Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 126485 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 632(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126485 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 632(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
“You’re right. Things are good as they are in Finn’s life. We’ll tell him once Imogen is more stable.”
Aoife came to New York a week later. This time she accepted the flight as a gift, even if she still insisted on paying back the rest of the money that she owed Five-Leaf Clover.
Finn thought she was here to see him and to help Aislinn with last-minute wedding shopping, which was both true, but mainly she spent time at the hospital when Finn was in daycare so Aislinn could keep working in her restaurant. We were civil to each other, and I got the feeling that she was slowly coming around.
One evening, about ten days after Imogen woke from the coma, Aislinn and I sat on the couch. Her days were even longer now as she spent even more time at the hospital. She was exhausted.
“Should we cancel the wedding? We can have it next year when things have calmed down,” I said.
My father would be furious and would definitely chew my ear off. His guilt trip would be out of this world. Everything was already set up. Imogen’s state had improved very slightly; she stayed awake for longer periods of time, reacted with facial expressions and her eyes when she was spoken to, and made base sounds, but she couldn’t speak yet and didn’t recognize Aoife or Aislinn.
Aislinn raised her eyes and shook her head. “No. I know you’ve been looking forward to renewing our bond in Ireland. And I don’t want to offend your father.”
I nodded. It wasn’t the reply I’d hoped for. “What about you? I want you to enjoy the day. You probably didn’t enjoy the first time, and I don’t want this time to be clouded by worry too.”
She smiled slightly. “I didn’t enjoy our last wedding, though the dancing was nice.” She touched my cheek. “I want this wedding. I don’t want to postpone it. There’s no guarantee that Imogen is going to be better next year. Life needs to go on, for us and for Finn. And I won’t let anything ruin our special day.”
I kissed her. Life kept putting hurdles up for us, but so far we’d jumped them together.
Irish weather gifted us with sunshine, warmth, and a light breeze on our wedding day in late August. We’d decided on an outdoor wedding, though the staff had been prepared to move everything inside if rainfall erupted. A dozen huge marquees had been set up on the lush lawn overlooking the ocean right in front of Devaney Manor for the dinner and dancing.
Everyone was dressed festively, as if they were about to attend a horse race; the women wore cocktail dresses, flamboyant hats, and other headdresses while the men were dressed in tuxedos or kilts.
The pastor who’d married off most Devaneys in the last forty years took our vows right at the cliffs with all of our guests surrounding us. I knew less than ten percent of them, but it didn’t matter. I was happy that Finn, Mum, Maeve and her family, Mrs. Byrne, Gulliver, and my estranged family from Kenmare were present.
I didn’t allow myself to feel sad about Imogen’s absence. I’d told her about the wedding during one of my last visits. She still wasn’t fit enough to travel such a long way. and I doubted she would have felt comfortable being surrounded by so many people she didn’t know, myself included. She still didn’t remember anything, but she was dealing surprisingly well with it. Lorcan had assigned her a constant bodyguard so she didn’t have to see too many new faces that confused her further.
Lorcan’s face lit up when he saw me in my wedding dress as I walked down the aisle toward him with Finn at my side. Finn’s hand in mine was sweaty, or maybe it was my hand. We both were nervous with so many eyes on us. “Focus on Lorcan and the ocean,” I murmured under my breath to take away some of his—and my—nervousness.
I’d picked a similar wedding dress like last time, only with a bigger underskirt and more embroidery, and this time I wore a veil as was tradition in the Devaney family.
When I reached Lorcan, he took my hand from Finn who was beaming. Lorcan patted his shoulder and Finn’s pride made him look about ten inches taller. Later he handed us our rings as we exchanged our vows. This time, I felt them deep inside my heart and I meant every word.
Lorcan had proven his loyalty and love in the last few months. He was by my side and had become a partner at my side that I’d never dared to hope for. When we kissed, a swarm of seagulls flew over our heads with excited screeching. One of them dove down toward one of the guests and ripped the particularly shiny and flamboyant hat from her hair. The woman screamed bloody murder and tried to grab the hat, but the bird was quicker and flew into the sky.