Chapter Nineteen
Mel strolled around the edge of the Talley great room, taking in her family as Gaelic Christmas tunes filled the big manor house. Redheaded children were scattered across the floor tearing through presents. John, Aidan and Siobhan stood on the opposite side of the room, placing bets on bowl games. Cam flirted with Grace in the kitchen, with Jamie in there too, giving his best friend a hard time and putting the finishing touches on dinner. Danny sat sandwiched between his mother and his other sister, Chloe, on the couch, flipping through condo pictures on the iPad, getting their votes on the top contenders.
And the box of Sean’s personal effects rested on the mantel, atop the case of pocket watches, in a place of honor.
Danny had been right. Bringing those pieces of Sean back to them had softened Ellen up enough that she forgave their elopement. For now. Mel suspected some part of Ellen would always hold “running off with her baby to get married” against her. Maybe she’d offer to officiate at Jamie and Aidan’s wedding, to chip away a little more at that grudge.
She was still turning the thought over as she wandered out of the great room to the house’s inner courtyard. At the long wooden table beneath the vine-covered trellis sat the last of their friends, alone and nursing a beer.
Mel slid into the chair next to him. “Price.”
He acknowledged her with the tip of his bottle. “So the secret’s out?” he asked, eyeing the yellow diamond on her finger. “Congrats, officially.”
She spun the ring around her finger, smiling, until she noticed the troubled look on his face. “So why aren’t you inside celebrating with us?”
He took another pull on the beer. “I don’t really know what to do with...around...” he waved his other hand in the air “...family.”
“You’re not spending Christmas with yours,” she said, an observation, not a question.
“I don’t want anything to do with mine, if I can help it.”
She nudged his shoulder. “Well, you’re in luck. This one likes strays, if that’s not already obvious.”
“Hey!” Gravel crunched underfoot, and both their gazes whipped up. Cam stood in the kitchen doorway, shoulder against the jamb, beer bottle dangling from his fingertips. “Who you calling a stray?”
Mel chuckled. “I was referring to the three of us.”
Jamie appeared behind Cam. “Make that four.”
“Please,” Cam guffawed. “At least you have the money to fit in with this lot.”
“And you have the Irish name and propensity to get shot at.” Jamie clapped his shoulder. “You fit right in.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Aidan said, as he and Danny joined them outside.
She was about to call him on picking up his fiancé’s Southern-isms when she noticed the shot glasses in Aidan’s hands and the wrapped gift in her husband’s. “What’ve you got there?”
“A wedding gift,” Cam said. “From all of us.”
Jamie smiled. “You didn’t think you were going to get away without a toast, did you?”
“I’m more worried about this than I was about Mom,” Danny said, lowering himself into the chair beside her. “Ai says you should open it.”
“Meaning it’s really for you,” Aidan said with a wink.
Dubious and curious, she sliced through the tape with her nails and found a wonderful surprise inside what appeared to be a whiskey box.
Tres-Quatro-Cinco, an excellent, rare blend of tequila.
“I haven’t had this in years.” She ran her hand over the long, tall bottle, thumb tracing the hand-signed label, before glancing up and smiling at each of her friends. “Thank you.”
“Crack it open,” Danny said. “Let’s give this one a taste.”
She twisted the cap, tearing the seal, and yanked out the stopper. Standing, she filled each glass and Danny passed them out, all of their friends now on their feet.
Cam raised his glass first. “May no more bombs be in your future.”
“Hear, hear!” they all said, before taking a sip.
Then Nic. “May you always fight for, and never against, each other.”
“Hear, hear!” Another sip.
Mel reached out, twining her fingers with Danny’s.
From Jamie. “May you always find your way home to each other.”
“Hear, hear!” Another.
Danny’s eyes locked with hers.
And last from Aidan. “May you always remember you are loved, by each other and your family. And may you never again keep another secret like this from your family if you value your lives.”
“Hear, hear!” This time their voices were accompanied by a chorus. Around them, the entire rest of the family had drifted out, looking on as they toasted.
Everyone laughed, but then quieted when Danny lifted his glass. “To my wife and partner, the woman I’d trust with my life.”
“Hear, hear!” echoed around them once more, but Mel only had eyes for her husband. “And to you, the man who makes my soul laugh. I trust you, with everything.”
Danny smiled, so big and warm, so full of the light she needed to find her way out of the darkness, to find her way home. Arm around her waist, he drew her into a back-bending kiss, the laughter on his lips filling her soul. And all around them, their family cheered, “Hear, hear!” and “Feliz Navidad!”
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