Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 122206 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 611(@200wpm)___ 489(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122206 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 611(@200wpm)___ 489(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
My heart constricted for him. I couldn’t imagine losing my spouse and having five children, one of them a newborn, to raise all alone.
“How d’ye feel about being with someone new?”
A carefree smile lit up his face.
“When I’m with her, I feel lighter than I have in a long time. I think about her all the time and I can’t wait to be with her when I’m not … The sad thing is, that makes me feel awful guilty. It’s been twenty-six years, and I’ve never moved on from my Grace. I don’t want to.”
“Ye don’t have to move on from her, sir. Your wife will be in your heart forever, the love ye shared with her is eternal and a beautiful reminder as to why you have five wonderful children. I never knew your wife, but I’d bet everythin’ I own that she wouldn’t want ye to be alone for the rest of your life. I’d wager when it’s your time to walk up the steps to heaven, she’ll have a word or two to say as to why it took ye so long in the first place to put yourself out there.”
Mr Collins cleared his throat. “Christ, ye’ve got me choked up.”
I smiled. “When does everyone get to meet this mysterious Amy?”
“Actually, I met her children this past weekend. I was plannin’ on havin’ me kids over to my house for dinner this Sunday so I could introduce her to them. I’m not worried about me boys not receivin’ the announcement well since they’ve been pushin’ me to get back out there, but I’m a little concerned with my Aideen. She’s very protective of me, and Amy is, well, a little headstrong.”
“You’re worried they might clash?”
“Maybe. Ye see, my Aideen, in many ways, acts like a wife. She takes care of me even when she doesn’t have to. She’s done so since she was a teenager.”
“And now that Amy is there, she might feel pushed aside?”
Mr Collins sighed. “That’s me fear.”
“Have ye made it clear to Amy what role Aideen has signed to herself with you?”
“Yes.”
“And ye trust Amy?”
“With me life.”
“Then trust that she’ll know how to ease herself into your kids’ lives. Aideen will take a step back once she sees that ye have Amy by your side. It won’t happen right away. It’ll probably be gradual, but it’ll happen. Ye’ve great children, sir.”
“Don’t you make me cry, Ina O’Shea.”
I giggled.
“I’ve told Amy all about you, ye know? She can’t wait to meet ye.”
My eyes widened. “You … you want her to meet me?”
“Well, yeah.” He chuckled like I’d told a joke. “You’re me daughter now, too.”
When I cried this time, nothing was sorrowful about it.
“Ah, honey, you’re a bit of a mess today.”
I laughed as I wiped my face. “More than a bit.”
“Are ye feelin’ okay?”
Surprisingly, I was.
Listening to Mr Collins talk about how he drifted through life, focusing on raising his kids after the love of his life passed away and how he found happiness once again after twenty-six years, put a lot of things into perspective for me.
Dante was a slut. Once upon a time, he fucked a lot of women. It sucked, but that was all past tense. He hadn’t been with another woman since he met me, and I believed him when he said that. Being mad at him for something in his past, something that happened before he knew I existed, was petty and awfully childish. The situation with Alannah made me feel sick when I thought that she was the woman he really wanted to be with, and he was settling for me, but he looked me in the eye and told me he only saw me.
Not Alannah, not any other woman … me.
We had to talk and be completely transparent, but the weight of my impending conversation with Dante didn’t feel as heavy as it did when we had it out in the garage. Things would be okay. Deep down, I knew they would. This was our first hurdle as a couple that we had to jump over, and if we did it hand in hand, we could face anything head-on.
“D’ye mind if I come up for a cuppa?” Mr Collins asked as he pulled into an empty parking space. “I’m not all that anxious to get back to the garage with them lot mouthin’ off at one another like a couple of aul ones at the bingo.”
“Of course.” I chuckled. “I’d be happy to have the company.”
We chatted as we made our way up to my apartment. I was giving Mr Collins meal ideas for this Sunday’s coming dinner. He wanted everything to be special when his children met his girlfriend, and I loved that he seemed to have everything planned out. We entered my apartment and removed our shoes. I headed down the hallway to pop to the toilet while Mr Collins went into my kitchen to plug in my kettle. When I left the bathroom minutes later, the silence in my apartment was almost too loud.