____________

Saoirse

 

 

 

Three years later…

 

 

“Please welcome to the stage, our very own valedictorian of this year’s graduating class…Saoirse Quinn.”

I grinned as I made my way up to the front of the stage, my navy robes swishing around my feet, golden tassel bobbing off my cap on one side of my vision.

These last three years of college in Australia had been the best of my life.

Diarmuid and I moved in together in the first year we’d lived here, a cute one-bedroom apartment only a ten-minute bus ride from college.

Diarmuid, Danny and Declan had gone thirds in a boxing gym. Diarmuid ran the place but Danny and Declan were silent partners. Made sense as they were both still living elsewhere.

Selkie’s Gym in Indooroopilly, Brisbane was doing well. Really well.

Diarmuid had linked up with the local youth groups, and the youth rehab centre had organised training programs to help troubled youths. Boxing gave them focus, purpose and taught them discipline. Boxing helped to channel their anger and rage.

I got to know and love both Declan and Danny, both of them making sure to visit whenever they were touring down under.

The kids at Selkie’s Gym especially loved it when the world title holding MMA fighter, Declan Gallagher, came to help train them.

Diarmuid was living his dream, being his own boss and working to make a difference in the lives of teens and kids, just as he was born to do.

I was living mine.

“Dear graduating class,” I began. I’d worked all week on this speech, but it’d taken me a lifetime to work on the message. “Back in Ireland everyone thought they knew who I was. My mother was a whore and I was the daughter of a criminal…” I revealed my very personal story to the listening crowd.

I’d gone back and forth about how much to reveal of my past. I was afraid I’d be judged yet again, I’d be scorned or rejected.

It was Diarmuid who’d convinced me otherwise.

“The only way others learn from us is not by our perfections,” he had said while we’d been cuddling in bed, “but by our mistakes, our failings, our vulnerabilities. Be bravely you, selkie. Those who deserve you, won’t judge you.”

That’s when I understood why Diarmuid kept his hair long, his scruffy beard and marked his arms and back with his life story.

He was brave. Braver than anyone I’d ever known. He made sure only those who didn’t judge him were the only ones who deserved him.

I spotted Diarmuid’s face in the crowd. Watching me. Here for me. Smiling for me. My heart felt so full I could have burst.

Beside him were Declan, Danny and Danny’s new girlfriend, who I’d not met yet.

I raised my eyebrow at Diarmuid. I’d have to ask him about that later. Danny never brought girls around.

I focused back on my speech, not needing to read my notes because I’d memorised them.

“What I have learned most in my time here is that you don’t have to accept the life you were given. Make your own. Choose your own. Your own path. Your own future.” I caught Diarmuid’s eyes and smiled. “Your own family.”

I’m so proud of you, he mouthed and grinned back at me.

Tears rimmed my eyes, but I forced myself to go on, despite my wobbly voice.

“Move towards your future with the knowledge that this life is yours as you want it to be. Congratulations, class. We are graduated! Here’s to our future.”

I threw my cap in the air amidst cheers and clapping, a sea of blue blurring in front of me.

When the ceremony was over, I was swarmed by the friends I’d made the last few years, all wanting hugs, congratulations and promises to meet at the graduation party someone was having. Including Tim.

After Diarmuid found me, I’d sat down with Tim and explained everything to him. He’d been shocked and upset, but he’d understood. We’d stayed friends. A few months later he found his own happily ever after in the form of an exchange student who was now his long-term girlfriend.

Once I broke free of my fellow students, I rushed through the crowd to find Diarmuid. I didn’t have to look very hard. The three Irish boys were all over six two, Diarmuid the tallest at six five.

I ran towards him, a grin on my face. As I reached him, he dropped to one knee and produced a box. I tripped over my robe and almost fell on my face.

He caught my arm and steadied me.

“Hey,” he said almost shyly.

“Hey.” I’m not sure how my voice was working, my throat was so dry, but it did. Barely.

He let go of me when I was steady and opened the box, looking at me with the most tender look in his eyes. I could hear the hush of the people around us, watching us.

In the centre of the velvet box was a diamond ring, the band decorated with tiny lines.

“W-What is this?” I asked. A stupid question. An excuse to give me time to get over my shock.

“A hint,” he said, his voice croaky. He cleared his voice. “It’s not for your charm bracelet.”

This box.

This ring.

He was asking me to be his wife. I peered closer at the lines, their shape catching my attention.

“Is that…the serotonin molecule engraved along the band?”

He nodded. “The happiness molecule. You make me so happy, Saoirse. Be mine. Be my wife.”

I threw myself into his arms and kissed him, amidst the cheers of our friends around us.

“Silly fisherman,” I whispered. “I’ve always been yours. You have my skin, remember?”

He grinned.

“And you have mine.”

 

 

The End