Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 79462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
“Thanks, Aunt Mary. Did you meet Jayson yet?”
There’s some tension. We can’t pretend like it doesn’t exist. The people in this house lost friends, cousins, children to the war. But that was over a year ago now, and Jayson has the good sense to ingratiate himself with these people, acting friendly and humble as he’s introduced to person after person, ignoring the occasional cold look, returning every small kindness.
It helps that there’s a baby to distract everyone.
“You two look happy,” Rian says in a rare private moment. We’re in the kitchen together, over near the sink, as three of the aunts and two of the cousins busy themselves getting dinner together. There’s laughter in the other room. The house is bursting apart, stuffed full of at least forty people, but I missed this kind of family gathering.
“We are, Chim,” I confirm. “I never thought we’d end up at this point when you told me about my new husband, but hey, it worked out.”
“I’m still sorry about that, Fallie.”
“No need to be.”
“Yeah, well, anyway. Things are good here too.”
“Seems to have settled okay.”
“It took some convincing and a lot of hard work, but I’ve got nearly all the family on my side. A few aren’t happy about it, but they’re going along at least.”
“I’m proud of you, Chim. Papa would’ve been proud too.”
“Yeah, I’m sure. But hey, there’s a new baby, alright? That’s pretty amazing. You’re a mother now.”
“Guess it’s your turn to settle down, huh?”
“Ah, well, you know me.” He grins and shrugs. “Won’t ever happen.”
“We’ll see about that.”
I leave him and go to make sure Jayson’s not in a fistfight with a cousin. I find him cornered by the uncles, answering questions about American football to their bemused expressions, as if it’s the most insane thing they’d ever heard of.
“Just call it fuckin’ rugby,” Uncle Nollaig says.
“But it’s not fuckin’ rugby, it’s somethin’ else,” Uncle Donal counters.
“Fuck you both, it should be called handball or some shite,” Uncle Owen cuts in, which devolves into the usual bickering.
I lead Jayson away, locate my child, extract her from an unwilling gaggle of cousins, and take my whole family out back. We sit in chairs in the relative quiet, only a few other male cousins smoking cigarettes and talking about local politics, but we’re ignored.
“It’s a lot, I know,” I say, kissing Jayson’s cheek. “You’re doing great.”
“It’s not that different from my own family, or at least the way it used to be when we all lived in the Sunrise.”
“Yeah, true, except this house is a lot smaller than the casino.”
“Fair point.”
“I’m happy you’re here.”
“I’m happy I’m here too.”
I kiss him again. I wish it could linger, but now’s not the time. Neve fusses, and I tell the boy cousins I’m going to feed my daughter and they’d better not act like little bitch babies about a girl’s titty doing what God made it to do, and they all fuck off like I knew they would. Jayson laughs.
“It’s like a magic power. The ability to make men uncomfortable.”
“A woman’s gift,” I say with a wistful sigh as Neve feeds. “I love you, you know that?”
“I love you too. And your family’s okay. At least the ones that don’t hate me.”
“The others will come around, or maybe they won’t, but hey, what’s family without at least a few blood feuds?”
“Wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Do you mind if we stay for a few nights? I want to visit with people individually.”
“We can stay as long as you like.”
“Really?”
“A week, a month, a year. I don’t care.”
“Do you really mean that?”
“Yes, I really mean it. We’re going to make this work, right? No reason doing it halfway.”
“You are the man of my dreams.”
“I’m aware.”
Neve feeds and we lapse into a comfortable, happy silence, as inside there’s laughter from the family, and the smell of baking wafts out the door and a touch of warmth follows with it, and it doesn’t matter how long we plan on staying here because now that I’ve got my girl and my husband, I’ve got my home wherever I go, and that’s not bad.
“Hey, fuckin’ dinner’s ready!” Uncle Lochlainn shouts out the window. “Come eat before it’s all gone.”
When Neve’s finished and sleepy enough to snuggle into Jayson’s arms without a fuss, we head back inside, and there are overflowing plates for both of us already waiting at the table.