts. I wasn’t a forever kind of guy, but watching Fallon with her family, and seeing the love she had for them, made me start to wonder if the feelings I’d been holding in for this girl were so much more.
Patrick flipped the pages in his bible. “For the Americans here, I’ll be reading the English text instead of Irish.”
Leah gave him a thumbs-up, and everyone in the crowd laughed before Patrick cleared his throat and put his hand to his forehead.
After a short prayer, we began our vows. Patrick put his hand down and looked between Fallon and me.
“Connor and Fallon, you are about to celebrate this sacrament. Have you come here of your own free will and choice, and without compulsion, to marry each other?”
Before we could answer, a loud bang clattered behind us, and we, along with the rest of the crowd, faced the double doors of the church. A man in a Cubs baseball cap and a wrinkled dress shirt with jeans stood, now approaching the altar. “Imma call bullshit on that one. Sorry for the swearing, Father priest,” he said in a scratchy voice, waving to Patrick.
“Ray? Did you invite him, too?” Fallon’s wide eyes glanced between the haggard fellow and me.
“No, but I have no problem asking him to leave,” I growled, stepping forward to come toe-to-toe with the man who smelled like smoke and body odor. He was at least six inches shorter than me, and it had been a while since I’d been boxing, but I had no problem taking him outside and kicking his arse.
“Ray, just get out of here. Please,” Fallon whispered, choking on her own words.
As if things couldn’t get worse, he got down on his knees, looking up at the open-mouthed Fallon. “Fal, I know we’ve had our outs. This guy may be rich and really good looking, but why him, Fal? What does he have that I don’t? Well…besides those first things I said.” The crowd whispered, and I looked from Fallon’s flushed face, now locked on the ground, to Ray staring at her. The anger that was festering now fully erupted, and I clenched my fists, ready to cold cock him.
The only thing stopping me was Jack, holding his arm out. I raised an eyebrow, and Jack shook his head. I fumed, my nostrils flaring.
“What?” Ray held his arms out. “You don’t even know him like you do me. Did he knock you up or something? Or is this about money? You aren’t a gold digger, Fal. That isn’t you. But when you hung up on me, I got to thinking, and I couldn’t stop. I’d been watching your profile, and then I saw the ring photos Leah posted. Just say it ain’t so. You don’t need him and his money to be happy.”
“I am deleting every piece of social media I have,” Leah muttered.
“You need to leave, Ray. I don’t know what you’re trying to get at here, but this is our day,” I growled, pushing past Jack with my hands clenched at my sides.
Ray laughed like a hyena, getting to his feet. “This is horseshit. My girl comes to Ireland for a job, breaks up with me once this rich guy comes in the picture, and now what? Now I’m just supposed to take it?”
Without even thinking where I was or the audience we had, I pulled my hand back then connected my fist with Ray’s jaw, causing him to stumble backward.
“That one’s for upsetting my future wife in the house of the Lord,” I barked, talking slow steps toward him. Then I grabbed onto one of his shoulders, pulling him upright before punching the other cheek, the crack of something breaking echoing through the room.
“That one’s for ever thinking you were good enough for Fallon.”
He winced, leaning over and grabbing his jaw. I took that moment to grab both shoulders and knee him the groin before he let out a loud yelp then fell backward. “And that one was for me.”
The crowd fell silent as I let out a breath. “Come on Fallon. We’ll have Jack take out the trash then let’s get married.”
Turning around, I looked to where Fallon had been standing, only to see her spot empty.
“Where is she?” I called, looking around the room and yelling over the sound of Ray whimpering. Every hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and dread ached in my gut.
“She left out the back door,” Leah said in a soft voice.
“What?” I yelled, my eyes wide, stomping toward Leah.
“She left, Connor. She couldn’t take the embarrassment. I think everything had just been bubbling for so long that…”
I raked my fingers through my hair and looked at Patrick and my brothers shaking their heads.
I nodded to Leah then straightened my tie, trying not to look at the state of my knuckles. Adrenaline still coursed through me, and if there was one thing I’d learned today, it was that I would do anything to keep what was important to me, whether it be a company or a girl.
“Then I guess I need to go find her.”